Parin Kothari is an experienced management consultant who works with macro-level strategic models primarily architecting the building blocks for a business that can withstand and monetize changes in the broader socio-economic environment, especially those related to the maturity of technology. Parin started his career at the Boston Consulting Group in South Asia and more recently was instrumental in establishing the business architecture practice at Wells Fargo Bank’s Internet Services Group. Today, he is at TD Bank’s North American Digital Channels organization driving product management, business architecture and operational maturity. Parin is also active in the community and works on education projects with several not-for-profit organizations across the globe.

Zachary A. Gipson is Senior Vice President, Head of Enterprise Innovation at USAA.  He is focused on delivering innovative, transformative, and customer-centric products, solutions, and experiences for USAA members.  Zack is responsible for inspiring and empowering a team of innovators from across USAA to deliver innovative solutions to best serve members’ needs and to facilitate the financial security of the military community.  His team has direct leadership for Enterprise-level strategic and innovation initiatives.  Zack and his team have filed and earned patents across financial services ranging across advice (Personal Financial Management/PFM, Financial Planning, “robo-advice”), Payments, digital personalization, data architecture, and Life Events (e.g., Military solutions, Retirement, Car/Home Buying).

Prior to his current role, Zack envisioned, stood up, and led the Enterprise Advice Group at USAA.  In support of USAA’s commitment to being an advice-led organization, his team was accountable for developing USAA’s advice model and operationalizing this across member, advisor and MSR tools and capabilities.  He was an early visionary in the realm of digital advice and PFM and built a suite of omni-channel advice and planning solutions ranging from basic spending and budgeting through complex financial planning.  Zack led the Retirement & Wealth Growth Initiative targeted at building an omni-channel, financial advice business model.  He also served as the Executive Sponsor for the Enterprise Advice Agile Technology Lab and a Portfolio Owner for the Revolutionary Development & Innovation program.

Zack joined USAA in 2010 from Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management where he was a Managing Director of Product Strategy. Prior to this role, Zack was Managing Director of Product Development & Innovation, leading strategic initiatives for Bank of America’s Global Wealth & Investment Management division.  His earlier career experiences included progressively senior roles at Bank of America, Putnam Investments and Prudential Insurance.

A graduate of Harvard College, Zack holds the Series 7 license and is a Certified Product Manager.  Zack is a current and former member of various industry groups across Innovation, managed money, and retirement.  In his free time, Zack continues his passion for lifting weights after a brief side-career as a competitive strength athlete.

Since joining the Digital Channels Group in 2000, Brett has led teams in Internet Portfolio Management, the Program Management Office, and Online Sales and Marketing.

He spearheaded the Digital Channels merger efforts with Wachovia Bank, which integrated retail customer segments, products and platforms into a unified offering. The website serves Wells Fargo’s 24 million online banking customers, including 13 million mobile customers, and receives over 60 million visitors a month.

Prior to joining Wells Fargo in 2000, Brett’s background was in software development, commercialization of intellectual property, and sales operations. He holds an MBA with an emphasis in MIS from the Eller College of Management at University of Arizona, and a bachelor degree in Marketing and Finance from the University of Texas at Austin

Simon joined Westpac in 2012, from Air New Zealand and has a proven track record of success in customer experience transformation and commercial change management.

Simon is responsible for developing and delivering Westpac's Digital strategy and the financial outcomes, as well as ownership of the bank’s wider customer experience strategy.

Simon has won multiple awards for innovation over the last few years and has become a thought leader and well regarded speaker on customer experience and digital engagement in New Zealand and Australia. He resides in Auckland with his wife and three young children.

Jason Alpern is SVP Digital Marketing for Bank of America. Jason re-joined Bank of America in May 2014. In his current role he is responsible for all online and mobile consumer credit card customer acquisition via 3rd party channels. Jason was also with Bank of America from 2005 to 2011 where he assumed a variety of eCommerce and Digital Marketing responsibilities. Prior to rejoining Bank of America in 2014 Jason was a Director and Marketing Officer at Red Ventures where he oversaw all online marketing operations for multiple corporate partners with direct response and lead generation objectives. Channel management and expertise includes SEM (PPC), search engine optimization, re-marketing, online display and website optimization. Online tactics span devices (mobile, desktop, tablet) and major platforms (Google, Microsoft). Focused on building relationships, driving results, developing measurement strategies, and delivering insightful analysis. Previous roles include: Product Manager, PeopleSoft; Management Consultant, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Chris Skinner is one of the most influential and prolific thought leaders on the future of banking, finance and technology. The Financial Brand awarded him best blog and he was recently mentioned by the Wall Street Journal as one of the The Financial News  Top 40 Fintech influencers globally.  He has been in technology and banking for many years and mixes the best of old school and cutting edge in his work.

In Europe, he is well-known as the Founder and Chairman of the Financial Services Club, a network for financial professionals that focuses upon the future of financial services through the delivery of research, analysis, commentary and debate. Founded in 2004, the Financial Services Club meets regularly across Europe with centres in Austria, England, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Scotland, Slovakia and Sweden. He is also CEO of Balatro Ltd., a financial research company.

Chris Skinner has written many books covering everything from European regulations in banking through the credit crisis to the future of banking. His latest book, Digital Bank, provides a comprehensive review and analysis of the battle for digital banking and strategies for companies to compete and has been reviewed on Amazon as the “best book about banks I've ever read” by several bank CxOs.
He is well known for his outspoken views, regularly contributing to media such as The Banker and BAI Banking Strategies, where he writes a monthly column; as well as being a prolific blogger at The Finanser, where he has written a daily column since 2007.  He is a regular commentator on BBC News, Sky News, CNBC and Bloomberg as well as a judge on many awards programs including the Card and Payment Awards and the Asian Banker’s Retail Excellence Awards. He has also worked closely with leading banks such as HSBC, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Deutsche Bank and Lloyds Banking Group.

He has a wry sense of humor, is unafraid of the controversial, and makes for an entertaining and provocative speaker and writer, able to connect with traditional bankers and wired millennial consumers with equal aplomb.

