Past Speakers (2018)

Jeremy K. Balkin serves as Head of Innovation for HSBC Bank USA based in New York, where he serves on the retail bank management committee and is responsible for the fintech innovation and exponential growth strategy for North America. Balkin also serves on the board of the Samsung Council for Emerging Technology and he is the multi-award winning author of two books, Investing with Impact: Why Finance is a Force for Good, and Millennialization of Everything: How to Win When Millennials Rule the World. Jeremy previously served as an adviser to The Hon. Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s 29th Prime Minister and as an executive at Macquarie Bank. In 2017, Jeremy K. Balkin was named among the Top 35 Millennial Influencers in USA by the NBT Movement in Washington DC and received the Advance Global Australian Award from the Prime Minister of Australia. He has run six marathons and also received the UNSW Alumni Award for Achievement and been designated a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Colleen is currently responsible for Business & Process Optimization in the US for BMO Harris Bank.  Previous to this role she had responsibility for Sales and Service platforms, digital adoption and channel migration for North America at BMO.  

Her broad based knowledge of financial services and customer relationship management spans 30 plus years in the financial services industry. Her expertise includes all aspects of retail banking, sales management, and large corporate projects including mergers and acquisitions.  She’s focused on maximizing productivity and effectiveness of the employee and customer experience in our ever growing multi-channel environment. 

Carl is the Vice President of Projects and Training for Navy Federal's 320+ branch network.  His team is responsible for communications, documentation of policies and procedures, technology development and support, process improvement, and design and delivery of training.  Carl's previous experience with Navy Federal includes leadership positions in the Contact Center, Member Research and IT departments.  He is a 2003 graduate of the University of Virginia (UVA), holds a Project Management Certificate from UVA and is PMP certified.  Carl lives in Arlington VA and enjoys playing and watching tennis, traveling internationally and reading in his free time.   

Andres leads multidisciplinary client experience teams in charge of developing, executing, and managing strategic real estate plans and workplace solutions that align with the bank's corporate and business strategies; focusing on positioning the bank’s facilities as a competitive advantage for employee engagement and for achieving business goals. 

Andres joined BBVA Compass in 2010. In previous roles he was responsible for the ATM and the Branch Network strategies. He has also worked on Business Innovation teams tasked with collaborating with Fintech companies and incorporating their innovations into the Bank’s services and products.

Andres has a Bachelors in Architecture from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from Johns Hopkins University. 

He lives in Houston, Texas with his wife and three children. In 2013 he was recognized as one of the city’s “Top 40 under 40” young leaders based on his professional achievements and community involvement.

Stephen Griffin is a Senior Vice President at Regions Bank and manages the Retail Network Strategy / Sales and Staffing Analytics Group. He began his banking career in 1992 and has 25 years of retail banking experience. Stephen has worked in various roles including branch management, branch operations, incentive management, data management, analytics and reporting management, along with his current role of managing the retail network distribution and market plans, sales analytics and the branch staffing model. His current role involves establishing a proper network for branches and ATMs, including De Novo, rationalization and optimization, physical design, new branch technology, aligning with digital partners and physical site selection. He also manages sales analytics for best practices and trends, staffing models for proper alignment in the retail locations and retail goals. Stephen is a 1992 graduate of The University of Alabama with a degree in Corporate Finance as well as a graduate of the CBA Graduate School of Retail Bank Management at the University of Virginia in 2004.

Nicole Sherman, senior vice president and market region manager for Columbia Bank, leads retail banking which consists of branch and business banking including digital integration for western Washington. In her role, Nicole consistently exceeds financial goals, leads key strategy and process improvement initiatives and recently co-led the development of Columbia Bank’s NeighborHub, a next generation retail banking concept. Nicole is known throughout the financial community as an expert in coaching, mentoring and developing the industry’s next generation of leaders.  

Nicole brings more than 25 years of broad-based banking industry and leadership experience. In addition to her role with Columbia Bank (of which she has been nominated for the company’s top two leadership awards), and her career as an executive leader at AmericanWest Bank, Powers Trainings International and a senior leader at Zions Bank, Nicole is a top-rated faculty member for the industry’s preeminent graduate program, Pacific Coast Banking School (PCBS) where she has taught since 2003. She is also a much in-demand keynote speaker and corporate presenter.

Nicole actively serves her community, and is currently on the Board Council for the University of Washington Tacoma Milgard Initiative on Women & Innovation (MIWI), as well as a Dressel Scholars Program Mentor, and serves as the vice chair on the board of directors for the United Way of Pierce County. 

Brandi Britton’s 20+ year path in Retail Banking has led her to her current position as Vice President for Comerica Bank’s Self and Assisted Service Channel. In this role, Brandi has been charged with transforming the ATM network to align with today’s digital demands of our customers and maintaining excellence with daily operations. Previous leadership experience includes Branch Manager, Deposit Product Management and Branch Delivery Manager. 

Brandi is a graduate of Northwood University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Management. She has been an advocate for better lives for individuals and families living with mental health disorders since 2012. She is involved with NAMI (National Alliance of Mental Illness) at both the state and local levels. Brandi is supported by her husband and two beautiful daughters. 

