Michael Berner serves as Senior Vice President, Head South and East Africa as part of the Central Europe, Middle East and Africa region. In his role, he oversees Visa’s business operations in twenty-four countries and four offices in South and East Africa. His focus is on digitizing cash, driving wider digital acceptance, and promoting financial inclusion in the diverse markets of the region. Michael joined Visa in 2019 as Country Manager for Russia, bringing more than 20 years of professional experience across multiple disciplines in financial services. In 2022-24 he was responsible for Merchant Partnerships and Acceptance growth in 87 markets of CEMA region. Under his leadership, Visa signed exclusive deals with the largest regional airlines – Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad, Kenya Airways and the others and launched premium co-branded cards with the leading issuers in the respective markets. Michael was also overseeing growth in locations, which accepted Visa cards – from around 6M in 2021 to 13M in 2024. Prior to Visa, Michael was with Citibank, the largest Global Bank by geographical presence and his career spanned across Russia where was Managing Director, Member of the Executive Board and Consumer Business Manager and the UK, where he managed credit card sales for 24 markets of EMEA Region. Michael holds two Master’s degrees – in engineering and in finance from top Russian Universities. He also completed a number of postgraduate programs in Columbia Business School, University of California, Berkeley and Harvard University.