Speakers & Contributors

• 

  Michael Phelps
  World’s Most Decorated Athlete

  Michael Phelps is the most decorated swimmer in history, capturing a total of 28 medals, including a record-setting 23 gold medals, over the course of his career. Phelps utilized his performance bonus for winning eight gold medals in 2008 to establish the Michael Phelps Foundation. Committed to growing the sport of swimming, the Foundation addresses the need for water-safety through its signature program – im – that is available through the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Special Olympics International. The most decorated swimmer in World Championships history, Phelps launched his own competitive swimwear brand – MP – in partnership with Aqua Sphere in 2014. He has published two autobiographies – No Limits: The Will to Success and Beneath the Surface – that were New York Times and USA Today best sellers, as well as published one children’s book – How to Train with a T-Rex and Win Eight Gold Medals. He is a highly regarded inspirational speaker, sharing his message of “Dream, Plan, Reach” with audiences ranging from children to business executives.

• 

  Beth Comstock
  Former Vice Chair, GE

  Beth Comstock navigates change. She prepares for it, inspires it, and considers it an essential part of the growth of both individuals and organizations. Over nearly two decades at GE, she led efforts to accelerate new growth and innovation, helping transform a process-heavy, top-down culture to a faster, agile, and inventive one. Comstock initiated GE’s digital and clean-energy transformations, developed new businesses, increased GE’s brand value and sales, and partnered to enhance its inventive culture. She was responsible for the sales, marketing, and communications functions, and was the company’s first Chief Marketing Officer in 20 years. As President of Integrated Media at NBC Universal, Comstock oversaw ad revenue and the company’s digital efforts, including early development of hulu.com. She held a succession of marketing and communications roles at GE, NBC, CBS and Turner Broadcasting/CNN. Her first book, Imagine It Forward, offers lessons from a life of continual transformation and will be published September 18, 2018.

   

• 

  Nicholas Thompson
  Editor-in-Chief, Wired Magazine

  The story of how science and tech will change our lives is one of the most important in the world. And no one is more equipped to tell it than Nicholas Thompson. A veteran editor, he revolutionized The New Yorker’s online platform and transformed the magazine. Now, as the editor-in-chief of Wired, he’s working at the forefront of digital innovation – championing tech’s role in making the world a better place. Thompson served previously as a senior editor at Wired, and played a pivotal role with The New Yorker – first as senior editor, then as editor of the magazine’s digital platform. Author of the critically acclaimed biography The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War, Thompson has written on technology and politics for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, Slate, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, The New York Observer, and other publications. He has appeared on Bloomberg TV, NBC, Fox News, MSNBC, ABC, NPR, and CNN, where he is a contributing editor, and CBS, where he is a news contributor.

• 

  Tamara Levitt
  Head of Mindfulness at Calm Meditation App

  Tamara Levitt is an author, speaker, and mindfulness educator. For over three years, she has held the role of Head of Mindfulness at Calm, the meditation app downloaded by over 20 million people around the world. Levitt writes, produces, and narrates Calm’s mindfulness meditation programs, and leads the overall creative strategy for the company’s growing library of meditation programming. Levitt’s experience in meditation exceeds over twenty years of study and practice. She has also authored two children’s books on mindfulness themes, Happiness Doesn’t Come from Headstands, and The Secret to Clara’s Calm, both published by Wisdom Publications.

• 

  Chris Skinner
  World-Renowned Fintech Advisor and Strategist

  Chris Skinner is known as an independent commentator on the financial markets and fintech through his blog, the Finanser.com, as author of the bestselling books Digital Bank, ValueWeb and its new sequel Digital Human. He is Chair of the European networking forum The Financial Services Club and Nordic Finance Innovation, as well as being a Non-Executive Director of the Fintech consultancy firm 11:FS.  He is on the Advisory Boards of many companies including B-Hive, Bankex, empowr, IoV42, Innovate Finance, Life.SREDA, Moven, Meniga, Pintail, Project Exscudo and the Token Fund, and has been voted one of the most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal’s Financial News.  He has recently been voted Game Changer of the Year and Financial Markets Advisor of the Year by Finance Monthly, CEO of the Year by CV Magazine, FinTech Speaker of the Year by TMT Global and has been an advisor to the White House, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.