Andrew Murrell serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Community Financial Services Bank.  He oversees the bank’s data infrastructure and information systems. Andrew has been with CFSB since June of 2002, and has over 19 years of experience in the technology field. He has earned certifications including Cisco Certified Network Associate, Cisco Certified Network Associate Voice, Microsoft MCP, Security+, Network+, and Netapp certifications.   Andrew is a graduate of the Barret Graduate School of Banking

Ben Hopper oversees Consumer Delivery and Strategy for First Tennessee. In this capacity, Ben is dedicated to collaborating across business lines to help First Tennessee’s retail franchise achieve growth and profitability by merging old traditions with new customer preferences. His responsibilities include strategy development for distribution and transformation of the physical network, workforce management and staffing, and proactive sales and service productivity in support of First Tennessee’s retail teams across the southeast. Ben is also focused on setting the strategic roadmap for the evolution of customer engagement including deployment of digital tools and automation in the branches and inter-connectivity of all delivery channels to drive an integrated customer journey. Ben has led top sales teams in the financial services industry for over 10 years prior to his current position and uses that frontline experience to drive employee satisfaction and success in strategic initiatives.

Patrick Myron is currently the Senior Vice President of Retail Network Strategy and Sales Analytics at Rockland Trust in Boston, MA.   Previously, Patrick spent 11 years at Fifth Third Bank where he was responsible for branch distribution and their branch of the future.  At Rockland Trust, Patrick is responsible for optimizing the Retail Network as well as defining the future strategy of the branch.  Patrick has over 20 year’s experience in Distribution Planning and Sales Analytics and has spoken throughout the industry on branch transformation, branch of the future and distribution planning. 

Kelly has been with Mountain America Credit Union for 19 years. The majority of her career was spent running the Service Center where she developed a passion for member experience and employee engagement. Four years ago she transitioned to her role as VP of Member Experience where she is able to listen to member feedback and work with different areas of the organization to improve internal and external service.

Steven has over 25 years of experience in the banking industry.  He started banking in 1987, with a Kansas bank, in the paper-based era when PC’s were just starting to be used.  

Steven progressed to the CFO position where he also led technology.  He has managed 3 core conversions, and the installation of image item processing and document image projects.  In addition, Steven brought internet banking to southern Kansas in 1997 and continues to grow adoption rates in the online banking channel.

In July of 2017, Steven became CIO for RCB Bank.  Additionally, he leads the bank’s branch transformation efforts.  

Lynn brings over 35 years of experience and insights into creating and planning physical distribution networks in the retail bank arena.    For her,  the all important bottom line contribution is maximizing an institution’s market coverage to win over customers’ hearts, minds and wallets.    For the last seven years, Lynn served as Senior Director & Market Planner in the development of Capital One’s Cafe network across the US.   

Lynn has held senior leaderships positions with some of the largest institutions in her long career in retail banking strategy and planning.   Prior to joining Capital One Bank in 2011, Lynn was a SVP at Bank of America, heading up the Retail Distribution Strategy and Planning team.   Additionally, she spent 21 years at Washington Mutual Bank (“too big to fail”} helping grow the physical branch network from 38 branches in Washington State to over 2,000 nationwide through both de novo and retail bank acquisitions.   She was a key leader in the rollout of WaMu’s Occasio branch network as well as one of the chief strategists in rationalizing WaMu’s branch network in California after completing three large bank acquisitions.  Lynn also consulted for Wachovia Bank on their California market entry.   

Lynn attended Colgate University in upstate NY where she completed undergraduate degrees in Geography and Mathematics.   She did her graduate studies in Economic Geography at the University of Washington in Seattle.   Lynn fell in love with the Pacific Northwest upon her arrival in Seattle and has lived in Washington State ever since.   She has been happily married for nearly 38 years to one of her fellow students at the UW.   They have two grown children.  Lynn and her husband currently reside in Gig Harbor, Washington.     

Carol joined Cambridge Savings Bank in 2014 and is currently the Head of Retail Banking.  Before joining Cambridge Savings Bank, she held a variety of different leadership positions at BayBank, Fleet, Sovereign and Fidelity Bank.  

Carol holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Salem State University and she is a graduate of the Consumer Bankers Association Graduate School of Retail Bank Management.

Carol currently serves on the Board of Cambridge Local First, Cambridge Camping and Somerville Homeless Coalition.  She is an active volunteer serving on many different committees.

Kari “landed” in the banking industry 31 years ago after graduating from Luther College with a B.A. Degree in Elementary Education. Teaching jobs (and jobs in general) were sparse, so when a teller position was available she jumped at the opportunity. Kari advanced within the banking field into various supervisory and management roles. The challenges that Kari faced as a woman and single mom within the workplace are what compelled Kari to mentor within her organization and volunteer extensively in her community toward causes that empower and uplift women. Kari has served as an international student mentor and advisor to several young women in the Northcentral Technical College program. She also has held roles on advisory boards and as instructor for the Wisconsin Bankers Association. Kari is Chair of the United Way Women in Action group along with several other women’s advocacy groups in the Wausau area. Kari was recently honored with the 2016 ATHENA Leadership Award from the Wausau Region Chamber.

Kirk Duncan is the Director of Corporate Real Estate and serves as a Senior Vice President with First Citizens Bank. Based in Raleigh, First Citizens Bank has a network of more than 500 branch offices across 19 states. With more than 20 years of experience, Kirk leads a team of 40+ staff, directing Branch Development, Portfolio Management, Facility Management, Critical Facility Management and Workplace Planning.  Kirk focuses on building strong relationships & alignments and engineering facilities delivery processes to improve service delivery, streamline process, reduce costs and increase speed to market.

Kirk’s prior experience includes senior director of project management with CB Richard Ellis, as well as planning and execution management of projects for Jones Lang LaSalle and Washington Mutual.

Kirk holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech, is a registered Architect and a LEED Accredited Professional. When he’s not working, Kirk can be found watching a Hokie football game, trying his hand at the culinary arts, traveling and spending time with his wife, son and daughter. 

