Thomas Torre

CEO of Bend Financial

31 December 2019 10 Min Read

Thomas Torre: Revolutionizing Health Savings with Investment

Let me introduce you to Thomas Torre, the CEO of Bend Financial, a fintech and health-tech entrepreneur, a leader, and, most of all, someone who knows how to spot a good opportunity.

Torre has extensive experience in the financial technology industry. He served as the Vice President of The Chase Manhattan Bank, WEX, Clareon, and FleetCor, and as the CEO of Alegeus and CoPatient. Thomas has significantly transformed the healthcare technology industry, offering a unique approach to HSA funding, saving, and payment. In addition, he has helped people manage the rising healthcare costs, thus contributing to the greater good.

It was a true honor to talk with him and hear his stance on opportunities and leadership, as well as his success story and life habits. I also appreciate his valuable insights on running a business. So, let’s hear what he had to say.

Let me introduce you to Thomas Torre, the CEO of Bend Financial, a fintech and health-tech entrepreneur, a leader, and, most of all, someone who knows how to spot a good opportunity.

The Logician

Hi Thomas, and welcome to this interview! Before we start, I would thank you for taking the time to participate in this journey! Do you mind telling us more about yourself? Who is Thomas Torre? What was the reason for choosing the career that you have today?

Thomas Torre

The first half of my career was spent in fintech and payments. Around 2000, a big shift in healthcare financial responsibility to consumers took place.

This shift launched a convergence of healthcare and financial services, and it created opportunities for individuals with fintech experience to move into healthcare.

So with this as a backdrop in 2003, I joined a late-stage start-up called MBI Benefits that was one of the early innovators building out healthcare payment technologies and related tax-advantaged benefits administration technologies. I have been in the healthcare technology industry since then.

I love what I do. I have been working on payments for so long it is now part of my DNA. And managing healthcare provider selection, billing and payment are so broken in this country, that I feel that I am making a difference by working to make this better.

The Logician

Now, can you explain what Bend is? How was the business idea born?

Thomas Torre

Bend Financial has created the next generation Health Savings Account (HSA) to help people better manage their expenses today and more easily save for future healthcare expenses. Our long term vision is to have combined tax-advantaged savings products into one seamless consumer experience, making it easier for people to save for the big three — healthcare, children’s education, and retirement.

The idea for Bend came about in a casual discussion with a close business associate and friend.

I had just finished selling another business and my associate said to me “What are you going to do next?” I shared that I had been approached by a few large companies to come run their healthcare businesses and that I was thinking about joining one that had a large HSA business.

He said, “Why don’t we build a new HSA business together instead? I think we can do something innovative and disruptive.”

So, I spent some time thinking about it, doing a little research and agreed, and Bend was born.

The Logician

What makes it different? Can you describe the company in three words?

Thomas Torre

Here is the elevator pitch on what is different about Bend:

The account holder opts in to share a broad range of healthcare and related expense information.

The “Bend Advisor” uses artificial intelligence and other tools to process the expense and account-use information that creates a hyper-personalized experience focused on educating the account holder, which is delivered through a re-envisioned user interface.

Three words that describe Bend: Innovative, welcoming, disruptive.

The Logician

Since many young people still struggle to find their career path, I want to know how you found yours. When did you realize this is what you are “supposed” to do? What can every person do that will help them find their calling in life?

Thomas Torre

I would say the career path I ended up in was a 40% plan and 60% opportunity.

The first few years of my career after college, I was working in downtown Manhattan in the facilities management industry. While I enjoyed the work, being in NYC in the financial district, I found the allure of financial services to be overpowering.

So I took a position working at Chase Manhattan Bank (Now JPMC) as an internal consultant traveling around the world to Chase’s operations, working on a broad range of projects.

During that time, I was introduced to the payments business and almost instantly knew it was for me. Soon after that, I accepted a position in a payments business and spent the next 14 years learning about this industry.

My move to healthcare was more opportunity-based versus being planned. I was probably about two years into the healthcare space when I realized I was at the right career place for me.

What helped me land on the right career path was exposure to a range of businesses and functions within a business.

I was fortunate enough to have positions that allowed me to see different businesses early in my career, and I was also exposed to many different functions — operations, finance, product, etc. And I knew as soon as I had my first product management position I had found my place.

My first few positions were in larger companies. I then had a chance to go to a late-stage start-up. I took the chance and learned that smaller companies were a better fit for me — less bureaucracy, more innovation, faster pace, and an ability to make a difference.

So in summary, trying different things early on and taking some risks is what helped me find my path.

The Logician

What are the best and worst parts of being a leader? What values are most important to you?

Thomas Torre

Overall, I enjoy being a leader and have aspired to be in leadership roles as long as I can remember. I am also equally being comfortable being a team member.

What I like most about leading is helping my team develop. Second is the intellectual challenge that comes with solving complex problems and making difficult decisions.

The thing I like the least about being the leader of an organization, is my first responsibility is to the organization, and sometimes that responsibility may have negative impacts on the people in your organization.

An example of this is several years ago, I was a member of a team selling a business. To improve the marketability of the business, we had to reduce staff to increase profitability.

Many of the people we let go had meaningfully contributed to the success of the business. It was the right thing to do for the business, but it was hard on all of us involved.

The values that are most important to me are striving to make a difference, commitment, acting with high integrity, humility, and embrace differences among your team members, whatever those differences may be.

The Logician

Can you walk us through one typical day of yours? What are your routines? Which habits changed your life and contributed significantly to your success?

