Before joining Networld Media Group as Vice President of Events, Cherryh Cansler spent several years as VP of Editorial managing the company’s nine B2B publications. Throughout her 20-year career as a journalist, she’s written about a variety of topics, ranging from the restaurant industry and technology to health and fitness news. Her byline has appeared in a plethora of newspapers, magazines and websites, including Forbes, The Kansas City Star and American Fitness magazine. She also serves as the managing editor for FastCasual.com.

Andy joined Entrust in 2017 to help develop and bring to market transformative products that make it easier for financial institutions to improve their cardholder experience. Prior to joining Entrust, Andy worked in a variety of product, marketing and operational roles for companies specializing in digital payments, cloud computing, and e-commerce. Andy has a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and a master’s degree from the University of St. Thomas.

Heang Chan is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Prelim, a financial technology company focused on digitizing the customer journey from originations to account management for commercial banking and lending. Before founding Prelim, Heang was part of the product team at Blend, and prior to transitioning to the technology side of banking, spent over a decade working at Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Bank of America. He completed a joint MBA/MA at Stanford University.

Bradley Cooper is the editor of ATM Marketplace. He was previously the editor of Digital Signage Today, Kiosk Marketplace and Blockchain Tech News. His background is in Information Technology, Advertising, and Writing.

Winston Damarillo is the Chief Executive Officer of Talino Venture Labs, a global venture builder of inclusive technology solutions that accelerate the economic recovery of emerging middle-class communities and economies. He is also the Executive Chairman of Amihan Global Strategies, a leader in digital transformation in Southeast Asia, as well as Founder of DEVCON Philippines, the largest community of tech professionals in the Philippines. Winston is also a Silicon Valley veteran with three successful startup exits, a venture capitalist, a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, and the author of the best-selling book, Ready Or Not: The 6 Big Disruptions that Will Change the Way We Do Business.

Darren Easton leads the underserved strategy at BMO Harris Bank. His role focuses on identifying products and services that help those you are financially struggling make real financial progress. Prior to joining BMO Harris, he was a Senior Director at the Financial Health Network (previously CFSI) where he worked with some of the world’s largest and most innovative companies on defining and operationalizing financial health strategies. Darren also served as the policy advisor for the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority, advising the executive director and governor on state economic and housing issues. Darren holds a B.A. in History and a minor in Black World Studies from Miami University.

Gayle Ekstrom is SVP/Business Analysis and Innovation at Republic Bank of Chicago, where she works at the intersection of business strategy, process, and technology. Working in the retail banking sector over the past twelve years as both a business leader and consultant, she has extensive experience in analyzing business problems and designing strategic solutions. Gayle previously worked in the telecom industry and was granted numerous patents for her inventions. She holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois and an MBA in Business Policy and Behavioral Science from the University of Chicago.

As of 2021, Donna Embry has 55 plus years of experience in the payments industry and currently serves as SVP, Global Payments Strategy for Evolve Bank & Trust. In addition, Donna serves as President of Embry Consulting, LLC. Her prior executive positions include Chief Payments Officer for Payment Alliance International (PAI); Executive Vice President, Product and Marketing for Vital Processing (TSYS Acquiring) and Senior Vice President, Electronic Banking for PNC Bank, as well as Chief Operations Officer for PNC’s former division, CFC Financial Services. She authored the first ETA publication, The Encyclopedia of Terminology for the Acquiring Industry, and developed/taught the inaugural introduction series of classes for ETA University.

Rich Finn is the Vice President, head of Deposit Operations at Discover. With $50MM+ in Deposits and well over 1MM customers, Rich is tasked with setting the strategy and delivering the capabilities to help fuel Discover’s growth in the years to come. Rich has spent 10+ years focusing on the customer experience in a variety of areas, including Operations, Digital Experience, and Product Strategy covering both the credit card and consumer deposits businesses. Rich is passionate about driving differentiated experiences across a variety of products and channels as he oversees functions including Application and Onboarding, Money Movement, General Services, and several regulatory processes.

