2020 Event Recap

Jo Ann Barefoot is CEO & Founder of AIR – the Alliance for Innovative Regulation and host of the global podcast show Barefoot Innovation. A noted advocate of “regulation innovation,” Jo Ann is Senior Fellow Emerita at the Harvard Kennedy School Center for Business & Government. She has been Deputy Comptroller of the Currency, partner at KPMG, Co-Chairman of Treliant Risk Advisors, and staff member at the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. She’s an angel investor, serves on the board of Oportun, serves on the fintech advisory committee for FINRA, is a member of the Milken Institute U.S. FinTech Advisory Committee, and is a member of the California Blockchain Working Group Advisory Board. Jo Ann chairs the board of directors of FinRegLab, previously chaired the board of the Financial Health Network, and previously served on the CFPB’s Consumer Advisory Board. She was a Cofounder of Hummingbird Regtech.

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As Corporate Vice President of Worldwide Financial Services at Microsoft, Borden is responsible for leading the development and execution of Microsoft’s global financial services strategy, including the prioritization of banking, capital markets and insurance industry solutions and their alignment to Microsoft’s worldwide digital platform and partner ecosystem, to support our financial services customers in their digital transformation journeys.

Prior to this role, Borden spent 7 years at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he served as a Managing Director.  During his time at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Borden held various leadership positions across Global Transaction Services (GTS), Equity Asset Management Services and Enterprise Payments.  Most recently, he was Head of GTS Commerce Solutions where he was responsible for strategy development, product commercialization and go-to market execution.

Prior to joining Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Borden spent 13 years at Citigroup where he held several senior positions including managing director and head of the North America Public Sector State and Local Government team in the company’s Treasury & Trade Solutions organization.  He also held senior strategic positions within Citi’s Chairman and Chief Executive Office, and in Citi Cards.

During his four years at R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company, Borden worked in sales, becoming vice president in the General Sales Atlantic & Government Region where he was responsible for managing, organizing, and developing sales for the region.

At International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), Borden performed a number of roles in systems engineering and sales and rose to become a sales manager in the company’s Consulting Group, leading a team that sold business transformation, application development, and systems integration consulting services.

Borden holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University, where he was a varsity football letterman.  He also holds a Masters in Business Administration from Northwestern Kellogg School of Management.

Borden is a member of The Executive Leadership Council (ELC), the preeminent membership organization for the development of global black leaders. He is committed to helping the communities in which he lives and works through board membership, volunteering and mentoring. His board memberships include: Chicago Cares (1992-1995); The Robert Toigo Foundation (2006-2008); The Beyond Diversity Resource Center (2005-2015); New Jersey Advocates for Education Advisory Board (2006-2010); Bank of America Black Executive Leadership Council Advisory Board (2012-present); and National Black MBA Association (2018-present).

Brian P. Brooks is the Acting Comptroller of the Currency.

Mr. Brooks became Acting Comptroller of the Currency upon the resignation of the 31st Comptroller of the Currency Joseph M. Otting as a result of his designation as First Deputy Comptroller by Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin pursuant to his authority under 12 USC § 4.

As Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Mr. Brooks is the administrator of the federal banking system and chief officer of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC supervises nearly 1,200 national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks that conduct approximately 70% of all banking business in the United States. The mission of the OCC is to ensure that national banks and federal savings associations operate in a safe and sound manner, provide fair access to financial services, treat customers fairly, and comply with applicable laws and regulations.

The Comptroller also serves as a director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and a member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

Prior to becoming Acting Comptroller, Mr. Brooks served as Senior Deputy Comptroller and Chief Operating Officer. In this role, he oversaw OCC bank supervision, bank supervision policy, economics, supervisory system and analytical support, systemic risk identification support and specialty supervision, and innovation. He also served as a member of the OCC’s Executive Committee and was the Chair of the Technology and Systems Subcommittee, since joining the agency in April 2020.

Prior to joining the OCC, Mr. Brooks served as Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase Global, Inc., where he headed the legal, compliance, audit, investigations, and government relations functions for the company, which served 20 million customers. He held this position since September 2018.

