Matt Sueoka

Rebecca joined Amex Ventures in 2024 to focus on enterprise software investing.

Before joining American Express, Rebecca led early stage fintech and software investments at Global Asset Capital. Rebecca’s prior experience includes business development at Credit Karma, software private equity investing at GIC, and investment banking at Deutsche Bank.

Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Duke University.

Michal Edelman Tepper joined Amex Ventures in 2022. Michal focuses on sourcing and evaluating opportunities in B2B FinTech and driving partnerships between portfolio companies and business units.

Prior to joining American Express, Michal was a Senior Associate at TRAUB where she helped Consumer, Retail and Tech businesses execute on their strategic initiatives. Previously, she was an analyst at Barclays in their Consumer Retail Group, where she evaluated and advised on M&A and equity transactions in the Food & Beverage and Retail industries.

Michal holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA with honors in Economics and Social History from Barnard College.

Anirudh joined Amex Ventures in 2022. Anirudh focuses on sourcing and evaluating early stage opportunities across fintech, commerce, & emerging technologies, and on developing partnerships between portfolio companies and Amex’s business units.

Prior to joining American Express, Anirudh was a senior associate at Strategy&, consulting financial services firms on technology transformation initiatives. Before that, he worked as a technology consultant at Deloitte Consulting.  

Anirudh holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematical Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. 

Lauren joined Amex Ventures in 2024 to focus on enterprise software investing.

Before joining American Express, Lauren focused on fintech and software investments at Thomvest Ventures. Lauren's prior experience includes software growth equity investing at Generation Investment Management and equity research and capital markets at Morgan Stanley. 

Lauren received an MBA from Harvard Business School and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Ethics, Politics, and Economics from Yale University.

Rhea focuses on sourcing and evaluating opportunities in fintech, payments, and emerging technologies, as well as driving partnerships between portfolio companies and business units at American Express.

Prior to joining American Express, Rhea was part of the strategy and operations teams at Revolut, where she contributed to the US go-to-market strategy, and at DoorDash, where she helped scale a new B2B vertical. She began her career as an analyst at Barclays, advising clients across the Healthcare sector on capital structure, debt issuance and a range of strategic alternatives including M&A and leveraged buyouts. 

Rhea holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Economics from Wellesley College.

Rachel Payne joined Amex Ventures in 2022. Rachel will be supporting Amex Ventures in all things portfolio management ranging from supporting our accounting processes, senior leadership reporting, Finance stakeholder management, and portfolio exits as well as driving insights for better decision support from our portfolio data.

Prior to joining American Express, Rachel was the Venture Operations Manager at Arc Ventures, a New York Family Office, focused on investing in startups and venture funds. She oversaw their venture operations focusing on legal, accounting, and portfolio management.  

Rachel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Art History in 2009 from Manhattanville College. 

Varun joined Amex Ventures in 2024. Varun focuses on evaluating portfolio company performance and valuations, while also supporting the team through strategic projects and initiatives.

Varun joined us from American Express’s Investor Relations team, where he played a key role in supporting Amex’s investor engagement strategy, including quarterly earnings calls and Investor Day workstreams, driving insights on Amex’s stock, and developing financial analyses to address analyst queries. Prior to joining Amex, Varun worked in private equity investing, across Bain Capital’s India-focused special situations fund and Tano Capital’s growth equity fund focused on the financial services and consumer sectors.

Varun holds an MBA from London Business School and is also a Chartered Accountant.

Serena Upadhyay joined Amex Ventures in 2024. Serena focuses on Consumer Services investments, specifically around the future of membership (e.g. travel, dining, entertainment, shopping). In addition, she supports partnership activity with portfolio companies and the assessment of new emerging sectors.

Prior to joining American Express, Serena was an Associate on the Strategic Investments team at JP Morgan, where she was focused on executing venture and growth equity investments in fintech and enterprise tech companies. Prior to this, she was an Investment Banking Analyst at JP Morgan on their Diversified Industries Coverage group, where she worked on M&A, strategic advisory, and financing transactions.

Serena holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Oliver Ginns joined Amex Ventures in 2022. Oliver focuses on opportunities related to fintech, commerce and emerging technologies, and works closely with members of the investment team on sourcing, evaluating and executing investment opportunities.

Prior to joining American Express, Oliver was a summer analyst for Tesla where he focused on financial and operational analysis for North American distribution centers. Previously, he was an investment analyst at Bloccelerate, where he sourced and evaluated investment opportunities in the enterprise blockchain sector.