Adam was COO at Simple where he was responsible for marketing, business operations, partnerships, and customer relations. Previously, Adam co-founded PlaceVine, a web-based advertising marketplace that was acquired in January 2011.  Before PlaceVine, Adam was Director of Business Development at Colloquis (acquired by Microsoft), a developer of natural language software systems. Prior to Colloquis, Adam was a Senior Analyst at JPMorgan in the Leveraged Finance Group where he focused on technology, media, & telecom transactions. He received his B.A. from Tufts University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Rick is a Senior Vice President in Citi’s Global Consumer Marketing & Internet Office (GCMIO). For the past nine years, he has worked in the digital space at Citi and is currently on the Digital Product Management Team. His responsibilities include creating digital services that are shared across the consumer lines of business, and consolidating and unifying the bank’s consumer internet, mobile and tablet digital properties into a single experience. In his time at Citi, Rick has contributed to several digital efforts, including consolidation of the bank’s digital cards and retail bank properties, redesign of the Citi Cards marketing website and driving online credit cards acquisitions. Prior to joining Citi, Rick worked at American Express, focusing on eServicing and managing a high-value telesales vendor for the small business group, and began his career at IBM in public relations supporting their software group.

Secil Tabli Watson is an executive vice president and head of Wholesale Internet Solutions (WIS) at Wells Fargo. She leads digital channels for Wholesale Banking, responsible for supporting more than 80 distinct business applications and guiding the strategic direction of Wells Fargo’s award-winning Commercial Electronic Office® (CEO®) customer portal. Her team is committed to providing best-in-class digital channel experiences and delivering innovative solutions to provide convenient and secure banking access to satisfy customer needs, deepen relationships, and drive revenue growth. In 2013, PaymentsSource magazine named Secil as one of the most influential women in payments. Prior to joining WIS in 2012, she spent nine years in Wells Fargo’s Internet Services Group, where she was a proven leader in innovating and growing the company’s highly successful retail mobile channel. In 2009, Secil was named the #1 Bank Innovator of the Year by Bank Technology News. She was recognized for her leadership in person-to-person mobile payments, advances in online and mobile banking, and research into next-generation customer experience.

Andres is the founding head of a global business team responsible for Citi’s innovation in digital platforms, advanced customer features and the integration of digital payments. He joined Citi from an international personal-finance startup and has served in a variety of digital roles since then, first for Citi Latin America, then for Citi's U.S. consumer businesses, and, since 2012, globally.

In 2015, Andres co-led the teams that made Citi the first bank with an Apple Watch app. Previously, as Citi's first global head of mobile banking, he was the lead inventor of Citi Mobile Snapshot -- the patented 2014 breakout feature that made Citi the first major U.S. bank to offer no-login account access. He also led the teams that designed and built Citi’s global mobile banking app and its award-winning, critically-acclaimed consumer banking tablet app.

Prior to becoming a banker, Andres was a foreign correspondent and international news executive. He hobnobbed with heads of state and ministers; had tea with mass-murderer military dictators; was driven, blindfolded and at gunpoint, around the capital of Paraguay after midnight; and raced in a car at 120 mph along the edge of a minefield in Croatia. He finds most days in banking very manageable.

Ben McLeod joined Regions in 2005 and oversees strategy and media buying for traditional, digital and social media.  He also oversees the content management group which develops advice, guidance and education content for all business groups and customers.  In his role, Ben contributes to the integration of media and messaging across the footprint, marketing plans across all business groups, and marketing effectiveness and efficiency for continuous improvement.
 
Prior to joining Regions, McLeod was the Director of Marketing for Saks Incorporated.  He also worked at FedEx for 5 years in their global marketing department.
 
Originally from Pensacola, FL, McLeod resides in Birmingham, AL.  He earned a Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Alabama.
 
Regions is a top U.S. bank-holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, with $127 billion in assets, operating over 1,700 banking offices in 16 states.

David B. Passavant is the senior vice president, banking innovation center director for PNC Bank. David’s group leads efforts to bring innovative business and technology thinking into PNC, and works with business leaders across the bank to find and incubate innovative ideas. David also leads the PNC Center for Financial Services Innovation, a newly established research partnership between PNC and Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to joining PNC Dave led a consumer product innovation group at UPMC, a health care system in Pittsburgh, PA. David has held consulting positions with Accenture in Washington DC and with strategy and design consultancy Stone Yamashita Partners in San Francisco and New York City. David has also held product and business development positions at two successful venture-backed Silicon Valley startups, Rearden Commerce and SquareTrade Inc. David holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Business Administration from Washington & Lee University and an MBA from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University.

Jay Clark is Senior Vice President of Enterprise Digital Banking for First Niagara.  In this role, he is responsible for leading a digital transformation across First Niagara’s North Eastern franchise.  He is responsible for the bank’s digital banking initiatives and strategy. 
 
Jay joined First Niagara in August 2010 as IT Relationship Manager for the Retail Banking Group.  Prior to joining First Niagara, Jay was Vice President and Internet Channel Manager, Online Product Group Manager and Program Director of Enterprise Sales and Service at Huntington Bancshares in Columbus, Ohio.  Jay also served as Senior Practice Manager of Financial Services at Siebel Systems in California and held various leadership roles in sales, product and technology with Banc One Corporation and Star Banc Corporation over the previous 20+ years. 

Jay earned his Bachelor of Science in Finance and Business Management at Franklin University in Columbus, Ohio and currently resides with his wife and family in Colden, New York. 

Rich Smith is the Chief Marketing Officer of ditech (formerly GMAC Mortgage), leading marketing, branding, and communications for one of the nation's premier mortgage lenders.   He has a 20-year history of building profitable campaigns for top-tier brands in the financial services, insurance, and consumer financial products industries, specializing in digital marketing, direct marketing, branding, cross-selling, business strategy, and product development. 