From 2014-2018, Mr. Brooks served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of the $3.2 trillion Fannie Mae. Prior to joining Fannie Mae, he served as a Vice Chairman of OneWest Bank, N.A., from 2011 to 2014. Prior to joining OneWest, he served managing partner of the Washington, D.C. office of the global law firm O’Melveny & Myers LLP, where he also served as chair of the firm’s financial services practice group. Prior to joining the OCC, Mr. Brooks also served on the Boards of Directors of Avant, Inc. and Fannie Mae, and also served as an advisor to a number of technology startups.

Mr. Brooks holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in government and a law degree from the University of Chicago.

Scott Case is the chief information officer at Truist Financial Corporation, the nation’s premier financial services company serving approximately 10 million households.

He assumed this position on December 2019, with the closing of the merger of equals between BB&T Corporation and SunTrust Banks, Inc. He is a member of the company’s executive leadership team.

Case is responsible for Truist’s organizational unit that provides the company’s overall technology, operations and information-related services.

Case has 25 years of experience in financial services leading transformational change and delivering innovative solutions. He initially joined Truist predecessor SunTrust in April 2015, serving as chief technology officer for the company’s consumer segment. In this role, he drove the delivery of technology solutions supporting products and services for consumer lending, mortgage, retail banking and private wealth management. In October 2017, Case became chief information officer for Ciox Health, then rejoined SunTrust as chief Information officer in February 2018.

Prior to SunTrust, Case served in senior technology executive positions with Bank of America for 15 years, including head of technology for Europe and Asia credit card services.

Case is a member of the board of directors for TechBridge, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that works with nonprofits on the frontline of breaking the cycle of generational poverty.

Case holds a bachelor’s degree in management science and marketing from the State University of New York at Geneseo and a Master of Business Administration in finance from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Belk College of Business.

Johnson Cook is a serial entrepreneur Co-Founder and President at Greenlight Financial Technology. Founded in 2014, Greenlight Financial Technology is an Atlanta-based fintech company that’s committed to empowering parents to raise financially-smart kids. Its groundbreaking family finance product, Greenlight®, is a debit card for kids that parents manage by app using flexible parental controls. Patent-pending technology enables parents to choose the exact stores where their children can spend, manage chores, set parent-paid interest rates on savings and more. Kids monitor balances, create saving goals and learn to make real world trade-off decisions. Greenlight has raised $81.5mm in funding and backers include JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Drive Capital, TTV Capital, Relay Ventures, NEA, Amazon, SunTrust, Ally Bank, Synchrony Bank, and others.

Manning is the Chief Operating Officer for Acorns. He oversees the business with direct accountability for growth, retention, experimentation, customer service, analytics, project management, and Acorns’ regulated entities.

Prior to Acorns, Manning launched market-leading products and programs at JPMorgan Chase like Chase Sapphire, Chase Freedom, and Chase Ultimate Rewards, and was named an Ad Age “40 Under 40.” He also spent four years in Beijing, China, as CMO of JPMorgan Chase’s consumer team and while there, founded a local credit card business. During his 18-year tenure at Chase, Manning oversaw many departments including Branding, Advertising, Product Development, Marketing, Corporate Development, Innovation, B2B Corporate Sales Strategy, and, lastly, as the Managing Director of Loyalty Innovation. He graduated from Indiana University and he and his wife have three future Acorns investors.

In 2008, Rob Frohwein recognized that companies like eBay offered automated access to small business transaction data via APIs. Rob realized small businesses can simply share this data to allow underwriters to make better, faster credit decisions and provide a great user experience. He co-founded Kabbage in Atlanta, Georgia to leverage this power of real-time data automation through technology and has since expanded the business to serve all small businesses throughout the U.S. through a suite of cash flow solution products.  Rob has since also founded Drum Technologies, also based in Atlanta, an automated sales and referral solution for businesses.

Rob holds a law degree from Villanova University, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.  He is the listed inventor on ten United States Patents, a co-author of three books on intellectual property and has been recognized four times as one of the top 300 intellectual property strategists globally by Intellectual Asset Magazine.

Mike Froman serves as vice chairman and president, Strategic Growth for Mastercard. In that role he is responsible for growing strategic partnerships, scaling new business opportunities, and advancing the company’s efforts to partner with governments and other institutions to address major societal and economic issues. He and his team drive financial inclusion and inclusive growth efforts and work to develop new businesses key to the company’s strategic growth.

