Our executive team
Simon Khalaf
Simon is Marqeta’s Chief Executive Officer, leading the company’s strategic direction, development and delivery of the company’s products. Simon is a veteran product leader, entrepreneur and investor with over 25 years of experience in B2C and B2B companies. He’s passionate about building, scaling and distributing products that have the power to delight hundreds of millions of consumers, businesses and developers.
Simon has a keen ability to work with diverse teams of all sizes, from small startups to large, multi-thousand-person global teams. He is a team builder and player who is always focused on attracting, mentoring and learning from top talent. Simon invests in the growth and success of his team members and colleagues.
“Marqeta is the engine and developer-focused platform behind the brands that are revolutionizing the payments industry. We empower innovation internally and focus on delivering disruptive products that enable our customers to build solutions that change the way money moves.”
Prior to Marqeta, Simon played a key role in helping to build four different companies from scratch, including Flurry, Inc, which was acquired by Yahoo, where he was the CEO. He’s also held a number of leadership roles at Twilio, Yahoo, Novell, and Worldtalk. Simon graduated from Syracuse University with a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and also has a Bachelor of Engineering degree with a major in Electrical Engineering from the American University of Beirut.
Mike Milotich
Mike Milotich is Marqeta’s Chief Financial Officer, leading the financial planning, corporate development, accounting, settlement and investor relations functions at the company. Prior to joining Marqeta, Mike was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations at Visa, responsible for understanding Visa’s business and financial performance, managing the corporate outlook, evaluating M&A opportunities and communicating with the global investor community.
"Marqeta is helping innovators build and deliver the future of payments at global scale. Our strong customer centricity will continue to propel us forward and help capture the massive opportunity in front of us for years to come."
Prior to Visa, Mike worked at PayPal and American Express in business analysis roles supporting new product launches, product portfolio strategy, partner pricing and cost optimization. Mike holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a MBA from New York University. Mike lives in the Bay Area and enjoys spending time with family and friends, loves a great meal and is an avid sports fan.
Todd Pollak
Todd Pollak is Marqeta’s Chief Revenue Officer, responsible for leading the company’s go to market teams, overseeing the company’s revenue strategy, how it positions itself in the industry, serves prospects and supports customers.
“Marqeta has an A-list customer base, a product with proven scale and clear product-market fit. This is a company with an opportunity to help upend how consumers and businesses globally access their money and make payments.”
Before Marqeta, Pollak spent four years at Ancestry as Chief Commercial Officer, overseeing the company’s marketing, product strategy and commercialization teams. Before Ancestry, he spent 13 years at Google serving as managing director in the financial and retail sectors. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and History from the University of Michigan, and lives in San Francisco with his wife, dog and two daughters.
Crystal Sumner
Crystal Sumner is Marqeta’s Chief Administrative Officer, responsible for overseeing Marqeta’s people team and global legal and regulatory affairs. Crystal brings over a decade of experience leading and scaling legal, compliance and administrative organizations, and applying her deep legal and regulatory background to bring innovative products and services to global markets amidst an evolving regulatory landscape.
“Marqeta is behind many of today’s most innovative payment products. Our deep expertise and world-class customer base has laid the foundation for what’s possible with modern card issuing, opening the door to the opportunities ahead as financial services become more embedded in our everyday lives.”
Prior to Marqeta, Crystal worked at Blend for over six years as the Head of Legal, Compliance and Risk, overseeing the legal, compliance, government relations, and information security teams. In the early part of her career, Crystal was a founding Enforcement Attorney at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She holds a BA from Texas Tech University, and a JD from UC Berkeley School of Law. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and daughter.
Fouzi Husaini
Fouzi Husaini is Marqeta’s Chief Technology and Artificial Intelligence Officer, where he will scale Marqeta’s technology and AI organization to help accelerate and expand the rollout of additional key features into Marqeta’s platform.
“Payments is inherently a data-driven business, and its potential to harness AI to solve complex customer problems is enormous. I'm excited to transform how we leverage this wealth of data to build smarter, more innovative solutions for Marqeta customers while maintaining a relentless focus on operational excellence, security, and resilience with our technology platforms."
