Marqeta names Simon Khalaf as CEO

By Edlyn Cardoza

Marqeta, the global modern card issuing platform, announced the appointment of Simon Khalaf as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective from January 31, 2023. Khalaf will also join Marqeta’s Board of Directors. As announced in August, Jason Gardner, Marqeta’s founder, Chairman, and current Chief Executive Officer will become Executive Chairman upon this new appointment. Khalaf joined Marqeta in June of 2022 as Chief Product Officer and has also taken on leadership of the Go-to-Market organisation since last August. Alongside Simon’s appointment, ex-Google and Ancestry Executive Todd Pollak joins the company as Chief Revenue Officer.

“I’m humbled by the opportunity to build upon Jason’s vision for modern card issuing and continue to redefine what cards can do for leading innovators globally,” said Simon Khalaf, incoming CEO of Marqeta. “Together with Jason as Executive Chairman and a skilled and accomplished executive team, I believe we have the recipe in place to unlock the next level of growth and scale for Marqeta. There is tremendous opportunity in front of us to enable the brands we serve with our innovative, flexible platform and grow the ubiquity of digital payments globally.”

Khalaf has over 30 years of technology as an executive and entrepreneur, combining a relentless focus on innovation with scaling several large organisations and instilling a laser focus on customer service. He has been CEO four times in his career, most recently at Flurry before it was acquired by Yahoo and has held senior executive positions at established public companies Twilio, Verizon, Yahoo, and Novell. Khalaf’s appointment comes as Marqeta expands its modern card issuing platform to capitalise on the fast-growing embedded finance market segment.

“After an extensive search, the board and I strongly believe Simon is the clear choice to lead Marqeta through its next era,” said Jason Gardner, Marqeta’s Founder and incoming Executive Chairman. “Simon’s diverse experience leading companies over a long career, the strong customer orientation and product vision he has shown in his time at Marqeta thus far, and his ability to build great teams, make him the right person to lead Marqeta into the next chapter. I look forward to supporting Simon and the rest of our executive team in delivering the next generation of Marqeta.”

Alongside Khalaf’s appointment as CEO, Todd Pollak joins the executive team as Chief Revenue Officer. Pollak joined Marqeta in January 2023 and has over 25 years of sales and go-to-market experience. Prior to Marqeta, Pollack spent four years at Ancestry as Chief Commercial Officer. Before Ancestry, Pollak spent 13 years at Google as managing director in the financial and retail sectors.

“Marqeta has an A-list customer base, a product with proven scale and clear product-market fit,” said Todd Pollak, Marqeta’s incoming Chief Revenue Officer. “I am excited to lead the team in capturing new opportunities in embedded finance and enabling our customers to offer solutions that upend how consumers and businesses can access their money and make payments.”