Mastercard has announced the appointment of Ruth Riviere as Country Manager for New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
Ruth Riviere joined Mastercard UK in 2012 from a financial services and innovation consulting background and has held varied roles across Mastercard, including driving digital sales in the UK and managing strategy and operations as the Chief of Staff for the President of International Markets, Ann Cairns.
Her most recent role at Mastercard was Director of Social Impact at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, where she designed and directed the Center’s global philanthropic programme work to support sustainable economic growth and financial inclusion. This included programmes in Indonesia, Romania, Mexico, Egypt, Rwanda, Nigeria and the US.
“I’m looking forward to bringing my global experience to New Zealand and the Pacific Islands to deliver some of the best solutions for both businesses and consumers. Financial inclusion to drive sustainable economic growth is a huge passion, so I’m excited for the opportunity to represent the Pacific Islands as well as New Zealand,” says Riviere.
“It’s a great time to be working in the payments industry because consumer expectation, innovation and new players are driving a huge amount of change. Technology and data is enabling new customer experiences, and I am interested in fintech developments and digital disruption and what this will mean in New Zealand.”
Riviere says New Zealand has a history of being innovative and it is great to be in a market that is leading the way, given Kiwis are early adopters of new technologies.
“New Zealand has some fantastic opportunities for Mastercard and I look forward to building on the excellent work Peter Chisnall and the team have done in the past few years.”
Richard Wormald, Division President, Australasia, Mastercard says the announcement is positive news for the market.
“Ruth’s appointment as head of Mastercard New Zealand and Pacific Islands comes at an exciting time as we evolve our offerings to become an innovative technology and services leader and I am confident that with her experience she will bring a fresh perspective to the New Zealand market,” says Wormald.
Ruth Riviere has a BA in Geography from Oxford University, and a Masters in International Relations from Kings College.
Ruth replaces Peter Chisnall, who has moved to a new role at Mastercard as Senior Vice President, Market Development for South East Asia.
