2025 Annual Summit

We are excited to announce the next FWA Annual Summit, taking place on Tuesday, October 21, 2025. This premier event offers in-depth content, including panel discussions, keynote addresses, and fireside chats, all designed to explore the latest developments in our industry.

This year's theme, Disrupting Wall Street: Technology, Deregulation, and the Future of Finance, will focus on artificial intelligence's impact on trading and operations, venture capital investments in New York startups, private equity and credit market growth, and the integration of digital assets within traditional firms. Our sessions will address how these transformative forces are reshaping New York's position as the world's leading financial center.

Join us for an opportunity to engage with industry leaders, gain actionable insights, and explore emerging trends in finance. The Summit is a unique chance to network with thought leaders, delve into timely topics, and return to your work with valuable perspectives and strategies to navigate the evolving landscape of banking, finance, and related sectors.

Don't miss out on this chance to advance your profession and career. We look forward to seeing you there!

Cost: FWA Members: $175 | Non-Members: $225

Registration closed at 12 pm noon EST on Oct 17, 2025

Program Overview

New York, the world’s preeminent financial center, is undergoing a profound transformation. Fueled by rapid technological innovation, evolving regulatory frameworks, and intensified competition from other global financial hubs, New York’s financial industry must adapt strategically to sustain its leadership on the world stage.

Key market dynamics reshaping the landscape include:

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to revolutionize the financial industry through changes to trading strategies, enhancing operational efficiencies, and reshaping of organizational design.
VC investments in innovative startups in New York.
Robust growth in private equity and credit markets, driven by evolving investor appetite and capital deployment strategies.
Regulatory changes and the increasing integration of digital assets within traditional financial firms, signaling a paradigm shift in asset management and trading.

Summit Sponsors

Promotional Partners

Agenda*

Tuesday, October 21, 2025

AWS | 12 West 39th Street | New York NY 10018

*Subject to change.

9:00 AM – 9:30 AM

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Sean Hickey, Director Global Financial Services, AWS
Albana Theka, President, Financial Women's Association
Susan Migliaccio, Co-chair, FWA 2025 Summit, and Chair, FWA FinTech Committee

9:30 AM – 10:00 AM

Keynote: Kathryn Wylde, President and CEO, Partnership for New York City

Exploring how regulations and public policies impact business and innovation and how New York became a leader in financial services in part because its regulators had a high tolerance for risk and innovation!

10:00 AM – 10:40 AM

From Hype to Impact: How AI Is Transforming Finance

AI is powering the next wave of financial innovation. In 2025, global institutions are projected to spend $337B on AI-enabling tech, with Generative AI alone reaching $644B. Capital markets saw over $90B invested in AI startups during the first half of 2025, targeting infrastructure and enterprise tools. Yet most firms remain in early-stage adoption. This panel explores how firms are scaling AI across the enterprise. We will unpack use cases, highlight emerging opportunities, and examine the challenges of delivering impact in an AI-powered market.

Moderator: Karla Ferry, Worldwide Head AWS Data & GenAI Global Financial Services GTM Specialists, AWS
Marianna Lopert-Schaye, Managing Director, Global Head - Strategic Partnerships, Investments & Innovation (SPIN), BNY
Grace Ward, Vice President, Head of AI Security, Two Sigma
Valentyn Kropov, Chief Technology Officer, N-iX

10:40 AM – 10:50 AM

Coffee Break

10:50 AM – 11:30 AM

AI Disruption in the Workforce: The Future of Talent in Finance

AI and evolving market demands are reshaping career trajectories, talent acquisition, and workforce development in banking and capital markets. AI is challenging organizational structures that have been in place for decades and how employees do their jobs, who they report to and how they are hired, retained and fired.

Moderator: Irene Hendrick, Head of Financial Services Market, North America, Korn Ferry
Shannon Hobbs, Chief People Officer, BNY
Alix Jules, AI Business Transformation Leader, Broadridge
Diana Scott, Center Leader of the US Human Capital Center, The Conference Board
Diane Sinti, Global Work re-Architected Leader, Managing Director, Deloitte

11:30 AM – 12:10 AM

Putting Your Data to Work with Amazon S3 - Modern Data Architecture for AI/ML Workloads

This session explores how Amazon S3 unlocks business value from unused enterprise data through modern data architecture capabilities. Real-world financial services case studies will highlight faster fraud detection, compliant data platforms, and automated claims processing. We’ll also cover building ransomware-resilient, regulatory-compliant architectures that enable secure innovation.