• 

  Jean Chatzky
  Financial Editor, NBCs TODAY Show
  Jean Chatzky, the financial editor of NBC’s TODAY show, is an award-winning personal finance journalist, AARP’s personal finance ambassador and host of the podcast HerMoney with Jean Chatzky on iTunes. Jean is also a best-selling author. Her newest book, AgeProof: Living Longer Without Running Out of Money or Breaking a Hip, which she wrote with Dr. Michael Roizen, is a New York Times bestseller. In 2015, Jean teamed up with Time for Kids and The PwC Charitable Foundation to launch Your $, a financial literacy magazine reaching two million schoolchildren each month. She lives with her family in Westchester County, New York.

• 

  Brian Solis
  Award-Winning Author, Futurist and Principal Analyst, Altimeter Group

  Brian Solis is a principal analyst at Altimeter Group, a Prophet company. He is also an award-winning author, prominent blogger/writer, and keynote speaker. A digital analyst, anthropologist, and futurist, Solis has studied and influenced the effects of emerging technology on business and society. His research and books help executives, and also everyday people, better understand the relationship between the evolution of technology and its impact on people and also the role we each play in evolution. Solis also helps leading brands, celebrities, and startups develop new digital transformation, culture 2.0, and innovation strategies that enable businesses to adapt to new connected markets from the inside out. Solis is a regular contributor to leading business and industry publications including Adage, Forbes, Wired, and VentureBeat among others. His new book, X: The Experience When Business Meets Design, introduces the importance of experiences as the new brand, bringing the worlds of CX, UX and BX together to re-imagine the customer journey and lifecycle.

• 

  Shivani Siroya
  Founder and CEO, Tala

  Shivani Siroya established Tala, a mobile technology and data science company committed to expanding financial access, choice, and control for underserved people. Tala’s smartphone app provides instant credit scoring, lending, and other personalized financial services in emerging markets. Prior to founding Tala, Shivani held a variety of positions in global health, microfinance, and investment banking, including roles with the United Nations Population Fund, Health Net, Citigroup and UBS. Shivani is an Aspen Institute Finance Leader Fellow, a WEF Young Global Leader, Senior TED Fellow and Ashoka Fellow. She also is on the board of Stellar.org. She holds an M.P.H. from Columbia University and a B.A. from Wesleyan University.

• 

  Chip Heath
  Professor, Stanford Graduate School of Business

  Chip Heath is a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, teaching courses on business strategy, change, and sticky communication, and consulting with clients ranging from Google and Gap to The Nature Conservancy and the American Heart Association. He is the co-author (along with his brother, Dan) of four books. Their most recent book, The Power of Moments (October 2017), explores why certain brief experiences can jolt, elevate and change us – and how we can learn to create these extraordinary moments in our life and work. Their book, Decisive: How to Make Better Decisions in Life and Work debuted at #1 on The Wall Street Journal best-seller list and #2 on The New York Times best-seller list. Their 2010 book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, hit #1 on both best-seller lists. Their first book, Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, spent two years on the Business Week best-seller list and was an Amazon Top 10 Business Book for both editors and readers. The Heaths’ books have been translated into 33 languages, including Thai, Arabic, and Lithuanian.

• 

  Bobbi Rebell
  Certified Financial Planner and host of the Financial Grownup Podcast

  Bobbi Rebell’s podcast features interviews with top thought leaders in personal finance and other prominent role models who share life-changing and inspiring money stories and advice. Guests have included Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, Author David Bach, Financial expert Jean Chatzky, and ABC news business anchor Rebecca Jarvis. Rebell also is the author of the best-selling self-help/personal finance book How to Be a Financial Grownup: Proven Advice from High Achievers on How to Live Your Dreams and Have Financial Freedom. The book combines unique personal financial stories from inspirational leaders with targeted and relatable advice to help readers take charge of their money. An award-winning TV anchor and personal finance columnist most recently at Thomson Reuters, Rebell has created business videos that have been seen on hundreds of broadcast and online channels around the world, and her Reuters column on personal finance was syndicated to newspapers and websites worldwide.

