Stuart W. E McDonald
Director, Singapore
Stuart McDonald is a member of the board of Directors of SVA Singapore with a career spanning more than 40 years in Asia.
He began his career in Asia in the Royal Hong Kong Police where he was rapidly promoted to Superintendent in the Commercial Crime Bureau. He led major investigations into fraud by local banks and public companies, resulting in the subsequent prosecution of their officers for fraud. Stuart was commended by the Governor of Hong Kong for his work. Stuart also headed the Bureau’s Counterfeit & Forgery Division.
Stuart joined MasterCard in 1986 where he established the security and risk department across Asia Pacific, laying the foundations of the corporation’s regional business continuity plans and subsequently steered the region’s risk and business continuity response to the outbreak of SARS. Stuart also pioneered MasterCard’s Card Validation Code technology in Asia that was to be later adopted globally.
He held a number of key management positions during 22 years with MasterCard Worldwide including Senior Vice President Corporate Services and Senior Vice President Regional Business Development. The former role had direct regional responsibility for Franchise Management, Corporate Communications and Human Resources as well as indirect responsibility for Legal, Security and Tax. As SVP Regional Business Development, he established merchant advisory groups in key markets, a new regional initiative that involved global brands in the retail and services industry. Stuart led the creation of MasterCard’s Premium card web site, MasterCard Moments. His was also involved in the restructuring and re-alignment of resources in the region to better address customer needs.
During his tenure as SVP Corporate Services, Stuart was the official spokesperson for MasterCard in Asia/Pacific and was regularly interviewed on television news and radio throughout the region. He also spearheaded MasterCard’s MasterIndex of Consumer Confidence as a benchmark survey in Asia/Pacific, positioning the company as a “thought leader” along with other research initiatives.
As a security and risk consultant, Stuart led investigations over two years into the alleged misselling of structured products by one of Singapore’s major banks and defended unresolved bank customer disputes in the country’s Financial Industry Disputes and Resolution Council.
Stuart was a company director of a private global boutique risk and security company based in Singapore during which he re-branded the company, led its operations and acquired major new clients.
Stuart served on MasterCard’s Global Risk Committee and was a member of the Banking and Financial Committee of the Singapore Chamber of Commerce. He also served on the Board of the Pacific Asia Travel Association.
He is British citizen and permanent resident of Singapore.