Ann Cairns

Vice Chairman

In her role as vice chairman, 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 serves on the company’s management committee.
Prior to her 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.
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 organizations including a tenure as CEO, Transaction Banking at ABN-AMRO, and 15 years in senior operational positions at Citigroup.
Ann sits on the board of the Fortune 500 company Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and is chair of ICE Clear Europe.
A Pure Mathematics degree from Sheffield University and a M.Sc. with research into medical statistics from Newcastle University resulted in an early career as an award-winning research engineer, culminating as the Head of Offshore Engineer-Planning for British Gas where Ann was the first woman qualified to go offshore in Britain.