Matthew is the Chief Operating Officer for Tucson Federal Credit Union.  He has been in his position for 11 years, and with TFCU for 26.  His primary areas of responsibility are Operations, Marketing/Community Relations and Wealth Management, with a focus on Branch Transformation and the future of TFCU’s member experience delivery channels.  He is a strong believer that TFCU’s responsibility to its membership is to ensure an exceptional service experience through all delivery channels and that branches will continue to have a very important role to play.  He also writes a blog for the TFCU Operations Team to create a more personal dialogue and break down barriers and has found that to be very rewarding. Matthew gives back to his community by serving on a non-profit board, The El Rio Health Center Foundation, where he has been President for the last two years.  He was a member of Tucson Old Pueblo Rotary for 7 years, where their focus is on providing educational resources for underprivileged children in Pima County.  Matthew has been married to his wife, Tracy, for 26 years and they have two beautiful daughters, Katie 21 and Emily 19.

Sean Lewis, vice president and manager of facilities projects for Columbia Bank, provides expert leadership and management related to all major facility operations for one of the Northwest’s largest financial institutions. In this role, he manages all activities related to company properties including construction, design, remodeling, relocations, maintenance and all phases of real estate for an organization with more than 150 separate locations. Sean also provides direct support and counsel to bank leadership in the evaluation of policies and programs regarding company asset purchases, sales, leasing and property management activity.

A veteran facilities manager and construction project manager for more than 20 years, Sean has been with Columbia Bank since 2013.  His prior experience includes senior real estate and operations positions with T-Mobile and Johnson Controls Inc. Sean holds a B.S. in business administration from Central Washington University and also obtained a project management certification from the University of Washington. Active in his community, Sean is a volunteer sports coach for his local YMCA.

Brad Patterson brings more than 25 years of experience in all aspects of the payment products and processing space. 

Brad joined PenFed as Vice President of Payment Operations and Strategy in mid-2017. Prior to that, Brad was at Visa for 10 years where he managed the strategic partnerships for most of the large US merchant acquiring and processing partners.  

Prior to Visa, Brad spent more than a decade with First Data holding numerous positions in its merchant processing, operations, compliance, chargeback and sales divisions.  Throughout his career, Brad has focused on optimizing operational performance, streamlining processes, building strategic partnerships and driving growth. 

Ann-Marie Katzer is the Vice President of Retail Sales and Service for American Eagle Financial Credit Union overseeing the Branch Network and the Member Sales and Service Contact Centers including our Loan Phone Center, Member Contact Center and Operations Resource Center. American Eagle FCU is the largest credit union in Connecticut with over 107,000 members and over $1.3 billion in assets and was voted one of the Hartford Business Journal's Best Places to Work in CT 3 years in a row. Ann-Marie earned her Bachelors of Science degree in Social Work from St. Joseph College in CT, her Masters degree in Social Work as an Administration major from Fordham University in NYC and is a 2007 CUNA Management School graduate. Ann-Marie will be celebrating her 29th year of service with the credit union in 2019. In her 28 year tenure at AEFCU, Ann-Marie has spent most of her time in the Retail division, specifically, Branches and Administration. Her specialties are in management and staff development, she additionally is a trainer, Field Coach working with all member facing and support staff members, has developed and facilitated many sales/service incentive programs, is a Financial Literacy teacher and also led the Employee Engagement team for American Eagle Financial Credit union. 

In 2014, Ann-Marie and her colleagues at American Eagle Financial  Credit Union working together with  Schneider Sales and Service to shift the sales/service culture at American Eagle. Throughout the years, Ann-Marie and the American Eagle team created and implemented the INSPIRE program -this acronym stands for "Identify Needs, Seek Possibilities, Increase Results Everytime". Through the INSPIRE program initiative, American Eagle trained with Schneider's staff to become certified trainers of various Schneider sales/service classes and have now trained member facing staff on Schneider S & S Retail Selling, Referral Selling, Frontline Coaching, Sales Management and Advanced Sales Management classes among others and Support staff on delivering Quality Service to our internal customers. Ann-Marie and the team have created a New Member Profile process, a Referral Program and both an Intranet Portal page containing resources for all staff related to Sales & Service and an INSPIRE newsletter crafted monthly with training tips, coach's corner strategies for management, success stories of staff utilizing Preferred Way of Selling and Service techniques. A Goal and Incentive plan was created and has been in full swing for all member facing staff as part of our rewards and recognition component of the INSPIRE program.

American Eagle staff and the INSPIRE team led by Ann-Marie also shifted their attention to Behavioral Interviewing, another Schneider Sales and Service class they recently trained to be certified in and In 2015 the credit union fully implemented a new hiring program to attract and hire those applicants who would be most successful if hired into a Sales role.

Finally, one of the most recent initiatives Ann-Marie Led involved “right sizing” branches and changing our branch model to represent “today’s” member needs and the increase in technological offerings. We introduced VTMs (Video Teller Machines) and piloted them in a Technology Center building for Pratt & Whitney where we do not have a branch location but many members employed there. Ann-Marie’s specialty is to “Provide technology but with the Human Touch”. There have since been other deployments and the Video Financial representatives operating the units are part of our Member Sales and Service Center. They are specifically trained to engage our members utilizing this new channel. 

Krystal currently holds the position, Vice President of Member Experience for Tucson Federal Credit Union. She graduated from St. Mary’s College with her Bachelors in Business Management. She began her career in the financial industry 24 years ago holding positions from front line retail, call center management, Treasury Management Sales, Mortgage Origination and Business Lending. Her responsibility with TFCU is to continue to look for transformational change in delivery of services through technology and exceptional member service. TFCU was first to market in Arizona with ITM technology and she lead the project. Krystal gives back to her community by serving on several non-profit boards such as AVIVA Children’s Services, Make a Wish and American Youth Soccer Organization. She is supported by her loving family including her husband Mike of 15 years and three beautiful children.

