Mario de Armas

Mario de Armas joined Walmart in January 2011 as the Senior Director of International Payments where his job is to leverage Walmart’s scale and global relationships to lower the cost of accepting payments in the 23 countries outside the US where Walmart operates. Prior to joining Walmart, Mr. de Armas spent seven years a The Home Depot where he managed their private label business for Canada, Mexico and China as well as working to address The Home Depot’s cost of bankcard credit and debit in the United States. In recent years, Mr. de Armas has been active in pushing for swipe fee reform both inside and outside the US as he lobbied congress in support of the Durbin Amendment and testified at the Canadian Competition Bureau’s tribunal against Visa and MasterCard. Mr. de Armas has also been active in pressing for interchange reform at the state level and has met with several state Attorneys General and has testified in hearings in both the Georgia and Florida State Houses. Prior to moving to the retail industry, Mr. de Armas spent over ten years in the credit card industry working for First USA / Bank One, (now JP Morgan Chase), Metris (now HSBC) and Juniper Bank (now Barclay Card) with a focus on Partnership, Event and Internet Marketing. Mr. de Armas is a native of South Carolina and he holds two undergraduate degrees from the University of South Carolina and an MBA from the University of Minnesota. He has been active and held leadership roles in several organizations including Big Brothers /Big Sisters, National Society of Hispanic MBAs and HOGAR. Mario has recently relocated to Northwest Arkansas.