• 

  Thomas Frey
  Founder, Executive Director and Senior Futurist, DaVinci Institute

  Over the past decade, Thomas Frey has built an enormous following based on his ability to develop accurate visions of the future and describe the opportunities ahead. Having started seventeen businesses himself, and assisted with the development of hundreds more, the understanding he brings to his audiences serves as a rare blend of reality-based thinking coupled with a clear-headed visualization of the world ahead. Predicting the future has little value without understanding the driving forces behind the trends, subtle nuances that can be leveraged, and implications for both the people directly affected in the industry as well as others farther down the technological food chain. Before launching DaVinci Institute, Frey spent 15 years at IBM as an engineer and designer where he received over 270 awards, more than any other IBM engineer. He is also a past member of the Triple Nine Society.

• 

  Jaron Lanier
  Silicon Valley Visionary and Renaissance Man for the 21st Century

  Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, composer, artist, and author who writes on numerous topics, including high-technology business, the social impact of technology, the philosophy of consciousness and information, Internet politics, and the future of humanism. Lanier’s most recent book is Who Owns the Future?, which remains an international bestseller and was declared the most important book of 2013 by Joe Nocera in The New York Times. A pioneer in virtual reality (a term he coined), Lanier founded VPL Research, the first company to sell VR products. Currently Interdisciplinary Scientist at Microsoft Research, he was a founder or principal of startups that were acquired by Google, Adobe, Oracle, and Pfizer. In 2010, Lanier was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine and is listed as one of history’s 300 or so greatest inventors in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

• 

  Scott Amyx
  Managing Partner, Amyx Ventures

  Scott Amyx is a thought leader, speaker and author on the Internet of Things and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He is Chair and Managing Partner at Amyx Ventures, and a Singularity University/Smart City Accelerator Mentor and Startup Board Member. Amyx’s feature book, Strive was published by Wiley in 2018. Based on interviews with corporate CEOs, unicorn startup entrepreneurs and global policy leaders, it explores how, for anyone striving to succeed, doing the things they find most uncomfortable is the secret to outstanding achievement. Amyx holds a master’s degree in applied microeconomics/public policy from the University of Chicago and was a national Sloan Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University. He has been featured in media ranging from The New York Times and Forbes to Wired and InformationWeek, and his speaking schedule includes TEDx, the World Economic Forum and numerous other events.

• 

  James Wester
  Research Director, IDC Financial Insights

  James Wester is responsible for the global payments practice of IDC Financial Insights, whose research and consulting capabilities assist financial services businesses and IT leaders in making more effective technology decisions. His core research coverage includes the evolution of payment networks and technology, developing fraud and security risks, and legal and regulatory issues. Based on his background covering the mobile payment space, Wester’s research also includes a particular emphasis on mobile and alternative payment methods and the threats and opportunities now facing the entire payment ecosystem from evolving mobile technologies. Previously, Wester was founding editor of Mobile Payments Today, the first news site dedicated to mobile payments, commerce and financial services. Wester holds a master’s degree in IT Management from the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce, and has provided analysis for media including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and CNBC. He blogs as part of the IDC Insights community.

• 

  Todd Clark
  President/CEO, CO-OP Financial Services

  On June 27, 2016, became President/CEO of CO-OP Financial Services, a Rancho Cucamonga, California-based provider of financial technology to credit unions (www.co-opfs.org).

  “After a nationwide search for many months, the Board of Directors is delighted to report that Todd will be leading the industry’s largest credit union service organization in terms of credit unions and members served,” said Jeff Napper, Chairman of the Board of CO-OP, when Clark’s appointment was announced. “Todd’s extensive 25 years of experience as a proven and well-respected leader in the payments systems industry will benefit and serve credit unions well for many years to come.”

  Prior to CO-OP, Clark served as SVP/Head of STAR Network and Debit Processing for First Data Corporation, where he had full profit and loss responsibility for the EFT Group. In this capacity, he led a team of more than 600 product, strategy, communications, strategic sales, technology, operations and support personnel. Prior to the First Data assignment, Clark was an executive with Cardtronics, Inc., and also served in a prior capacity at First Data from 1991 to 2012.

• 

  Alex Rascón
  Assistant Vice President of Portfolio Management, GECU

  Alex Rascón is Assistant Vice President of Portfolio Management for GECU where he is responsible for the credit and debit card program P&L and management of the consumer loan, deposit and card portfolios.  His experience includes retail finance, branch operations management, and remote service channel operations.  Alex holds an MBA from Nova Southeastern University and a Bachelor of Arts in Finance from the University of Texas at El Paso.