Most recently, Fouzi served as the Vice President of Machine Learning Engineering at Capital One, where he focused on building machine learning models to support Capital One’s credit products and services, including marketing, fraud, small business, and more. Before Capital One, he led technical teams at Amazon that delivered customer-facing experiences to Alexa customers, and also focused on Amazon’s machine learning risk platform to detect and prevent fraudulent orders placed on Amazon. Fouzi holds a bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly SLO and lives in the Bay Area with his family.
Rahul Shah
Rahul Shah is the Chief Product and Engineering Officer at Marqeta, where he is responsible for building innovative products and leading a world-class engineering team. Most recently, Rahul served as the SVP of Sales and Customer Success at Branch, a deep linking platform supporting over 75,000 mobile apps.
"Marqeta is at the forefront of building and distributing innovative payment solutions on a global scale. By embracing the future of embedded financial services, we’re delivering exceptional products that transform everyday payment experiences."
Previously, Rahul led Global Customer Success at Applause and also held leadership positions at PayPal and GE. He holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from UMass, Amherst and an MBA from University of California, Berkeley. Rahul lives in the Bay Area with his wife and two children.
Our board of directors
Simon Khalaf
Chief Executive Officer
Simon is Marqeta’s Chief Executive Officer, leading the company’s strategic direction, development and delivery of the company’s products. Simon is a veteran product leader, entrepreneur and investor with over 25 years of experience in B2C and B2B companies. He’s passionate about building, scaling and distributing products that have the power to delight hundreds of millions of consumers, businesses and developers.
Simon has a keen ability to work with diverse teams of all sizes, from small startups to large, multi-thousand-person global teams. He is a team builder and player who is always focused on attracting, mentoring and learning from top talent. Simon invests in the growth and success of his team members and colleagues.
Prior to Marqeta, Simon played a key role in helping to build four different companies from scratch, including Flurry, Inc, which was acquired by Yahoo, where he was the CEO. He’s also held a number of leadership roles at Twilio, Yahoo, Novell, and Worldtalk. Simon graduated from Syracuse University with a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and also has a Bachelor of Engineering degree with a major in Electrical Engineering from the American University of Beirut.
Judson (Jud) C. Linville
Senior Advisor – General Atlantic LLC
Mr. Linville has served as a member of our board of directors since May 2020. Since October 2019, Mr. Linville has served as a Senior Advisor at General Atlantic LLC, a global growth equity firm. He previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of Global Cards and Consumer Services at Citigroup Inc., a publicly traded global financial services institution, from November 2010 to September 2018. Mr. Linville currently serves as a member of the Board of Visitors of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and as a member of the Board of Trustees of Lafayette College. Mr. Linville holds a Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology from the College of Medicine at Drexel University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Lafayette College.
Jason Gardner
Founder and Executive Chairman
Jason Gardner is the founder and Executive Chairman of Marqeta, Inc. He was Marqeta’s founding CEO from 2010 to 2023, leading the company through its IPO on the NASDAQ (Ticker: MQ) in June 2021 before transitioning into the Executive Chairman role in January 2023. In his role as Executive Chairman, Jason provides leadership and direction to Marqeta’s Board of Directors, serves as a liaison between management and the board and as a strategic advisor to the CEO, contributes to product strategy, and acts as a culture carrier and ambassador for Marqeta.
Jason pioneered Modern Card Issuing, and in 13 years as CEO, helped establish Marqeta as the global standard for open platform issuing and processing, empowering some of the world’s most innovative companies to bring game-changing payment card products into the world. In 2020, Jason was named an E&Y Entrepreneur Of The Year and one of the Most Admired CEOs by the San Francisco Business Times. Regularly quoted in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, and Bloomberg and interviewed on CNBC, CNN, and MSNBC, Jason is considered an expert on global electronic payment systems, the fintech ecosystem and entrepreneurship.
Marqeta is Jason’s third company. He co-founded PropertyBridge, which was acquired by MoneyGram International (MGI) in 2007. Before PropertyBridge, he founded Vertical Think, an IT management company that worked with start-ups and larger organizations. Jason grew up in New Jersey, where he had numerous businesses that included making and selling tie-dyed T-shirts. After a stint with Senator John McCain’s office while a college student, Jason made it to California, where he began to pursue his passion for technology. Jason earned a Political Science degree from Arizona State University.
Najuma Atkinson
Executive Vice President and Special Advisor People & Culture - Hasbro, Inc.