Agnes Gerbaud-Seuret is Global Digital Director at BNP Paribas Personal Finance. She also teaches at Institut des Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po, Paris) in the Marketing & Communication Master. With more than 18 years of combined experience in Marketing and Sales development in financial services, she holds a solid track record in payment and digital.

Valentina Chtchedrine leads Morgan Stanley Wealth Management’s digital marketing team.  She is responsible for strategy development and implementation of digital initiatives for Financial Advisors including MSWM’s Social Media program that allows FAs to incorporate LinkedIn and Twitter into their business practice and connect to their clients and prospects.    She also oversees and manages a suite of digital programs for MSWM financial advisors, including FA websites, newsletters and webinars among others.   Prior to joining Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in 2010, Valentina was a part of Citi’s Corporate Strategy team and has also worked at Smith Barney’s Investment Products group.  Valentina began her career at McKinsey & Company in the Business Technology Office.  She has a B.S. in finance and economics from Fordham University

Denise Rossi Henn is a 15 year veteran of PNC where she has held various positions within the Digital channel and is responsible for developing and initiating email marketing, paid search and social media for the company as well as spearheading a digital analytics transformation.  She is currently a Digital Experience Group Manager, leading the Small Business money management experience for PNC,  Digital Analytics and communities.   She is also a member of the Digital Channels Committee for the Consumer Bankers Association.

Prior to her career in banking, Denise served as a healthcare philanthropy executive and was a member of the National Association for Healthcare Philanthropy Board.  Denise has been a speaker at past Net Finance conferences and Consumer Bankers Association meetings.  In 2013, Denise was recognized by PNC as part of its Circle of Excellence for her contributions to their social media program.  Denise received her undergraduate degree from Duquesne University and her MBA from Lehigh University.  She resides in Pittsburgh, PA, is a devoted soccer mom and a rabid Pittsburgh Steelers fan!

Chris Peper leads the Omni Services team at U.S. Bank. This team defines cross channel customer pathways and develops cross channel solutions for product application and fulfillment, servicing, content and sales.

Prior to this, Chris led the Mobile Channel team since its inception in 2007, driving product development and project execution. Chris has 18 years of Retail Banking experience and is a 2012 Graduate of the CBA\BAI Graduate School of Retail Bank Management. He has an MBA from the Carlson School of Management.

Chris, his wife, and their Portuguese Water Dogs call Stillwater, MN home.

Alejandro E. Carriles, Executive Vice President and Director of Mobile Strategy and Retail Innovation at BBVA Compass, is responsible for the mobile banking retail delivery channel, setting the overall strategic direction of the bank’s Mobile solutions in the USA, and serving as lead for retail innovation projects.

Mr. Carriles has led a renewed mobile strategy for the bank, which included the release of native mobile banking applications for the Android, Blackberry, iPhone, iPad, Windows Mobile and Kindle Fire platforms to complement the bank’s existing SMS Banking solution; redesigning the app fulfillment process, and a new marketing approach. As a result, the number of mobile app users increased over 10-fold in the last 3 years.

By focusing on the Customer Experience, Mr. Carriles has been able to lead projects that have influenced the industry, such as the Stand Alone Enrollment for Mobile Banking, effectively making Mobile a unique and independent channel from the traditional Online Banking, while at the same time dramatically improving the customer satisfaction among the bank’s mobile users.

Jennifer Wilson is the Director of Multi Channel Planning and Administration at BBVA Compass. She is responsible for strategy and control for ATMs, Digital Banking, Internet / web channel, and payments; combining elements of sales, marketing, design, product development and innovative technologies in order to drive revenue growth for the company.

Prior to joining BBVA Compass, Jennifer was the head of the Consumer eCommerce team for both the online and mobile channels at Regions Bank. She was responsible for new customer acquisition, product development for online banking, bill payment and mobile banking. At Region’s predecessor - AmSouth Bank, Jennifer was responsible for Online Banking product management and emerging technologies.

Jennifer holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and a master’s degree in Information Science.

Over the last three years Andrew has led the evolution of the digital Customer Experience organization at Bank of the West moving from an outsourced design model to building an internal UX and Customer Research team. Andrew holds responsibility for UX, qualitative and quantitative Customer Research, Voice of Customer and Market Intelligence for the digital channels.

Over the last three years he has overseen the re-design of the Sales, Online banking and Mobile banking experiences. Prior to Bank of the West over a seven year period Andrew held a variety of roles at Wells Fargo including product leadership for account management and PFM experiences where his team developed a pipeline of PFM concepts. Andrew also worked on digital and multi-channel banking strategy and led customer experience strategy and visioning initiatives.

A former management consultant Andrew has worked at Edgar Dunn & Company, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Cambridge Technology Partners. Andrew holds an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and a BA from Brown University.

Eliel Johnson is the managing director of user experience for Charles Schwab. He is responsible for Schwab’s multi-platform design strategy that includes native mobile applications, responsive web solutions and innovation for emerging platforms. Eliel is an accomplished user experience strategist, interaction designer and team leader with over 18 years of experience designing software experiences for mobile, tablet, ebook, web and desktop. Prior to joining Schwab, Eliel worked for some of the largest user experience agencies in the US and Europe, leading design efforts for both start-ups and Fortune-100 companies.

Kristen Cronyn, Digital Banking Product Manager, is responsible for recommending and managing initiatives through the mobile and tablet channel at M&T Bank. Prior to M&T Bank, Kristen has led, executed and fostered digital strategy for BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York, as well as one of the top marketing communications agencies in her hometown of Buffalo, New York.

Pankaj is the manager of the Mobile Center of Excellence at Wells Fargo Bank. He has expertise in digital/mobile strategy and consulting within the bank.

His team leads the Wells Fargo mobile public site and mobile messaging (SMS/push notifications) capabilities As a senior leader of the mobile channel Pankaj uses his deep technology and product strategy background to advise groups within the Wells Fargo Enterprise on their mobile strategy.

Prior to that Pankaj Parekh worked for several years as a management consultant with CAP-Gemini advising Fortune 100 companies on their product strategy during the dawn of the internet age.