Chuck Frederick serves as the Director of Retail Banking at Midland States Bank in Effingham, Illinois since 2015. Frederick has worked in the financial industry since 1988, with in-depth experience in Retail, Mortgage, Merchant Services, Small Business and Commercial lending. At Midland States Bank, Chuck is responsible for the Retail Branch Network, Bank Product and Services, ATM strategy, Small Business lending, Bank Credit Card and Merchant Services as well as defining the future strategy of the branch. With the recently announced acquisition of Rockford Illinois’ Alpine Bank; MSB carries an asset size of $5.7 billion, with 70 retail branch locations and more than 560 retail employees. 

Vernon is known as an enthusiastic leader who builds strong collaborative relationships. He uses his well developed communication and facilitation skills to move processes along while including different perspectives. His business skills include executive sales and performance management, fiscal management, marketing, project management, customer relations, and training. In addition, he gives back to his community.

Vernon has been with Bethpage Federal Credit Union for over 7 year. In this role he is responsible for delivering exceptional service, achieving production goals and providing operational support to 34 branch offices providing financial solutions to individuals and small businesses. Prior to joining Bethpage, he was with PNC Bank serving as the Sales and Service Market Manager. In this consumer banking position he provided strategic leadership to 197 branch offices and over 1,600 employees. He has over 35 years of banking experience having served in various capacities such as Branch Manager, Regional Sales Manager, Corporate Training Manager and Human Resources Division Manager. This unique set of experiences and related development has given rise to Vernon’s ability to effectively manage and lead teams through change and to achieving business goals. 

Vernon earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia and a Graduate Degree in Retail Bank Management from Consumer Bankers Association and University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia as well as other technical and professional certifications.

As a native of Richmond, Virginia, Vernon has supported the community through active involvement in numerous community organizations and boards, including Leadership Metro Richmond, Richmond Urban League, Boy Scouts of America, Communities in Schools, Chesterfield Education Foundation, Friends Association of Richmond, Richmond Boy’s Choir, and Visual Arts Center of Richmond. The arts are a passion of Vernon’s. He is an amateur photographer, art collector and theatre patron. Vernon is the father of two sons, Christopher and Randy. He is now a resident of Long Island, New York.

Most recent community position was Board Chair, Nassau Community College Foundation.

Rob is a passionate leader that brings over thirty years of experience in the credit union movement to his former role as the Chief Operations Officer (COO) for A+ Federal Credit Union (A+FCU). As the COO, his responsibilities included a network of twenty two branch offices, the Member Contact Center, HSA/IRA’s, Compliance and A+ Wealth Management.

Prior to joining A+FCU, Rob was a Strategic Partner with Michael Neill & Associates (MNA). During his time with MNA, he was a coach/advisor to CEO’s and Senior Management teams of credit unions over $1 Billion in assets. 

His previous credit union experience includes Loan Officer, Branch Manager, VP of Marketing/Training, VP of Lending/Collections, Vice President, Senior VP, Executive VP of Operations and CEO.

He holds a BS in Finance and Economics from George Mason University. Additionally, he is a graduate of the Credit Union Executive Society (CUES) CEO Institute where he earned his Certified Chief Executive (CCE) designation.

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As a young man on top of the world with a new college degree and dream job as a forester, Jake French’s life was suddenly turned upside down by a devastating spinal cord injury that left him a quadriplegic. He has met a variety of medical professionals in his journey to regain independence, and has gained extremely valuable insight into what providers can do to create a positive experience from the patient’s perspective. Today he rocks the stage, compelling audiences to laugh as they learn, and think creatively about no cost strategies to innovate in your quest to improve customer experience.    

Dawn Fabian is a highly accomplished retail banking leader with a proven track record of driving efficiency, sales growth, customer satisfaction, and retention through the proper mix of sales, service, distribution network planning and alternative delivery measures.  She has over 20 years of retail banking experience in branch and distribution operation channels. Dawn is currently Sr Vice President and Retail Transformation Manager for PNC where she is responsible for leading initiatives that execute on the strategic vision, allowing us to develop and create the future state operating model for the retail network.    

Karen Mawyer joined the Broadway Bank leadership team in August 2017.  Karen has been in the banking industry for 25 years and has experience across a full range of banking products, services and customer experiences.  Karen came to Broadway after 17 years with USAA and USAA Bank.  

At Broadway, Karen leads teams at 36 Financial Centers across the San Antonio and Austin regions which offer excellence in relationship banking, private and business banking and wealth management services. Karen’s goal is to elevate the customer experience by focusing on simple financial solutions, innovative products and services, and excellent customer service. She is currently leading the transformation of both the physical and digital footprint of the financial centers to evolve how customers do business with the bank. 

Karen is a native to San Antonio and graduated from Texas A&M University, College Station with a Bachelor of Business Administration, Accounting.  She also holds her CPA license, is Net Promoter Certified, is a Certified Product Manager, and is a Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt. 

David Moore Devine is an executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Columbia Bank.  He joined Columbia Bank in 2007 and currently directs the overall marketing, communications, public relations and community engagement functions for the bank.

