Patricia Smith Thurman

Patricia Smith Thurman serves as VP/Group Head of Financial Services Information Technology at MasterCard Worldwide. Based at the Global Technology and Operations headquarters in St. Louis, she leads the systems development effort for MasterCard's financial applications, including clearing, settlement, billing and general ledger, dispute resolution and eService systems. Pat has more than 25 years of software development management experience for corporations and financial institutions. She manages a staff of 160 around the world that is responsible for analysis, design, construction, testing, implementation of multiple applications, including the Global Clearing and Settlement Account Management Systems for MasterCard, as well as maintenance of the existing clearing and settlement applications. Named on MasterCard's software patent, which is used in numerous countries, she is responsible for major global software releases that support MasterCard’s transaction clearing and settlement functions which, on peak day, can exceed 100 million transactions.

Previously held MasterCard positions include Vice President, Toronto Development Center (Ontario, Canada). Prior to joining MasterCard, Pat worked in the banking industry, holding various management positions at Citicorp Information Resources and Centered Bank (now Bank of America). At Citicorp, she planned and executed the implementation of Citicorp's first remote application development center in Raleigh, North Carolina; joint-directed the software, hardware and resource consolidation of five independent data centers; opened two remote customer processing and service centers in Baltimore and St. Louis; and managed a remote disaster backup site in Ohio.

Pat has received honors throughout her career. She has been featured in St. Louis Business Journal for her work on MasterCard's System Enhancement Strategy, and in Diversity Magazine for work on MasterCard's first diversity council. US Black Engineers Information and Technology magazine honored her with an award "100 Women Who Make a Difference in Technology" and featured her in the article, "Centurions of Technical Excellence". She was inducted into the "2006 Academy of Leaders" for her corporate leadership.

A big community supporter, she is Co- Vice Chairwoman for the YWCA sponsored Circle of Women event, an annual luncheon benefiting the YWCA St. Louis Regional Sexual Assault Center. She is a Co- Captain for the Charmain Chapman Society, encouraging African American giving. She also serves on the Regional Business Council's Women's Leadership Giving Committee. She is a former executive board member on the Arts and Education Council in St. Louis and also serves as an advisor to Creative Company, a not-for-profit artist group. She is a strong supporter of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology), which combines the excitement of sports with science and technology to create a unique varsity sport for the mind. Pat serves as a judge for the FIRST Robotics Competition, helping high school students discover how rewarding the lives of scientists and engineers can be. Pat was recently elected to the board of directors of YWCA. She is a volunteer teacher for Junior Achievement and a supporter of the "JA in a Day" program. She is an active member of "Friends of the St. Louis Art Museum".

She has a B.A. from St. Louis University, with an emphasis in organizational administration and management information systems.