Vivian Yeung is Senior Vice President of Online Banking & Payments at Bank of the West. She oversees the strategy, product development, and execution for Bank of the West’s online banking and digital payments. She is responsible for setting the strategic roadmap to drive servicing and payment capabilities, enable best-in-class customer experiences online, and transform the online channel offering. Prior to joining Bank of the West, Vivian had an 11 year tenure with Wells Fargo Internet Services Group in online strategy – business development, online banking product management, and systems architecture roles. Vivian also has prior experiences at Competitive Knowledge, a startup company specializing in supply chain and portal management and Cathay Bank. Overall, 15+ years financial services experience. Vivian graduated from University of Southern California in Business Administration – Management Information Systems. She enjoys exploring the world through travels.

Pete Marsden is a career technologist playing every role from developer, to tech-lead, to architect, to managing director in small and large companies. He started programing at the early age of 13 and still codes today. Pete has founded start-ups, been an independent consultant and worked in large enterprises like Goldman Sachs, First Data Corp and Schwab. He has a passion is using technology to meet tough business needs and building, tech strategy and leading teams of talented and highly engaged performers. Pete's career spans such industries as Space and Defense, Power Sports, Travel but most prominently Financial Services. He has been at Schwab for 10 years and built Schwab's in-house mobile development team and has been managing it for the past 4 years. In his spare time he enjoys racing sailboats, wine and cooking.

Andres joined BBVA Compass in 2010, and is SVP and Director of New Distribution Models.

Andrés’ responsibilities include leading the Open Platform and the Strategic Alliance initiatives. In those capacities, he is tasked with partnering with fintech companies and incorporating their innovation into the bank’s services and products. He is also charged with connecting to the innovation community of developers and entrepreneurs, in order to form an ecosystem where partnerships and ideas about the future of banking can flourish. Andrés also leads key Business Innovation projects such as voice-assisted virtual assistant for mobile banking and tablet-based consumer banking sales tools.

Prior to joining the bank, Andrés had successful career in architecture and real estate development. In 2013 he was he was recognized as one of Houston’s top "40 under 40" professionals by the Houston Business Journal for his work at BBVA Compass and his involvement in the Houston community.

Alex Jimenez is a Senior Vice President at Rockland Trust, a Massachusetts Community Bank, where he manages digital channels, debit cards, and customer service. Alex has 27 years of experience in Financial Services, 19 in banking with Rockland, Fleet Bank and Bank of America. His experience includes Operations Management, Strategy, Process Improvement and Project Management.

Amyn joined Synovus in August 2013 as head of retail and commercial digital banking, and ATM technologies.

In this role, he oversees the development and delivery of digital banking capabilities including online and mobile banking, treasury management, payments, Bank websites, and the ATM network. He is responsible for advising business lines on enabling their strategies through digital banking, setting technology strategy, and overseeing multiple programs and initiatives.

Amyn brings more than 15 years of experience with financial services technology. Prior to Synovus, as a management consultant, Amyn assisted leading global and regional financial institutions with the optimization of banking technologies to support key strategic objectives. His areas of expertise include IT strategic planning, IT portfolio and program management, IT cost management, and application development and delivery.

Jason Houseworth is the President of Global Digital Tax Solutions and Product Management at H&R Block. He oversees technology product management and strategy for the digital tax products across the global H&R Block business. His role includes general manager responsibilities for the Digital Tax Solutions business in the U.S., which served 7.6M clients during tax season 2013 through H&R Block online and desktop tax software products.

Houseworth previously served as Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for H&R Block Digital Tax and founded the “Client Innovation Lab” in August 2009 in order to drive brand consideration through technology capability advancement and digital B2B partnerships.

Prior to joining H&R Block, Houseworth spent most of his career in consulting as a rules engine architect on Health and Human Services implementations for Accenture before joining General Electric in 2004. He most recently served as the Senior Vice President and Global Claims IT Leader at Swiss Re (formerly GE Insurance Solutions), where he helped integrate the global technical accounting and claims systems into a single transactional/workflow platform with a consolidated data warehouse/document management back-end.

Houseworth graduated magna cum laude from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri and spent a year at Oxford University. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of Yodlee, a B2B PFM and data aggregation SaaS solution provider. Houseworth also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Ozanam and sits on the President’s Advisory Council for William Jewell College. He is a former member of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Centurions.

Parin Kothari is an experienced management consultant who works with macro-level strategic models primarily architecting the building blocks for a business that can withstand and monetize changes in the broader socio-economic environment, especially those related to the maturity of technology. Parin started his career at the Boston Consulting Group in South Asia and more recently was instrumental in establishing the business architecture practice at Wells Fargo Bank’s Internet Services Group. Today, he is at TD Bank’s North American Digital Channels organization driving product management, business architecture and operational maturity. Parin is also active in the community and works on education projects with several not-for-profit organizations across the globe.

As Head, Applied Innovation, Elfreda is responsible for leading the creation and execution of a portfolio of innovative concepts that create value for RBC's business units. Her team has an enterprise-wide mandate to stimulate innovative activity. With a view to "what's next", "what's new" and "what's different", the Applied Innovation Team identifies and validates emerging technologies and opportunities that have the potential to drive client value and differentiate RBC from its competitors. Elfreda is also a member of the Innovation & Strategic Planning senior management team that operates within RBC's Technology & Operations unit.

In her 20+ years at RBC, Elfreda has been involved in leading several innovation projects and programs within the Retail Banking, Technology & Operations, Corporate Real Estate and Head Office divisions; including developing one of the first hackathons run by a financial institution in North America.

