Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) today announced the appointment of Alison Kutler as Head of Government Policy for the Americas.

In this newly created role, Ms. Kutler will lead Visa’s government relations efforts in the United States, Canada and Latin America and will be responsible for developing and managing the company’s legislative and regulatory strategy for these markets. She will direct the development of Visa’s public policy on issues of importance to Visa and our clients. “Alison’s depth of experience developing public policy strategies at a U.S. and a global level will be immensely valuable as we continue to enhance Visa’s engagement with governments and drive profitable growth,” said Joshua R. Floum, General Counsel for Visa Inc. “The addition of Alison to the Government Relations team is an important component of the global expansion of Visa’s public policy capabilities. We are very pleased to welcome someone with Alison’s expertise to Visa.”

Lisa Nelson, Head of U.S. Government Relations, Salvador Perez-Galindo, Head of Latin America & Caribbean Government Relations, and Jay Dorey, Head of Canada Government Relations, will all report to Ms. Kutler.

Ms. Kutler brings over 20 years of experience in government affairs and public policy. Previously, Ms. Kutler was Vice President, External Affairs at Rio Tinto, where she oversaw federal and state advocacy and policy for the U.S. and Latin America. Before that, Ms. Kutler held senior roles in government and the private sector including at the Export-Import Bank of the United States and U.S. Department of Commerce. She received her J.D. from Stanford Law School and was a Partner in the Public Law and Policy Strategies Group at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP.

Ms. Kutler will begin at Visa on October 15, reporting directly to Mr. Floum. She will be based in Visa’s Foster City, California headquarters.

About Visa Inc.: Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world’s most advanced processing networks—VisaNet—that is capable of handling more than 24,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa’s innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.