Alisa Bornstein, Vice President, Visa Europe Sourcing at Visa Europe, is an accomplished international Procurement leader with over 30 years of experience in senior roles across Telecom, Semiconductor, and Technology industries, including positions at Ericsson, BT, Telia, Millicom, and Arm. Before joining Visa, she led Global Group Procurement at Arm, where she orchestrated a significant transformation, introducing a category-driven organization, establishing a Center of Excellence (CoE), implementing Supplier Management, and deploying SAP-Ariba globally, achieving high levels of digitalization and automation to enhance internal customer experience.

Currently serving as the Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer for European Sourcing at Visa, Alisa is recognized for shaping a long-term vision focused on value creation through the sourcing function. Her leadership has transformed Sourcing in Europe into a strategic partner, moving beyond cost savings to deliver value to both the business and suppliers. Alisa is dedicated to strengthening relationships with stakeholders and colleagues worldwide, with a particular emphasis on embedding ESG principles, including Sustainability and Diversity, into all aspects of their work.

Below are highlights of the interview conducted between World’s Leaders and Alisa Bornstein:

Describe who you are as a person, inside and outside of the workplace.

If you ask Alisa where home is, she will get silent for a while. She is a Swedish national, has lived in London for the last 10 years, and has roots in Russia and Israel. She speaks several languages and hugely enjoys London, which “offers everything you can think of.” She talks about the complexities of operating in different cultures and second languages and how challenging it can be sometimes with cultural clashes. This is why she feels strongly about the world as one community, valuing humanity, diversity, and inclusion. She empowers others to be courageous, bold, dream big, and turn the dream into reality.

Tell us about the inception of the company. How did it all start?

Our journey begins in 1958, the year that Bank of America launched the first consumer credit card program in the U.S. We expanded internationally in 1974 and introduced the debit card in 1975. In 2007, regional businesses around the world were merged to form Visa Inc., and in 2008, the company went public in one of the largest IPOs in history.

We are now a world leader in digital payments, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories.

What has made you successful? What do you value?

Alisa always strives to achieve the highest levels of procurement, to impact and define the long-term sourcing strategies for her organization while at the same time identifying suppliers who are willing to co-create partnerships that give both organization a competitive advantage for the long term.

With changing business landscape and increasing layers of complexity, especially in the European region, expectations and pressure on the CPOs have increased. What makes Alisa successful is its ability to adapt to the dynamic market landscape, reimagine procurement, and find new ways of working, focusing on collaborative approaches with suppliers to continue driving financial benefits and added value to Visa. Her network describes her as a strategic thinker, innovator, challenger of the status quo, and communicator with great leadership skills.

Alisa’s leadership philosophy is “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way, with vision, courage, integrity, and the compassion to listen to others.” She is recognized for her ability to be a courageous, bold, fast, and inclusive leader, especially in challenging times. She hugely values diversity, which is not about how we differ but about embracing one another’s uniqueness, and that’s what inclusion means—everyone contributes.

Which are the major services of the company and how do the company to get ahead in the competition? What value-added services does the company provide?

Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable, and secure payment network, enabling individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere, and see access as foundational to the future of money movement.

We provide merchants with assured payments and a larger customer reach, and acquirers with low-cost and low-risk acceptance tools. We help issuers continue to provide innovative and secure solutions for their customers and give consumers secure and convenient ways to pay and be paid. We also provide fintechs, neobanks, digital wallets, and enablers with scalable payment infrastructure, and we work with governments to help get benefits to people faster and with less disruption.

Visa plays a critical role in the economic lives of European citizens: we create and maintain trust and confidence in commerce by keeping money safe; we provide convenience and peace of mind for cardholders and businesses; all while meeting some of the highest service standards of any industry.

Visa works seamlessly millions of times every single day as a network that protects everyone buying, selling, or moving money. We have been in Europe for more than 60 years, and our resilient and reliable network is a foundation for European economies, enabling people and businesses to thrive. Visa combines unmatched global strength with local knowledge to be best in class at protecting people and businesses in Europe from new and emerging threats.

Over $14 trillion passes through our network every year, and there are over 4 billion cards in use across the world. Visa is accepted in over 100 million merchant locations and offers over 160 different currencies. We are also one of the largest tech platforms in the world, sending 65,000 messages per second over a private telecommunications network that covers over 10 million route miles.

What are the most important aspects of a company’s culture? What principles do you believe in and how do you build this culture?

Visa is driven by its purpose to uplift everyone, everywhere, and we are helping to create more inclusive and sustainable economies in Europe. Visa’s responsible, ethical, and sustainable approach to business empowers people, communities, and businesses to thrive in a way that is good for people and good for the planet.

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) bring economic wellbeing to hundreds of millions of people across Europe and will be critical to an inclusive future. That’s why we made a commitment to digitally enable and futureproof 50 million small businesses globally, 8 million of which are in Europe. We also have a clear focus on supporting women around the world in their efforts to fund, run, and grow their small businesses. We run the ‘She’s Next’ programme in Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Ireland, and Slovakia, providing grants, coaching, and hands-on training for hundreds of female start-up founders.

What is the significance of innovative ideas in the company? 

Since its inception as a paper credit card with a limit of $300 in 1958, and the implementation of innovations that will help make the use of cryptocurrency mainstream and allow seamless payments in the metaverse, Visa has innovation in its DNA. We are a community of world-leading experts in AI, digital, crypto, economics, financial services, and consumer behavior. We continuously challenge and learn from each other to find the best technologies of the future.

Visa gives other companies the wings to fly. From fintechs like GoHenry, Jaja, and Revolut to big banks such as HSBC, our ‘open’ approach means Visa members can take advantage of our technology and security to constantly innovate and access best-in-class innovation.

Give us your opinion on; do organizations rely heavily on individual heroics or team processes?

Team process: working as one team is a critical component for Visa.

What is the happiest part of your daily routine?

In-person meetings with colleagues and the team.

What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?

Foster a culture of open communication to build trust and a positive team dynamic; lead by example and prioritize the development of your team members; a thriving team contributes best to overall company success.

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