Oliver holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

Yuhang joined Amex Ventures in 2024 to focus on enterprise software investing.

Prior to joining American Express, Yuhang was a Private Equity Associate at HGGC, focusing on middle-market transactions in technology and industrials. Prior to that, he was a Business Analyst at McKinsey, where he worked with clients across private equity, biotech, and various industrials.

Yuhang holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Vanderbilt University.

Jason joined Amex Ventures in 2024. Jason focuses on the management and reporting of ventures’ growing and evolving portfolio by evaluating portfolio company performance, as well as deriving insights from our investment activities to support the broader Ventures’ team. 

Prior to joining Amex Ventures, Jason was a Senior Analyst supporting US Consumer Finance within American Express. In his role, he was responsible for driving the short and long-term financial results for the business unit, focusing on key P&L decisions, performance trends, and the communication of financial plans and results to senior management.

Jason holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from the University of Michigan.

Marjani joined Amex Ventures in 2024. Marjani partners closely with the Amex Ventures leadership team to provide thought leadership, support strategy development and help manage the day-to-day operations of the team.

Prior to joining American Express, Marjani was a manager at Bain and Company where she spent three years consulting across a range of industries and topics, most recently working in Bain’s Private Equity Group conducting due diligences on targets primarily in the B2B tech and fintech spaces. Marjani also previously worked at Google, where she held various operational and strategic roles including working on monetization strategy for Google Station.

Marjani holds an MBA from MIT Sloan and BA with honors in Political Science from Swarthmore College.

Christina joined Amex Ventures in 2021, where she supports Matt Sueoka, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Amex Ventures.

Before joining American Express, Christina supported the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at MacAndrews and Forbes. Previously, Christina worked in public relations for Sephora and marketing for Revlon.

Christina holds a BS in Marketing from St. John's University.

Mariluz joined American Express in 2012 and currently supports Margaret Lim, Ope Runsewe and Kevin Tsang as an Executive Assistant.

Before joining the Amex Ventures team, Mariluz was a Project Analyst within the Real Estate team, where she worked on several initiatives, including the rollout of American Express's flexible workplace program, BlueWork.

Mariluz holds a BA in Multicultural Communications and International Marketing from Baruch College.

Aziza joined Amex Ventures in 2021, where she focuses on building the organization's profile with external and internal audiences and establishing the executive team as thought leaders. She also works across several other businesses to tell holistic stories about American Express' leadership in digital innovation.

Before joining American Express, Aziza was SVP at OutCast, an integrated marketing agency specializing in digital, communications, and creative. At OutCast, she led communication initiatives for clients across various industries, including venture capital, technology, beauty, retail, and more. Before OutCast, Aziza held roles of increasing responsibility at several communication agencies.

Aziza holds a BA in Sociology from Harvard. 

Jacob joined Amex Ventures in 2022, and provides  global communications and thought leadership support to showcase how American Express is driving innovation and powerfully backing its customers.  Prior to joining Amex Ventures, Jacob supported Global Merchant and Network services (GMNS) within American Express’ Corporate Affairs and Communications (CA&C) team.

Prior to joining the CA&C GMNS team, Jacob was an independent contractor supporting both GMNS and the American Express Social media team. Before he became a contractor for Amex, he held various agency roles with increasing responsibility supporting Amex at companies such as Day One Agency, TheAudience and Edelman.

Jacob holds a BA in Economics from the University of North Texas. 

Jim joined American Express in 2011 and serves as Chief Counsel. Jim oversees and participates in the structuring, negotiation and execution of American Express’ M&A, joint venture, and venture investment transactions globally, as well as related integration activities.

Prior to joining American Express, Jim worked in the M&A group at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, where he specialized in private equity and public company M&A as well as corporate governance matters.

Jim received his J.D. from Columbia Law School and his B.A. with Honors from Brown University, where he majored in History.

Regina joined American Express in 2020 and serves as VP & Senior Counsel and Lead Counsel to Amex Ventures. Regina supports Amex Ventures in its investments, exits, portfolio management and business development activities, and also works on American Express’ M&A and joint venture transactions globally, as well as related integration activities.

Prior to joining American Express, Regina worked in the Financial Services Group at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, where she advised public and private financial institution and other clients on a wide variety of complex strategic transactions, including acquisitions, divestitures, financings, and securities offerings, and developed a broad-based M&A, corporate governance, public company reporting and capital markets practice, focused on financial institutions.  

Regina received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law and her B.S. and B.A. from The Ohio State University, where she majored in Accounting and Spanish.