Mike oversees the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and is a member of the company’s management committee.

Prior to joining Mastercard, Mike was affiliated with the Council on Foreign Relations and continues to serve as a distinguished fellow. In September, 2018, Mike joined the Board of Directors of The Walt Disney Company.

From 2013 to 2017, Mike served as the U.S. Trade Representative, President Barack Obama’s principal advisor and negotiator on international trade and investment issues. During his tenure, Mike worked to open foreign markets for U.S. goods and services, reach landmark trade agreements and enforce the rights of American workers, farmers and firms. From 2009-2013, he served at the White House as assistant to the President and deputy national security advisor for international economic affairs.

Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Mike held several executive positions at Citigroup, including CEO of its international insurance business, COO of its $50 billion alternative investments business and head of its infrastructure investment business. He helped shape the company’s strategy in China, India, Brazil and other emerging markets. Earlier in his career, during the Clinton Administration, he worked at the White House and the Treasury Department.

Mike received a bachelor’s degree in public and international affairs from Princeton University, a doctorate in international relations from Oxford University, and a law degree from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.

David Gardner is the Co-Founder and Chief Rule Breaker at The Motley Fool, a financial services company he started in 1993 alongside his brother, Tom. In Shakespeare, the court jester—or Fool—was the one person who had license to speak the truth to the king or queen. In the same way, The Motley Fool has been speaking truth to Wall Street for 26 years, empowering millions of people to take control of their financial lives. The company’s purpose is To Make the World Smarter, Happier, and Richer.

As Chief Rule Breaker, David wears many hats including investor, podcaster, author, and lecturer. David has developed his own style of investing, called Rule Breaker Investing, which seeks to invest ahead of the crowd in the most innovative companies of our time and continue to hold shares well after the crowd has sold. Millions of people and dollars invest alongside David following his stock recommendations made in the company’s flagship service Motley Fool Stock Advisor where he has bought and held stocks like Amazon and Netflix, each up more than 100 times in value (and counting). In October 2018, David celebrated making his 200th consecutive monthly stock pick for Motley Fool Stock Advisor; those 200 picks returned an average annualized return of 20.7% over those 16+ years, vs. the market’s S&P 500 average of 7.5%.

Part of The Motley Fool’s mission to make the world smarter, happier, and richer involves a focus on improving the world’s workplaces. With its unyielding focus on workplace culture and employee engagement, The Motley Fool has twice been named Glassdoor’s #1 Best MediumSized Company to Work For in America.

David is a recipient of UNC’s prestigious “Distinguished Young Alumni Award.” He loves games of all kinds, especially board games, having a collection of hundreds of them, which the Gardners have played a lot over the years with their three children. David served on the Individual Investor Advisory Committee of the New York Stock Exchange for 15 years and the Folger Shakespeare Library board for 10 years. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Conscious Capitalism Institute and is a graduate of the Leadership Greater Washington Signature Program Class of 2019.

These days you can also find him hard at work with a team creating a mobile game to make the stock market fun and accessible for everyone. If you run into him in person, be sure to ask him about Spiffy-Pops.

Bryson Koehler is leading the technology transformation of Equifax, a global data, analytics and technology company. As a vision-driven, no-nonsense leader, he inspires his global technology teams to build products and services that create data insights – empowering customers and partners to make more informed decisions. Koehler is recognized for creating positive change within an organization through innovative technology and relentless relationship building.

Previously, Koehler drove efforts to bring IBM Watson together with a full suite of cloud native capabilities as a common platform aimed at providing world-class, developer-friendly cognitive tools. These efforts culminated in the relaunch of IBM Watson and Cloud Platform. Additionally, he was chief technology and information officer at The Weather Channel Companies (TWCC) before it was acquired in 2015 by IBM.

Koehler is an active member of his community. He helps shape Georgia’s technology community by serving on the boards of directors for the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) and the Atlanta Chief Information Officer (CIO) Advisory Board. Koehler also sits on the board of directors for Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, which is now one of the largest affordable, single-family housing developers in Atlanta, and the board of Technology and Data Committee of Realogy, a leading provider of residential real estate services.

