Rob Winokur has always had a passion for working with his customers and getting to know them personally. He began his career in the payments industry in mid-market sales at First Data, a global payments leader and formed a passion for working with his customers and getting to know them.  While he was quickly promoted to a national sales and leadership position, he realized personal communication and one-on-one service were lacking at larger companies.  After 15 years of excelling in a large corporate environment, Rob decided to get back to his roots and form Winstar, where clients and partners really do come first.  Opening its doors, in November of 2014, Rob and his Winstar team quickly grew the business by winning merchant relationships with their philosophy of personalized service, expanding in the Tampa Bay Area.

In early 2017, Winstar formed an advantageous partnership with BlueStar, another payments leader in the area, to provide an additional array of products and services.  As both companies grew together over the coming months, Bluestar’s investors embraced Winstar’s “Customer First” culture and valued Rob’s sincere leadership style.  In July 2017 Winstar and Bluestar merged and Rob was asked to take the helm as the CEO for both companies.  The merger of both companies brought important portfolio diversification, new payment products and resources as well as combined the depth of payments knowledge and experience from two of the most experienced payments companies in the Tampa Bay area.

In the past three years, Winstar has continued to strengthen and grow its business, by adding many strong Bank partners, serving large merchant chains such as Ford’s Garage.  Winstar has also become an industry leader in high risk verticals, such as CBD, by forming key partnerships with sponsoring financial institutions.

Throughout its continued success, Winstar has remained committed to its founding values and strategy, where customers and long-term relationships are more important than short-term numbers.