Fathima Kamal, Solutions Architecture, AWS Financial Services
Marc Trimuschat, Director, AWS Storage

12:10 – 12:15 PM

FWA Impact

Alissa Desmarais, Executive Director and COO, Financial Women's Association

12:15 – 12:50 PM

Lunch

12:50 PM – 1:20 PM

The View from the Exchange: How (De)Regulation, Technology and Competition are Affecting the Markets

Drawing on their market-wide perspective, Jaime and Eun Oh will share what they are seeing across companies, investors, and regulators in this dynamic regulatory and technological environment.

Moderator: Susan Sobbott, Board Director, Strategic Advisor, Former President American Express
Jaime Klima, General Counsel, NYSE
Eun Ah Choi, Senior Vice President, Global Head of Regulatory Operations, Nasdaq

1:20 PM – 1:40 PM

The Leadership Lens: How CEO’s are Preparing for the Future

.Virtually every leader recognizes AI will transform their industry but less than half believe their organization and workforce are ready to take advantage of its potential. Join Korn Ferry to explore what organizations are doing to unblock their Human + AI advantage and take a glimpse at how Korn Ferry is managing its own change agenda.

Mike Eichenwald, Senior Client Partner, Korn Ferry Consulting and Co-Head Consumer & Commercial Banking, Korn Ferry

1:40 PM – 1:55 PM

From Wall Street to Main Street: How Retail Investors and ETFs are Reshaping Options Trading

Retail investors are transforming the US options market. Fueled by zero commissions, better technology, and greater access to education, Main Street is driving the explosive growth in zero-day-to-expiry (0DTE) options trading, with retail investors trading over $1.5T notional daily in SPX options alone. Retail demand is also powering the rise in options-based ETFs, with total AUM up 7x since 2020 to $300B – exceeding the entire US structured products market. This session explores what’s behind the democratization of options trading and how retail investors have become a force to be reckoned with in the derivatives market.

Mandy Xu, Vice President, Head of Derivatives, Market Intelligence, CBOE

1:55 PM – 2:25 PM

A Global Outlook, a Fireside Chat with Rick Rieder

Rick Rieder will share his perspectives on the financial markets and key considerations for asset allocation in the current environment. He will also discuss the transformative role of technology in driving economic change and reshaping global markets.

Rick Rieder, Chief Investment Officer of Global Fixed Income, BlackRock
Patti Domm, Financial Journalist

2:25 PM – 3:05 PM

Private Credit Markets on the Rise - What Investors Should Know

Global private credit has surged an estimated 60% over the past five years, with capital raised for lending skyrocketing to nearly $700 billion in 2024. The rise of private credit has disrupted banks' lending business, while some firms are increasingly using funds from Mom and Pop savers to fuel their rapid expansion. Has the industry reached its peak and where does it go next?

Moderator: Yun Li, Markets and Investing Reporter, CNBC
Emily Bannister, Head of Private Credit, Wellington Management
Adriana Clancy, Partner, Corbin Capital Partners
Nicole Coates, Managing Director, KPMG US
Nataliya Popel, Managing Director Head of Structured & Alternative Solutions, Investment Products & Services, Stifel

3:05 PM – 3:35 PM

Zero Migration Path from Data to Enterprise Agentic AI

Sri Manchala, CEO Trianz

3:35 – 4:15 PM

NYC: A Hub for FinTech Entrepreneurs and Venture Capital

With Wall Street at its core, New York City has become a global hub of fintech innovation in a host of fields – from cryptocurrency and digital payments to AI in financial services. Last year, NYC accounted for 24% of fintech investing nationwide. Today there are over 1,500 active fintech startups in NY that have attracted billions in venture capital.

This dynamic panel of venture capitalists, fintech founders, and thought leaders will discuss how the fintech startup ecosystem is booming in New York and what lies ahead.

Moderator: Dennis Sem, Chief Operating Officer, This Week in Fintech
Tahira Dosani, General Partner and CoFounder, ResilienceVC
Tanya Van Court, Chief Operating Officer, Goalsetter
Brinda Ganguly, Executive Vice President, New York City Economic Development Corporation
Siran Cao, Co-Founder & CEO, Hey Mirza

4:15 PM – 4:55 PM

Cryptocurrency, Digital Assets and Blockchain: Regulation and the Race for Implementation

Changes in regulations have fueled a race to implementation. Stablecoin volumes surpassed $9T in 2024, overtaking Mastercard and Visa combined (CoinMetrics), while major players roll out tokenized asset platforms and blockchain-based settlements. As fintechs and traditional institutions innovate, new U.S. legislation like the Genius Act and Clarity Act aim to enable implementation and set guidelines.