Koehler holds bachelor’s degrees in political science and communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Jim Marous has been named as the leading influencer in banking, is the co-publisher of The Financial Brand, the owner and publisher of the Digital Banking Report and the host of the top 5 banking podcast, Banking Transformed.

As a sought-after speaker, author and recognized industry futurist and authority on disruption in the financial services industry, Marous is often featured by international press. He also has spoken to audiences in over 50 countries on how individuals and organizations must respond to the digital transformation of financial services.

Jim has also advised the White House on banking policy and is followed by close to a half million people on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Steve McLaughlin is the Founder and CEO of FT Partners and former senior banker at Goldman Sachs covering FinTech and Financial Services for over 20 years.  Steve was recently Ranked #1 on Institution Investor’s “Most Influential Dealmakers in FinTech” report and named “Investment Banker of the Year” and ranked #1 FinTech Banker in Silicon Valley by The Information.  FT Partners was founded in late 2001 and has won “Investment Banking Firm of the Year” four times since 2004.  Steve has personally led and closed hundreds of FinTech M&A, Capital Raise and IPO Advisory transactions.

Jelena McWilliams was sworn in as the 21^st Chairman of the FDIC on June 5, 2018. She serves a six-year term on the FDIC Board of Directors, and is designated as Chairman for a term of five years.

Ms. McWilliams was Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Corporate Secretary for Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati, Ohio. At Fifth Third Bank she served as a member of the executive management team and numerous bank committees including: Management Compliance, Enterprise Risk, Risk and Compliance, Operational Risk, Enterprise Marketing, and Regulatory Change.

Prior to joining Fifth Third Bank, Ms. McWilliams worked in the U.S. Senate for six years, most recently as Chief Counsel and Deputy Staff Director with the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, and previously as Assistant Chief Counsel with the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.

From 2007 to 2010, Ms. McWilliams served as an attorney at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, where she drafted consumer protection regulations, reviewed and analyzed comment letters on regulatory proposals, and responded to consumer complaints.

Before entering public service, she practiced corporate and securities law at Morrison & Foerster LLP in Palo Alto, California, and Hogan & Hartson LLP (now Hogan Lovells LLP) in Washington, D.C. In legal practice, Ms. McWilliams advised management and boards of directors on corporate governance, compliance, and reporting requirements under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. She also represented publicly- and privately-held companies in mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, strategic business ventures, venture capital investments, and general corporate matters.

Ms. McWilliams graduated with highest honors from the University of California at Berkeley with a B.S. in political science, and earned her law degree from U.C. Berkeley School of Law.

Barry became the ninth CEO in the company’s 106-year history on November 26, 2018. He is transforming the company from a legacy check printer into a modern, Trusted Business Technology™ company.   Deluxe is a Fortune 1000 company, and its software and treasury solutions process over $2.8 trillion in payments annually, nearly 15% of the US economy.

In his first year, Barry delivered record revenue and 30% stock appreciation.  He built a new leadership team, drove culture change by making every employee a shareholder, reinvigorated core values, and re-segmented the company into 4 new operating units.  He led the integration of 50+ previous acquisitions and built a sales engine delivering the company’s first successive quarters of sales-driven growth in more than a decade (excluding COVID impacts).  He also established the company’s first-ever Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and made substantial human and financial capital commitments to fight racism.  He navigated the company through the COVID crisis while expanding margins and lowering net debt to the lowest level in 2+ years.

Prior to joining Deluxe, he spent 14 years at First Data (formerly NYSE: FDC, now part of Fiserv, NASDAQ:  FISV), running most businesses globally.  He was the only senior executive to survive and thrive from the historic KKR-led LBO to its IPO nearly a decade later, serving 7 CEOs.  

Barry has a track record delivering innovative tech-enabled solutions. He led the historic First Data–Apple collaboration supporting ApplePay, and with Google on Google Wallet and Android Pay.  He created the best-selling First Data-branded credit card terminals generating over $2 billion in revenue.  At Verisign (NASDAQ:  VRSN), he repositioned and grew their payments business leading to its acquisition by PayPal. He co-founded, built and sold MagnaCash, a Silicon Valley micro-payments company that worked like iTunes checkout today.  Earlier he ran the Wells Fargo ATM/Debit business delivering the world’s first web-enabled ATM network and personalized UI/UX.  Barry was also non-executive Chairman of eSurg.com, a venture-backed online medical supply start-up acquired by market leader Henry Schein (NASDAQ:  HSIC).  

