Reeta Roy heads a Toronto-based charitable foundation with a brand name that is, you might say, priceless. Ms. Roy, 44, is CEO of the MasterCard Foundation, which was founded by the huge credit-card issuer as part of its initial public offering in 2006. The foundation, with more than $1-billion (U.S.) in assets and a global mandate to help alleviate poverty, is the largest shareholder of MasterCard with more than 13 per cent. After a spectacular rise, the value of that stake has been eroded as shares have plunged about 60 per cent since June.
What does your foundation do?
Our mission is to provide economic opportunity for people around the world. We focus on two areas, microfinance and youth education.
Microfinance means small loans?
Essentially. It is a way of providing financial services for the very poor and delivering them in a way that is affordable and equitable.
We're talking about very tiny loans - $50, $30, sometimes even less than that. Insurance is also very important and, in fact, the No. 1 need for the poor is savings, a safe place to save their money.
Some might say this is just a public relations exercise by MasterCard banks, which are collectively still big shareholders of the company.
Certainly some people could say that, but when you look at the history, the company and its institutions did something very rare in the corporate world. When they decided to go public, they decided to reduce their profits and endow a foundation of our size to do good works in the world. After that, they made us completely independent, with our own board, our own decision-making - and the grants we do pursue are ours to decide.
Why are you based in Toronto?
One of the key reasons is the foundation wanted to be located in a place that would make a statement to the world. Because of our global mandate, we were looking for a city that would reflect the ethnic diversity, the whole cross-cultural crossroads, and Toronto seems a fabulous place to do that. It is quite an exciting city - very, very progressive.
Do any of your microfinance plans involve Canada?
When we came to Canada, we wanted to look at opportunities where this approach might work here and in other industrial countries - where there are gaps. To date, we haven't found quite the right model to work with, but we would be open to that if there were some innovative ideas.
We are really looking at populations living below the poverty line, who have been marginalized by the economic system for whatever reason, but who would like to be economically active. The other piece we are looking for is good partners with well-founded ideas about how to connect people to the system.
Your shares in MasterCard are under considerable pressure. Does that have any impact on your ability to lend?
We don't lend directly - we make grants to organizations that in turn either lend or do other kinds of programs to assist the poor. We're in the fortunate position that we're just starting out as an organization.
That said, no one is immune to the global economic crisis. What is important is the people we are trying to help are most affected by this crisis. We're trying to take a long-term view. These are complex and large issues which will take a long time to solve.
How much do you personally earn?
They pay me well. I would say to anyone looking for a job in philanthropy: If you are looking for substantial enrichment in terms of your life, in being stretched intellectually, in getting up every single day and feeling so powerful and committed, this is a tremendous place to make a career.
The big income is in seeing changes. As I travel to many of these countries, I sit under trees or in someone's home that is little more than a hut and I hear stories about how their lives have changed. The poor have a very powerful but tangible way of communicating how change happens.
I was in Bangladesh recently and I met a woman who was on her third loan and she had bought three goats and now was on to two cows. I asked about how her life was different from a year ago and the first thing she said was today we can eat three times a day and my children can go to school. She pointed at her roof and said, "See that, I now have a roof. I didn't have a roof before."
Do you come from a background of social commitment?
You could say it is a little bit in my DNA. Both of my parents were in the public health service when I was growing up in Malaysia. At that time the country was also going through a tremendous transition from what it was then to today's economically strong country.
From a very early age, I remember going to meet people in different villages with my father when he went through immunization drives or other public health things. Those were the seeds and they were very inspirational to me.
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Reeta Roy
Title: President and CEO, The MasterCard Foundation, Toronto
Born: Malaysia in March, 1964
Education:
Master of arts, international relations, Tufts University
Bachelor of arts, St. Andrews Presbyterian College, North Carolina
Career highlights:
Worked at United Nations in economic development, women's rights and human rights.
11 years at Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., working on global health, social responsibility, and private-public partnerships.
Divisional vice-president of global citizenship and policy at Abbott Laboratories; also, vice-president of the Abbott Fund, a global health care and community foundation.
2008: Appointed president of The MasterCard Foundation.