Moderator: Pawneet Abramowski, CEO & Founder, PARC Solutions
Grace Chao, North America Lead, Markets Digital Assets, Citi
Annilese Osborne, Chief Business Officer, Kadena
Justin Friedman, Advisor, The Venture Department
Renée Berman, Managing Director, Diamond Bay Solutions

4:55 PM – 5:00 PM

Closing Remarks and Key Takeaways

Fiona Humphrey, Strategic Advisor and FWA Fintech Committee
Jennifer Chang, Head of Global Financial Services Specialist, AWS

5:00 PM – 6:30 PM

Networking Reception

Speakers

We’re excited to announce the following speakers for the 2025 FWA Annual Summit. These VIPs and experts will share their insights on this year's theme, this year’s theme, Disrupting Wall Street: Technology, Deregulation, and the Future of Finance. Speakers at the conference have a breadth of experience spanning the financial industry - explore their bios below!

Kathryn Wylde is the President and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit organization whose members are the city’s global business leaders and major employers. The Partnership’s mission is to mobilize private sector resources and expertise to advance New York City’s standing as a global center of economic opportunity, upward mobility, and innovation.

Kathryn is an urban policy expert and represents the business community on issues that impact the economy and public policy more generally. She has written numerous opinion and policy papers and has been widely recognized for her leadership by educational, professional, and nonprofit institutions.

She serves on many boards and advisory groups, including the Fund for Public Schools, Invest Puerto Rico, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, New York City Tourism + Conventions, NYC Economic Development Corporation, and the NYC Regional Economic Development Council.

Prior to taking over as Partnership CEO in 2000, Wylde was the founding CEO of both the Partnership’s investment fund and housing affiliates. From 1995-2000, Wylde worked with Henry Kravis and Jerry Speyer to establish and manage the Partnership Fund for New York City, a civic fund that is capitalized with $170 million in private contributions.

From 1982 to 1995, Wylde was responsible for developing and managing affordable housing and economic development programs that contributed to the renaissance of blighted urban neighborhoods across the five boroughs. The New York City Housing Partnership was the sponsor of the city’s New Homes and Neighborhood Builders programs, producing more than 35,000 units of new, owner-occupied housing and of the Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Program, which enabled more than fifty minority and women-owned firms to purchase and rehabilitate apartment buildings that were formerly owned by the city.

Before joining the Partnership, Wylde worked in senior positions at the former Anchor Savings Bank and at the former Lutheran Medical Center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. She is a native of Madison, Wisconsin.

Jaime Klima is the General Counsel of NYSE Group, Inc. Prior to assuming the role of General Counsel, Jaime was the Chief Regulatory Officer of NYSE Group, where she oversaw the work of its independent regulatory unit, NYSE Regulation. Jaime previously served as Chief of Staff and Chief Operating Officer at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, after starting her government service at the Securities and Exchange Commission in a variety of senior legal and policy roles. She also spent nearly a decade working in private practice on legal and regulatory compliance matters for clients in the financial services sector. Jaime holds an undergraduate degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia, and a J.D. and Master of Public Policy from Duke University.

Eun Ah Choi has over 25 years of experience through her work in private practice and public service, focusing on capital markets, securities regulation, corporate law, and market risk monitoring.

She currently manages Global Regulatory Operations at Nasdaq, with the goal of facilitating capital formation, maintaining efficient and orderly marketplace and protecting investors. She manages multi-disciplinary teams in the U.S. and Europe responsible for assessing the qualification of listed companies, ETFs, options and other securities and their continued compliance with Nasdaq’s comprehensive listing standards. She also leads Nasdaq’s global surveillance program over equities, ETFs, options and other securities markets to help ensure fair and equal access to our trading markets and level the playing field for investors, market participants, and listed companies. Eun Ah is often involved in collaboration with U.S. and overseas regulators and exchanges on policy matters and regulatory decisions.

As former in-house counsel at Willis Towers Watson and Northrop Grumman, she has in-depth experience leading complex projects and managing legal matters related to domestic and international M&A, antitrust, venture capital and strategic alliances, while serving as a trusted partner and advisor to business leaders and board of directors.

