Mastercard today appointed Warren Kneeshaw as executive vice president of investor relations, effective November 1, 2016. This appointment comes as Barbara Gasper announced she will retire from Mastercard at the end of the year.

Gasper joined Mastercard in March 2006 to create the company’s investor relations department ahead of its initial public offering. During her decade-long tenure, she led a highly-recognized team that has met the evolving investor-related needs of the company as it grew from $4 billion in market cap to more than $100 billion.

Prior to joining Mastercard, Gasper held many senior positions, shaping the investor relations efforts at multi-billion dollar global companies like Ford Motor Company, Lucent Technologies and Raytheon. She also had previous IPO experience during her tenure at PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting Group. Before that, Gasper spent more than 20 years at Lukens Inc., where she worked in both engineering and corporate finance roles, eventually being appointed treasurer.

In 2014, Gasper received the Lifetime Achievement Award from IR Magazine and her teams are perennial winners of awards from Institutional Investor magazine.

“Over the past decade, Barbara has had a huge impact on Mastercard, both operationally and culturally,” said Martina Hund-Mejean, chief financial officer, Mastercard. “She created the investor relations department from scratch, helping us to build and solidify relationships with the investment community. For more than a decade, she’s been a trusted advisor to our senior management and across the business, while advocating for the company externally. It’s been a pleasure working with her both here and at Lucent, and we wish Barbara all the best as she enters this next stage.”

As executive vice president of investor relations, Kneeshaw will oversee the team responsible for cultivating relationships with the investment community, educating and updating investors about the company and providing feedback on how the market views the company. He will work closely across the business, including with the corporate controller, corporate secretary and chief marketing and communications officer, to manage the flow of financial and related Mastercard information to other stakeholders.

Kneeshaw joins Mastercard on September 6 from Qualcomm, where he was vice president of investor relations, serving as the company’s primary contact with the investment community. Under his leadership, the investor relations team was ranked among “America’s Best IR Teams” by Institutional Investor magazine and was on IR Magazine’s Global Top 50 list of the world’s best IR programs.

“I’m delighted to have Warren lead our IR efforts going forward. He has great experience in the technology space and a strong reputation across the financial community. Combining this with a fresh perspective on our business, Warren will continue to evolve our interaction with our shareholders and the overall investment community,” said Hund-Mejean.

During a 13-year career with Qualcomm, he served in several roles, including vice president of finance for Qualcomm Technology Licensing. Prior to that, he was responsible for financial and operational oversight of the company’s Global Business Development group. During this time, he also served as interim president of Qualcomm India.

Prior to joining Qualcomm in 2003, Kneeshaw held various finance roles at Tempo Textron, Nortel Networks and Procter & Gamble.

He is a board member and treasurer of the Epilepsy Foundation of San Diego. Kneeshaw received a bachelor’s degree and a Master of Business Administration from York University in Ontario, Canada.