Our People

Ann Cairns's Biography

Ann Cairns
President, International Markets

Ann Cairns is president, International Markets for MasterCard Worldwide, responsible for the management of all markets and customer-related activities outside of North America. As a member of the company’s Executive Committee and based in London, England, Ms. Cairns leverages the company’s seamless global structure and presence to the benefit of all stakeholders.

Ms. Cairns brings more than 20 years of experience working in senior management positions across Europe and the U.S., running global retail and investment banking operations. Prior to joining MasterCard in August 2011, Ms. Cairns was a managing director and head of the Financial Industry Services group for Europe with Alvarez & Marsal in London. From 2008 to 2011, Cairns led the European team managing the estate of Lehman Brothers Holdings International through the Chapter 11 process.

Previously, Ms. Cairns was Chief Executive Officer, Transaction Banking at ABN-AMRO in London, where she managed a global business with over 5 billion euros in revenue in 50 countries, covering the commercial, retail and financial institutions segments, and reported to the Group Board and served on the bank’s Executive Committee.

Prior to joining ABN-AMRO, Ms. Cairns spent 15 years in senior operational positions at Citigroup, including Chief Operating Officer, e-Business, where she led U.S., European and Japanese operations. Ms. Cairns also served as Trustee of Charity Bank in the UK.

At the start of her career, Ms. Cairns spent time as an award-winning research engineer, culminating as the head of Offshore Engineer-Planning for British Gas. Managing a team of 50 plus engineers, Ms. Cairns was the first woman qualified to go offshore in Britain.

Ms. Cairns received a B.Sc. in Pure Mathematics at Sheffield University and an M.Sc in Statistics from Newcastle University, U.K.

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