Eun Ah also served as a senior executive at the Securities and Exchange Commission, overseeing a wide range of business operations, IT strategy and regulatory policy initiatives. During her tenure, she managed and significantly expanded a new office that performed risk monitoring and data analytics related to the asset management industry. She also led special projects related to capital raising transactions receiving heightened attention from the U.S. Congress, the press and other external parties.

Prior to joining the SEC, Eun Ah was a partner at Hogan Lovells, where she represented publicly and privately held companies, boards of directors and investment banks in a broad range of securities law matters, capital raising transactions, M&A, and corporate governance topics.

She started her career on Wall Street as an analyst at Goldman Sachs.

Eun Ah received her Bachelor of Science in International Economics and Juris Doctor from Georgetown University, both magna cum laude. She also studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford.

Rick Rieder, Senior Managing Director, is BlackRock's Chief Investment Officer of Global Fixed Income, Head of the Fundamental Fixed Income business, and Head of the Global Allocation Investment Team. Responsible for roughly $2.7 trillion in assets, Mr. Rieder is a member of BlackRock’s Global Executive Committee (GEC) and its GEC Investments Sub-Committee. He is also a member of BlackRock's Global Operating Committee, and Chairman of the firm-wide BlackRock Investment Council.

Before joining BlackRock in 2009, Mr. Rieder was President and Chief Executive Officer of R3 Capital Partners. He served as Vice Chairman and member of the Borrowing Committee for the U.S. Treasury and member of the Federal Reserve’s Investment Advisory Committee on Financial Markets.

Mr. Rieder currently serves on the Alphabet/Google Investment Advisory Committee and the UBS Research Advisory Board. He has been awarded the 2023 Outstanding Portfolio Manager by Morningstar, was nominated for Outstanding Portfolio Manager by Morningstar in 2021, was awarded the Global Unconstrained Fixed Income Manager of the Year for 2015 by Institutional Investor, was nominated for Fixed Income Manager of the Year by Institutional Investor for 2014, and was inducted into the Fixed Income Analysts Society Fixed Income Hall of Fame in 2013. Five of the funds Mr. Rieder manages (Strategic Income Opportunities, Fixed Income Global Opportunities, Total Return, Strategic Global Bond, and Global Allocation) have been awarded Gold Medals by Morningstar.

From 1987 to 2008, Mr. Rieder was with Lehman Brothers, most recently as head of the firm's Global Principal Strategies team, a global proprietary investment platform. He was also global head of the firm's credit businesses, Chairman of the Corporate Bond and Loan Capital Commitment Committee, and a member of the Board of Trustees for the corporate pension fund. Before joining Lehman Brothers, Mr. Rieder was a credit analyst at SunTrust Banks in Atlanta.

Mr. Rieder earned a BBA degree in Finance from Emory University in 1983 and an MBA degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1987. He is a member of the board of Emory University, Emory's Goizueta Business School, and the University's Finance Committee, and is the Vice Chairman of the Investment Committee. Mr. Rieder is founder and chairman of the Goizueta Business School's BBA investment fund and community financial literacy program, Graduation Generation Public School Collaboration in Atlanta.

Mr. Rieder serves as Chairman and President of the Board of Education for North Star Academy's fourteen Charter Schools in Newark, New Jersey. He is on the Board of the BlackRock Foundation, the Board of Advisors for the Hospital for Special Surgery, and the Board of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Newark and Essex County. Mr. Rieder is a Member of the Ownership Group and Board of Advisors of the Baltimore Orioles. He formerly served on the Board and National Leadership Council of the Communities in Schools Educational Foundation, and Trustee for the US Olympic Foundation. Mr. Rieder was honored at the Choose Success Awards ceremony in Atlanta in 2015 for his dedication to public education in Atlanta through CIS and Graduation Generation.

Pawneet Abramowski a seasoned Compliance and Risk Management Executive with over 25 years of experiencein both public and private sectors. She is the Founder and CEO of PARC Solutions LLC, a strategic advisory firm helping financial institutions and innovative companies align operations with regulatory standards, strengthen governance, and enable digital transformation.

Her career includes senior roles as Head of Financial Crimes Risk Management and Chief Compliance Officer, as well as leadership positions at CIT Group Inc., RBC Capital Markets, and Morgan Stanley. Before entering the private sector, she served in investigative roles with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on global terrorism cases.

