Ann Cairns
Undoing 50 Years of Progress: The Impact of COVID-19 on Gender Equality
November 5, 2020 • 11:30am ET / 16:30 GMT
In her role as Vice Chair, Ann represents Mastercard around the world, focusing on inclusion, diversity and innovation. She plays the important role of senior ambassador and executive leader with a global remit and sits as part of the company’s global management committee.
She is passionate about the role Mastercard can play in delivering inclusion through innovation and continues to build new global partnerships with governments, businesses and NGOs.
Prior to this appointment, Ann was President of International Markets responsible for the management of all customer-related activities in over 200 countries around the world. In this role she focused on building sustainable, strong growth rates across both mature and emerging markets. She has led the company’s expansion into new and diverse geographies and opened up new customer segments; embracing the continued evolution to digital while driving an increased focus on safety, security and convenience.
Ann brings more than 20 years’ experience working in senior management positions across Europe and the U.S., where she ran global retail, commercial and investment banking operations. Prior to joining Mastercard in August 2011, Ann was head of the Financial Services Group with Alvarez & Marsal in London, where she led the European team managing Lehman Brothers Holdings International through the Chapter 11 process. In addition she helped restructure banks across Europe including Ireland & Iceland.
Ann has also held senior positions within many global organisations, including a tenure as CEO of Transaction Banking at ABN-AMRO, and 15 years in senior operational positions at Citigroup.
Ann is currently chair of ICE Clear Europe, one of the world’s leading clearing houses owned by the Fortune 500 company Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). She is also global chair of the 30% Club, the chair of the Financial Alliance for Women and serves as a member of the UK government’s AI Council and the IBDE advisory board. She has previously held board positions with ICE, AstraZeneca and Charity Bank as well as chairing the ABN foundation.
She has a Pure Mathematics degree and honorary doctorate from Sheffield University and a M.Sc. with research into medical statistics and honorary doctorate from Newcastle University. An early career as an award-winning research engineer, culminated in the role as the Head of Offshore Engineer-Planning for British Gas where Ann was the first woman qualified to go offshore in Britain.