Inside the Circles

An inclusive workplace that champions positive social impact inside and outside of its walls is not a nice-to-have – it’s a necessity, says Mastercard’s Chief Inclusion Officer Randall Tucker.

In the latest episode of “Inside the Circles,” host Latoya Bennett-Johnson sits down with Tucker to discuss his career journey, Mastercard’s In Solidarity commitment to helping close the racial wealth gap, and the genesis of the initiative following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.

Floyd’s death sent shockwaves throughout the U.S. and beyond, and the protest movement that arose in its wake led companies to reevaluate how to better serve the Black community. At Mastercard, Tucker says he and other executives “dropped everything” to develop a genuine and thoughtful plan of action.

To hear more from Bennet-Johnson and Tucker, including a lighting round of Black History Month-themed questions, dive into the episode now.

SPECIAL EDITION: Since this special edition of "Inside the Circles" revolves around the dual manager relationship, we thought it would make perfect sense to chat with two execs who are no stranger to the above - especially during this time of objective setting.

Recorded inside Mastercard's Storylab, guest host Chris Meyrick, executive vice president, Human Resources, International Markets chats with Jennifer Rademaker, executive vice president, Global Customer Delivery and Carlo Enrico, president, Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region.

So why are dual reporting lines so vital? Carlo sums it up nicely. "We are a global company because we are in a global business. We have a global brand. We have global products and solutions and we need to have a global organization to run our global strategy," he says. "At the same time, however, we need to serve local needs and cooperation across business lines is the name of the game. The dual management infrastructure is definitely a key tool."

Grab some java because Jennifer and Carlo bring us some fabulous insight and will surely spark inspiration for your own objective setting. It's a must-listen...

On the latest episode of “Inside the Circles,” Mastercard’s podcast about the future of work and the topics of now, host Latoya Bennett-Johnson sat down with Chad Wallace, who is the executive vice president and global head of Commercial Solutions. After a robust career with Goldman Sachs and Capital One, Wallace joined Mastercard a little over a year ago to lead the company’s commercial and B2B businesses, including product, engineering, and sales.

Three years ago, on National Coming Out Day, Wallace penned a letter to his younger self. He had written the draft ten times before he felt comfortable with it. After years, both in his youth and early career, of being reserved and keeping his cards close to his chest, Wallace was ready to raise his voice and put it all out there – the experiences he had growing up as a young gay man in rural Tennessee, the evolving relationships with his family and what it means to show up as your authentic self in your personal and professional life.

Wallace reflects on his letter and all that has occurred in his life that led him to writing it. “Even in some of the toughest things through my life, there were really good things that ended up happening because of that,” says Wallace. “I think I’m a better person at the end of the day because of the things that I went through during my childhood and upbringing.”

On the latest episode of "Inside the Circles," Mastercard’s podcast about the future of work and the topics of now, host Latoya Bennett-Johnson chats with Eva Mudgal and Monica Agarwala about the company’s pathways to bring and keep more women in technology and innovation. Mudgal is an alum of Mastercard's global STEM program Girls4Tech that teaches programmers of tomorrow about algorithms, encryption, fraud detection, data analysis, digital convergence and more. Agarwala joined Mastercard in 2018 as part of "Relaunch Your Career," the company's program designed specifically for professionals who want to rejoin the workforce after a career break.

The pandemic sparked many changes in how we live and work, and among them is how we now center mental health and wellbeing in our lives. Mastercard’s own Future of Work initiatives support the ways people show up as their authentic selves, with the flexibility and understanding to do what’s best for their wellbeing.

On the latest episode of “Inside the Circles,” Mastercard’s podcast about the future of work and the topics of now, host Latoya Bennett-Johnson chats with Schawn Branch, a lead program manager in our Data & Services business and a co-lead for our SALUTE Business Resource Group for veterans, about what can often be a drastic transition for former military members.

A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point who joined Mastercard after a 28-year career in U.S. Army, Branch is passionate about helping those serving find opportunities for employment after leaving the military. He was hired following a 12-week corporate fellowship with the Hiring Our Heroes program that gave him the opportunity work at Mastercard while still enlisted.

The conversation about mental health in the military has evolved significantly, Branch says, from being something not discussed to now being talked about openly. “It takes a lot of strength to ask for help,” he says.