Mary Carol Harris

Ms. Mary Carol Harris, C’96, Senior Director of International Product Marketing at Airbnb, will return to Sewanee as the Bryan Viewpoints Speaker on Wednesday, October 29, at 4:30 p.m. in the Torian Room, duPont Library. This event is presented by the Babson Center for Global Commerce in collaboration with the French and Mathematics departments. Her talk, “From Lemonade Stands to Big Tech: Learnings from Rural America, a Liberal Arts Education and International Business,” will explore how her Sewanee foundation paved the way for global success. Harris will share insights from her extraordinary international career in digital commerce and financial technology. All are welcome. 

Based in London, Harris is the Senior Director of International Product Marketing for Airbnb. In her current role, she applies her expertise in market expansion, localization, and consumer engagement to drive Airbnb’s product marketing strategy across international markets, including EMEA, LATAM, and APAC regions. 

Prior to her work with Airbnb, Harris served as a senior executive in Apple’s global Apple Pay and Wallet organization for ten years, where she drove market entry strategy and led commercial negotiations with various partners. She played a pivotal role in the explosive international growth of Apple Pay and related services. She began by establishing the Apple Pay business across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, leading the market debut in the United Kingdom and expanding reach into over 80 countries and regions reaching millions of customers around the world. 

Before her time at Apple, Harris gained extensive experience in the payments industry through leadership roles at Visa, Telefonica-O2, and Upaid Systems. Earlier in her career, she also worked as a broadcaster and journalist for Vatican Radio in Rome, hosting a live multilingual talk show for the Great Jubilee Year of 2000. 

Harris’s global achievements are deeply rooted in the values and education she cultivated at Sewanee. As a student, she majored in Political Science and complemented her coursework with classes in French and Mathematics. Additionally, Harris gained Wilkins Scholar honors, was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the 

Order of the Gownsmen, and Phi Kappa Epsilon sorority. Her Rotary Scholarship to study abroad through the European Studies program marked a turning point in her journey, bridging her rural Kentucky roots with a world of international opportunity. The experience sparked her fascination with global perspectives and laid the foundation for her future in international business. 

“Being in France was the first time I experienced anti-Americanism,” Harris reflected. “It pushed me to ask “why” and to try to understand what drives other perspectives. I came back to Sewanee, changed my major to Political Science, and decided to pursue an international path. I haven’t looked back since.” In addition to her Sewanee education and accolades, Mary Carol Harris holds a “diplôme” in International Relations from l’Institut d’études politiques de Paris (Sciences-Po), where she was among the first foreign students to earn the same degree as native French peers. 

Outside her professional life, Harris lives between London and Paris and speaks fluent French and Italian. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, gardening, and traveling across Europe. Please join Mary Carol Harris for an engaging discussion on how curiosity and cultural openness grounded in a strong liberal arts foundation can spark lasting success in the global business world.