Under Devine’s leadership, Columbia Bank has been awarded three Pulse Awards by the Puget Sound chapter of the American Marketing Association, which recognizes the best marketing practitioners and campaigns in the region that exemplify creativity and strategy in achieving marketing goals. He was named one of Puget Sound Business Journals “40 Under 40” in 2016, which celebrates the exceptional achievements of leaders making great economic and civic impact on the community.  Devine also received the 2016 George Bailey Distinguished Service Award from the American Bankers association for the development of the Warm Hearts Winter Drive to benefit individuals and families struggling with homelessness in the Pacific Northwest.  The annual honor is awarded to one banker whose contribution to the community creates a meaningful impact.  In 2017, He was recognized by the Puget Sound Business Journal as one of their “Outstanding Voices”, which recognizes LGBTQ business leaders working to build inclusivity within the business community.  

Devine served six terms as the chair of the Washington Bankers Association’s marketing committee and is a member of the board of the Washington State Historical Society and the Tacoma Urban League.

Rene Alfaro has over 20 years of financial service experience and has been involved in branch transformation, cash automation and led the Universal Banker initiative at Broadway Bank. He has held positions in Retail Branch Management, Operational Leadership and Call Center oversight. He is currently Senior Vice President working closely with key partners across a matrixed organizational structure to provide leadership and direction for the profitable growth and operational support across the Sales and Service (branch) Network. He has ownership of the bank’s call center strategy and is focused on delivering a seamless customer experience regardless of channel utilization. He is an agile leader with proven success in team development and change leadership. 

Randy brings a passion for member experience in empowering employees to create “Raving Fans for Rivermark”. By creating member loyalty, Randy moves his team forward in employee development and he supports the digital and physical delivery channels that supports and enhances the member experience. Randy worked in the Credit Union industry for over 20 years prior to coming on board with Rivermark in 2011 and currently holds the positon of Vice President Member Experience. He has a degree in Business Administration and is an active volunteer in a variety of local community organizations.

Tracey stared working for Pioneer Federal Credit Union in 2007. She has a Bachelor of Science in Business Accounting from University of Phoenix and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) Accounting from Colorado Technical University. Tracey is a 2014 Western CUNA Management School graduate and holds the following credit union certifications: Credit Union Compliance Expert (CUCE), Bank Secrecy Act Compliance Specialist (BSACS) from the Credit Union National Association, Inc., and NAFCU’s Certified Bank Secrecy Officer (NCBSO) from the National Association of Federally Insured Credit Unions. Tracey is one of the founding members of the Treasure Valley Sister Society of the Northwest Chapter of Global Women’s Leadership Network and currently serves as the Vice President. Tracey helped Pioneer become the first financial institution in Idaho to launch NCR’s Interactive Teller Machines and POPio’s video banking solution. Pioneer continues to be a frontrunner in their footprint with video interactive solutions. Tracey is a part of the Pioneer Team that is paving the way to change the traditional branch structure into a technology driven environment. 

Taylor Murray is the Vice President of Branch Services at Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union ($2.3B) in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Taylor oversees the credit union’s 29 branches, business development department, and innovation/process improvement department.  Taylor began working for Affinity Plus in 2016 after spending 17 years in various roles at Baxter Credit Union (BCU).  Taylor spent part of his career testing and creating products, processes and business models to better serve the credit union industry as part of the Filene Research Institute i3 innovation community.  He believes that when people utilize and maximize their strengths, great things happen.  Taylor holds a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree from Columbia College of Missouri and his MBA from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.  Taylor enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, being outdoors, and breaking things that aren’t broken - looking for a better way.

James Garvey is the CEO and founder of Self Lender (selflender.com), a venture-backed startup that's helping Americans build credit and save money. Self Lender's app has over 140,000 people building credit and saving $110 million 

Justin Frankel is an experienced and driven financial services executive who also advises and invests in early stage companies. He has extensive capital markets experience in equities, derivatives, portfolio management and wealth management. 

Justin began his career on the floor of the NYSE before working as trader and Nasdaq market-maker during the technology boom of the mid to late 1990s. Justin then moved to Merrill Lynch where he began structuring and selling derivative investments across multiple asset classes. After a brief period as a Private Wealth Advisor at Merrill Lynch and UBS, Justin returned to the institutional side of the business where he managed the Structured Products Sales desk at Morgan Stanley. After Morgan Stanley, Justin served as Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager at Wavecrest Asset Management, a firm he co-founded. After Wavecrest, Justin worked at RiverPark Funds, where his equity derivatives-based fund became the predecessor fund to the RiverPark Structural Alpha Fund, a registered 1940 Act mutual fund for which he served as co-portfolio manager for 4 years. Justin began investing in crypto-assets in 2011, and became the CEO of Bayside Corporation in January of this year. Bayside is an American corporation that is focused on infrastructure around the crypto-asset and blockchain ecosystems.

With a background in both engineering and human/organizational studies, Tim Tang has degrees on both sides of his brain. Personally, Tang is keenly interested in the intersection of technology and humanity. Professionally, Tang studies the digital transformation of various enterprise markets (e.g. Restaurant, Retail, and Banking/Finance) to anticipate trends which will enable enterprise customers to fully unlock the business value of technology. 

Founder and CEO of Image 4, Jeff leads a fantastic, award-winning team of strategists, creatives and craftspeople in conceiving, fabricating and deploying Immersive Branded Environments for clients in the Financial Services, Boutique Retail and Institutional markets. With a background in design and training in engineering, Jeff’s ability to align right and left-brain people, institutions and methodologies helps Image 4’s clients achieve integrated, authentic brand experiences in the built environment. It’s About the Experience

Visionary brand designer Arthur Gilmore has more than 30 years of experience managing major design programs for leading banks around the world. His expertise and cross-industry experience in strategy development, design ideation, big-picture thinking, and design execution has helped bolster numerous companies to higher profitability. Mr. Gilmore has held executive positions at Henry Dreyfuss Associates, Teague, and Interbrand. He has worked with clients in multiple industries including: Bank of America, Santander, Capital One, Wells Fargo, Wachovia, American Airlines, Johnson & Johnson, BMW, Honda, Disney, Heinz, Walgreens, and many others.

