Austen Jensen

Executive Vice President, Government Affairs

Austen Jensen joined the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) in January 2016 and serves as Executive Vice President of Government Affairs. In this role, Jensen advocates before Congress and prudential regulators to promote transparency, innovation, and competition in the payment ecosystem. In addition to handling the payments portfolio for RILA members, he also handles financial services issues that fall under the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve.

Outside of the financial services arena, Jensen also directly handles environmental and sustainability issues. As Executive Vice President of Government Affairs, he manages the Government Affairs team that advocates for workforce policy, privacy, trade, taxes, competition and innovation and is the chair of RILA’s Retail Leaders PAC.

Prior to joining the RILA team, he spent more than a decade working in the U.S. House of Representatives. Austen finished out his time on Capitol Hill as chief of staff for Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who was the former Chairman of Financial Services Committee and Chief Deputy Whip for House Republicans.