Alumna Profiled: Aspa Palimeri
Graduated: Deree ’95
Lives in: Athens, Greece
Current Position: Country Manager for Greece, Cyprus, and Malta, Mastercard
“Be the best that you can be.”
Aspa Palimeri was born in Athens, and graduated from Deree – The American College of Greece in 1995. She holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from Columbia Business School, New York.
Aspa started her career in Management Consulting, working for McKinsey & Company where she supported strategic projects for leading Greek banks and mobile operators. In 2002 she moved on to Retail Banking spending the next 14 years holding managerial positions in Cards, Consumer Lending, Deposits and Investments.
In 2016, Aspa joined Mastercard and is since the Country Manager for Greece, Cyprus and Malta, responsible for market share growth and strategic development of these markets. Aspa is married and proud mother of Yannos (11) and Sophie (8).
Q&A
Q: Which three words would you choose to describe Deree?
Vibrant, inclusive, open-minded.
Q: What are three enduring values you learned at Deree?
Perseverance, teamwork, friendship.
Q: Looking back, how did your time at Deree help you become the person you are today?
Exposure to the market, working in teams, focusing on learning how to think rather than learning by heart, completely altered my learning process.
Q: What do you miss most from your days at Deree?
Spending productive time with diverse people in team projects. It was the perfect combination of learning, exchanging views, debating, bouncing ideas and having real fun while doing so.
Q: What advice would you give a new Deree student?
Take advantage of every opportunity to evolve, advance your skills and enlarge your network. Deree is so much more than what goes on in the classroom.
Q: Who or what inspires you the most?
My mother, for her intrinsic ability to combine so effectively (seamlessly is probably the right word) professional success and motherhood. She made it all look so easy but… now I can say for a fact that it is not.
Q: What is your motto in life?
Be the best that you can be.
Q: What does your work and/or current projects entail?
Country manager for 3 countries in Mastercard: Working with financial institutions, governments and merchants to enable an inclusive payments ecosystem. Leveraging Mastercard’s technology, we work with key stakeholders in each market to make payments easy and safe, and improve financial access.
Q: What is the most inspiring aspect of your work?
Being able to improve the everyday life of consumers, citizens in the markets we operate. Leveraging global expertise to provide local relevant solutions.
Q: What are your plans for the future?
Be the best that I can be.
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