As President & CEO of Adrenaline, Sean brings a wealth of experience from the worlds of Marketing, Business Development, Management and Client Relations. Sean’s leadership ultimately integrates all of Adrenaline’s retail disciplines, from strategy and planning to design and implementation. His expertise lies in project development for retail design and brand enhancement projects that accelerate growth and build sustainable competitive advantage for our clients.

Kevin Steel has been developing and selling workforce management and human capital management solutions to banks for over 25 years. His background includes both working in and consulting to the financial services industry.  Because of his experience, Kevin brings an informed perspective, and provides additional credibility and knowledge to the space. Kronos welcomed Kevin to the team in 2016, as a Retail Banking Expert, so he can expand on how the Kronos solution is uniquely capable of assisting financial services institutions in managing their networks through this transformative time.

As Chief Experience Officer of Adrenaline, Gina is responsible for Customer Experience Strategy for the agency and key accounts. She believes in a consumer-centric approach to branding and marketing, focused on creating meaningful experiences across all channel touchpoints. Gina has delivered outstanding branch and environmental solutions for financial institutions around the country.

Scott Hackl is Senior Vice President of North American FI Sales for Nautilus Hyosung America. He has more than 25 years of leadership in global sales roles within the financial institution and technology industries. At Hyosung, Mr. Hackl focuses on delivering high value and engaging solutions to clients to enable business growth.

Prior to Hyosung, Mr. Hackl led global sales at Infosys Finacle and served in financial institution and banking roles with NCR, VeriSign, Wincor, Nixdorf and Diebold. He has a proven track record of success in building high performing sales teams, and expert knowledge of self-service and branch transformation, omni-channel and platform solutions.

Steve Nogalo is Executive Vice President, North America Financial Institutions at Cardtronics. A seasoned and accomplished leader, he has responsibility for Cardtronics financial institution business in the United States and Canada, including Allpoint Network, the world’s largest surcharge-free ATM network. He and his team focus on leveraging Cardtronics’ expertise as the world’s largest ATM operator, deployed in tier one locations, to help redefine and optimize financial institution physical distribution strategies, complementing overall digital strategies.

Prior to joining Cardtronics, Steve served as the General Manager, Payments and Digital Enablement with NCR Corporation, playing a key role in NCR’s transformation to a Software and Service led, hardware-enabled company.  Prior to this, Steve led NCR’s Global Software Engineering organization and previously held roles of increasing responsibility in the Sales, Professional Services and Product Development organizations at NCR.  

Steve holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Finance and Marketing from Carleton University.

Angela Vanderburg leads the retail banking practice of Q Division, a global team of business management consultants and retail technology engineers who provide financial institutions with digital transformation services, data driven customer experiences and connected commerce solutions. She focuses on advising banking teams on strategic initiatives, thought leadership, best practices and identifying opportunities in the retail banking vertical.

Angela is a subject matter expert when it comes to retail financial services. Her goal is to build a cohesive banking practice strategy via customer facing communications, architecture and supporting collateral around the use of digital media (signage, tablet and mobile) to influence consumer perceptions, behaviors and attitudes. She builds professional relationships through shared knowledge and guidance within the retail financial services sector. 

Manolo, a 24-year veteran in retail and tech innovation leads the global retail tech consultancy, Q division. A company dedicated to brands + retailers; developing tools, strategies and technology to help them gain every advantage on their competition.  Q Division provides the best in class Internet of experiences, connected commerce solutions, data-driven innovation strategies and emerging technology.

In 2017 Manolo was recognized by AVIXA (aka InfoComm) as an Emerging Trends Fellow for Digital Signage, and he holds the official title of subject matter expert in Emerging Tech for curated experiences for CES, NRF, ISE, DSE, and the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona - among his technical achievements, Manolo is a named inventor on digital signage software patent #6038545

Prashanth Palakurthi is the CEO of Reflexis Systems. He founded the company in 2001 and with his team of co-founders pioneered the category of Retail Execution Management solutions that enable companies to simplify store operations and consistently execute labor operations and customer engagement strategies. He has spent over 25 years with enterprises in Europe, Asia, Caribbean and the USA – advising them on the Alignment of Business and IT Strategies. In 2014, he received an Award from the Asian American Business Development Center in New York for building a successful business and contributing to the community.

Prashanth is a double graduate with Masters in Mathematics and Management Studies from the Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences in India. Prashanth is an avid fan of the New England Patriots. He has recently accepted that his life-long dream of being a world-class bridge player is about as likely as his winning the next Boston Marathon.

Prashanth and Anuradha Palakurthi live in Weston, MA; they have three children and one son-in-law.

Shopaholic. Strategist. Tour guide. Soccer Mom. 

As a retail strategist for Miller Zell, Sue uses her deep experience with FIs and retail environments to help her banking clients express their brands in their physical spaces, considering the customer experience at every touchpoint. 

Sue frequently finds herself mystery shopping, curating store tours, and serving up points-of-view upon request.

Tony got his start as an Apple Computer Systems Engineer and for the past 17 years he has founded and grown two successful technology companies in Fintech and the SaaS software space including vLoan.com and Bridgeline Digital. He has an excellent track record in building technology businesses and is dedicated to pushing the boundaries with innovative tech companies that disrupt traditional business models. Tony leads revenue and growth for PromonTech which is transforming the digital mortgage experience. 