• 

  Amy Nigrelli
  Chief Marketing and Digital Officer, Credit Union National Association (CUNA)

  Amy Nigrelli is chief marketing and digital officer at Credit Union National Association (CUNA). She leads CUNA’s brand, marketing, digital strategy and data management and intelligence teams. Collaborating with internal teams and credit union system partners, Amy and her team connect credit unions to CUNA’s advocacy efforts, member benefits and solutions.

• 

  Andrew Leong
  Senior Data Architect, SAFE Credit Union

  Andrew’s career in technology spans over 20 years from startups to Fortune 50 companies. From developing the first mobile browsers to running a global IT project that branched off Hewlett Packard into Hewlett Packard Incorporated and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, he brings a breadth of experience in software development and project management. Now the architect at SAFE Credit Union, his development and data modeling work on a recently-launched member loyalty product has won two distinguished awards, the 2018 VISA DPS Innovation Award and the 2018 CUlytics Analytics Challenge.

• 

  Anne O'Connor
  Senior Managing Consultant, Mastercard Advisors

  Anne O’Connor is a Senior Managing Consultant at Mastercard Advisors and has worked in consulting for 10 years, specializing in Customer Experience Management, Big Data, and Customer Journey Mapping and Analysis. Anne is based in Washington, D.C.

• 

  Bill Cheney
  CEO, SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union

  As president and CEO of SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union Bill works closely with the credit union’s Board of Directors and team to lead one of the largest, most progressive credit unions in the nation.  Before joining SchoolsFirst, Bill was President and CEO of the Credit Union National Association, the nation’s largest advocacy group for credit unions.

  Bill worked in Washington, D.C. and throughout the country to represent America’s credit unions before Congress, the federal government, the press and the public.  Bill has played an active role in the credit union movement for more than 30 years.

• 

  Brent Dixon
  Advisor, Filene Research Institute

  Brent Dixon is an interdisciplinary designer, researcher, and strategist based in Oakland, CA. Brent advises credit unions on behalf of the Filene Research Institute, and has facilitated strategic planning sessions, educational workshops, and project work for every major credit union trade association in North America, and credit unions ranging in size from beautifully small to over $10 billion in assets. In 2010, he founded the Cooperative Trust, a development community for young credit union professionals. The Cooperative Trust received a 2017 Herb Wegner Award for its role in supporting the future of the credit union movement.

  Brent previously launched Moeda.in, an international microfinance technology company, and co-founded and lead the innovation unit at the United Nations Office of Information and Communication Technology. He is currently a board director of Communitere International, an international NGO creating dynamic, collaborative hubs in displaced and post-disaster communities.

• 

  Chris Sibila
  Executive Vice President, Payments and Technology, Elements Financial Federal Credit Union

  Chris Sibila is Executive Vice President of Payments and Technology for Elements Financial Federal Credit Union. Before that, he worked for Citibank as Director of Product Management in Global Consumer Technology. He was also Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Atlantic Bank & Trust, as well as VP for Fifth Third Bank in Ohio and Indiana.

• 

  Dean Michaels
  Head of Corporate Development and Strategic Partnerships, CO-OP Financial Services

  Dean Michaels joined CO-OP Financial Services in December 2017 as Head of Corporate Development and Strategic Partnerships.
  When Dean was added to the CO-OP leadership team, Todd Clark, President/CEO, remarked: “Strategic business partnerships and acquisitions are central to CO-OP delivering on its promise to the industry to quickly deliver seamless, secure and advanced digital solutions. The acquisition of TMG (April 2017) is a prime example of how we are building CO-OP to be the most comprehensive payments and financial technology provider to credit unions.

  Dean brings extensive corporate development background and expertise in the arena of payments technology and networks,” said Clark. “He will work closely with me and our executive management team to make determinations on partnership development, mergers and acquisitions, and in identifying areas of growth via strategic investment.

  Prior to joining CO-OP, Michaels held leadership roles at First Data Corporation, including Head of Business Execution for STAR Network and Head of Finance for First Data’s U.S. Merchant Acquiring Business. In addition, Michaels led the development of First Data’s Smart Routing and Network Routing partnership programs, driving new revenue through network routing solutions developed in response to the Federal Reserve Board’s Regulation II governing debit card interchange fees and routing. In previous roles, Michaels led First Data’s merchant-acquiring Small Business Cross-Sales and Retention organizations.