Stephen Griffin is a Senior Vice President at Regions Bank and is the Director of the Retail Distribution Planning Group. He began his banking career in 1992 and has 29 years of retail banking experience. Stephen has worked in various roles including branch management, branch operations management, incentive management, data management, analytics and reporting management, along with his current role of managing the retail network distribution and market plans for branches and ATMs, including De Novo expansion, rationalization and optimization, physical design, new branch technology, aligning with digital partners and physical site selection. Stephen is a 1992 graduate of The University of Alabama with a degree in Corporate Finance.

Jennifer Harrington founded HATCH, a Boston-based branding + advertising agency in 2009. The agency works with leading brands such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, Northeastern University, Hood, and Wellington Management to craft their story and build creative programs with measurable impact. The firm has worked with MountainOne Bank for the last four years to shape and tell their story to support the Bank’s growth. Prior to HATCH, Jen was a managing partner at Trinity Communications, a financial services branding agency where she led account services and managed relationships with top-tier clients including John Hancock, Fidelity Investments and Liberty Mutual.

Speaker bio coming soon!

Will Hernandez is a Media Strategist in the Financial Technology group for BackBay Communications, a public relations, content marketing and branding firm focused on the asset management, fintech, impact investing and private equity industries. Prior to joining BackBay, Will wrote about the banking, fintech, and payments industries for 12 years, most recently as a technology reporter for American Banker. He also served as the editor for Mobile Payments Today for almost five years.

Brett Johnson is an accomplished Enterprise Account Executive at ID.me who partners with organizations looking to reduce friction and improve user experience with identity verification. Recognizing that the financial services industry has strict regulatory requirements – Brett helps financial services companies exceed these requirements by offering a modern solution to complete the KYC onboarding process 3x faster than legacy industry standard solutions. Brett’s team at ID.me has taken a network approach to identity that has resulted in over 56M pre-verified Americans within the ID.me network who can share their verified identity with ID.me partner’s in 3-clicks.

Samuel D. Kirsch is Chief Digital Officer for FNB. In this role, Samuel oversees the development and execution of FNB’s overall digital strategy by continuing to strengthen the Bank’s digital capabilities and ensure consistency across all digital properties in accordance with the Company’s strategic objective to build an innovative and consultative client experience. In addition, he is responsible for FNB’s technological advancements, including the growth of the Company’s multi-channel Clicks-to-Bricks strategy, which integrate the online, mobile and in-branch banking channels for a seamless and convenient customer experience. Samuel joined FNB in 2011 as Director of Digital Channels and Payments.

EJ Kritz is a seasoned strategist, trainer, and keynote speaker with extensive experience working for some of the finest brands in Financial Services, Retail, Call Center, Franchising, and Media. As the Director of ath Power Consulting’s Training, EJ supports banking organizations of all sizes to build and deliver world-class training solutions focused on such critical topics as Customer Experience, Leadership, Management, Needs-Based Sales, Employee Engagement, Problem Resolution, and more.

With over 30 years of industry experience, Jean-Pierre Lacroix has garnered a reputation as a visionary design thinker, strategist, author, and speaker. Since the opening of Shikatani Lacroix Design, JP has grown his company into one of the most respected multi-disciplinary strategic design agencies in the world. Along the way, he has served as a board member of numerous associations and councils, as well as authored a wide range of books and research reports, including Belonging Experiences, Desire by Design, Think: The Future of Retail Banking, Think: Inspiring the Future of Retail, and DeepReal: Strategies for Brands in the Age of Misinformation.

Corey LeBlanc is a catalyst for CX advancement in the banking industry and a steadfast advocate in the mission to transform small business banking. He is COO and CTO for the newly formed Locality Bank IO, a community bank with a vision to solve the problem of capital allocation for small and medium-sized businesses through being a relationship-based, multi-channel, comprehensive business resource. Previously, Corey served as Chief Digital & Innovation Officer at Origin Bank, where he developed strategic roadmaps that aligned digital initiatives with business-wide objectives, cultivated external partnerships, and leveraged a data-driven approach to digital transformation.

