Harit Talwar

Harit Talwar is currently Chairman of the Board of Better.com, a leading digital mortgage company, a Board Member of Mastercard (MA) and Apexon, a digital engineering company. Harit most recently was a Goldman Sachs Partner and Founder/Head/Chairman of the firm’s global Consumer business, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, including its partnerships with Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Walmart (WMT), JetBlue (JBLU) and General Motors (GM).

As a senior executive, Harit has worked in Asia, Europe and America, and has a proven track record of creating and running successful, profitable businesses in financial services, including consumer banking and payments. His diverse experiences include running large businesses, building and scaling startups, overseeing transformational M&A, and forging strategic partnerships with leading organizations across industries. He has delivered industry-leading, risk-adjusted returns by focusing on key elements for success, including customer-centricity, a fusion of engineering / data / AI / design, and hiring diverse and talented teams. Harit has extensive experience interacting with boards of Fortune 500 companies, regulators and legislative stakeholders, and engaging in constructive dialogue with investors and shareholders.

Harit previously served on the boards of Morgan Stanley Bank International Ltd. and Morgan Stanley International Ltd. in London. Passionate about philanthropy and addressing inequalities, he serves as the Co-Chairman of the board of the American India Foundation, a member of the Asia Society Global Board of Trustees, and one of the founders of Ashoka University in India. He previously held leadership positions with the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago; the Chicago CMO Summit; the American School of Warsaw, Poland; the College of Lake County, Illinois; Children’s Memorial Hospital, Chicago; and Pratham UK.

Harit joined Goldman Sachs in 2015 to lead the firm’s entry into consumer. As the first employee and global head of the business, he helped build Marcus – a “150-year-old startup” – into a modern consumer platform that today serves millions of customers, an unprecedented endeavor inside a leading investment bank. In 2021, the business earned revenue of $1.5bn and had more than $100bn in global deposits and $10bn in card and loan balances. It has been recognized as a successful disruptor, named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Finance Companies, ranked highest in J.D. Power Customer Satisfaction and Net Promoter Scores for credit card issuers in 2021 and US Personal Loans in 2019, and featured in a case study by Harvard Business School on successful innovation inside a large organization.

Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Harit was President of US Cards and Chief Marketing Officer at Discover Financial Services (DFS) from 2007 – 2015 – a leading digital bank and payment services company. In this role, he deftly navigated the 2008 financial crisis and post-crisis ensured the business had industry-leading growth and profitability. From 2004 – 2007, he was Executive Vice President of Discover Payments, responsible for the transformation of the payments network from closed loop to open architecture through partnerships with leading merchant acquisition platforms, including First Data (FDC), Global Payments (GPN), Bank of America Merchant Services (BAC), Chase Paymentech (JPM), and others. He oversaw the expansion of a signature/credit-only network to also incorporate debit, PIN and EMV features and global growth through the acquisitions of Diners Club and the Pulse Payment / ATM network, and strategic partnerships with China Union Pay, JCB and many others. From 2000 – 2004, Harit was a Managing Director for Morgan Stanley’s international Consumer business. He started his career at Citibank where he spent 15 years working in a variety of roles across the consumer business including lending, cards, deposits, ATM networks, branches and phone banking.

Harit has been named one of American Banker’s 10 to Watch, an Outstanding Asian American in Business, and an Outstanding Alumni of Shri Ram College of Commerce at Delhi University. He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fortune, Forbes, CNBC and Yahoo! Finance and spoken at various industry forums and leading business schools.

Harit earned a BA (Hons) in Economics from Delhi University in India and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.