Sevdalina (Sevi) Vassileva joined Visa’s South East European leadership team in November 2019 as General Manager for Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria and in November 2021 has been promoted to VP General Manager Greece, Israel Cyprus and Malta within Southern Europe. Her role is to drive Visa’s business strategy and engagement with key stakeholders in the cluster promoting the benefits of digital payments and technology for the economy, businesses, and individuals. Sevi joins Visa with 20+ years of executive experience and expertise in Banking, FMCG, technology and innovation. Most recently, she served as Executive Director and Chief Retail Banking Officer for First Investment Bank managing the retail, payments and digital technology areas from 2017 to November 2019. Prior to that, from 2007 to 2017, she held key executive-level positions in Alpha Bank as Retail Banking Manager and in Eurobank as Head of Consumer Lending and Executive Director of one the group’s companies in Bulgaria. Sevi brings strong expertise in retail sales and marketing, including in digital marketing. Her career began in 1998 at Coca - Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, where she held various high-level positions in marketing and sales, including management of national key accounts and being part of the company’s global accounts team. From 2004 until 2007 she was a member of the management team of United Milk Company. She also has experience in working with the entrepreneurial ecosystem and has been advising and mentoring start-up companies and innovation hubs. Sevi graduated the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of Sofia University with an MBA degree in Management Information Systems. She specialized in Marketing and Management at Lund University, Sweden. She is the Chair of the Alumni Association of Sofia University and is a former member of the board of directors of Diners Club Bulgaria.