Voyager gets top-notch president

PLDT Inc.’s fintech arm has tapped a former executive of financial giants American Exrpress and Visa as its new president.

Voyager Innovations, which is partly owned by China’s Tencent Holdings, on Monday named Shailesh Baidwan as president while company founder Orlando Vea will remain as CEO.

Baidwan will also assume the role of president of PayMaya Philippines, one of the country’s largest mobile wallets.

“Voyager and PayMaya are trailblazers in the Philippine digital financial services industry. Together with the rest of the management team, I am very keen and excited to drive PayMaya’s consumer and enterprise businesses leap of growth to its next phase,” he said in a statement.

Baidwan has more than 25 years of experience in management, operations, business development, sales and marketing. He spent a decade in American Express, working his way up the corporate ladder to become CEO of American Express Banking Corp.—India. He also worked for six years in Visa’s Asia-Pacific operation.

Baidwan is leaving his job as president of Insights and Loyalty Solutions Division at Aimia to head Voyager.

He finished his Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in Economics at Delhi University and completed his MBA at India Institute of Management, Bangalore.