Ms. Abramowski is the President-Elect (2025–2027) of the Financial Women’s Association, an Independent Board Director for NASDAQ-listed companies, and Chair of the Advisory Board at Adelphi University’s Robert B. Willumstad School of Business.

She holds an MBA, MA, and BA from Adelphi University and St. John’s University respectively.

Emily Bannister - As director, Emily leads the development, oversight and growth of Wellington’s private credit business and its integration within the firm. Alongside the Private Investments Leadership Team, she is responsible for determining areas for expansion within private credit and ensuring that we have appropriate talent and infrastructure to support growth. She plays a critical role in ensuring that our Private Credit Team has the investment capabilities, fiduciary oversight, and infrastructure to meet the evolving needs of our clients. She is a member of the firm’s Multi-Strategy Review Group.

Previously, Emily was an investment director, working closely with fixed income investors to help ensure the integrity of their investment approaches, manage business issues, and meet with clients, prospects, and consultants to communicate our investment philosophy, strategy, positioning, and performance. Prior to joining Wellington Management in 2014, she worked at Federal Street Advisors as the director of research (2013 – 2014) and in various research roles (2006 – 2013). Before that, she was an investment analyst at Bain & Company (2003 – 2006).

Emily earned her MBA from the Universidad de Alcalá (2002) and her dual BA in international relations and Hispanic language and literatures, magna cum laude, from Boston University (2001). She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society Boston.

Christina Cheddar Berk is the editor of CNBC Pro’s Investing Trends. She joined CNBC in 2006 to help launch the network’s website after spending more than a decade at Dow Jones.

During her time at CNBC, she has held various roles and worked closely with both digital and on-air reporters as well as the CNBC Investigations team. For several years, she oversaw the website’s business news coverage and has reported on retail and consumer spending trends.

At Dow Jones Newswires, Berk was a special writer covering consumer products, food and tobacco. She also has reported on the energy, chemical and defense industries, and was a guest columnist for the Wall Street Journal’s small business section. She was part of a team of reporters who received a SABEW award for breaking news coverage in 2006, and has edited other award-winning stories.

Renée Berman is a strategic leader in digital assets with over 20 years of experience driving transformational change across capital markets and financial infrastructure. She works with traditional finance institutions to adopt blockchain technology and realize the potential of tokenized real-world assets (RWA), helping to shape the next wave of financial innovation.

Today, Renée advises organizations on digital asset strategy and partners with start-ups and industry associations to accelerate blockchain adoption. Most recently, as Managing Director of DTCC Digital Assets, she spearheaded initiatives to advance RWA tokenization and reimagine the post-trade ecosystem.

Earlier in her career, Renée led Capital Markets Strategy at Broadridge, where she drove strategy, corporate development, and industry-wide initiatives. She also held leadership roles at Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Bain & Company, and J.P. Morgan.

Adriana M. Clancy is a Partner on the Investment Team at Corbin Capital Partners, a New York-based majority women-owned independent alternative asset management firm that specializes in multistrategy and opportunistic credit investing. Corbin has experience creating and managing differentiated commingled and bespoke portfolios for investors globally. As of August 1, 2025, Corbin has $ 9.7 billion in assets under management.

Adriana is the portfolio manager of several multi-strategy custom portfolios and the firm’s sustainability-focused fund and is responsible for sourcing and monitoring investments, mainly in equities and secondarily, in credit. She researches investments across all geographies with an emphasis on Europe and Asia-focused and domiciled managers. She is a member of Corbin’s Multi-Strategy Investment Committee, the Credit Investment Committee, and the Sustainability Committee. Prior to joining Corbin in May 2004, Adriana was with Goldman, Sachs & Co. as an Equities Trader focused on TMT stocks. Adriana also worked at JPMorgan & Co., first as an Analyst in the firm’s Internal Consulting Group, and then as an Equity Research Associate covering Latin American food and beverages. Adriana received her M.B.A. in Finance from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.A. in Spanish from Dartmouth College. She lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.

Nicole Coates is an Audit Managing Director in the New York Financial Services Audit Practice at KPMG where she specializes in providing audit services to asset managers and investment funds such as mutual funds, hedge funds, private equity funds and fund of funds. Nicole has led the day to day audi t execution of some of the firm ’s most significant audit clients.

