There is a sense that the coming days will be brighter than the most recent past. But to have a true shared recovery from the global pandemic, the inequities that 2020 exposed will have to be addressed, and Mastercard's Raj Seshadri is ready to be part of the solution.
"The pandemic has created a multi-speed global recovery that favors high-income consumers over low and has created a significant job divide for minorities, women and younger workers," said Seshadri, who became global president of data and services at Mastercard about a year ago, and is one of PaymentsSource's Most Influential Women in Payments for 2021 "Additionally, rising prices for housing and stocks have exacerbated income disparities … we must work to pave an even road to recovery for all."
Seshadri, who reports directly to the card brand's CEO, serves on Mastercard's management committee and is one of the company's highest-ranking female leaders. Seshadri has impressive credentials in both innovation and education, giving her a view of how technology and knowledge can open doors for people and businesses who have not equally shared in economic progress.
"There are so many great social causes that need our attention. And I am inspired by the endless opportunities to drive positive change in the world," Seshadri said.
Seshadri joined Mastercard in April 2016 as president of U.S. issuers. In this role, she managed and substantially grew the company’s core business, services and partnerships with banks and credit unions in a very competitive market.
She took her current position just months before the start of the pandemic brought the world to a screeching halt. Leading a 2,800-person global team remotely was the first and largest challenge Seshadri has faced in her current job. She conducted regular open forum team calls starting in March, weekly email updates and ongoing informal communications.
"As a working mother and daughter of elderly parents myself, I’ve found that leading with empathy and understanding my colleagues’ personal priorities has been critical to managing, mentoring and connecting with my team during this time," Seshadri said. "Drawing on my own experiences, it has been my personal and professional goal to establish a culture of flexibility, empathy and personal choice as team members shift to work-from-home arrangements and then, more recently, as offices have opened back up."
For companies that do this right, greater flexibility will help attract and develop the very best talent long-term, particularly women whose personal situations or geographies make a daily commute to the office impossible, Seshadri said.
Her tenure at Mastercard was preceded by a stint as managing director at BlackRock and leader of Citigroup's global strategy team and CitiBusiness small business banking. Seshadri is also a member of the board of directors of Ramond James Financial.
The jump in payments technology that accompanied the pandemic will also create opportunities for the long-term as the adjustments consumers and businesses made on the fly become permanent.
"In 2020, we saw the equivalent of a two-year acceleration in the shift to e-commerce in the U.S. From contactless payments to tele-everything, digital commerce was simple, seamless and secure, thanks to technology produced and rolled out by the payments industry," Seshadri said. "This shift to digital has been a particular opportunity, and challenge, for smaller businesses, something that players across the payments industry have worked to address, ensuring entrepreneurs have access to the tools they need to survive and thrive."
A graduate of Mount Holyoke College with a degree in physics and mathematics, Seshadri also holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University.
Education is still a major part of her life, as Seshadri serves on the management board for the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the board of trustees of Mount Holyoke College, the global board of the American India Foundation and the advisory board of South Asian Youth Action. She is additionally an adjunct professor at the Columbia Business School and a member of the Partnership for New York David Rockefeller Fellows Program.
"I am passionate about socio-economic development enabled by access to education for youth and children that ultimately leads to more career and livelihood options for them." Seshadri said.
The inauguration of Kamala Harris as the U.S.' first woman, Black and South Asian vice president has been particularly inspiring.
"She is not just a woman, but a woman of color and a woman of Indian descent like me," Seshadri said. "In my own life I've been mistaken for my own kids' nanny. I've been mistaken for the maid. I've been asked to serve coffee in meetings. Discrimination is nothing new and will ceranly not end with a new leader, but Harris is a role model of how to respond with grace, with a smile and with strength."