Steve Le Roux is the founder and CEO of Envel, a next generation AI-powered Bank that optimizes your income and manages your spending in real-time. Whilst studying towards a Masters in Finance at Harvard University, Steve invented a new way of banking based on the intersection of ethics and Artificial Intelligence to fully address behavioral economic challenges. Steve also recently graduated from Oxford Saïd Business School’s renowned Fintech Program. Steve is a visionary, innovator and FinTech/Tech Entrepreneur with 2 exits and has been successful leading game changing innovation within Government, Financial Services, NGOs and FTSE 100 companies.

For more than 25 years, The Long Group has been building benchmarks for performance and providing business intelligence, analytics, strategic insight and guidance. As a recognized industry thought leader, Tom Long is a contributor to BAI, Credit Union Times, CUToday, Bankers Digest and Bankadelic. Tom has been a featured speaker for the American Marketing Association, BankWorld, the Mid-west Summit, the NAFCU Strategic Growth Conference, National Association of Credit Union Management and numerous banking and credit union associations. Tom has been a guest lecturer at the Boston College Carroll School of Management MBA program.

Brian McEvoy joined Webster Five in Central Massachusetts in June of 2020. In his role as Sr. Retail Banking Officer, Brian is responsible for the design and execution of the bank’s retail growth strategy, with a focus on branch transformation, sales and service culture, and omni channel delivery. Brian leads the Retail Banking division, inclusive of Branch Administration, Marketing, Contact Center, Digital channels, and W5 Investment Services. Brian is a veteran New England banker, starting his career with Fleet Bank in 1996. He also spent several years in the mid-Atlantic with TD and in the Southeast with Synovus. His banking career has been spent exclusively in the Retail arena; however, Brian has led such diverse functions as direct branch management, distribution strategy, workforce management, process optimization, and branch experience design.

Speaker bio coming soon!

Dan Mercurio is Head of Strategic Partnerships at SigFig, where he oversees relationships with major financial institution partners and defines the company’s strategy and direction for business growth and development. Prior to joining SigFig, Dan spent over 15 years in leadership roles at various banks within the US, including Fleet Bank, Wachovia Bank, Santander and Cambridge Savings Bank. Dan holds a BA in International Business and Economic Theory from Assumption College in Massachusetts.

Jon Moen – Senior Vice President, is the Director of Product at First Bank. Jon is a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) administered by the Association for Financial Professionals, has a Master’s of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Information Technology and a Bachelor’s of Science in Management Information Systems. Possessing 23+ years of experience with First Bank, Jon has had various roles within the bank that provides him a unique perspective: Working in client facing roles in the branch and call center, behind the scenes as a senior analyst in Information Technology, or as Director of Treasury Management (sales, service and operations).

Kamesh Moola is a Senior Vice President in the Digital Innovation and Customer experience Group at Barclays, where he is responsible for the bringing innovative tooling and capabilities to US consumer bank. Prior to this role he was a digital leader within Global Capital Markets. He is a fintech advisor at RISE NY- Home of Fintech by Barclays. Prior to joining Barclays, he held various management positions at Big four consulting firms. He has over fourteen years of experience in providing management consulting services to financial services firms across I-Banking Operations, Asset Management and Wealth Management in the technology strategy and digitization areas.

Ratnaker Muditanapally is the Director of Digital Product Management at BMO Financial Group. He’s accountable for leading the digital sales of US retail deposits and cards portfolio by driving the digital strategy and roadmap to provide best in class user experience and improve the conversion rates for digital sales channels. Prior to this role, he provided the technology leadership to deliver on digital roadmap for retail lending and deposit portfolios. Prior to joining BMO, he has helped multiple insurance clients with transformational programs. With a total of 19 years of experience, he has a passion to solve customer problems by aligning business and technology strategy.

Madhu Reddy is a Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for the Republic Bank of Chicago. He is a transformational leader who is often sought out to solve complex business problems and lead IT initiatives that support organizational change, working with stakeholders across the organization. Madhu is an expert at developing IT strategy and translating business needs into technical solutions in alignment with business priorities. He is recognized for his ability to build high-functioning, impact technical teams that are acknowledged as true business partners in the organization.

