MasterCard and Regeneron leaders on Cuban trade mission

Executives from two major corporate employers in Westchester are among the New York delegation of business and education leaders led by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on a trade mission to Cuba this week.

The delegation, which left New York on Monday, includes Walt M. Macnee, vice chairman of MasterCard Worldwide Inc. in Purchase, and Dr. Leonard Schleifer, CEO of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Greenburgh.

Macnee represents the state”™s financial services industry in meetings with Cuban officials. Schleifer is one of three top executives on the trip from New York”™s health, biotech and pharmaceutical industries.

Dr. Freda Lewis-Hall, chief medical officer and executive vice president at Pfizer Inc., also joined the trade mission. The pharmaceutical company is headquartered in Manhattan and operates a vaccines and biologics research site at Pearl River in Rockland County.

Cuomo in a statement on the eve of the trip said the trade mission delegates “will help ensure Empire State companies are at the front line as the door opens to a market that has been closed to U.S. enterprise for over half a century.” The industry leaders “will help form the foundation for a strong economic relationship between New York and Cuba as legal restrictions on trade are eased in the future.”