Richard R. Verma is chief administrative officer for Mastercard, overseeing the company’s Law, Government Affairs and Policy, Franchise, Corporate Security, and Community and Belonging functions. He is also a member of the company’s Executive Leadership Team and Management Committee.

Rich has a distinguished background in public service. From 2023-2025 he was Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, the Chief Operating Officer of the State Department. In this role, Rich managed critical aspects of the Department’s global mission and led the Department’s efforts on modernization, foreign assistance, and a wide range of workforce, consular, security, public diplomacy, and foreign policy issues. He was widely admired for his dedication to the workforce, including his months’ long personal engagement with members of Congress to clear the numerous logjams in the Ambassadorial confirmation process.

Rich also previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to India, where he led one of the largest U.S. diplomatic missions and championed historic progress in bilateral ties. He is a former Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs and was national security advisor to the Senate Majority Leader. Rich has been a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, the Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism Commission, and the Secretary of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board. And he is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy.

Rich also has extensive experience in the private sector. Prior to his most recent State Department tenure, Rich was chief legal officer and head of global public policy at Mastercard. He is a former partner at the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson and the vice chairman of The Asia Group, a global consulting firm. He served on the T. Rowe Price corporate board of directors. He has also served on several non-profit boards, including Lehigh University and the National Endowment for Democracy, and has recently returned to the board of the Ford Foundation.

Rich is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and the recipient of numerous military awards and civilian decorations, including the Meritorious Service Medal, the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award, and the Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship.

A proud Hoya, Rich holds multiple academic degrees, including a doctorate (Ph.D.) from Georgetown University, a law degree (J.D., cum laude) from American University, a Masters in Laws (LLM, with distinction) in International Law from Georgetown University Law Center, and a B.S. from Lehigh University. He was also a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.