W. Kimathi Marangu ’88, P’26

AB, MA; Los Angeles, California

Kimathi Marangu is the former global head of Prepaid at Visa and a former fintech entrepreneur who co-founded Cartera Commerce, which was later acquired by Rakuten. Prior to his entrepreneurial ventures, Kimathi was an investment banker at J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley. He holds an AB in Economics from Vassar College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Kimathi is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Kimathi’s service to Vassar includes nearly a decade on the Vassar Fund Council, with five as chair of the Vassar Fund. Other roles include AAVC board of directors (executive committee member), Alumnae/i interviewer, and Annual Fund phon-a-thoner.

My six-word story

“Vassar’s silent treasures: buildings and trees.”

Kimathi serves as chairman of the San Mateo County Employee Retirement Association pension board (SamCERA). He is a board member of the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health and an advisory board member for Stanford Federal Credit Union.

Kimathi and his wife Andrea live in the San Francisco Bay area and have three adult children, including a son who is a member of the class of ’26.