Ms. Atkinson has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2023. Ms. Atkinson has served as Executive Vice President and Special Advisor People & Culture of Hasbro, Inc., a publicly traded play and entertainment company, since April 2024 and previously served as Hasbro’s Chief People Officer from May 2022 to April 2024 and Executive Vice President of Human Resources from October 2021 to May 2022. From September 2019 to October 2021, Ms. Atkinson served as Senior Vice President of Global HR Services for Dell Technologies, Inc., a publicly traded information technology company. Prior to that, she served in various positions of responsibility at Dell Technologies in the Human Resources, Customer Experience, and Strategy functions since 1999. Ms. Atkinson holds a bachelor’s degree from Fisk University in Political Science and a master’s degree in Organizational Management from Trevecca Nazarene University.
Alpesh Chokshi
President – Banyan
Mr. Chokshi has served as President of Rotomaire, Inc., dba Banyan since January 2024. Mr. Chokshi previously served as Global Head of Business Development and Strategy for Personal Banking and Wealth at Citigroup Inc. from August 2018 to December 2023. Mr. Chokshi has also served as a Senior Advisor at Long Ridge Equity Partners and Zenon since January 2024. Prior to Citigroup, he served as Head of National Accounts at Visa, a publicly traded financial technology company, from 2015 to 2018. Prior to joining Visa, Mr. Chokshi served in various leadership roles at American Express Company, a publicly traded multinational financial services corporation, from 2001 to 2015. Mr. Chokshi holds an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Economics, both from the University of Pennsylvania.
Martha Cummings
Former Executive Vice President – Wells Fargo Bank
Ms. Cummings has served as a member of our board of directors since January 2021. From July 2018 to March 2020, Ms. Cummings served as Executive Vice President, Head of Compliance Strategy & Operations at Wells Fargo Bank N.A., a publicly traded global financial services company. Previously, from October 2012 to June 2018, Ms. Cummings served as Senior Vice President and Senior Supervisory Officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Ms. Cummings holds a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of Business and a Master of Arts in International Studies from the Lauder Institute of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Minnesota.
R. Mark Graf
Former Chief Financial Officer - Discover Financial Services
Mr. Graf served as Chief Financial Officer of Discover Financial Services, a publicly traded financial services company, from April 2011 to September 2019. He has served on the board of directors of Harmony Biosciences Holdings, Inc., a publicly traded commercial- stage pharmaceutical company since November 2020, and Signet Jewelers Limited, a publicly traded retail jeweler, since July 2017. Mr. Graf holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Kiran Prasad
Head of Product – Nextdoor
Mr. Prasad has served as a member of our board of directors since September 2022. From May 2021 to November 2023, Mr. Prasad served as Head of Product at Next Door Holdings, Inc., a publicly traded internet-related services company. He previously served as Vice President of Product for LinkedIn, a networking-focused social media platform and subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation, from January 2018 to April 2021. Mr. Prasad holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Computational Mathematics from Michigan State University and a Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of Michigan.
Helen Riley
Chief Financial Officer – X Development LLC
Ms. Riley has served as a member of our board of directors since May 2020. Since June 2015, Ms. Riley has served as the Chief Financial Officer at X Development LLC, a research and development company and subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., a publicly traded internet-related services and products company. Ms. Riley currently serves on the board of directors of Eventbrite Inc., a publicly traded global service ticketing platform. Ms. Riley holds a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and a Master of Arts from the University of Oxford.
Godfrey Sullivan
Former President and Chief Executive Officer - Splunk, Inc.
Mr. Sullivan has served on our board of directors since May 2021. Mr. Sullivan previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Splunk, Inc., a publicly traded big data company, from September 2008 to November 2015 and as a member of the board of directors of Splunk, Inc. from December 2011 to June 2019, including as chairman of the board of directors from December 2011 until March 2019. Mr. Sullivan has served as a member of the board of directors of CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc., a publicly traded cybersecurity company, since December 2017 and Gitlab Inc., a publicly traded devops software company, since January 2020. Mr. Sullivan previously served on the board of directors of Citrix Systems, Inc., a publicly traded enterprise software company, from February 2005 to June 2018. Mr. Sullivan holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Real Estate and Economics from the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University.
