Noel Lustig
Managing Partner, Americas
Founding Member, Pinnacle Advisory Board
Noel has more than 30 years experience as an entrepreneur, a strategic advisor and a senior executive at leading multinational companies in the Americas and Europe. Noel is a former EVP/Group Executive and General Manager of Mastercard Worldwide. He began his career at Mastercard in 1998 where he held increasingly senior positions throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Whilst at Mastercard, he headed Corporate Strategy, Business Development, Regional Management and Key Client Relationship Management. During his tenure, business grew consistently at a double-digit annual rate and revenues doubled every four years. Noel spearheaded the break-away strategy from the traditional association business model to include new verticals, products, technologies and clients such as Telcos, Retailers, Governments and other non-traditional players. Throughout this period, Noel was involved in Mastercard´s transformation from a privately held entity to a public company in May 2006, and in its transition from a Card Association into a cutting edge financial technology leader, notably reflected in an outstanding tenfold growth of share price over a period 6 years.
Prior to joining Mastercard, Noel had a very successful career in Corporate, Retail and Investment Banking with Lloyds Bank International, NatWest and Coutts & Co. He was most notably involved in Lloyds' acquisition strategy in Argentina as well as product innovation in mortgage lending, trade finance and fund management. In addition to his line responsibilities, he has participated in the Boards of Lloyds Bank and MasterCard subsidiaries since the early 1990’s. Noel holds a Law Degree from the University of Buenos Aires. He is bilingual (Spanish & English) and fluent in Portuguese.
Noel retired from Mastercard in 2012 and has since developed a highly successful consulting practice in the Americas.
In addition to being the Managing Partner for Pinnacle in the Americas, Noel is a founding member of Pinnacle's Advisory Board.