Mastercard announces country manager for Saudi Arabia

Mastercard, a leading technology company in the global payments industry, has announced the appointment of J. K. Khalil as the company’s country manager for the Kingdom, effective Sept. 1.
“With his extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of the local market, Khalil will be in charge of promoting strategic growth, enhancing Mastercard’s operations in the Kingdom and maximizing value to its local customers in the market, one of the company’s largest markets in the Middle East and Africa region,” a press release said.
Basel El-Tell, general manager, Saudi Arabia and Levant, Mastercard, said: “The Saudi market is one of the most important pillars of our strategic growth plans for Middle East and Africa. Khalil’s appointment comes at a time when we are actively working toward expanding the reach of our products and services in this booming market, in line with the goals of the National Transformation Program 2020 and Saudi Vision 2030. In view of the Kingdom’s strong push for digital transformation and heavy investments in advanced technologies, we are looking ahead to contributing toward the Kingdom’s overarching economic goals, and playing a bigger role in shaping the future of its payments ecosystem.”
Khalil joined Mastercard in 2016 armed with 13 years of experience spanning financial services, technology and payment solutions. Prior to joining Mastercard, Khalil served as senior manager at Booz & Company and has also worked with a number of international banking groups such as BNP Paribas and Barclays.
Khalil holds an MBA from the University of Chicago in the US as well as a bachelor’s degree in computer systems and software from the Faculty of Engineering at the St. Joseph University of Beirut.