INVESTING IN THE REGION
By Debra Solomon Baker
Michael Manchisi
chief technology officer,
MasterCard
“There are some things money can’t buy, for everything else there’s ________________________.”
Most people could, quickly,
easily, fill in the blank (even without Google).
The answer, of course, is MasterCard.
However, the following question might prove to be more of a stumper.
Where is this company, so known for its “priceless” advertisement, actually headquartered? A. Toronto? B. New York City? C. Chicago? D. None of the Above?
The answer is “D.” MasterCard, with its technology headquarters
(the company’s largest facility) in O’Fallon, Mo., is the “hometown card” of St. Louis.
In fact, Chief Technology Officer Michael Manchisi, attributes the
company’s success to the MasterCard Worldwide Network, which was designed by engineers in St. Louis. In 2008, MasterCard processed
21 billion transactions with an
average response time of 140 milliseconds, operating in 210 countries and territories and in 160 currencies.
Manchisi, who has seen many changes in his more than 20 years with the company, anticipates that the power and reach of technology will continue to shift everything.
“We live in an amazing time,” he says. “Look at the changes in banking, shopping, driving, music, mass communication, medical care, everything! Having grown up in
the age of computing, people of the current generation are ‘digital natives,’ impacting so much of what my generation, ‘digital immigrants,’ took for granted.”
Manchisi describes himself as a strong collaborator looking to build consensus, and says, at MasterCard, he is fortunate to be surrounded by incredibly smart and creative people.
“It’s very gratifying when we pull people together to address an issue or solve a problem and there is just so much mental energy and imagination in the room,” he says. “You know you’re going to come up with more than just a few great ideas.”
Particularly exciting for Manchisi, professionally, right now are the changes in the means by which
payments are made. From fast food restaurants to convenience stores, pharmacies, and mass transit, customers are now using PayPass technology, the “tap-and-go” contactless payment cards. In addition, according to Manchisi, mobile banking usage will grow from an estimated 10 million active users in 2009 to more than 53 million active users in 2013, representing a compound annual growth rate of 51.8 percent.
When not hanging around at MasterCard, Manchisi can be spotted rockin’ all over town playing guitar and singing with his band, Witlite—www.witeliteonline.com. The “best of” collection can be found on iTunes.
“Priceless.”
LEADERSHIP CIRCLE
INSIGHTS
If it were suddenly gone, what website
would you miss the most, professionally
or personally? Why?
“The website I would miss the most would be AOL. I was one of the first users of Mosaic, the web browser founded by National Center for Supercomputing Applications that led to the Internet boom in the early 1990’s. Several years before Mosaic ended in 1997, I began using AOL 3.0 for Windows 3.x.”
“Today, I use AOL to read the national and world news, participate in U.S. polls, check the stock market, get my local weather reports, and to access my e-mail account. So, for nearly fifteen years, I have begun and ended my day in front of a computer screen with AOL as my home page. I would simply be lost without it.”
Dr. zelema Harris
chancellor,
St. Louis Community College
“I would miss e3thos.com because it is the most comprehensive online video network available. I can receive current news, view prime time shows that I have missed from the previous day or I can hear politically charged information that keeps me on my toes.”
Clifford Franklin
president & CEO,
FUSE Inc.
For more information on the Leadership Circle, please contact Colin Stahlhut, vice president-membership services, (314) 444-1145 or cstahlhut@stlrcga.org
