Trailblazer in Digital Finance
The spirited Dipali Chirag Pandya stands testimony to the power of hard-work and commitment. Raised in a small city in Gujarat, India; studied in an ordinary school up till high school; and admitted to the State University for graduation – none proved a lag as Dipali climbed the pinnacle of Digital Finance.
Today, that same young girl with stars in her eyes has been handpicked to lead Product Development & Innovation at Mastercard in New York, USA. An award-winning women’s leader in the global payments industry, Dipali also serves as a judge and mentor across sectors.
Looking back on her journey, she says, “Each failure in life is a learning that helps you try new challenges with double the force. After all my hard-work, leadership, and support from the family, I have reached a point where I am proud of myself.”
Born in a loving family in Gujarat, Dipali completed her Master’s in Computer Application from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Vadodara in 2007. She then joined C-Sam as Junior Software Engineer, rose to Team Lead within 2 years, and got the opportunity to move to their Chicago office in 2013.
In 2014, she joined Mastercard in NY as a software designer. She’s now part of the core payments team that works continuously on making digital payments faster, smoother, and more secure as Director of Product Development & Innovation. “Digital finance is constantly evolving. Due to Covid, online payments have become the new normal. This has opened a lot of opportunities in making customer payments seamless online. Customer satisfaction is the key in any product, as well as my main motivation,” says Dipali.
Dipali has multiple years of experience in the payments industry as well as detailed knowledge on backend technologies and mobile application development. Speaking about what inspires her, she shares, “Working on world-class products with the latest technologies that make customer payments easy and secure is what drives my passion. To see our product being used around the world and helping the economy… is ‘priceless’. I am determined to make the world a better place where technology is used by all generations to secure their money.”
She adds that this does not mean that small businesses will not have opportunities. They can also transform their business by adopting digital products and gain better profits by reaching out to more customers.
However, with AI being the new norm, the biggest challenge facing the industry today is keeping the consumer identity and data safe. “It takes continuous effort to keep consumer data safe. We must compete with new technologies and use those new technologies to keep customer data and digital transactions secure. I love working on such challenges and solving real time issues. I am one of the fortunate members of the team who got to lead global product development efforts in transforming the world of digital transactions by introducing payment passkeys that recently got launched during a global fintech fest in India by MasterCard. It is always challenging to manage timelines when you are working on products that need to meet today’s challenges. With great leadership, support, and teamwork, you can achieve it for sure.”
Well-organized and proactive with excellent communication and planning abilities, Dipali has been the recipient of top global honors. In 2023, she and her team won the prestigious ‘Changemaker Award’ in Mastercard for working on cutting-edge products for transaction authentication. The global launch of payment passkeys in India remains one of her greatest achievements. In 2024, she received the ‘Business Excellence Award’ for Emerging Women Leaders in Information Technology. Additionally, she judges Globee Awards as an industry expert and mentors many youth as part of giving back to the community.
A multi-tasker as only women can be, Dipali cites balance as the key to success. She feels stressing yourself does not help in the long term. If you want to be successful, keep calm and work towards achieving your goals. The rat race doesn’t take you anywhere but it will give you unnecessary stress that will impact your personal and professional life.
A true leader, Dipali believes in making bold moves, sharing knowledge, and growing with the team. Motivating others with a message, she says, “Never give-up on your dreams and goals. There will be many incidents that will demotivate you, but if you have determination and a great support system, you will fulfill your dreams. There are lots of opportunities for women in technology. It is a matter of grabbing the opportunity and making a difference. Being calm and innovative is the key to success.”
