PayPal names VP for Asia

Based in Singapore, he will report to Rupert Keeley, who has recently taken up a broader leadership role as PayPal’s senior vice president of Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific.

The promotion will see Mahadevan providing strategic direction for the region and working to increase the company’s presence so it may capitalise on the growth of e-commerce and m-commerce across all Asian markets.

Keeley said Mahadevan brings leadership skills and a proven track record in building payment businesses. “Rohan’s deep knowledge of PayPal’s products and capabilities will be invaluable as we deliver on our vision to enable secure payments anytime, anywhere and any way for millions of Asian consumers through PayPal’s innovative online and mobile commerce services,” Keeley said.

Having worked with PayPal since 2004 in various leadership roles, Mahadevan most recently held the dual roles of vice president of global cross border trade and vice president of Latin America.

As VP of global cross border trade, he was responsible for defining and executing PayPal’s cross-border strategy to enable PayPal users to conveniently and safely purchase from international merchants.

Meanwhile, he led the strategy and localisation of PayPal’s services for domestic consumers and merchants and partners in Brazil and Mexico, as VP of Latin America. He opened up PayPal’s first offices in these markets with Spanish and Portuguese language support, and accelerated cross-border trade across this region.

He holds a degree in physics from the California Institute of Technology and a PhD in astrophysics from Harvard University. He has served as a post-doctoral scientist at Cambridge University, England.

“Beyond enabling cross-border trade for local merchants to sell globally and for local consumers to buy securely from overseas, we have a golden opportunity to bring more payment innovation to the region and transform commerce in the large and accelerating Asian consumer markets,” Mahadevan said. “We localise our global payment capabilities to address the different and unique needs of our merchants and consumers across Asia.”