Mastercard has appointed two senior executives to lead a renewed drive into the North American debit arena.
Thomas Sladowski has been named vice president and product manager for Mastercard's Cirrus brand, spearheading new programs and initiatives.
He was previously senior vice president of ATM channel/debit cards at JPMorgan Chase.
Lori Skrobola joins MasterCard as vice president and general manager for the debit card marketing group and will drive cardholder activation and usage through marketing initiatives.
Previously, she was an executive director for CIBC Oppenheimer, responsible for marketing communications.
Former debit product manager Jerry Sargent has been promoted to vice president, debit strategy and alliance development and will take on an expanded role of identifying strategic partners and managing alliances for debit.
All three executives will report to Richard Lyons, senior vice president, North America deposit access.
Mastercard says debit continues to be the fastest growing payment card industry, growing at twice the pace of credit. Industry sources project strong debit growth for issuers averaging gains of 20 percent online and 15 percent offline in 2002-2003.
"The next 24 months promise to be the most significant period in the history of US debit," says Lyons. "Financial institutions that represent 50 percent of debit players will be making critical brand and technology decisions."