  Michaels has also worked for JP Morgan Chase. There, he was responsible for evaluating and improving the effectiveness of consumer banking cross-sales campaigns, including profit and loss responsibility for JP Morgan Chase’s branch and call center cross-sales programs.
  Michaels holds an MBA from New York University and a BBA from Adelphi University of Garden City, N.Y.

• 

  Deb Wieczorek
  Director of Advisory Services, CO-OP Financial Services

  Deb Wieczorek leads the SmartGrowth Portfolio Management team of advisors and offers over 35 years of financial services experience. For the majority of her career she has served in an executive role where her teams were responsible for client satisfaction and growth strategies for credit and debit portfolios. Her consulting experience, combined with her knowledge of all aspects of the payment ecosystem, including: issuing, acquiring, processing, and networks, makes her a tremendous asset to CO-OP’s Portfolio Management team and our Financial Institution partners.

• 

  Doug Leighton
  Head of Community Accounts, Visa

  Doug Leighton, Head of Community Accounts, leads a National team of Account Executives and Managers responsible for sales and relationship activities at over 7,750 US-based Banks and Credit Unions.  In this role, he coordinates a variety of efforts designed to provide the best of Visa’s products, services, resources and people – all tailored for Community Banks and Credit Unions.  He has been with Visa for over 20 years after holding product management, finance and customer service positions at Merrill Lynch, Barclays Global Investors and Wells Fargo.  Doug earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from San Jose State University in 1989.  In 1997, he earned an MBA degree from the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley.  He lives in San Mateo, CA with his wife Tracey and sons Scott and Zachary.

• 

  Doug Marshall
  SVP Retail, BECU

  Doug joined BECU in 2013. He leads BECU’s digital, ATM, telephone and Financial Center channels, as well as product management, and payments strategy. Before joining BECU, Doug was Chief Membership Officer at First Tech Federal Credit Union in Palo Alto CA. Prior to that, he held senior management positions at both Washington Mutual and Bank of America.

   

• 

  Fotis Konstantinidis
  Senior Vice President of Fraud Products

  Fotis has over 15 years of experience in leading digital products and rapid prototypes in the areas of machine learning, payments and IoT. Most recently, Fotis led a number of projects at McKinsey defining corporate board strategy for large players in the financial services industry. He also worked at Visa, where he was the lead for all connected car/IoT pre-production pilots collaborating with car companies, merchants, issuers and acquirers. Before that, he was at Accenture heading a number of digital transformations across different industries. Fotis has also co-founded two startups, performed brain research and completed graduate studies at UCLA in the fields of Computer Science, Space Physics and Chemical Engineering.

• 

  Gail Tofil
  Strategic Partnership Retention, CO-OP Financial Services

  Gail has over 24 years’ experience in the financial technology and payments industry.  Gail began her career with CO-OP in the shared branching space, but quickly moved into the EFT side of the business.  She has built years of expertise in many roles, beginning with supervising EFT support and client services department, to training, implementations and project management, account executive, product & technology, and key account relationship management, and has enjoyed the past 6 years in the sales organization at CO-OP.  Gail is a proud alumni of the University of Michigan (GO BLUE!), and still resides in the suburbs near Detroit with her husband of 16 years.

• 

  Gigi Hyland
  Executive Director, National Credit Union Foundation

  Gigi’s career in the credit union system spans 27 years – as an advocate, attorney, federal regulator and now, philanthropist. She inspires credit union professionals to collaborate and incorporate consumer financial health and cooperative principles into their business strategy. She works to help credit unions make themselves part of the strategic architecture of their community’s financial well-being, integrating business and benevolence so credit unions serve as a trusted resource to their members and their community.

• 

  Grace Roberto
  Senior Digital Marketing Analyst, SAFE Credit Union

  Grace is a self-professed data nerd who loves a finely crafted spreadsheet but is working to build a world in which data is as malleable and infinitely configurable as a set of Lego bricks. As senior digital marketing analyst at SAFE Credit Union, she has worked on connecting top-of-funnel web analytics data with data from the member-level, application-level, online banking-level, CRM-level, transaction-level, etc. She enjoys taking something intimidating (like the dreaded wall of numbers) and crafting it into a rich, easily comprehensible data story. She was recently a co-winner of the 2018 CULytics Analytics Challenge for her contributions to SAFECU’s new data-driven member loyalty platform. When her head isn’t swimming with facts and figures, you can find her playing volleyball, whipping up a “healthy” dessert (chocolate chickpea cake, anyone?), or yes – using Power BI to track year-over-year household expenditures and hunting for unexpected variances (much to her husband’s dismay).

