As a trusted network powering the global economy, Visa is uniquely positioned to foster progress through connection, bringing more people and businesses closer to the digital economy. The Visa Economic Empowerment Institute (the Institute) draws on insights from our global payments network to provide evidence-based research that supports innovation, entrepreneurship and smart public policy.
In response to an increasingly complex policy landscape, Visa is elevating the role of the Institute — expanding its Advisory Council and introducing a new community of non-resident Senior Fellows. These strategic moves are designed to help governments and financial institutions unlock growth, enhance trust in digital ecosystems and strengthen economic resilience.
Head of Global Policy at Visa Todd Fox will serve as President of the Institute, bringing a new level of visibility and vision to the Visa Economic Empowerment Institute’s global mission.
Rewarding bold ideas and responsible innovation
The Visa Economic Empowerment Institute leverages Visa’s global reach to understand how the spread of payments technology impacts economies and communities globally. At its core is a belief that payments can be a powerful force for good — empowering consumers, supporting businesses of all sizes and reducing the frictions that stifle economic progress. By accelerating the digitization of payments, both public and private stakeholders can help accelerate the path to uplifting communities everywhere. With the expansion of its Advisory Council, the Institute will share key insights with policymakers, scholars and industry leaders to help shape a more inclusive financial future.
Fresh voices to guide economic empowerment
Since its launch in October 2023, the Visa Economic Empowerment Institute’s Advisory Council has brought together leading voices at the intersection of industry and policy. The Council now grows stronger with the addition of two distinguished members:
- Dr. Loretta Mester: After a decade-long tenure as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Dr. Mester offers insights into central banking and monetary policy. Dr. Mester was an influential member of the Federal Open Market Committee and played a key role in engineering the so-called ‘soft landing’: a monetary tightening approach that slows the economy, and inflation, without triggering a recession. She is highly respected in Washington and on Wall Street and is well-known to our clients across the U.S. midwestern states. Dr. Mester is also an adjunct professor of finance at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and senior fellow of the Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation.
- Mimi Alemayehou: A leading expert in development finance, Alemayehou has built an expansive career with deep expertise in international finance, development and payments in emerging markets, centered primarily on Africa. She is a managing partner at Semai Ventures, a boutique advisory firm focused on emerging markets. She currently serves as a senior advisor at Three Cairns Group, a mission-driven investment firm. President Obama appointed Alemayehou to serve as executive vice president at the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and in that role she helped grow the portfolio by more than 24 percent to $18 billion. Alemayehou was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as U.S. Representative on the board of the African Development Bank.
Dr. Mester and Alemayehou join Advisory Council Chair Dr. Axel Weber, Lord Jonathan Hill and Ambassador Koji Tsuruoka, further building a council that spans both continents and disciplines.
Research in action
These distinguished scholars and practitioners contribute to Visa’s research agenda, bringing their perspectives to bear on the most complex problems in the global payment system.
- Ambassador Demetrios Marantis has deep expertise in helping public and private companies integrate geopolitical, regulatory, sustainability and philanthropic priorities into their strategy and risk management. A former Acting and Deputy United States Trade Representative and member of President Obama’s Cabinet, Ambassador Marantis also brought his experience negotiating trade agreements to senior executive roles at JPMorgan Chase, Visa and Square. Ambassador Marantis was recently elected to be President of the National Foreign Trade Council Foundation.
- Dr. Kati Suominen brings experience in enabling international trade through technology, data and analytics. Earlier in her career, she served as trade economist at the Inter-American Development Bank working on global trade policy issues with other multilateral organizations like Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Trade Organization, and as a fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Dr. Suominen is the author and editor of more than 120 papers and 10 peer-reviewed books on trade, globalization and technology.
- Dr. Peter Conti-Brown is an associate professor of financial regulation, legal studies and business ethics at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. A financial historian and a legal scholar, Dr. Conti-Brown studies central banking, financial regulation and public finance, with a particular focus on the history and policies of the U.S. Federal Reserve System. He is the author of many books, most recently Private Finance, Public Power: A History of Bank Supervision in America (Princeton University Press, June 2025).
These global experts and seasoned diplomats share Visa’s commitment to advancing economic empowerment — and bring fresh, essential perspectives to today’s payments policy dialogue. Together, they represent more than a century of collective experience across finance, innovation and global development.
By bringing together world-class expertise, Visa is helping shape a payments ecosystem where technology expands access and opportunity. With this deepened bench of insight, the Institute is poised to partner across the public and private sectors to co-create a future where innovation drives inclusive growth — and individuals, communities and economies can truly thrive.