He began his career and spent 12 years at Procter & Gamble in roles of increasing responsibility in sales, product, and brand marketing where he launched of dozens of new products.  

Barry serves on the Boards of the Minneapolis Business Partnership, Metro Atlanta Chamber, Carter Center and Woodruff Arts Center.  He was the inaugural Chair of FinTechAtlanta, and Chair of Technology Association of Georgia (TAG).  He served on the Boards of Bank of American Merchant Services (NY), PNC Merchant Services (Pittsburg), Standard Chartered Merchant Services (Singapore), American Transaction Processors Coalition (Atlanta), Payments 20 (London/Atlanta), Junior Achievement of Georgia and Catholic Charities of Atlanta where he founded the Youth Leadership Fellows program. 

Sheel is co-founder of Better Tomorrow, a seed stage VC firm investing in Fintech companies globally. His own startup experience includes 2 successful FinTech exits – a payments company and a high-stakes auction company, and he is GP of the 500 Fintech fund. He formerly worked as a financial services consultant at BCG and started his FinTech career at the non-profit p2p lender Kiva.

Melissa Netram is the Director of LabCFTC and Chief Innovation Officer at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In her role, she is responsible for coordinating closely with international and U.S. regulators, Capitol Hill, and other external stakeholders to facilitate market-enhancing innovation, inform public policy, and ensure the CFTC has the understanding to keep pace with the ever-changing financial services industry.

Ms. Netram brings to her role more than 15 years of experience developing and executing policy strategy regarding technology and financial services issues. Prior to joining the CFTC, she was the Director of Global Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs for Silicon Valley-based Intuit, where she led the development of the company’s government strategy and worked on the convergence of technology and global policy. As part of her role, Ms. Netram led efforts to position Intuit to successfully capitalize on fintech innovations, including serving as a founding member of the Financial Innovation Now Coalition, one of the first DC-area fintech groups.

Ms. Netram began her career in financial services at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, with a rotation through the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Following her government service, she joined The McGraw-Hill Companies and then the Financial Services Roundtable, where she worked extensively on the Dodd-Frank Act.

As Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Franz W. Paasche leads PayPal’s global external and internal communications functions and the company’s global government relations and public policy activities which contribute to the company’s overall Business Affairs mandate. He also is responsible for leading PayPal’s Social Innovation efforts to drive positive social impact and make a difference for consumers, businesses and communities around the world. In this role, Franz brings over 25 years of extensive expertise in corporate, communications, government, legal and public affairs domains to PayPal’s expanding global network.

Before joining PayPal, Franz served as Head of External Relations for North America for McKinsey & Company, where he was responsible for external relations, public affairs, strategic communications and reputation risk, and oversaw issues management, thought leadership initiatives, and knowledge relationships across McKinsey’s Americas region. In addition, he served on the firm’s Global Communications and Publishing Executive Committee and provided counsel to McKinsey’s senior leadership and practice leaders.

Prior to McKinsey, Franz was a Senior Partner at Communications Consulting Worldwide, Fleishman Hillard’s multi-disciplinary strategic communications firm. Head of the firm’s leadership communications practice, he provided counsel to a wide range of global and national companies and institutions on reputation management, strategic leadership communications, brand development, public affairs and crisis communications.

In addition, Franz has been a Managing Director of the New York strategic communications firm Clark & Weinstock; General Counsel and Executive Vice President at the real-time financial information and technology company Market Data Corporation; and a litigator with the international law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. He’s a former staff member for Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and has served as a lecturer on Leadership in Communications at Columbia University’s School of Continuing Education.

Franz graduated from Swarthmore College with High Honors in Political Science, English Literature and American Economic History. He received his law degree from the Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and an editor of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. He is a member of the Bar in New York State and in New York City.