• 

  Graeme Trayner
  Managing Director of Research and Insights, The Glover Park Group

  Graeme Trayner is Managing Director of Research and Insights at The Glover Park Group. At GPG, Graeme incorporates insight and research to assist in guiding and executing integrated communications campaigns. Over the past two years, he has led polling and research for CUNA’s Creating Awareness Initiative.

• 

  John Buzzard
  Industry Fraud Specialist for, CO-OP Financial Services

  John Buzzard is an Industry Fraud Specialist for CO-OP Financial Services-the largest credit union service organization in the US. Mr. Buzzard has delivered significant influence in card fraud, risk and security services for financial institutions throughout the United States. His years at FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) provided an open forum for his many literary contributions that included interviews, public discussions, presentations and written publications in various media’s such as local NBC and Fox News, Wall Street Journal, BankInfoSecurity.com and ATMMarketplace.com to name a few. Additional accomplishments include a number of white papers, speaking opportunities with various organizations in the EFT/Banking industry, blogging and creation of the Fraud Alert Network that all provide educational and directional fraud, risk and security information to hundreds of financial institutions and law enforcement agencies throughout the US.

• 

  Kari Wilfong
  Chief Financial Officer, CO-OP Financial Services

  In July 2006, Kari Wilfong joined CO-OP’s executive team as the Chief Financial Officer. Now serving as Chief Financial Officer/Chief Administrative Officer, Wilfong’s main focus is on financial security, as well as the strategic, organic and future financial growth and development of CO-OP. She is also responsible for the advancement and management of enterprise-wide accounting, finance, information technology, risk management and security.

  Wilfong’s duties at CO-OP include extensive experience in acquisitions and investments, most recently with business partners Alkami Technology, Inc., of Plano, Texas, and Finivation, of New York, New York. Wilfong is also a member of Ongoing Operations of Hagerstown, Maryland, and provides financial guidance to other companies in which CO-OP holds a strategic investment.

  Wilfong held various leadership roles at Western National Group and USIWest in Irvine, Calif., and began her career at Frankeberger & Company in 1991 as a Support Staff Accountant. She is a certified public accountant and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration, with an academic achievement award, from Loyola Marymount University. In 2015, Wilfong completed her Executive MBA from Claremont Graduate University with high honors, focusing on strategy and leadership (separate certificates received for both leadership and strategy).

• 

  Dr. Kathy Herziger-Snider
  SVP Debit/Prepaid Shared Branch Product, CO-OP Financial Services

  Kathy Herziger-Snider serves as a senior vice president, leading CO-OP’s ATM, debit/prepaid and shared branch business lines.

  Herziger-Snider’s training in client engagement and collaboration includes a Doctorate degree in leadership, learning and service. Her PhD, as well as a Master’s degree in management science, were earned at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee.

  In addition, Herziger-Snider has more than 25 years in the financial services market. She has held positions in a wide range of disciplines, including product, channel and business line management, as well as client service and marketing/sales support. She has previously led teams at eFunds, US Processing, Inc., Deluxe Data, First Interstate Management Services, as well as prior tenure with CO-OP Financial Services.

• 

  Matt Maguire
  Chief Data Officer, CO-OP Financial Services

  Matt Maguire joined CO-OP in September as Chief Data Officer.

• 

  Maureen Carlson
  Chief Strategy Officer, Catalist

  Maureen Carlson has created best practices in identifying, securing and maximizing corporate alliance partnerships that have ignited more than $50 million in incremental fundraising and billions of branding impressions for her nonprofit clients. Her experience working on some of the most prolific and innovative cause/corporate partnerships in the marketplace gives her invaluable experiences into the nuances of propelling corporate alliance success. Her work has helped shape successful cause/corporate alliance programs for organizations like Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, the American Heart Association, Make-A-Wish, LIVESTRONG, Staples, Kellogg’s and McDonald’s. Maureen is a nationally recognized speaker on the topic of corporate alliances, peer-to-peer strategies, successful selling and more. Her work has been seen in Forbes, The NonProfit Times and Huffington Post and in the recently-released book, Nonprofit Selling 101.

