Jim McCarthy

Jim McCarthy’s experience lies at the intersection of commerce and innovation. As Visa’s executive vice president of Innovation & Strategic Partnerships, McCarthy is responsible for developing the company’s innovation efforts. Under his leadership, consumers and merchants alike now have the Visa Token Service, a new security technology that has become the standard for payment security and fraud prevention in mobile payments. Jim oversees Visa’s open platform program, Visa Developer, which offers access to Visa products and services via readily consumable APIs in an effort to enable speed to market and enhance overall client experiences. Earlier in his Visa tenure, McCarthy was Head of Emerging Products for Visa USA, where he drove the coordination, deployment and management of emerging products and payment services. Prior to joining Visa in 1999, McCarthy worked at IBM where he served as the senior client representative to Bank of America.

Mr. James F. McCarthy, Jim, serves as Global Head of Innovation & Strategic Partnerships at Visa Inc. Mr. McCarthy served as Global Head of Product for Visa Inc., with responsibility for all aspects of product strategy and development in consumer and business products, as well as platform development and commercial information management. Mr. McCarthy is accountable for the global interoperability of Visa’s products and services; developing new channel solutions and technology support; building alliances and solutions for new products, technologies, platforms and market segment penetration; and product analytics.

Previously, he was head of North America Financial Institution Sales, overseeing card issuer relationships and leading sales strategy and execution in the United States and Canada. In this role, he and his team of sales and marketing professionals were responsible for maximizing opportunities and growth for Visa’s clients. He also previously served as head of global consumer products for Visa Inc. In this role, he was responsible for global business strategy, product management and analytic services for Visa’s consumer products, including credit, debit and ATM products, and prepaid. Prior to this role, he was senior vice president of consumer credit and cross platform products for Visa USA, responsible for the business strategy and product management of Visa’s consumer credit card business – including the successful relaunch of Visa Signature, Visa’s premium credit product for affluent consumers – and the development and oversight of cross platform initiatives including bill payment, Verified by Visa, e-commerce and card enhancement programs.

Earlier in his Visa tenure, he managed the Emerging Products team for Visa USA, where he drove the coordination, deployment and management of emerging products and payment services in the United States, including the development of Verified by Visa, an identity verification product that has become the standard for payment security and fraud prevention in e-commerce.

Prior to joining Visa in 1999, he worked at IBM where he served as the senior client representative to Bank of America. In that role, he was responsible for direct sales and account management including marketing, technology solutions and the development of joint business strategies. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the College of William and Mary in 1986.