Paul Oliva

Paul Oliva, who earned his B.A. from School of International Studies at the University of the Pacific, is the Director for Global Corporate Relations at Visa International.

In this capacity, Paul is responsible for coordinating external communications regarding three key areas of Visa’s global business: stakeholder relations, commercial solutions, and transaction processing and information technology solutions such as VisaNet, Visa’s global payments engine.

Paul works with Visa’s business units and corporate relations staff at the company’s corporate offices and its six regional organizations around the world to communicate news and to drive understanding of payment industry trends.

He initiates strategies to reach the financial services industry, merchants, cardholders, technology developers, and government and corporate Visa users via the news media, industry analysts, thought leaders, and direct communication channels.

Paul started his career at Visa as Director of Member Communications for Visa U.S.A. in February 2000.

After completing his studies at Pacific’s School of International Studies, Paul furthered his education at the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, where he earned an M.A. in International Affairs.

Following graduate school, Paul was a founder and the Executive Director of Baytrade, an international trade development alliance formed by the San Francisco-based Bay Area Economic Forum.

He also founded and managed TradePort, LLC, an international trade online information service, and helped to form CalTrade, a statewide alliance to promote sound international trade programs and policies.

Earlier positions included international policy and public affairs work with the State of California and with his own public affairs consulting practice.Paul Oliva speaks Italian and German.

He has been appointed by four U.S. Secretaries of Commerce to the Northern California District Export Council, where he is currently Vice Chair; he serves on the California Chamber of Commerce International Trade Committee and on the University of the Pacific’s Alumni Council for the School of International Studies.