Froman joins Mastercard to oversee global business expansion

Michael Froman, the former top trade official in the Obama administration, is taking a job at Mastercard where he will deploy his years of trade experience to direct the firm’s global business approach. 

President Obama’s former U.S. trade representative will join the company in a newly created role as vice chairman and president of strategic growth.

Froman will focus on managing Mastercard’s global business with governments and nongovernmental organizations while expanding public-private partnerships.

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“We are thrilled to add Mike to our team,” said Ajay Banga, president and CEO of Mastercard.

“At every stop in his career, he has made a real, positive impact, whether it was in the public or the private sector, in international trade, development or finance,” Banga said.

In 2015, Mastercard committed to providing better access to financial services to 500 million new consumers and 40 million small- and medium-sized businesses by 2020.

He will partner with others in the organization to develop and manage products, including the Mastercard Lab for Financial Inclusion in Kenya.

“With Mike at the helm and with these teams working seamlessly together, we can build on our foundation to dramatically advance digital identity, power and water efficiencies, digital payments acceptance, and government benefits as scalable solutions,” Banga said.

Froman joins Mastercard from the Council on Foreign Relations and from the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs. He will continue to serve as a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

From 2013 to 2017, Froman served as the U.S. trade representative, where he worked on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) among a slew of other trade deals. 

Before taking the trade role he was assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for international economic affairs.

Froman will also oversee the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and join the company’s management committee.

Prior to joining the Obama administration, Froman held several executive positions at Citigroup, including CEO of its international insurance business and chief operating officer of its $50 billion alternative investments business. He helped shape the company’s strategy in China, India, Brazil and other emerging markets.

Earlier in his career, he served in the Clinton administration’s Treasury Department.