• 

  Naveen Jain
  President and Founder, CULytics

  Visionary and Change Agent with deep technology and execution expertise in building big data and advanced analytics practice from ground-up and driving customer centric, insight-based cultural change. Adept at building, leading and motivating successful global teams in highly demanding fast paced environments.

• 

  Nicholas Calcanes
  Chief Information Officer, CO-OP Financial Services

  Chief Information Officer Nick Calcanes joined CO-OP in April 2017 from financial technology solutions provider Fiserv, where he was CIO for Financial Risk Management Solutions. His 25-year career in the financial services industry includes key technology leadership positions as CIO, Wholesale Credit and Client Technology, at Bank of America Corporation and CIO, Global Functions Technology, at Ally Financial. In these roles, Calcanes managed technology strategy and oversaw the IT functions for 1,000-plus person organizations and multi-millions in budgets. His experience includes transforming IT strategy to realign people, processes and technology across business operations, as well as increasing performance outputs. Calcanes’ focus at CO-OP is to elevate CO-OP’s technology strategy and build out infrastructure to continue its transformation as a digital company.

• 

  Nish Modi
  VP, Digital and Business Intelligence, CO-OP Financial Services

  Nish Modi has over 20 years of experience in product innovation, strategy and leadership in Finserv, Fintech, Payments and eCommerce industries. He was one of the early & leading innovators of online banking, bill payments and business banking in late 1990s-early 2000s. He holds of 3 patents for omni-channel merchant acquiring, business intelligence (merchant acquiring & processing) & digital commerce technologies. Prior to joining CO-OP Financial Services, held leadership roles at First Data, eBay, Worldpay and a couple of growth stage companies helping them grow by significant multiples resulting in very successful exits.

• 

  Pam Brodsack
  SVP, Application Development & Support, CO-OP Financial Services

  Pam Brodsack is Senior Vice President of Application Development and Support at CO-OP Financial Services. Pam is responsible for strategic enhancement and implementation of a broad range of technology solutions to meet CO-OP’s business objectives.

  A seasoned Technology executive with extensive application development, data analytics and warehousing experience, telephony and security, Pam has dedicated more than 25 years of her career to the financial services sector.

• 

  Paul Love
  Chief Information Security Officer, CO-OP Financial Services

  Paul Love joined CO-OP Financial Services as Chief Information Security Officer in March 2017. Mr. Love brings more than 25 years in risk management, financial services and technology experience to CO-OP, including his most recent role as Senior Director of Governance, Risk and Compliance at Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). At Freddie Mac, he led the creation of an information security and standards program aligned with internationally recognized best practices and collaborated with business units, IT and other key groups to ensure alignment. He has held other information security positions with Ernst & Young, Microsoft, Schlumberger and Ally Financial, and has banking industry experience as Assistant Vice President of Security Operations for Fifth Third Bank.

  Paul holds a Master’s of Science in Network Security degree, has authored/co-authored nine books on Information Security and Unix/Linux and has been the technical editor of 10 books on Linux and Unix. Mr. Love is a Certified Information Systems Security (CISSP), Certified Information Systems Audit (CISA), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) as well as other security and technical certifications.

• 

  Rachna Ahlawat
  Co-Founder, Ondot Systems

  Rachna Ahlawat is a Co-Founder of Ondot Systems, creator of card controls, alerts and card management software adopted by more than 3000 banks and credit unions globally and powers the industry leading CardNav solution for COOP customers. She guides Ondot Systems’ strategic direction, product innovations, and international market expansion.

• 

  Ryan Battles
  Banking Practice Leader, EY Advisory

  Ryan Battles serves as the Banking practice leader within EY’s financial services advisory performance improvement team. He has 17 years of consulting experience with leading financial services companies and brings a range of experience in strategy, transformation, and global delivery across the various banking sectors.

• 

  Samantha Paxson
  Chief Marketing and Experience Officer, CO-OP Financial Services

  As Chief Marketing and Experience Officer for CO-OP Financial Services, Samantha Paxson is the architect of the company’s go-to-market strategy.

