Pune Born Ajay Banga Nominated To Lead World Bank; Who Is He?
Pune, 24th February 2023: Ajay Banga, vice chairman at General Atlantic and former CEO of Mastercard, was nominated to lead the World Bank, on Thursday, by US President Joe Biden. World Bank’s current CEO, David Malpass, will be stepping down before his term.
Did You Know?
- Ajay Banga, an Indian-American, currently the vice chairman of equity firm General Atlantic, is 63 years old.
- Banga, a native of Pune, graduated with a B.A. in economics from Delhi University’s St. Stephen’s College. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad as well.
- In August 2009, he started working for MasterCard as president and COO. In April 2010, he was promoted to CEO.
- Before joining Citigroup in 1996, Banga spent 13 years working for Nestle in India and two years at Pepsico. He then held several jobs with increasing responsibility, including CEO of Citigroup’s Asia-Pacific area.
- Also, he served on the executive and senior leadership committees of Citi.
- After 12 years as CEO of Mastercard, he announced his retirement in December 2021. Administration officials noted that during his tenure there, he helped 500 million unbanked people enter the digital economy, prevented the bank from laying off 19,000 workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, and oversaw work on climate change, gender equality, and sustainable agriculture.
- He has worked at Mastercard in a variety of capacities for more than 30 years. He has also served on the boards of Dow Inc., Kraft Foods, and the American Red Cross.
- The President of India presented Ajay with the Padma Shri Award in 2016, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and the Global Leadership Award from the Business Council for International Understanding in 2019, and the Outstanding Friends of Singapore Public Service Star in 2021.