Zeba Hyder is the Head of Digital Marketing, Global Consumer since Feb 2013.  She is responsible for empowering targeted countries accelerate their growth in customer-centric digital marketing & ecommerce. Prior to this Zeba was the acting Chief Marketing Officer in Brazil since 2011 where she established, developed and drove a customer-centric integrated marketing capability based on deep customer research.   Prior to that she launched direct marketing operations in a number of countries for AIG Personal Lines where she worked since 2008.  Before joining AIG, Zeba drove several ecommerce and traditional marketing operations at HSBC Life Insurance, SBLI Life Insurance, Bank of America & Chase Manhattan. She has been a speaker at various eCommerce conferences and holds a USA patent in Electronic Signature for Insurance Applications for the Internet and the Call Center.  Zeba has an MBA from Boston University.

Ignasio Medrano is currently a VP, Senior Product Manager of Digital Channels at Bank of the West. His approach to digital banking is informed by his vast experience of over eighteen years in banking, where he has worked in client services, marketing and product management roles in credit unions and several leading major banking institutions. Ignasio believes that while digital innovation and design should be for the 'current' user of today, it shouldn’t stop there. Instead, it should always set out to step into the future, making meaningful experiences that will inspire users of tomorrow who seek and expect new ways to flow seamlessly between their everyday physical and digital worlds. For him, this means that these experiences must be accessible, efficient, and seamless. Ignasio considers digital banking as one of the most exciting aspect of the financial industry because it brings together and mutually inspires creativity in the diverse divisions of sales, user experience, and product management. He sees such collaborations as necessary and stimulating for banking institutions to remain competitive in a community of ever-connected users who, like him, can continue to achieve their life aspirations while assured that their bank has their back both offline and online.

John Hanley is Vice President and Senior Director of Marketing for Equity Bank, based in Kansas City. Hanley joined Equity Bank in 2012, and oversees all marketing, advertising, communication, public relations, and product development strategy for the $1.2-billion, 25-location bank headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Hanley earned his CFMP designation in 2014 and also attended the ABA School of Bank Marketing and Management.

Hanley has more than 10 years of banking experience, previously serving as marketing manager for Kansas-based Sunflower Bank and began his career as a writer and editor with the News-Times in Danbury, Connecticut. He is a graduate of Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, a native of Clear Lake, Iowa, and resides in Lawrence, Kansas.

Eric Lancaster currently serves as the Head of Digital Marketing and Customer Analytics Technology at M&T Bank. His responsibilities include leading digital marketing across M&T Bank and Wilmington Trust, promoting and increasing adoption of online services and overseeing an enterprise effort to install a Master Data Management and Customer Database solution. Mr. Lancaster recently led the communications effort to convert over 1MM customers to a new online banking platform.

Eric joined M&T Bank in 2009 as the Head of Digital and Direct marketing. Since 2009, M&T’s digital and direct marketing budgets have grown by 400%. At the same time, Mr. Lancaster has brought a disciplined approach to testing and measurement in each of these channels.

Prior to M&T, Eric was Vice President of Marketing for Valvoline Instant Oil Change and spent 13 years at Capital One in various marketing and product management leadership roles including the launch of Capital One’s initial virtual bank in 1997.

Jay Tkachuk leads the digital channel of the San Antonio-based Security Service Federal Credit Union (8th largest in the country), where his focus is on providing relevant digital banking solutions and user experience to the credit union’s members, as well as the profitability of the channel. Brought in to establish the channel,  Jay is responsible for digital banking strategy, operations and user experience management.  Prior to joining the Security Service Federal Credit Union, Jay has worked at  AMD, U.S. Global Investors and Apple. Jay holds an MBA and BA degrees from the University of Texas at Austin.

Mr. Finder joined First Republic Bank in 2012 as the Head of Digital Channels. Charged with providing First Republic clients with a premium digital experience, he leads the strategy and development of client-facing web and mobile channels. Additionally he has built and led other teams including Social Media and Enterprise Collaboration. Prior to joining First Republic Bank, Mr. Finder held roles in asset management, wealth management and banking focused in the U.S. and internationally. Most recently he held the position of Managing Director, Global Head of eBusiness for BlackRock, including the iShares ETF business, where he led digital product management, marketing and software development across client and internal-facing web and mobile channels globally. Before BlackRock he held various positions at Merrill Lynch including leadership of digital teams, as well as middle market banking, business development and marketing positions. Mr. Finder earned a BA degree, cum laude, with a finance major from Ohio University and also completed the Advanced Management Program at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He is FINRA registered Series 7 and 24.

Karen Kallet– Chief Digital Officer, SVP of Marketing
Mrs. Kallet has served as the Chief Digital Officer, SVP Marketing of BofI Federal Bank – Bank since February 2014. Prior to joining the Bank, Mrs. Kallet was CMO- Chief Marketing Officer for DrWeil.com and was Senior Director of Marketing at DeVry Inc., heading marketing and lead generation for the Carrington Colleges Group.  Prior she was Vice President of Marketing for SkyMall. Mrs. Kallet began her career with 10 years of bank marketing, where she assumed positions of increasing responsibility, including AVP of Direct Marketing and Sales Promotion at Valley National Bank in Phoenix Arizona. Mrs. Kallet completed her graduate program studies in Digital Marketing and Strategic Marketing Management at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Her undergraduate is from Syracuse University.

Mr. Ross has served as Chief Executive Officer of Bankrate.com since January 2014 and served as Senior Vice President – Chief Revenue Officer from September 2006 until January 2014. From June 2001 until September 2006, Mr. Ross was Senior Vice President – Sales & Marketing for Harris Connect, a leader in affinity marketing for the directory, Internet and data services business in the educations and association market place. From 2000 to 2001, he held an executive management position at zUniversity.com. From 1989 to 1998, Mr. Ross held various positions in media sales and sales management at U.S. News & World Report, where he rose to the position of Vice President of Advertising Sales. Mr. Ross received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Denison University and his Masters in Advertising and Marketing from Michigan State University.

