The New Competitive Edge: How Data Is Reshaping Retail

Jonathan leads Services (Consulting) Business Development for Mastercard in Canada across Financial Institutions and other key partners.

He is a senior leader with deep experience across consulting and financial services, with a focus on banking, customer strategy, and digital transformation. In this role, Jonathan partners with clients to drive business performance, enhance customer experiences, and enable innovation, leveraging Mastercard’s global expertise, data, and technology. His work spans a broad range of capabilities, including loyalty, analytics, marketing services, fraud, cybersecurity, and payments.

Prior to joining Mastercard, Jonathan was a Principal Director at Accenture Strategy, where he led the Canadian Payments practice. He also held roles within Deloitte’s Corporate Strategy practice, advising on banking and retail transformation, and at Moneris Solutions, where he led the development and execution of joint strategic sales and marketing programmes with twelve bank channel partners.

Maria Riesenberg is the Group Head of Consumer Acquisition and Engagement at Mastercard in Canada. 

In this role, Maria is responsible for translating growth goals into products and capabilities that improve performance across consumer acquisition, engagement, and retention. Her focus is on delivering measurable outcomes by enabling marketers to act with stronger precision, creating hyper relevant and personalized customer experiences, and building durable loyalty over time.

Since joining Mastercard in 2013, Maria has partnered with financial institutions and led relationships with some of Canada’s leading merchants. She has also played a key role in developing Mastercard’s Fintech and ecosystem enabler business in Canada.

Prior to Mastercard, Maria began her career in Canadian retail at Hudson’s Bay Company and Sears Canada, where she developed a deep understanding of consumer behaviour, loyalty, and the intersection of retail and financial services.

Maria holds a Business Management degree from HTW Berlin, University of Applied Sciences.

Dayo Akinbiyi leads Insights & Intelligence for Mastercard Canada, driving the commercialization of Mastercard’s data and analytics capabilities across financial institutions, and enterprise clients. In this role, she partners with clients to unlock the power of Mastercard’s data assets — translating insights into informed business decisions and measurable growth.

Since joining Mastercard four years ago, Dayo has built deep expertise across the organization, with roles spanning Advisors & Consulting Services and regional product leadership within the Business Intelligence and Merchant Intelligence portfolio. Her career at Mastercard has been defined by a consistent focus on go-to-market execution and connecting data-driven solutions to real client outcomes.

Before Mastercard, Dayo brought a strong analytical and advisory foundation from roles in consulting, investment banking, and technology, including positions at IBM and PwC.