Visa is proud to open the doors of its new office in Silicon Valley—an epicenter of innovation, disruption and high-tech discovery. This community is home to some of the greatest breakthroughs in technology, from the first personal computer to the latest in self-driving, connected cars and automated Visa, the new kid on the Palo Alto block homes. Visa is excited to have a footprint in middle of it all and to contribute to the spirit of ideas with the next evolution of payment technologies.
To celebrate the new office in Palo Alto, CA, Visa invited its neighbors, partners and the media to experience the new space. Al Kelly, Visa CEO, hosted the event along with Rajat Taneja, Visa’s executive vice president of technology and operations, and Michael Ross, Visa’s vice president of human resources.
“Everything we do begins and ends with our technology and talent,” said Kelly. “It’s the only way we can continue to lead in the payments industry, which is moving at lightning-speed. The new Palo Alto office is part of Visa’s effort to attract and retain the best people, and to foster collaboration with the organizations based in Silicon Valley.“
“Space matters,” said Taneja. “It’s an important part of company culture. The new Palo Alto office is really a manifestation of everything we’ve learned from our workspaces around the world; about how to design a workspace that fosters collaboration and the open exchange of ideas.”
The new office will serve as an epicenter for technologists, academics and global thinkers to come together in one space. Taneja also acknowledged the addition of Visa Research, a new organization within Visa focusing on the scientific foundations of leading-edge technologies, from blockchain and cryptography to artificial intelligence and deep machine learning.
“We’re thrilled to be here in Palo Alto,” said Ross. “We’ve been on an incredible journey at Visa, in particular over the last few years, focused on talent and our ability to attract and retain the best and most diverse talent in the world. We felt one of the key things we needed to do was come to a place like Palo Alto to be able to continue on with that journey.”
The new three-story, 62,000-square-foot office will be home to Visa’s data, research, network processing and loyalty & offers teams. The Palo Alto office allows Visa to draw from the diversity of the Bay Area’s talent pool, helping build stronger connections with the data scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs of tomorrow. The new office will also be partnering with a number of organizations focused on advancing STEM education in the Bay Area, and a number of companies and non-profits providing technology resources and education for underrepresented groups in the technology industry.