Nicole has approximately twenty years of professional experience servicing clients in the asset management space. She provides internal controls based audit services to US SEC registered funds as well as unregistered private funds (domestic and offshore). Nicole has significant experience with an array of fund structures and investment strategies inclusive of high-yield credit, CLO’s, traditional debt, structured finance, long/short equity, global macro, convertible arbitrage and private equity. She is responsible for overall project management of audit engagements, including planning, execution and tim ely deliverables. Nicole’s experience includes complex audit issues that relate to the fair valuation of financial instruments. She works closely with management and KPMG specialist groups to identify and bring issues to resolution. Additionally, Nicole advises clients on US GAAP financial reporting, internal control environment enhancements and best practices, as well as accounting, tax and regulatory compliance matters.

Patti Domm is an Emmy award winning journalist and former CNBC Markets Editor. Patti is currently a consultant and financial writer, specializing in the financial markets, energy, Wall Street and the economy. Her articles appear frequently in Barron's. She was awarded an Emmy for her work during the financial crisis for NBC Nightly News. Prior to joining CNBC, she was the equities editor for the Americas at Reuters, where she had also served as Wall Street editor. She is principal of Patti Domm Associates.

Patti is a member of the board of the Financial Women's Association and is co-chair of its programming committee. She has organized many high-profile events for the FWA in her more than two decades of service to the organization.

Tahira Dosani is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of ResilienceVC, an early stage venture capital fund investing in scalable fintech startups that build financial resilience for consumers and small businesses. She's been investing in seed-stage venture for 15 years, has done over 100 deals, and loves working with founders to support their growth.

Previously she served as the Managing Director of Accion Venture Lab, a seed-stage venture capital fund focused on inclusive fintech. Prior to that, Tahira was at LeapFrog Investments, an emerging market private equity impact fund focused on financial services, and worked as Director of Strategy at the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development where she drove strategic initiatives for portfolio companies and led new investments in telecoms, technology, and financial services in Asia and Africa. Tahira also worked at Roshan, Afghanistan’s leading telecommunications operator, where she was Head of Corporate Strategy and helped launch the country’s first mobile money platform. Tahira began her career as a management consultant with Bain & Company in Boston.

Tahira holds an MBA from INSEAD and BAs in International Relations, Computer Science, and Education from Brown University and is a professor teaching courses on Venture Capital and Impact Investing at Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University. She is an advisor to Village Capital, a mentor for TechStars, on the IC of the FINCA Ventures Fund, and an advisor to the Fourth Effect. Tahira lives in Washington DC; she is a voracious reader, practices martial arts and teaches self-defense, and loves to explore the city and beyond.

Karla Ferry is a strategic sales leader who builds and scales go-to-market initiatives at the intersection of innovation and industry, with particular focus on financial services and regulated sectors. As Head of AWS Data & GenAI Global Financial Services GTM Specialist team, she guides financial institutions through transformative adoption of generative AI, advanced analytics, and cloud technologies.

With nearly two decades of enterprise technology experience, including leadership roles at AWS, TIBCO Spotfire, Elastic, and Cloudera, Karla has consistently helped global organizations translate emerging technologies into competitive advantage and operational excellence. Her current focus centers on responsible implementation of generative and agentic AI within financial institutions, balancing innovation with risk, compliance, and client trust.

Beyond her commercial leadership, Karla served on the Board of Directors of the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association (HBA), championing equity, mentorship, leadership development programs and cross-industry collaboration.

Justin Friedman is a public policy expert who advises government officials, corporate leaders, and entrepreneurs on how regulation impacts financial innovation. He started his career in Washington as a congressional aide and contributed to the Dodd-Frank Act, the sweeping reforms following the 2008 Financial Crisis. He has since worked in and out of government on issues ranging between consumer lending, financial privacy, open banking, and digital assets.

At the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), Justin advised the superintendent on modernization of licensing and supervision of banks, cryptocurrency, and payments firms. His work on agency modernization led to a multi-year digital transformation to leverage data and technology in new ways. Today, he is an investor in early stage companies building the infrastructure powering the next generation of financial solutions, such as stablecoins and tokenization of assets, unlocking new forms of liquidity and value transfer by leveraging blockchain and decentralized finance.

Justin earned an MBA at Tel Aviv University and a BA in economics at the University of Maryland. He resides in New York City.