  Paxson focuses on the intersection of technology, creativity, purpose and experience to meet the needs of CO-OP clients and their members. Discovering new ways to make CO-OP one of the most admired and exciting companies is her passion. Specific responsibilities include brand strategy, sales enablement and product/marketing strategy integration, strategic planning and research, consumer user experience development and analysis, and paid/owned/earned media strategy for multiple brands and business lines.

  Joining CO-OP in 2005, Paxson created the THINK initiative, an innovation content platform for the credit union movement. Her background includes working overseas in international public relations, and managing accounts in the technology, automotive, action sports and financial services space for a Southern California marketing agency. Paxson is a graduate of the University of Southern California with a degree in journalism and Social Sciences.

  She is also an advisor to the OpenIDEO Challenge on “Financial Empowerment”, a board member of USC Credit Union and a board member of Children’s Hospital Orange County’s Credit Union Committee.

• 

  Sarah Grotta
  Director, Debit Advisory Services, Mercator

  Sarah’s professional credentials include over 20 years of broad payments and banking experience with a track record of new product innovation including market leading solutions, development of realistic new product business plans, product road maps, new product requirements and successful marketplace launches. Her experience includes senior leadership positions in a mix of large financial institutions and fast-paced startups. Sarah’s responsibilities have included managing debit card and prepaid card lines of business, merchant services and ISO sponsorship portfolios, growing an ACH consolidation business as well as deploying a surcharge free ATM solution.

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  Sarah Szilagyi
  Vice President of Marketing Operations, CO-OP Financial Services

  As Vice President, MX Operations at CO-OP, Sarah focuses on driving results through collaboration, goal-setting and continuous testing of process. She leads management of CO-OP’s Co-Creation Councils and strives to help the MX organization become an efficient and innovative piece of CO-OP’s overall success. Sarah has centered her career on building focused, results-oriented teams. She has done so as an entrepreneur, launching and building a digital marketing agency, and as the Managing Director of the West Coast region for advertising agency, The Shipyard. She holds an MBA from San Diego State University and BA from Rutgers College.

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  Teresa Freeborn
  President & Chief Executive, Xceed Financial Credit Union

  Teresa Freeborn was named President and Chief Executive for Xceed Financial Credit Union in 2006. She oversees all aspects of the Credit Union’s operations and represents Xceed globally. Rising through the ranks during her four-decade career, her experience encompasses the full breadth of the international credit union system. A passionate advocate in the credit union movement, and leader of some of the most important and effective initiatives, she was named one of the industry’s “women to watch” by Credit Union Times. She was also inducted into the 2014 CUES Hall of Fame for her many contributions to the credit union movement, and the California Credit Union League has honored her with both its Distinguished Service Award, and more recently its Lifetime Achievement Award for her current and ongoing commitment to the credit union community.

  A frequent speaker at high-profile industry events, she is a regular source for news media seeking comment on issues relating to credit unions and finance, as well as the advancement of women in leadership. Although Teresa is a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, she now calls Hermosa Beach California home. She holds an MBA from Simon Fraser University.

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  Tiana Laurence
  Managing Partner, Laurence Ventures

  Tiana Laurence has been a pioneer in the blockchain space from the beginning. She is the Managing Partner at Laurence Ventures, Author of Blockchain For Dummies (a #1 Bestseller on Amazon), Co-founded Factom Inc., a blockchain technology company, and recently released a crypto game called Digipuppies. Tiana has a column on TechTarget where she writes about blockchain and IoT. Her passion is growing great companies, and she loves helping young aspiring entrepreneurs learn about business and technology.

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  Tim Greene
  Vice President of Innovation, Elements Financial Federal Credit Union

  Tim Greene is Vice President of Innovation for Elements Financial Federal Credit Union. At Elements, Tim is tasked with researching, identifying, quantifying and implementing digital capabilities and payment strategies that enhance the member experience to support “Digital Excellence.”  With his guidance, Tim strengthens Elements’ ability to innovate and remain relevant among traditional and Fintech competitors.  A seasoned credit union guy with accounting, marketing, security, data analytics and IT experience, Tim has dedicated 25 years to Elements Financial and the credit union movement.

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  Tim Sharman
  Principal, Mastercard Advisors

  Tim Sharman is a Principal at Mastercard Advisors and has been consulting in the CEM space for over 15 years. He specializes in the strategy, governance, and economics of CEM. His background is as a political economist and he holds an M.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University. Tim is based in Washington, D.C.