Cindy Chastain

In this role, Cindy leads a multi-disciplinary team focused on de-risking new product development efforts as well as building capabilities for driving product design excellence at scale. She is the executive lead of the CX & Design Guild, responsible for syndicating best practices, providing learning and development opportunities, and cultivating a community of practitioners and serves as the co-sponsor the Women Leadership Network group in our New York City Tech Hub

Before Mastercard, she was Executive Creative Director and CX strategist in the Business Transformation group at R/GA, focused customer-centered digital transformation efforts with clients, including Nike and Volvo. She brings over 20 years of experience at the intersection of technology and design.

She is especially passionate about building a design-forward culture that will ensure product decisions are grounded in actionable insights and that experiences deliver real value to our customers.

Redefining Design Leadership in a Changing World

Over the last decade and a half, Design has been established as a critical ingredient for innovation and organizational success. But in recent years new challenges have emerged amidst a turbulent economy, ongoing climate crisis, and increasing technological complexity. In response, I made conscious efforts – as a driver of change at MasterCard and a member of multiple design communities - to spend time with other design leaders and unpack emerging themes that could define our future work. This effort led to a series of in-person symposiums comprised of a multi-disciplinary and inclusive group of over thirty senior leaders and experts---from corporate Heads of Design to academics and owners of consultancies---into candid, closed-door conversations about where we are, and where we might be headed, as a design profession.