Alfred F. Kelly Jr.

Kelly was born in 1958 in Bronxville, New York and raised in the Crestwood section of Yonkers (both in Westchester County).[9] He is the oldest of seven children.[10] Kelly's father was president of the Canada Life Insurance Company of New York and a company CEO. Kelly says “Both my mom and dad role-modeled many great things for me, including the importance of helping others and attacking work with energy and a high-quality orientation.”[11] His grandfather, the late Raymond J. Kelly, was sports editor of The New York Times from 1937 to 1958.[12]

A second-generation Irish-American with roots in Cork, Ireland, Kelly continues to reside in Westchester County[13] with his wife Margaret “Peggy” Joan Parlatore Kelly. They met at Iona College[6] and were married in 1983.[12] They have five children.[6]

Kelly graduated from the Iona Preparatory School in 1976.[14] He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer and Information Science (Summa Cum Laude) in 1980 and an MBA with Honors in 1981,[13] both from Iona College, a private Catholic college in New Rochelle, New York.[15] He also served as an adjunct assistant professor at Iona[12] and was a trustee for 13 years.[16]

Early in his career, Kelly held various positions in information systems and financial planning at PepsiCo Inc. from 1981 to 1985.[17] When President Ronald Reagan won re-election in 1984, Kelly was named Head of Information Systems at the White House at just 27 years of age and served in that capacity from 1985 to 1987.[10][18] Kelly spent the majority of his early career at American Express where he worked from 1987 to 2010. Over those 23 years, he held several senior positions, including serving as president from July 2007 to April 2010.[19][10]

An avid football fan, from April 2011 to August 2014, Kelly left the corporate world to take on the role of President and CEO for the 2014 NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee to organize the Super Bowl XLVIII.[10] In addition to successfully executing the event, the Host Committee supported charitable efforts including the Super Community Blood Drive; the Urban Forestry Project, an environmental program that planted 25,000 trees in areas that were ravaged by Hurricane Sandy; and the Snowflake Youth Foundation, which aims to revitalize and rebuild facilities for school-age kids like playgrounds, community houses and Boys & Girls Clubs.[6]

While serving as management advisor to TowerBrook Capital Partners in 2015,[20] Kelly became the Chairman of the Papal Visit Committee for Pope Francis’ visit to New York, which included a papal tour of New York City and a mass at Madison Square Garden.[21][22] Immediately prior to joining Visa, Kelly was president and CEO at Intersection, a technology and digital media company and Alphabet-backed private company based in New York City.[23]