Mastercard Promotes Linda Kirkpatrick to Oversee North America

(Bloomberg) -- Mastercard Inc. promoted Linda Kirkpatrick to president of North American operations as incoming Chief Executive Officer Michael Miebach shuffles some of his top managers before taking the reins next month.

Kirkpatrick will be responsible for all businesses in the U.S. and Canada that interact directly with customers, including overseeing relationships with banks, merchants and governments, the Purchase, New York-based firm said Thursday in a statement. She most recently was head of U.S. issuers for the card network.

“Linda has deep experience across so many areas of our business,” CEO Ajay Banga said in the statement. “In each role, she’s established herself as a trusted partner and a relentless force to deliver a positive impact.”

Kirkpatrick replaces Craig Vosburg, who will become chief product officer as the company combines its products and engineering organizations. That role was most recently held by Miebach before he was elevated to president and named the firm’s next CEO earlier this year.

“This step helps to collapse the distance between our customers and our engineers,” Miebach said in an interview.

Vosburg will oversee many of the groups that joined Mastercard through acquisitions in recent years, including Vocalink, Transfast, Transactis and Finicity. He will also eventually lead the teams from Mastercard’s 2.85 billion-euro ($3.5 billion) purchase of a payments-platform owned by Denmark-based Nets, which it said it anticipates will be completed early next year.

Miebach is set to take over as the coronavirus crimps spending on the firm’s cards, with consumers around the world staying inside to stem the pandemic’s spread.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.