Pratik Patel strives to “change the paradigm in terms of how we think about labor and how we can leverage it.” His fresh ideas and creative solutions continue to challenge the status quo and bring new perspectives to the industry.

As category director, sourcing and supplier management, Pratik has cultivated an impressive portfolio of third-party talent (time and material as well as consultants) to accelerate and scale Mastercard’s commitment to expand in payments, extend services and embrace new networks for hundreds of millions spend and thousands of talent Mastercard needs.

This year, Patel launched an innovative “capability matrix” to assess the risk levels of Mastercard’s statement-of-work suppliers to ensure proper provider selection. The process, which he hopes to expand to contingent staffing with different parameters, examines 15 different attributes of each supplier risk profile and includes an awareness piece to discover how the supplier helps drive value; a forum for productive dialogue to foster alignment with suppliers; and a mutual understanding of how suppliers can be best leveraged by the organization.

Patel is also pushing to move the needle around sustainability. To help Mastercard meet its goal to be a net-zero company by 2040, Patel conducts bi-monthly all-hands calls to ensure both transparency and alignment in the journey toward net zero and overall program objectives.

“I’ve told suppliers that two years down the road, we’re going be making some hard decisions as to who we’re going to be moving forward with because we need people to be on this journey with us on sustainability,” he says. “Otherwise, train is going to leave and you are not gonna be on it., let’s work together now to avoid this scenario.”