He was named to the Holmes Report’s Influence 100 list of the industry’s most influential corporate communications executives in 2016, 2017 and 2018, and was recognized as The Holmes Report’s Innovation Excellence, Brand Professional SABRE Award recipient in 2018. Franz was named PR Professional of the Year in the Corporate and Nonprofit category by PRNews in 2017. He is also a member of the Arthur Page Society.

Franz was named to the Brennan Center for Justice Board of Directors in 2018.

After growing up with a single mother who worked nonstop to make ends meet, seeing his father work to generate multiple incomes to fund his life in retirement and seeing the massive/growing income challenges in the U.S., Adam is happy to be working with a passionate team on building Steady.

Steady is currently helping its 2 million Members to supplement their incomes, receive ongoing digital advice on how to reach their income potential and improve their overall financial health, guiding over $500 million of incremental and attributable earnings for its Members in 2019.

Adam is emerging as a leading advocate and thought leader for part-time, contract, hourly and gig workers.

Adam previously spent a number of very challenging years building and investing in businesses in China, including 6 years working to help stimulate economic and jobs growth in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities of China with a focus on investing heavily in renewable energy to lower China’s out of control carbon footprint.

Adam started his career with a decade in investment banking, working in M&A and corporate finance transactions, primarily at Lehman Brothers and Barrington Associates (sold to Wells Fargo).

Adam has also served on numerous corporate and non-profit Boards, including the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles and Orange County.

Emmalyn co-manages Flourish Ventures, a $500M global fintech fund, and leads investments in startups whose technology improves the financial health for the masses of U.S. citizens. Her current portfolio includes Brigit, Chime, Clerkie, Cushion, EarnUp, Kin, Propel, SeedFi and Steady.

Emmalyn has over 20 years of technology investing experience. As a partner at Omidyar Network, Emmalyn co-managed the Financial Inclusion team. Prior to that, she was a venture partner at Oak Investment Partners, deploying over $150 million of capital in companies such as Bleacher Report, Huffington Post, Thrillist, and Demand Media. Before Oak, she led software and internet investments including Tellme Networks, Neoteris, and MySpace at VantagePoint Partners and the Barksdale Group.

Prior to investing, Emmalyn was an investment banker in Morgan Stanley’s Corporate Finance Technology group.  She started her career in fintech as a product manager at MSCI Barra, a leading portfolio analytics software company. She holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, and a B.A. in economics and minor in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley where she graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Luvleen Sidhu is the Chair, CEO and Founder of BM Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: BMTX), one of America’s largest digital banking platforms. At the time of BM Technologies’ listing, Sidhu was the youngest female Founder and CEO to take a company public. She has been recognized by many awards, including being named one of PaymentsSource’s Most Influential Women in Payments: Next in 2021 and one of Crain’s New York Business 2021 Notable Women on Wall Street. She is a member of YPO and is also passionate about mentoring women. Sidhu has been featured frequently in the media and speaks regularly at conferences, including LendIt Fintech USA 2021. She holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a BA degree from Harvard.

Chris Skinner is known as one of the most influential people in technology. He is an independent commentator on the financial markets and fintech, through his blog theFinanser.com and author of the bestselling books Digital Bank, ValueWeb and Digital Human.

ValueWeb describes the impact of Fintech and how mobile and blockchain technologies are changing the face of finance in building an internet of value. As a result of the emerging internet of value, banks have to become digitalised, and Digital Bank provides a comprehensive review and analysis of the battle for digital banking and strategies for companies to compete. Digital Human, released in 2018, builds on these two themes but looks at the wider picture of digitalisation, and how this is a revolution as it allows everyone from the plains of Africa to the mountains of Tibet to be included.

Described by Seth Wheeler, Brookings Guest Scholar and Former Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy at the White House, as “one of the most authoritative voices on Fintech anywhere”, Chris has previously written many books covering everything from European regulations in banking through the credit crisis to the future of banking.

In his day job, he is Chair of the European networking forum The Financial Services Club and Nordic Future Innovation, as well as being a Non-Executive Director of the Fintech consultancy firm 11:FS, and on the advisory boards of various firms including Moven and Meniga. Mr. Skinner has been an advisor to the United Nations, the White House, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum, and is a visiting lecturer with Cambridge University as well as a TEDx speaker. He is also co-founder with renowned artist Basia Hamilton of The Portrait Foundation, http://portraitfoundation.com/, a non-profit platform to encourage children and the arts.

