MasterCard today announced the appointment of Will Judge as Vice President focusing on Travel and Transit. Judge will focus on building strong partnerships with European transit providers and identifying major opportunities to work together or the benefit of operating companies and travellers.
Judge was previously Head of Future Ticketing at Transport for London (TfL), the Mayor of London's transport authority, where he was responsible for setting the future evolution path for the successful Oyster contactless smartcard system.
Based in London and reporting to Norbert Gebhard (General Manager, Strategic Alliances), Judge will form a key member of the Strategic Alliances team whose remit is to work with non-traditional partners to improve and extend the payment experience.
This appointment represents further confirmation of MasterCard's strategic focus on the whole consumer travel experience. As part of this commitment MasterCard is looking to improve the consumer experience of everyday travel by introducing innovative technologies such as contactless and mobile for access and fare collection.
Gebhard commented on the appointment: "I'm delighted to welcome Will to MasterCard. We're already working with major travel and transit partners across Europe, with the aim of enabling travellers to benefit from simple payments using smart technology to make their journeys better integrated, quicker and easier. Will's in-depth knowledge and proven track record in the industry will consolidate our position as the partner of choice for transit operators."
Judge spent nine years at TfL in commercial, innovation and finance roles focused on maximising the value of TfL's various public-private partnership infrastructure contracts. Most recently, he was tasked with retaining the passenger and operational benefits of contactless technology while moving away from the vertically-integrated business model used for Oyster to more cost-effective models based on partnerships with the payments industry. Prior to joining TfL, Judge worked as a management consultant in the London office of McKinsey & Company.
Judge said: "I'm pleased to be joining MasterCard at a fascinating moment when the transit ticketing, payments and mobi mobile industries are converging. There are tremendous opportunities to use this convergence to improve the customer experience of transit and to deliver cost efficiencies in ticketing for cities and transport operators. I look forward to bringing the best of MasterCard's technologies to the transit industry."