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On February 23, 2023, US President Joe Biden nominated former Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga to lead World Bank.
Ajaypal Singh Banga was born on November 10, 1959, to Indian Army officer Harbhajan Singh Banga and Jaswant Banga in Pune, Maharashtra.
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The 63-year-old completed his bachelor's degree in economics from Delhi's St. Stephen's College and then went on to pursue an MBA degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
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Ajay Banga started his career with Nestle in India and later worked with Citigroup in India and Malaysia.
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Banga has over 30 years of business experience. He has served in various roles at Mastercard and on the boards of Kraft Foods, the American Red Cross, and Dow Inc.
At Mastercard, Banga is known for helping 500 million unbanked people join the digital economy, averting layoffs of 19,000 Mastercard employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, and leading work on gender, climate, and sustainable agriculture.
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In 2015, Ajay Banga also worked with President Obama, who appointed him as a member of the President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.
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In 2016, Ajay Banga was honoured with the Padma Shri Award by the President of India.
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In December 2021, Ajay Banga retired from Mastercard Inc, after serving 12 years at the helm of the bank.
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Now a US citizen, Banga currently serves as the Vice Chairman of U.S. private equity firm General Atlantic.
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He is also the co-chair of the Partnership for Central America, where he worked with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.
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Banga is also a founding trustee of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, a member of the Trilateral Commission, Chairman Emeritus of the American India Foundation, and a former member of the National Committee on US-China Relations.
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President Biden, while announcing his nomination for World Bank President, added that Ajay Banga “has critical experience mobilising public-private resources to tackle the most urgent challenges of our time, including climate change.”
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