Chris Johannessen is now VP eCommerce for Springleaf Financial, as of December 2015. In his new role, Chris leads a team of digital, omnichannel marketing and customer experience analysts, data visualization + optimization specialists, and eCommerce strategy experts who are tasked with helping to drive innovation across Springleaf. Prior to Springleaf, Chris was the Director of Digital Analytics at TPG Direct/Omnicom, where he oversaw a digital analytics, optimization, multichannel analytics and digital + mobile strategy team; before TPG, Chris served as the Digital Marketing Analytics Lead at Barclaycard US/Barclays, where he focused on digital analytics, testing and optimization across Barclaycard’s credit card, internet banking and emergent mobile payments (wallet) platforms. Chris has also served as the Analytics Product Manager for GSI Commerce/eBay Enterprise – as well as in a variety of digital marketing, analytics and product management roles during a lengthy tenure with General Electric, where he received several GE awards for SEO, internet marketing, analytics and knowledge management, and filed several US Patent applications, resulting in two US Patents thus far – with another US Patent application still pending.

In addition to his work with Springleaf, Chris is deeply involved with global digital analytics, data science and marketing analytics communities and academic research centers. He notably serves on the Research Council of the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative; on the Industry Advisory Board of Temple University's Global Center for Big Data and Mobile Analytics; as an advisor to Becker College' nascent Data Science program; and as a Philadelphia Co-Chapter leader for the Digital Analytics Association. Chris' most recent honor was being named to the Editorial Board and Book Editor of the international Journal of Applied Marketing Analytics, which he recently served as Guest Editor of a special edition on Mobile Analytics (1Q 2015). This year, Chris is also a data + analytics events volunteer for Philly Tech Week (April 2015), and will be very involved (for the 3rd year in a row) with the annual Philadelphia Digital Analytics Association Symposium (Fall 2015).

Chris has been, and continues to be, a speaker at analytics & innovation venues such as eMetrics, Digital Analytics Association Symposia, the Ernst & Young Semphonic XChange, Wharton School (Penn) Customer Analytics Initiative and Mack Institute technology conferences, and other locales. Chris is a very active participant in analytics, Big Data and optimization hashtags on Twitter, and periodically posts content to LinkedIn; follow him at @measurefuture on Twitter or at https://www.linkedin.com/in/measurethefuture on LinkedIn.

As head of Digital Strategy and Marketing at National Life Group, Ryan Matherly is responsible for all digital channels as well as for partnering across the organization to drive its digital transformation. Prior to his role with National Life Group, Ryan led enterprise digital strategy at T. Rowe Price and worked for consulting firms, publishers and start-ups in the U.S. and Europe. Ryan received an MBA from the University of Maryland and a BA from the University of California, San Diego.

Deborah has been Director of E-Business at Harbor Capital Advisors, Inc. since 2002. Her current primary focus include e-marketing, CRM, Harbor's Institutional Website and research in market intelligence topics such as social media.

Most recently, Deb  hosted a webinar  "Twitter for Beginners" and presented at recent PAICR conferences on "Enhancing Your Brand – Making Social Media Work for You" and "Digital Strategy 101".  She is co-chair of PAICR’s marketing committee, working to expand their social media initiatives

Prior to joining Harbor, Deb was the Director of MIS at CDC IXIS Asset Management Intermediary Services, where she spent five years working with the sales CRM for the advisor, broker/dealer wrap, and retirement channels.  She was also responsible for all internal sales reporting, and developed and ran the group’s Institutional Web site.

Deb is a native Californian who graduated with a B.A. in English from Sonoma State University.  She has a Certificate in Network Administration from Boston University and attended the university’s Digital Filmmaking program through their Center for Digital Imaging Arts. Deb has also earned the Claritas® Investment Certificate.

Daniel W. Latimore, CFA, is the Senior Vice President of Celent’s Banking group and is based in the firm’s Boston office. Mr. Latimore’s areas of focus include the banking ecosystem, consumer behavior, innovation, and technology-enabled strategy. Mr. Latimore has been widely quoted in the press, including the Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, CNBC and CNBC Europe, and American Banker. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and client presentations, having delivered addresses in more than a dozen countries to audiences ranging from intimate meetings with CEOs and central banks to keynote conference speeches. He led research groups at Deloitte and IBM, worked in industry at Merrill Lynch (where he lived in New York, Tokyo and London) and Liberty Mutual, and was a consultant at McKinsey & Co.

He received a Masters in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation from the CFA institute.

Deanna Lee is the Chief Communications and Digital Strategies Officer for the Carnegie Corporation of New York. She is responsible for Corporation communications strategy—including media relations, programmatic dissemination, publications, and public engagement—and Corporation web initiatives and the development of new distribution channels.

Previously, Lee was the Vice President for Communications and Marketing at The New York Public Library, where she spearheaded publicity, marketing, design, multimedia content, advocacy, and publications initiatives. She oversaw NYPL's expansion into a leading social media presence, and in 2011 launched the groundbreaking Biblion: The Boundless Library Apple Hall of Fame iPad education app. 

As a Principal at PwC, Catherine Zhou is a leader in PwC Digital. Catherine serves clients across industries including retail, media, technology and financial services, finding actionable insight and developing digital, mobile and social media strategy. Recently, she has helped clients drive digital as well as non-digital content creation, establish measurement disciplines to improve return on digital investment, establish a video center of excellence, institute story telling into the sales process and implement human centered design.  She is a leader in Social Media effectiveness and an architect of PwC’s Social Mind platform.

Farrell Hudzik is a leader for Accenture Interactive Financial Services, a business unit dedicated to delivering integrated marketing, technology and analytics solutions for the digital world. Farrell leverages her 15+ years of experience in agency, multichannel and data-driven marketing to help Accenture clients engage customers and develop lasting brands.

Prior to Accenture Farrell held leadership roles within Epsilon, Quaero, and Bank of America with a focus on evolving digital marketing and analytic practices.

Farrell holds a B.A. from Colby College, is an avid runner, and has two beautiful children

Andrew Artemenko joined Neustar in October 2014 and currently serves as the Senior Director of Financial Services. He is responsible for educating business leaders on the convergence of paid and owned channels, and the efficiencies of a centralized data platform to power both. Andrew’s expertise is in helping large organizations manage media strategy and website personalization to drive topline sales and deepen customer relationships. Before joining Neustar, he was the Senior Vice President of Digital Marketing and Content Strategy at Bank of America and a media-buying expert at Lending Tree and Travelzoo.

