Rich Verma

Rich Verma is chief administrative officer for Mastercard, overseeing the company’s Law, Government Affairs and Policy, Franchise, Corporate Security, and Community and Belonging functions. He is also a member of the company’s Executive Leadership Team and Management Committee. Most recently, he was deputy secretary of state for management and resources from 2023 to 2025. Verma acted as chief operating officer of the U.S. State Department, leading its efforts on modernization, foreign assistance and a wide range of strategic issues. He also previously served as the U.S. ambassador to India, where he led one of the largest U.S. diplomatic missions and championed historic progress in bilateral ties. He is a former assistant secretary of state for Legislative Affairs and national security advisor to the Senate Majority Leader. Verma has been a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, the Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism Commission and the Secretary of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board.

He is a former partner at the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson and the vice chairman of The Asia Group. He also served on the T. Rowe Price corporate board of directors. Rich is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and the recipient of numerous military awards and civilian decorations. He is a board member of the Ford Foundation, and has previously served on the boards for Lehigh University and the National Endowment for Democracy. He is the inaugural President’s Distinguished Fellow at Lehigh and was a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Rich holds a doctorate in International Relations from Georgetown University, a law degree, cum laude, from American University, a Master of Laws with distinction in International Law from Georgetown University Law Center, and a Bachelor of Science from Lehigh University.