Executive Director, Center for Inclusive GrowthMasterCard
Parag Mehta is the Executive Director and Senior Vice President of the Center for Inclusive
Growth, the philanthropic hub of Mastercard. He leads a global team of professionals who are
dedicated to ensuring that the benefits of economic growth are broadly shared and who work to
leverage the core competencies and assets of Mastercard to achieve the same. In this role, Parag
oversees the Center’s programs, data philanthropy, research, engagements and partnerships.
For nearly two decades, Parag has been a leader in creating positive social impact. From shaping
evidence-based public policies to organizing large-scale social change movements, he has
worked with diverse groups of stakeholders to advance the common good. He joined the Center in
2017 as Vice President for Strategic Engagement and was charged with building a community of
global influencers to secure the Center’s position as a private-sector leader on inclusive growth.
In 2018, he was promoted to Executive Director and Senior Vice President. Prior to joining Mastercard, Parag served as Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the 19th Surgeon
General of the United States. In that capacity, he organized a series of campaigns to address
some of the most pressing public health issues of our time. Parag also spent more than four years directing communications for a civil rights agency in the US Department of Labor and served on Barack Obama’s presidential transition team as a liaison to the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and to LGBT Americans. Parag has been a member of the U.S. Government’s Senior Executive Service and held a number of leadership positions in advocacy organizations and political campaigns. In 2019, he was elected to Chair the Board of Directors of New American Leaders, a nonpartisan organization which works to place first and second-generation Americans in public offices. He earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Syracuse University.