Ajay Banga
President and CEO, MasterCard
Committee Chair: Information and Technology Committee.
Ajay Banga is president and chief executive officer of MasterCard, as well as a member of the board of directors.
Mr. Banga joined MasterCard as president and chief operating officer in late August 2009. In April 2010, he was named president and CEO, effective July 1, 2010.
Before joining MasterCard, Mr. Banga served as chief executive officer of Citigroup’s Asia-Pacific Region. In that role, he was responsible for all of the company’s business lines in the region, including institutional banking, alternative investments, wealth management, consumer banking, and credit cards. He was also a member of Citi’s senior leadership and executive committees.
Mr. Banga joined Citigroup in 1996 and served in a variety of positions of increasing responsibility. These included chairman and chief executive officer of the International Global Consumer Group; president of Retail Banking North America; business head for CitiFinancial and the U.S. Consumer Assets Division; and, division executive for the consumer bank in Central/Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, and India.
Prior to Citigroup, Mr. Banga spent 13 years with Nestle, India, where he held a variety of assignments spanning sales, marketing, and general management. He also spent two years at Pepsico, where he was instrumental in launching Pepsico’s international fast food franchises in India as the economy liberalized.
Mr. Banga currently serves on the board of directors of Kraft Foods. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and The Economic Club of New York, as well as a fellow of the Foreign Policy Association. He is also a member of The Financial Services Roundtable and member of the Business Roundtable, where he chairs the Information and Technology Initiative.
Mr. Banga has a keen interest in social development issues. He previously served on the boards of trustees of Enterprise Community Partners and the National Urban League and was vice chairman of the board of trustees for the New York Hall of Science. He was also a director for the Council for Economic Education. In addition, from 2005 to mid-2009, he spearheaded Citi’s strategy in the microfinance sector around the world.
Mr. Banga received a B.A. in economics from Delhi University where he graduated with honors. He is also an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.