Thomas Torre

I typically get up about 6:00 am. Most days I start with a run. I generally start early, most days by 7:30 am.

I typically work about 10 hours a day, sometimes straight through and sometimes broken up chunks well into the evening. I do my best to not work on weekends and spend this time with my family, but I will work on weekends if needed.

On weekends, I still typically get up early, enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee, and catch up on some reading before I start the day.

I found that one of the most important leadership habits is focus and time management.

Every Friday afternoon, I plan out my upcoming week. I review my calendar for key meetings that may need some preparation, I set priorities, and I create a list of deliverables and to-dos for the week.

I have found that just having a to-do list for the coming week is not enough, so I list out what I want to accomplish by day. It is never perfect as things can move around, however it gives me a great start to the week and is very helpful for better time management.

At the end of a workday, I review my notes, emails, Slacks, and texts to identify follow-ups. I then start my next day with any follow-up communications from the prior day.

I find I do my best thinking earlier in the day, so next up for me is deep thinking independent work. For the rest of the day, I spend more time collaborating with my team.

The Logician

According to you, what are the five most potent traits of successful leaders? Please explain.

Thomas Torre

I believe that a leader has to have many positive traits to be successful and I found narrowing it done to just five to be a difficult exercise. I also may have cheated a little by combing a few together into one (smiles).

Strategic Vision — The most important role of a business leader is to set the strategic direction for the company.

Accountability, Responsibility, and Empowerment — I strive to hire the best people and give them true authority for their functional area by empowering them, holding them accountable, and giving them true responsibility. Steve Jobs’ philosophy on this has been my north star on leading this way.

Collaboration and Communication — The strategy and the team are in place. The next step is to create an environment that fosters engagement, innovation, and creativity through collaboration and communication.

Decision Making — Being able to make difficult decisions is a 101 skill in being a leader.

Empathy — And we must be sensitive and understanding of each person’s situation, what they bring to the organization, and what they need from the organization.

And finally, from a personality perspective, I think it is important that a leader take what they do seriously, but do not take themselves seriously and approach leadership with a light-hearted demeanor and humor while being respectful.

The Logician

If you were not running a company, what would you be doing? How do you spend your free time? What are the things you most enjoy in life?

Thomas Torre

I spend pretty much most of my free time with my family. If I was not running a company, I would be at the beach with my family and my dogs and traveling. I also want to learn how to cook.

My spouse, Pam, and I enjoy trying new restaurants, spending time with friends, listening to local musicians, watching movies and binge-watching TV shows. And, we spend a great deal of time volunteering in our local community.

In the last year, I have taken up running, I enjoy riding my wave runner in the summer, and I am always up for a new adventure.

The Logician

Let’s say it is the year 2030. Where are you and your business? What milestones can you imagine reaching by then?

Thomas Torre

I find this question so hard. It is so hard to forecast where I will be and where the company will be in 10 years.

Let’s start with me. I am confident that Bend will have been highly successful, and I am reasonably sure in 10 years that I will have stepped down from day to day responsibilities at Bend, and will be focused on spending time with my family, actively involved in a non-profit of some type, and traveling.

I also suspect that I will be helping some of my close family members start a business that has been their life-time dream.

Bend will have grown substantially with millions of account holders. We will be the leader in helping people manage their cost of healthcare and their long-term financial wellness.

Through the use of artificial intelligence and other tools, we will have dramatically simplified healthcare expense management and have combined tax-advantaged savings products into one seamless consumer experience.

By 2030, Bend will have either gone public or become a subsidiary of a bigger company.

The Logician

Lastly, what is the best life advice you have ever received? Why is it important?

Thomas Torre

The best life advice I have received was in in the early ’90s from my manager at the time.

He said: “Tom, you need to slow down a bit. You are always in a rush. You are in a rush to move on to your next job, and I can tell from our conversations that you are in a rush in your personal life. Keep working hard but slow down a little and enjoy the journey.”

He was right. It took me almost 15 years to make the changes Bob was suggesting. I finally did, and it has fundamentally changed my life.

This was important advice because it changed my focus from just what I was doing, to now include how I was doing it. I think this has made me a much better life partner, parent, and leader.

I would also like to share something else that helps guide my actions and behavior both personally and professionally. On vacation a few years ago, we stayed at an Airbnb property in the Caribbean.

Hanging on the wall was a large plaque called the “ABC’s of Life,” which is below.

[A]ccept differences [B]e kind [C]ount your blessings [D]ream [E]xpress thanks [F]orgive [G]ive freely [H]arm no one [I]magine more [J]ettison anger [K]eep confidences [L]ove truly [M]aster something [N]ature hope [O]pen your mind [P]ack lightly [Q]uell rumors [R]eciprocate [S]eek wisdom [T]ouch hearts [U]nderstand [V]alue truth [W]in graciously [X]eriscape [Y]earn for peace [Z]ealously support a worthy cause

As I read through the plaque, I was inspired, and when I got home, I purchased one for myself which now hangs in my home office. Whenever I work in my home office, I take a minute to do a quick assessment of how I am doing and pick one item to focus on in the near future improve upon. I know, this sounds very corny, but this has helped keep me grounded.

The Logician

Thank you, Thomas, for all business and life advice you have shared with us today. Most of all, I loved your opinion on work-life balance and taking things one at a time. We all need to adjust our vision and stop rushing our lives. I wish you the best of luck in all future endeavors, and I am sure we will see more from you and your revolutionary business.

The Logician

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Thomas Torre: Revolutionizing Health Savings with Investment

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