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SOUTH PORTLAND, MAINE (October 30, 2003)
— Wright Express, a Maine company that has risen
from humble origins to stand as the nation's industry
leader in the fleet card business, marked its twentieth
anniversary on Thursday.
Since its founding in Portland in
1983, the company has fused traditional customer service
with technological innovation and a focus on partnership
to establish a culture of success and emerge as one
of the largest employers in Maine. The company develops
and services fleet commercial card programs under its
own name, for private label programs, and for co-branded
programs, and provides extensive fleet management services.
The company also issues corporate MasterCard programs.
“To survive and thrive for
two decades is something we can all be very proud of,”
said Michael Dubyak, president and chief executive of
Wright Express. “We have worked hard to create
a culture of success, hire great employees and give
them the tools and support to succeed. Our culture and
our employees are key strategic advantages for the company.
Equally important, we have been able to establish the
trust of partners and build strong relationships with
them. We have grown a lot in the past 20 years, but
we are not done yet.”
Indeed, it has been quite a ride
for the company that now employs more than 640 people,
including 560 in Maine. The company also operates a
bank in Salt Lake City.
Wright Express traces its roots to the nineteenth century
when Augustus R. Wright operated A.R. Wright, a Portland-based
coal delivery company. Wright's great grandson,
Parker Poole III, and Poole's uncle, William Richardson,
founded Wright Express. The fledgling business shared
office space with A.R. Wright, by this time a home heating
fuel business, located near railroad tracks on Park
Avenue.
Wright Express began with a handful
of employees and offered a fleet fueling card accepted
at three locations in Portland. In 1986, the company
signed its first major account, Getty Petroleum, helping
push the Wright Express card into 2,200 stations in
the Northeast. Company growth ramped up in 1990 following
a deal with Texaco and exploded in 1999 when Wright
Express struck card deals with both ExxonMobil and Imperial
Oil of Canada (Esso). Wright Express now services more
than four million fleet and corporate charge cards either
directly or for partners.
The company's growth has also
required a series of physical moves. Wright Express
moved from the original Portland location to an office
on Darling Avenue in South Portland. The company expanded
into additional buildings on Darling Avenue and other
locations as the number of employees mushroomed from
80 in 1992 to more than 500 by 1999. The most symbolic
move came in May of 2002 when it signed a 10-year lease
and moved its headquarters to Long Creek in South Portland,
cementing its commitment to Maine.
Another example of that commitment is the millions of
dollars Wright Express has spent over the past few years
to build a new technological infrastructure in the state
and remain at the cutting-edge of technology.
“Marking the past is an important
event and certainly the past 20 years have been exciting,”
Dubyak said. “But the future is even brighter
as we continue to innovate, develop new products, emphasize
putting the customer first and aggressively seek new
markets as we strive for growth.”
South Portland-based Wright Express
is the leading provider of fleet charge cards to the
fleet maintenance and fueling industry with cards accepted
at more than 160,000 locations. Wright Express also
provides information management, payment processing,
and financial services to fleets through card partnerships
with oil companies and fleet management companies. Through
its own universal card program, its partners'
card programs and its MasterCard program, Wright Express
has over four million commercial cards in its markets.
Wright Express LLC, a subsidiary of Cendant Corp., employs
more than 640 people at its headquarters in South Portland,
Maine and its subsidiary in Salt Lake City.
For more information, please visit
www.wrightexpress.com
©2003
Wright Express, LLC. All rights reserved.
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