Peter Chapman was previously the Senior Vice President of Emerging Technologies at First Trade Union Bank where he implemented mobile banking, tablet banking, mobile deposit, and improved the online account opening process and mobile website. While there, he also partnered with a technology startup to deliver the first mobile payment experience for a Bank in the United States. Prior to that, Chapman was Vice President of Management Information Systems at Georgetown Savings Bank. Frustrated by the lack of control banks have over their own digital strategy and the slow pace of innovation, Peter decided he wanted to be part of finding a solution that would work for everyone, so he joined Backbase. As Principle Fintech Strategist at Backbase Peter is responsible for steering product development. He also consults regularly with clients on the future of digital banking, how banks can regain control of their own digital strategy, and what opportunities for differentiation are available to them in web and mobile channels.

Fred Fuller has more than 15 years of experience working in finance and managing customer relationships within large technology and financial companies, as well as the international divisions of global companies. As the Vice President of Account Management at Cardlytics, Fred is responsible for some of the most critical and strategic relationships associated with the company’s success. Prior to joining Cardlytics, he served as a director with S1, an international online banking and payment processing software company, as well as held other strategic related positions within the telecom industry including at Earthlink and MCI.

Before embarking on his corporate career, Fred served in the United States Navy where he spent time at the Navy Special Warfare Center. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Georgia State University with a Degree in Decision Sciences.

Leandro is responsible for Strands business development in Latin America, including direct sales as well as creating an indirect revenue stream through partners.

With 17 years at management positions for Enterprise Software Sales, Leandro has helped Banks in Latin America to innovate adopting successful integration technologies as the foundation for Customer Experience and Mobile platforms. His track record includes award winning SOA and ESB implementations, financial application development projects, legacy modernization, home banking and channel automation successful implementations.

Leandro holds a bachelor of commercial sciences degree from the Universidad Nacional de Rosario.

Nitin Gupta is the Global Head of the Strategic Initiatives Group at Yodlee, responsible for growing the Wealth Management, Business Banking & Data Analytics businesses. Nitin has spent over 14 years in the FinTech industry in areas including Retail Banking, Payments and Capital Markets, helping banks & brokerages improve customer experience and increase wallet share.

Dave has worked for several marquee B2B and B2C brands in Midwest over the last 20+ years - including: Rockwell Automation, Harley-Davidson, Lands’ End, Kohl’s and Kohler Co.. Prior to joining the IGATE team he was the Director of eCommerce Strategy at Footlocker Inc. He earned his B.B.A. in Management Information Systems from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire.

Erika Jacoby is an Enterprise Account Executive within the Financial Services division of LinkedIn Sales Solutions.  She helps Financial Services organizations grow revenue by strategically leveraging LinkedIn to deepen client relationships and uncover new opportunities.  She handles the relationships of some of the largest financial services firms in the world, spanning banks, insurance companies, wealth management firms and asset managers.

Prior to joining LinkedIn, Erika spent her 15-year career selling various technologies and data to the financial services industry.  She spent the first 11 years with Thomson Reuters, and after that, decided to hone her skills at smaller organizations with more specialized technology (I.e. tools for quantitative analysts and managers, artificial intelligence technology that transforms data into narrative for large-scale reporting, etc.).

Erika’s deep background gives her a solid understanding of financial services and the world it operates in, which poises her well to teach and educate financial services salespeople on how they can leverage LinkedIn in a compliant way. 

Erika graduated from Penn State University where she studied Business and Marketing.  Erika’s interests include music, the gym, technology, finance and all things gastronomic.

Cesar is currently the Manager for Strands Finance Business Unit in the Americas and responsible for Business Development and ProfessionalServices initiatives in the region.

Prior to joining Strands he founded and managed tech startup companies in the travel and education technology arena. Previously to that, Cesar worked for Bloomberg LP, the global leader in Institutional FinTech solutions,developing the Iberian market as Director of Sales for Iberia.

Cesar studied Mechanical Engineering and Business Management at the University of Surrey, UK.

As Vice President of Marketing, Pete leads TruSignal’s marketing group, including marketing strategy, brand and acquisition advertising, product and vertical marketing, events and conferences, social media and public relations. As an accomplished senior executive, Pete has over 20 years of experience with a strong background in digital media, ad technology, big data and retail.

Prior to joining TruSignal, Pete was the VP of New Channel Development for ValueClick where he developed and launched new business verticals leveraging the Dotomi big data and personalization platform. Pete joined ValueClick from Walmart where he was a Marketing Director and led the Online Media Program and Smart Network. Before Walmart, Pete was the Director of Sales Strategy and Programs at Yahoo! where he worked with the sales leadership on strategic programs.

Pete earned an MBA from the F.W. Olin Business School at Babson University and received a bachelor’s degree in Government and Economics from St. Lawrence University.

Lindeen is a champion for improving the lending process and helping financial institutions compete more effectively. During his time at Zoot Enterprises, he has helped lenders develop and deploy complex solutions for credit origination.

His 25-plus years of experience in marketing and technology enable him to bridge the gap between business strategy and IT practice. He is now responsible for Zoot’s marketing efforts and sharing Zoot’s industry expertise. Before joining the Zoot team, he managed the network and systems division at Montana State University-Bozeman. Lindeen also managed technology at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for eight years.

His marketing background includes consulting projects for a national mortgage lender and major market research projects. Lindeen received his BS in electrical engineering and MBA in marketing and accounting from the University of Southern California.