Over the past 11 years Joe has served Glory in senior executive sales and marketing roles. He is currently serving as the Vice President of Sales for Latin America and is responsible for Marketing and Sales Operations within Glory’s Americas business where he runs all sales support activities including product management, marketing communications, training, professional services and strategic initiatives. Along with being interviewed and quoted by numerous industry publications, Joe has spoken at many banking industry events on the topic of using technology to transform retail banking. Joe has an MBA in Management and Masters of Science in Marketing from Loyola University Chicago.

Jorrit de Vries leads the Strategic Finance Vertical for Samsung Mobile in the United States. In this role he is responsible for the sales strategy, go-to-market & vertical solutions. 

His team specializes in mobile technology solutions for financial institutions, in particular Mobile Branch Transformation and Workplace Transformation. With this approach the team managed to deliver significant market share growth over the last couple of years and built strong reference cases across the financial sector. 

Before joining Samsung, Jorrit spend over 11 years with Vodafone Group in various sales, commercial and leadership roles. In 2014 he moved from Amsterdam to the United States.

Jorrit holds a Law degree from the Radboud University in The Netherlands and he is based atop Samsung’s Flagship location: 837/NYC in New York City’s Meatpacking District. 

In his role as senior vice president, Stephen leads Buxton’s retail and restaurant consulting teams. For more than a decade Stephen has worked to build relationships with his clients to help them to get the maximum benefit from Buxton’s customer analytics solutions. He works with executives to define and execute site selection, franchise expansion and market entry strategies. Stephen’s clients include Fidelity, Wingstop, Red Wing Shoes, Bar Louie, and Which Wich. Before joining Buxton, Stephen was a professional golfer. He received his bachelor’s degree in business management from Texas Christian University.

Econiq’s President in North America, Cleve has over thirty years’ experience in Retail and Small Business Sales Management & Administration. As a trusted advisor to Econiq clients, Cleve’s extensive background in Sales Process, Key Performance Metrics and Branch Operations allows our clients to achieve Conversation Quality with our solution, Conversation Hub for Branch. Improving Conversation Quality empowers and motivates staff, significantly increases branch profitability and delivers excellent experience for customers and members. 

As a seasoned leader in software, digital transformation and financial services. Joe heads CRMNEXT, Inc. and strategic growth for the Americas. CRMNEXT powers growth, convenience and service for one million bankers, 65,000 branches and frictionless experience for one billion customers served by large and small banks and credit unions globally. CRMNEXT helps banks grow assets by 10 to 20 percent per year, without increased costs, and grow profits by more than 25 percent. 

For more than 25 years he has led the creation of exceptional teams and businesses responsible for disruptive technology-enabled solutions in financial services and the Fortune 500.

Joe has been granted 21 patents for technologies broadly used by both consumers and large enterprises, including mobile banking and the original patent for web-conferencing. 

His achievements include the development and successful deployment of mobile banking solutions for 9 of the top 12 U.S. banks and the creation of award winning mission critical systems for more than half of the Fortune 500. 

Under the Clinton Administration, Joe was honored to be invited to serve as a founding member of the Council for Excellence in Government and be subsequently benchmarked as a leader by the inter-governmental technology leadership consortium. 

In addition to his role at CRMNEXT, Joe currently serves on the board of Beyond Differences, working to empower youth and end social isolation in schools. 

He and his wife Linda live in Marin County, California and have four daughters

Craig Witsoe has been the Chief Executive Officer of Elo since 2012.  Prior to Elo, Mr. Witsoe led efforts in various aspects of interactive and digital technology for over 20 years, with global experience in digital displays and retail commercial lighting. 

Building on Elo’s 40 years of touchscreen innovation and over 20 million global installations, Craig has led Elo’s latest generation of innovation focused on bridging the physical and digital consumer experience. Elo is making in-branch interactive easy with its industry leading commercial touchscreens, cloud-based EloView content delivery software, and EMV payment integration.  Elo has also modernized the world of interactive POS technology with its aesthetically pleasing, yet durable, new systems.         

Working with some of the largest businesses around the world, Craig is in a unique position to see the best digital interactive experiences, approaches to on-line into the physical realm and, more importantly, what consumer experiences will look like in the coming years.

Learn more about Craig and connect with him on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/craigwitsoe

Romeo’s an interesting cat. He spent six years as an international debater becoming North American Champ in 2012. Now he helps banks increase adoption of their digital products as Program Designer & Strategist at Launchfire. 

Since 2013, Romeo has helped design employee & consumer-facing campaigns for some of the top banks in North America. He also helped design Launchfire’s new digital transformation platform, Lemonade, which empowers frontline staff with the confidence and product knowledge they need to recommend digital banking tech to customers.

David has more than 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and consultant with a particular focus in computer hardware and software.  A graduate of the Wharton School, he has consulted with companies in Europe, Asia, and South America and has successfully raised funding for new technology businesses in the U.S. and Europe.

He is presently the founder and CEO of MediaVue Systems  which designs and builds a digital signage technology system that includes hardware, software, data analytics, content engineering and design. The MediaVue system has been adopted by Global 500 enterprises in a range of industries – transportation, manufacturing, finance and banking as well as restaurants and food service.  MediaVue’s products and services are deployed in more than 70 countries. 

Prior to founding MediaVue, David founded and led EAD Systems where he developed and implemented the first advanced exchange service programs for computer displays.  EAD was an early leader in the computer service outsourcing industry, developing the first third party service program for Dell Computer. At EAD he also developed one of the first media players for the emerging digital signage market.  

