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.
Randy Kern
Randy Kern is Marqeta’s Chief Technology Officer, responsible for scaling the global engineering team and driving technological advancements across the company. He brings decades of engineering experience to Marqeta.
"Marqeta’s innovative API-led approach is challenging the status quo in payments. This is a company building mission-critical infrastructure that’s solving complex problems in global money movement."
Before Marqeta, Kern spent seven years at Salesforce, where he held the Chief Customer Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Infrastructure Engineering roles. While at Salesforce he was responsible for building out a unified tech infrastructure to support the company’s industry-leading enterprise cloud products. Prior to joining Salesforce, he spent several years at Microsoft, most recently as Partner Director of Development. At Microsoft, he led development for its Azure Compute team and in his time at the company had a focus on highly technical engineering projects, working on many of Microsoft’s most popular products, including Bing.
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 Legal Officer, responsible for overseeing Marqeta’s 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.
Our board of directors
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.
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. Prior to joining Citigroup, Mr. Linville served in various leadership roles at American Express Company, a publicly traded multinational financial services corporation, from October 1989 to October 2010, including as President and Chief Executive Officer of Consumer Services, President of the U.S. Consumer Card Services Group and President of Corporate Services.
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.
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 served in several roles with Banco Santander, S.A., a publicly traded multinational financial services company, between October 2006 and September 2012, including Managing Director, Head of North America Financial Sponsors and Managing Director, Chief Risk Officer for Banco Santander S.A., New York Branch, and was Senior Vice President, Latin America Capital Markets Risk from September 1997 to April 2001.
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.
Kiran Prasad
Head of Product – Nextdoor
Mr. Prasad has served on our board of directors since September 2022. Since May 2021, Mr. Prasad has served as Head of Product at Nextdoor 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. Prior to that, Mr. Prasad was Vice President of Engineering for LinkedIn from 2014-2017, after serving as Senior Director, Engineering, Mobile from 2011-2014. Mr. Prasad holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Computational Mathematics from Michigan State University and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Michigan.
Gerri Elliott
Chief Sales and Marketing Officer – Cisco
Ms. Elliott has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2021. She has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Customer & Partner Officer at Cisco Systems, Inc., a publicly traded networking technology company, since April 2018. From July 2009 to March 2014, Ms. Elliott held positions of increasing responsibility at Juniper Networks, Inc., a publicly traded networking company, most recently serving as Executive Vice President, Strategic Advisor and Chief Customer Officer. Before joining Juniper Networks, Ms. Elliott held a series of senior executive positions at Microsoft Corporation, a publicly traded technology company, from September 2001 to December 2008, including as Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Public Sector. Prior to Microsoft, Ms. Elliott spent 22 years at International Business Machines Corporation, a publicly traded technology and consulting company, where she held executive and management positions in North America and Asia Pacific in sales, services, consulting, strategy development, and product management.
Ms. Elliott has served on the board of directors of Whirlpool Corporation, a publicly traded home appliances company, since February 2014. Ms. Elliott was previously a director of Marvell Technology Group Ltd., a publicly traded data infrastructure company, from July 2017 to July 2018, Mimecast Limited, a publicly traded cloud services company, from November 2017 to April 2018, Imperva, Inc., a cybersecurity company that was publicly traded until its acquisition by Thoma Bravo in 2019, from August 2015 to May 2018, and Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc., a publicly traded merchandise retailer, from February 2014 to July 2017. Ms. Elliott is the founder of Broadrooms.com, a website dedicated to executive women who serve or want to serve on corporate boards. Ms. Elliott holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from New York University.
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. From 2011 to 2015, Ms. Riley was the Senior Finance Director of Global Marketing and Global General Administration at Google LLC, a multinational technology company and subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. Ms. Riley held various other positions in finance at Google from 2003 to 2011.
Ms. Riley currently serves on the board of directors of Eventbrite Inc., a publicly traded global service ticketing platform. She also serves on the board of directors of WildAid, a wildlife conservation non-profit organization. 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.
Arnon Dinur
Partner – 83 North
Mr. Dinur has served as a member of our board of directors since September 2013. Since June 2009, Mr. Dinur has served as a Partner at 83North, a venture capital firm. Previously, from November 2006 to June 2009, Mr. Dinur led mobile strategy at SanDisk Corporation, a publicly traded Flash memory card company, as Senior Vice President after joining SanDisk Corporation in connection with the acquisition of Msystems Ltd, in 2006. From July 2002 to November 2006, Mr. Dinur served in several roles, including Senior Vice President of Strategy and M&A and Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the DiskOnKey division, at Msystems, a producer of flash memory storage products.
Mr. Dinur currently serves on the board of directors of a number of privately held companies. Mr. Dinur holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from Tel Aviv University.
Godfrey Sullivan
Former President and CEO - 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. Prior to Splunk, Mr. Sullivan held several executive roles at Hyperion Solutions Corporation, a performance management software company acquired by Oracle Corporation in April 2007, most recently as President and Chief Executive Officer from October 2001 to April 2007. Mr. Sullivan has served as a member of the board of directors of CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc., a publicly traded cybersecurity company, since December 2017, Ring Central, Inc., a publicly traded software-as-a-service solutions provider, since April 2019, and Gitlab Inc., a publicly traded devops platform company, since January 2020.
Mr. Sullivan previously served on 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, Citrix Systems, Inc., a publicly traded enterprise software company, from February 2005 to June 2018, and Informatica Corporation, a publicly traded software development company, from January 2008 to June 2013. Mr. Sullivan holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Real Estate and Economics from the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University.
Najuma Atkinson
Chief People Officer – Hasbro, Inc.
Ms. Atkinson has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2023. Ms. Atkinson has served as Chief People Officer of Hasbro, Inc., a publicly traded play and entertainment company, since May 2022 and previously served as Hasbro’s 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.
