NARASIMHAN KASTHURIRENGAN
SAN FRANCISCO, April 5
The Foster City (San Francisco) based Master Card has announced that its CEO, Ajay Banga, will become Executive Chairman of the Board from January next.
He will be replaced by Chief Product Officer, Michael Miebach. Banga, who took charge of the company just after the 2008-09 financial crisis, has seen the payment processor’s revenue triple during his tenure as online shopping gained prominence around the world.
Chairman Richard Haythornthwaite will retire after more than a decade when Banga assumes his new role, the company said in a statement.
The company’s executive change appears to be unrelated to its revenue warning that the coronavirus outbreak could hit its 2020 revenue.
Ajay is a co-founder of The Cyber Readiness Institute, first vice chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce and a trustee of the United States Council for International Business. Ajay is a founding trustee of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum, a member of the U.S.-India CEO Forum and is Chairman Emeritus of the American India Foundation. He served as a member of President Obama’s Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity. He is a past member of the U.S. President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.
Ajay, a graduate of Delhi University and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, was awarded the Padma Shri Award by the President of India in 2016, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2019 and the Business Council for International Understanding’s Global Leadership Award.
Prior to Mastercard, Ajay served as chief executive officer of Citigroup Asia Pacific. During his career at Citigroup, he held a variety of senior management roles in the United States, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa. He also oversaw the company’s efforts in microfinance.
Ajay began his career at Nestlé, India, where for 13 years he worked on assignments spanning sales, marketing and general management. He also spent two years with PepsiCo, where he was instrumental in launching its fast food franchises in India as the economy liberalized.
(Narasimhan Kasthurirengan, a former correspondent of Chennai-based The Hindu, is settled in US)