David served for six years as a board member and Executive Vice President of the Service Industry Association, the association for high technology service companies.  He has spoken at numerous industry conferences including serving as conference chair of the first Digital Signage Investor’s Conference.  In addition to his business activities, Dave has experience in international relations and security policy and has served as an advisor to the senior leadership of several government departments.

A founding member of the Flybits team in 2012 and has served in a number of roles including customer success, product management, strategy, implementation, and most recently forging international partnerships and consulting with some of the world’s leading brands. Gerti holds a B.Sc. in Engineering from the University of Ottawa, a Masters in Management Finance from Harvard University.

Janice Diner is the CEO and Founder of Horizn, launching the company 6 years ago with global technology brands. Her creative vision and determination led to the development of a self-funded, profitable, world-class SaaS company. Horizn is a growth stage company with a high-performance Knowledge Platform that operates globally aiding companies in over 40+ countries and 15 languages. The Horizn Knowledge platform helps financial institutions dramatically accelerate digital and mobile adoption. 

With over 35 years experience serving the North American Financial Services market, Jim is currently Executive Vice President of Sales for Panini North America, leading Panini’s team in building and maintaining trusted relationships with financial institutions in North America.  

Before joining Panini, Jim was Director of Sales for Convergys Corporation, focused on developing business strategy for customer service outsourcing and consulting services with tier one financial institutions in the U.S.  Prior to this, Jim was Vice President and Partner in the Financial Services Practice at Unisys Corporation.. 

He has in-depth domain expertise with payment solutions, having led numerous client implementations to transform their operations. In addition, he has performed in-depth analysis of functional operation areas and designed streamlined workflow modifications to increase productivity and improve profitability.  Jim has been a frequent panelist and speaker at various industry trade conferences, including BAI, RDC Summit and TAWPI.  

He resides in Cincinnati, Ohio and holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. In his spare time, he enjoys tennis, golf and family.

Alyssa Arredondo has been working in the payments industry for over 20 years. Her career includes managing large co-branded and affinity credit cards for US Bank and HSBC for 13 years.  In 2009 she joined Entrust Datacard working in the Financial Vertical Marketing group. In this role, she and her team drove global go-to-market strategies for multiple  business lines, including Central and Instant Card Issuance.  She recently changed roles and is now the Direction of Financial Solutions Marketing with a focus on helping financial institutions increase profitability of their card programs and improving customer experience.

Mike has spent the last twenty-five years integrating financial services within a complex world of retail banking. Prior to SigFig, Mike was the EVP Head of Sales at JPMorgan Chase. He developed and executed the sales strategy for the consumer bank and oversaw the design of compensation plans, sales campaigns and sales training. Mike spent 15 years as the CEO of Chase Investment Services, comprised of 3,000+ advisors. 

Through all the mergers and reorganizations, Mike’s guiding principle has been to simplify processes providing for scalable, successful solutions to thousands of branches and millions of customers. His passion is to provide effective and efficient solutions to the sales process, training, reporting, and compensation. Mike is driven by a desire to motivate himself and others to take action, to take risks and to do the right thing, as well as leave everyone he speaks to with at least one "take away" that can inspire such action in their daily lives.

Dee Dee Simmons began her employment at FITTS June 2001 and has since proven to be a multi-faceted asset to the company. Her current role of Chief Marketing Officer combines the cumulative knowledge and experience of 17 years in various segments of the company across all industries FITTS serves.  This cross-industry knowledge is highly beneficial to FITTS customers.

After graduation from Clemson University in May 1999, Dee Dee pursued a career in the health and fitness industry before accepting a position as Graphic Designer with FITTS assisting customers in maintaining brand integrity. As the company grew, she transitioned out of design and into a dual role of Graphics Manager and Project Management where her responsibilities included all aspects of managing a signage or ATM project: code research, scheduling surveying, working with graphics to create the necessary drawings, obtaining engineered drawings, filing for permits, creating proposals, developing rollout strategy, and ensuring installation ran as scheduled and in accordance to the budget. Dee Dee’s client base grew to include both regional financial institutions as well as two banks on the US Top 10 list. As growth of the company continued to expand so did her responsibilities to include installation management of her projects. Valuable knowledge and learnings were obtained during these years.  She understands the details required in order to have a project run smoothly and successfully.

Dee Dee resides in Chapin, SC with her husband, three daughters, and their cocker spaniel. Her greatest joys in life are times spent with family and friends. She enjoys life around the (water boating, swimming, scuba diving), trips to Disney World, mountain weekends, running, yoga, and learning new things. Dee Dee is actively involved serving her church family as a small group co-leader and mentoring youth.  Building a strong community is very important to her so she participates in and leads numerous efforts during the year assisting local food pantries, volunteering at area schools, assisting a local orphanage, and organizing outreach to local nursing homes.

As an Event Director at Worldwide Business Research, Elizabeth oversees the organization of four business conferences per year. Conference organization includes conducting extensive phone research with 60+ industry experts per event, using call notes to compile a three day conference program that encapsulates top research takeaways, confirming a roster of 40-50 industry leading speakers for each program, working with our marketing team to write effective copy for all outbound marketing messages, coordinating with sales and logistics teams to ensure the best possible onsite experience and prepping for and running the live event. Most recently, she has taken over conference production for WBR’s customer experience vertical, which includes planning and executing the flagship event Next Generation Customer Experience- a cross industry event that attracts 400 CX practitioners yearly as well as the Future Branches conference, an event for retail banking and credit union innovators. Prior to serving as event director, Elizabeth was assisting the events department with industry research and planning and executing industry webinars for WBR Digital. She currently lives in New York City.