Payal currently serves as the Senior Vice President, Social Impact, International Markets at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. She joined the Center in April 2018, oversees the Center’s philanthropic investments around the globe and manages the Center’s international team across Dubai, Waterloo, Miami, New York and Singapore. Previously, she was Head of Global Community Programs for Standard Chartered Bank. In this capacity, she designed the Bank’s new community investment strategy and oversaw all programs related to education, girls’ empowerment, global health, emergency response, and disaster relief. Payal joined Standard Chartered in July 2008 as the Head of Public Affairs for the Americas.

With a professional background in international philanthropy and politics, Payal has worked for a wide range of public sector organisations including the World Affairs Council, the Global Philanthropy Forum and the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Payal also worked on foreign policy for the Office of President William J. Clinton. In 2014, President and Secretary Clinton appointed Payal to be a program advisor to the Clinton Global Initiative; she continued in this role until CGI ceased in 2016.

Payal has extensive experience in financial services as well. Prior to joining Standard Chartered, she worked on the launch of the AT&T Universal Savings and Reward Card for Citi. Payal serves as a trustee for Global Impact UK and Women Win and is a fellow at the RSA and the Institute for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability. In 2020, she was appointed to the Advisory Group for the WE EMPOWER G-7 program of UN Women and the Working Group on Financial Health of the UN Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development.

A Texas native, Payal has a BA with Honours from Stanford University and an MBA and an MPA from New York University.