Arriving at a high school in Cape Town, South Africa, without speaking English, Cosmin Pitigoi faced an immediate communication challenge. Yet he refused to be deterred, immersing himself in language studies and expanding his vocabulary so he could thrive in the classroom. Years later, that same resolve reemerged in eBay’s IR function, where Pitigoi realized the company’s available data was falling short in communicating the breadth of eBay’s story. This time, Pitigoi immersed himself in the data, adding and fine-tuning metrics that would allow him to better convey eBay’s message.

Before joining Flywire as CFO, Pitigoi spent two decades rotating through leadership roles at eBay and PayPal, building his finance acumen across treasury, investor relations, FP&A, and data analytics. “I never stayed in a single role for more than 18 months,” Pitigoi tells us, describing his drive to learn every facet of the business. By immersing himself in diverse functions, he honed both analytical and communication skills—critical for strategic decision-making.

At eBay, the lack of comprehensive data became a new language barrier, prompting Pitigoi to advocate for stronger data architecture. “Numbers alone can’t tell a story unless they’re accurate and well-organized,” he tells us, underscoring his belief that precise, actionable information fuels effective narratives. This mindset ultimately shaped his approach to finance leadership: be as fluent in data as in interpersonal communication.

Today, at Flywire, Pitigoi champions the idea that true value emerges when finance guides broader organizational goals. His journey from struggling to speak English in Cape Town to optimizing data-driven storytelling at a global fintech highlights a simple truth: conquering communication obstacles—whether linguistic or numeric—can spark remarkable career transformation.

Every generation brings its own values and perspectives to the table that leaders can learn from, so adopt a reverse mentorship mentality and learn everything you can in every role to make a lasting impact—“leave a legacy”—at every step of your career. —Cosmin Pitgoi, CFO, Flywire

Cosmin’s CFO Playbook

Rotates regularly through diverse functions, ensuring breadth of expertise and a deeper business perspective.
Blends quantitative analysis with storytelling to communicate insights effectively and drive buy-in.
Builds cross-functional trust by championing transparent communication and nurturing strong relationships.
Seeks unifying metrics that align teams around shared goals and spur cohesive decision-making.

CFOTL: Tell us about Flywire—what does this company do, and what are its offerings today?

Pitigoi: Maybe I should start with the origin story, because I think that sometimes helps. Flywire started out (of) the need for international students who want to study abroad. Imagine a student in Europe heading to a U.S. university and saying, ‘I need to pay my tuition, but I’ve got euros and I have to convert them to dollars.’ If you’ve gone through that, you know the money often got lost along the way. The university couldn’t find the wire or link it back to the right student.

Out of that experience, we created software enabling a university to say, ‘I recognize this student, I need to convert euros into dollars, and then I must book it properly in my system of record.’ We’ve grown far beyond just that original challenge. We’re approaching half a billion dollars in revenue, with 1,300 employees. While we are a payments company at our core, we believe the real value lies in the software that drives operational efficiency—far more than simply processing payments.

Education is one of our four verticals (alongside) travel, healthcare, and B2B. Whether you’re a travel agency or a small manufacturing business receiving large cross-border payments, you don’t want back-office headaches; you want software that can handle the conversion and reconciliation for you. That’s where Flywire’s platform comes in. We focus on receivables, delivering the software that solves these operational complexities. In a payments industry still figuring out how to ‘add value,’ we believe the answer lies in the software itself.

Flywire | www.flywire.com | Boston, MA

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