He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), one of the Top 5 most influential people on BankInfoSecurity’s list of information security leaders, as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal’s Financial News and Thomson Reuters.  In recent years, he has been voted one of the most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal’s Financial News and Thomson Reuters, as well as:

• Most Influential Fintech Commentator of the Year 2020 – Finance Monthly Fintech Awards
• Financial Markets Advisor of the Year UK 2020 – Corporate America Today
• Best CEO of the Year UK 2020 – Global 100
• CEO of the Year 2020 – Corp Today Global Business Awards
• Ones to Watch 2020: Finance Advisory Services 2020: France – Corp Today Global Business Awards
• 50 Leading Companies of the year 2020 – The Silicon Review

• Most Outstanding Finance Blog 2020 Poland – CV Magazine
• Portal to the Knowledge Base of the Financial Services Club UK 2020 – M&A Today Global Awards
• Financial Markets Advisor of the Year UK 2020 – M&A Today Global Awards
• Financial Markets UK 2020 – Finance Monthly Legal Awards
• Best CEO of the Year 2019 – by Lawyer International and Global 100
• Best Financial Markets Adviser of the Year 2019 – by M&A Today, Corporate America Today and Global 100
• Most Influential Fintech Advisor 2019 – by CV Magazine
• Best Fintech Keynote Speaker 2019 – by Global Business Insight
• Ones To Watch in Financial Services 2019 – by Global Business Insight
• Financial Markets Advisor of the Year 2019 – by ACQ5 Global Awards 2019, The Global Venture Annual Awards 2019, Global 100 Awards 2019 and Lawyer International Global Awards 2019
• Best FinTech Author 2019 – AI International Finance Awards 2019
• Outstanding contribution representing The Finanser – CEO Today Magazine European Business Awards 2019
• Game Changer of the Year 2019 – by Finance Monthly
• FinTech Author of the Year – by Acquisition International
• Most Influential CEO of the Year – by CV Magazine

… and more.

Mr. Skinner has also been a regular commentator on BBC News, Sky News, CNBC and Bloomberg about banking issues, and a Judge on many awards programs including the Asian Banker’s Retail Excellence Awards, as well as having worked closely with leading banks such as HSBC, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Citibank and Société Générale.

Find out more about Chris at https://chrisskinner.global/.

Jennifer Tescher is the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Financial Health Network (formerly the Center for Financial Services Innovation), the nation’s authority on financial health. The Financial Health Network is a trusted resource for business leaders, policymakers, and innovators united in a mission to improve financial health for all. As an entrepreneur, innovator and forceful voice for change, Jennifer has focused her work and career on the idea that, by aligning consumer and provider success, business can be a force for good in the lives of consumers, communities and the economy.

Tescher founded what was then CFSI in 2004 to champion increased access to high-quality financial products and services for underserved consumers. Over two decades, she has cultivated a robust network of relationships to raise the profile of financial health, and today the Financial Health Network has built a Network of over 150 companies and organizations committed to financial health for their customers, employees and communities. Through its Financial Solutions Lab, the organization has invested in more than 40 fintech innovators who are developing solutions to critical financial health challenges. The organization’s deep consumer research and financial health measurement platform generate the data and insights that are driving practitioners and policymakers alike to build powerful financial health strategies, products and practices.

Jennifer is a recognized thought leader, with a regular column in Forbes and frequent interviews and articles in both the mainstream and financial press and major speaking engagements at a broad spectrum of industry and policy conferences. She participates as an advisory board member for several of the nation’s largest financial institutions, nonprofits and research organizations, and previously served terms on the Federal Reserve Board’s Consumer Advisory Council and the Fannie Mae Affordable Housing Advisory Council. She currently serves on the board of Elevate Energy.

A native of Miami, Jennifer graduated from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism with a combined BSJ and MSJ. She holds an MPP from the University of Chicago’s Harris School, where she gave the commencement address in 2016. She lives in Chicago with her husband, bestselling author Jonathan Eig, and their children, Lillian, Lola, and Jeffery.