THE TEAM

Gustavo Ortega

Senior Risk, Payments & Compliance Leader

About

Gustavo Ortega is a seasoned executive and advisor with extensive experience in global payments, financial services, risk management, compliance, and technology. He provides in-depth expertise in overseeing and strengthening corporate governance, compliance, and enterprise risk management frameworks to enable disciplined, strategic growth across markets.

Most recently, Mr. Ortega served as General Manager of Tecnidata, a payments processing company, where he led the expansion of payment solutions throughout multiple markets. In this role, Mr. Ortega directed the development and execution of strategic and business plans, strengthened the financial controls and governance of the company, modernized its infrastructure, and implemented robust risk management and compliance frameworks. He worked closely with global payment networks and technology partners to expand products and services, delivering consistent revenue and profit growth while mitigating risks.

Previously, Mr. Ortega held regional treasury and risk leadership roles at Mastercard, overseeing strategy and risk frameworks for Latin American and Caribbean markets, while also supporting key global initiatives. He collaborated with executive stakeholders to guide credit decisions for strategic clients, advised on incentive structures, and implemented risk mitigation strategies that drove prudent growth and strengthened long-term client relationships.

Prior to Mastercard, Mr. Ortega served at Visa Inc. for over twenty years, holding progressively senior leadership roles, including Senior Director and Head of Credit Risk for Latin America and the Caribbean. During this time, he provided strategic leadership for regional Credit Risk and AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism) programs while managing complex country risk exposures in diverse markets. Mr. Ortega was instrumental in numerous global initiatives of the company, including revising and implementing Visa’s Global Credit Risk Policy, enhancing enterprise risk management frameworks, and developing risk standards and governance structures to support new products, emerging client segments, and market expansion. Throughout his tenure, Mr. Ortega partnered closely with regulators, clients, and cross-functional teams in Compliance, Legal, Finance, Products, and Government Relations, to enable business growth while ensuring robust risk and compliance oversight. He also engaged with supervisory authorities in key markets to address and shape emerging legislation impacting the payments industry.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Ortega held positions in banking and financial services focused on credit analysis, loan review, risk management and treasury operations, building a strong foundation in financial analysis and regulatory compliance.

Mr. Ortega holds a BBA in Business Administration with a major in Finance from the University of Miami and has completed advanced training in AML/CFT, negotiations, and organizational change management. He is fluent in English and Spanish and possesses professional working proficiency in Portuguese.

The Team