Dave Richardson is the current Senior Manager responsible for Fraud Deposit Products for First National Bank Omaha. He has served various roles in his 21 years at First National Bank, including Credit Card Fraud Prevention and ATM Operations. He is currently responsible for maintaining and managing the bank’s non-card fraud prevention and risk mitigation strategies across the institution. His primary responsibilities address controlling fraud risk while enhancing the customer experience in online channels while partnering with the bank’s digital strategy teams. Dave serves on the bank’s Model Governance Committee and Electronic Banking Risk Management Advisory Group. Dave also spent 20 years in the Air National Guard.

Speaker bio coming soon!

Michelle Shelton, Chief Experience Officer at Great Lakes Credit Union, holds more than 20 years of experience leading key functions within financial institutions across the US and Canada. She has held a variety of leadership positions at institutions Royal Bank of Canada, one of the world’s largest banks; Georgia United Credit Union, where she was Chief Marketing Officer; and SCE Federal Credit Union, where she was Chief Experience Officer. Currently making ‘waves’ as Chief Experience Officer at Northern Illinois-based Great Lakes Credit Union, which serves members digitally and also within its 12 branches, Michelle is tasked with bolstering its marketing and community outreach programs and developing a best-in-class member experience across all channels.

Evan Siegel is eGain’s VP Financial Services AI, where he is pursuing his passion of democratizing quality financial guidance by applying the latest developments in AI, machine learning and knowledge management. Evan is currently leading eGain’s development and roll-out of the banking industry’s first automated virtual financial coach. Prior to eGain, Evan held customer experience leadership roles at Wells Fargo, where he also established the bank’s financial health coaching team that was featured in the bank’s annual report, brand advertising campaign, and ABC’s Good Morning America.

Duane Smith, EVP, Chief Marketing Officer, has been with Atlantic Union Bank (formerly Union Bank & Trust) since November 2016. In this role, he’s accountable for all aspects of the bank’s marketing including strategy, brand development, customer acquisitions, and corporate communications. Prior to joining AUB, Duane spent three years leading Brand Marketing for Vonage, a leading telecommunications provider out of Holmdel, New Jersey. While at Vonage he led a revitalization of their disruptive, internet-forward consumer brand into a reliable and highly innovative communications provider to businesses. Prior to that, Duane spent 16 years at Capital One where he has supported several important moves for the company.

Speaker bio coming soon!

Speaker bio coming soon!

Mack is the founder of Mack Turner Marketing Consulting and Insights and is the former Marketing Research and Insights executive for Bank of America. He has over three decades of marketing research, analytics, and customer satisfaction management experience. He has led research for global marketing, consumer banking, investment banking and advertising strategy. Mack’s professional interests include: Consumer Psychology, Futurist Studies, Systems Thinking and Decision Risk Modeling. Mack has served as the chair of the Marketing Science Institute’s Advisory Council and is a 40-year member of the American Marketing Association.

Tom Walsh is an Account Director with Ekata’s Financial Services team, specializing in data-driven risk assessments powered by dynamic, probabilistic datasets. Tom helps companies optimize their onboarding process to create equity with the underbanked, democratize financial access, and stop fraud before damage is done. Prior to joining the Financial Services arm, he led Ekata’s Solutions Architecture team, developing a statistical science-based approach to evaluating vendors and fraud solutions.

Stephen Wooters is a 20+ year financial services veteran with a wide range of experiences with global, national, and community banks across retail and commercial banking. Steve’s celebrated career includes numerous payments and digital banking firsts – helping to launch things that are today common place in the industry. A member of the executive team at Fairfield County Bank, Steve is EVP, CMO and Head of Digital Banking & Payments. In his role, Steve provides leadership in developing and executing the bank’s marketing & digital agendas, ATM fleet, payment card programs, and cash management businesses – helping build primary bank relationships with the community bank’s very valuable customer base.

Lamine Zarrad is Head of Fintech at ZenBusiness PBC. He began his entrepreneurial journey shortly after immigrating to the United States and serving in the United States Marine Corps. He built expertise around banking regulations and financial services through work at Merrill Lynch and the U.S. Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Lamine co-founded fintech company Joust in 2017, which was acquired by ZenBusiness in 2020. Lamine combines his passion for financial inclusion and product innovation skills to build the ZenBusiness platform, where he helps democratize business ownership.