New Africa marketing team for MasterCard Worldwide

Mark Hearne

Hearne, previously from Net#work BBDO where he was the advertising strategist for Nedbank, is responsible for developing and executing the overall marketing strategy that will help promote the use of MasterCard products across the Africa region.

He has an MBA in strategic marketing and finance from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management in Sydney, and has more than 15 years experience in marketing, advertising, media and sales.

Prior to joining Net#work BBDO in 2007, he was head brand consultant in the Africa division of the branding and communications group, HKLM, working predominantly in Nigeria and Tanzania on clients ranging from financial services to mobile operators.

Ingrid Keller

Keller joins MasterCard from Publicis South Africa, an internationally-renowned advertising agency, where she worked as account director on a range of clients including L'Oreal and Nestle.

In her new role at MasterCard, Keller will implement MasterCard's regional best practices in order to help increase business opportunities for both customers and the company.

Before joining MasterCard, Keller held several senior-level positions in advertising agencies. Of particular significance is her experience in the financial services sector at Grey South Africa, where she worked for three years overseeing Visa's portfolio.

Anthony West, general manager, Africa, MasterCard Worldwide says, "Mark and Ingrid both bring a wealth of experience in the financial services sector and, in Mark's case, a deep understanding of Africa, which offers great potential for MasterCard in our core business in the region."

"We're confident that they will take their knowledge and past successes to explore and create opportunities with customer financial institutions and merchants across Africa, which will, no doubt, put us in a strong position to maximise the substantial opportunities across Africa," he concluded.