Jeff Lunsford has more than two decades of experience as a technology and Internet executive. Jeff previously served as President, CEO and Chairman at Limelight Networks, which he took public in 2007 as part of a $240M IPO. From 2003-2006, Jeff was the CEO of WebSideStory, a SaaS-based web analytics pioneer that went public in 2004 and is now part of Adobe Systems. Prior to that, Jeff was the CEO of TogetherSoft, a software development tools company that was sold to Borland Software. A former naval aviator, Jeff received a B.S. in Information and Computer Sciences from the Georgia Institute of Technology

Simon leads business strategy, digital engagement, user experience definition, social strategy, and search. He has over 20 years of consultancy experience spanning communications, advertising, and digital agencies working with clients including AIA, ACE Group, AIG, ALICO, Autodesk, Emirates Airlines, Juniper, LVMH., McAfee, Reebok, Seagate, Southwest Airlines, TD Bank, Ubisoft, ZoneLabs, and WL Gore. Simon has visited 56 countries and counting, and enjoys “board and wind” sports including kiteboarding, snowboarding, and paragliding.

Scott created Ghostery Inc. (formerly Evidon Inc. and Better Advertising) while an Entrepreneur in Residence at Warburg Pincus LLC, the global private equity firm that is supporting the company. From 2005-2008, Scott was President and CEO of About.com, part of The New York Times Company. He spent eight years with The New York Times Company in a number of senior management roles, including General Manager of the company’s flagship website, The New York Times on the Web. He also served as Vice President of Strategic Planning for The Boston Globe. Scott holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and sits on the board of ScriptEd, a New York-based non-profit organization.

Frank joined QuestBack in 2013. He came from the position as the Vice President of the Global Energy Business unit for SAS Inc. SAS is the global leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. In addition he was a member of the Global Executive team for EMEA & AP region covering almost 60% of the global revenue for SAS Inc.

Prior to this, Frank was the CEO of SAS Institute AS (Norway). After five years under Møllerop’s leadership, SAS Norway doubled its revenues and received the prestigious “Great place to Work” award in 2007. That same year, Møllerop won the Rosing Award for Norway, which described him as “this year’s IT-executive.” Frank also spent 5 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers heading up the Strategic Changes unit, 5 years with Statoil in Upstream and Downstream and 5 years with the Norwegian Armed Forces in Procurement. Møllerop and holds a Master’s degree in General Business Administration from the Norwegian School of Management, BI.

Don Morrison provides sales leadership, client orientation and product development and deployment as General Manager of Answers Cloud Services (ACS), Answers’ suite of SaaS-based customer experience solutions that includes the ForeSee, WebCollage, Easy2 Technologies and ResellerRatings products. He brings nearly 30 years of sales experience to the role and is focused on establishing a global presence that leverages ACS’ existing multinational client base, best-in-class methodologies and research capabilities. Prior to ACS, he was Senior Vice President of Sales at ForeSee, held executive roles at GMAC Commercial Finance and Compuware Corporation, and senior management positions with MascoTech, Inc., Coopers & Lybrand and Deloitte & Touche. Don received an MBA from Bowling Green State University and BBA from Eastern Michigan University.

A born and bred New Yorker, Mark is responsible for bringing a sharp East Coast vibe to the business. Mark joined PACIFIC in August 2014 as the team’s NY-based managing director and is responsible for business development, partnerships, and corporate strategy. Prior to PACIFIC, Mark ran the U.S. operations of STEAK Group, an international full-service digital agency, up until its acquisition by 360i. With a digital career spanning over 20 years, he’s also held leadership roles at TMP, Reprise Media, and infoGroup.

Mr. Sosna has more than 20 years’ experience in the financial services arena. As co-founder and CEO of Personetics, he is responsible for the overall growth strategy of the company. Most recently, Mr. Sosna was co-founder and chief executive officer of Actimize, the leading provider of financial crime, risk and compliance solutions. Under his leadership, Actimize was recognized as a global leader in the financial services market. In 2007, Actimize was acquired by NICE systems, at which point Mr. Sosna joined the NICE management team. Prior to Actimize, Mr. Sosna founded Gilon Information Systems. Under his leadership, Gilon grew to become Israel’s largest business intelligence company, implementing large-scale data warehouse projects for many of Israel’s most recognized companies. Mr. Sosna graduated from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Ben-Gurion University.

Max Spector is a Product Marketing Manager at Webtrends. He is passionate about delivering innovative, data-driven products to marketers. In product management and marketing roles, Max has worked with hundreds of clients to better understand their needs and deliver solutions that provide the foundation of data-driven marketing and business decisions.

Lee-Lin Thye, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Symantec, is responsible for Symantec Website Security Solutions. Prior to Symantec, Lee-Lin has held positions in marketing, product management and engineering at Oracle, Vitria and Compiere. Lee-Lin is a graduate of Stanford Sloan Management program at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

With over 20 years in the IT and Technology industries, Mike has served in key operations, project management, and both product and business development roles for worldwide technology companies including CompuLink Research, BioLink Technologies, ID Solutions, Inc. and Xerox. His extensive hands-on experience led him to Liferay in 2010. Today, Mike is an integral part of the sales organization at Liferay, and has pushed the North America business forward by solidifying key strategic relationships and managing the North America sales team.

Tonny, CTO for HackerAgency, is a brilliant thinker who inspires.  He helps clients focus on the strategic and aspirational possibilities of new media, marketing solutions and big data to create more effective executions through the pragmatic use of legacy and emerging technology. 

He's an experienced business executive with a deep technical background. Before HackerAgency, Tonny was VP/Marketing Solutions Management for Merkle and SVP/Marketing Technology Enablement for Digitas.

He holds a BS in applied mathematics from University of Technology (Delft, Netherlands), an MS in computer science from New York University and an executive MBA from the Wharton School.

Christopher Young is the director of industry strategy and marketing for Adobe’s Digital Marketing Business. In this role, he leads a team of industry specialists who work with Adobe’s Financial Services clients to help them develop best-in-class digital marketing strategies. Prior to joining Adobe, Young spent more than eight years at E*TRADE Financial where his last held position was VP of brokerage marketing. Prior to E*TRADE, he was the VP of retail advertising at JP Morgan Chase. Young also has extensive agency experience working with a range of clients across traditional, direct and digital advertising and marketing programs.