Brinda Ganguly is with New York City’s Economic Development Corporation. There, she leads the Strategic Investments Group, overseeing the organization’s impact investing efforts. She is passionate about using finance as a tool for social change and has more than 25 years of experience in the investment space, largely having worked on transactions with a dual mission around generating financial returns and social impact. Prior to joining NYCEDC, Brinda was the Chief Operating and Chief Compliance Officer at Elevar Equity, an impact venture capital firm that invests in Latin America and India. Earlier in her career, she managed impact investing portfolios—across asset classes—at The Rockefeller Foundation, Living Cities, and the Open Society Foundation. Brinda has also worked at Citigroup, in the corporate investment bank, covering healthcare clients; and at Charles River Associates, an economic consulting firm. Brinda graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a BA in economics and Spanish, and she holds an MBA from Columbia Business School. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.

Susan Green has held leadership roles in business, data and technology in global financial services. She focuses on the alignment of business strategy, technology and operating models across geographical and cultural borders.

Her roles have included enterprise business architecture, data management strategy & governance, operating model & process design, and business transformation. She has held roles at Bank of America, UBS, Credit Suisse, Moody’s and Fitch.

A member of both the Financial Women’s Association and the Women’s Bond Club, she was the co-founder and co-chair of New York Women in Technology and Operations at Bank of America, established to promote women in leadership.

In her spare time, Susan enjoys literature, cooking and has completed 11 marathons.

Irene Hendrick - As the Head of Global Financial Markets, Interim, Irene is responsible for the build-out of project consulting, contingent labour and executive interim services focused on its various segments.

Irene is a proven market and sales leader with over 20 years of relevant experience. Her expertise spans building, growing and managing sales and delivery teams, client and market strategy, scaling complex project teams and overall leadership. Irene is passionate about serving the financial services community and inspiring her team(s) to do the same.

Irene joins Korn Ferry from RGP, a global project consulting firm, where she spend 21 years in multiple positions including SVP and Head of Financial Services, North America. Irene was known as a boomerang at RGP as she took a break for 3 years to start the NY office for Vaco and came back in 2019 to formalize and run Financial Services.

Irene started her career with PWC as an IT Auditor and spent the following 10 years with JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley in various capital markets audit roles. Irene has a B.B.A. in Management Science with a minor in Mathematics from Pace University Lubin School of Business. She was a Series 7 and 63 certified professional and held the CFSA (Certified Financial Services Auditor) designation while practicing.

Irene was born in Moscow, RU and immigrated to the United States with her parents and extended family in 1981. Irene is still fluent in Russian. Irene currently resides in Montvale, NJ with her husband and Frenchie named Zeus. They are a blended family of 5 grown kids with the

youngest one still in college

Sean Hickey leads AWS's Global Financial Services Industry team, managing a cross-functional organization of sales professionals, solutions architects, and customer solutions managers. His team focuses on driving transformation for the world's largest financial institutions through AWS Infrastructure and AI Services. Previously as AWS Director, Sean built and led the global team supporting JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s (JPMC) successful journey from early cloud experimentation to migrating critical workloads to AWS.

Throughout his career, Sean has demonstrated exceptional leadership in guiding complex organizations through rapid growth and transformation. His experience includes successfully scaling startups and managing large enterprise divisions, while building high-performance teams and fostering strategic partnerships that drive profitable business outcomes. Sean's expertise encompasses cloud adoption, AI and data management, financial services solutions, and complex enterprise sales. He collaborates with senior executives to define and execute cloud transformation strategies that align with business objectives and create new growth opportunities.

At AWS, Sean has established a reputation for building lasting strategic relationships with key stakeholders, delivering solutions that enable financial institutions to modernize operations, optimize costs, and enhance security. His dedication to customer success and passion for technology-driven transformation in financial services guides his approach to leadership.

Shannon Hobbs is the Chief People Officer at BNY. In her role, Shannon oversees the company’s people strategy including talent acquisition, total rewards, learning and development, organizational change management and human resources consultant practice. She is also a member of BNY’s Executive Committee.

Prior to joining BNY in June 2024, Shannon was the Chief People Officer at GEICO, where she was responsible for all aspects of the People Group and internal/external company communications. She was also the Chief Human Resources Officer for American Century Investments and held key leadership roles for over a decade at JPMorgan Chase, including Head of Global Talent, Head of Human Resources for Custody and Clearing, and Head of HR for Commercial Banking, as well as serving on the HR Operating Committee. Earlier in her career, Shannon was Head of Human Resources for Smith Barney Wealth Management, where she co-led the HR integration of the joint venture between Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley, creating the largest retail brokerage company of that time.

Shannon holds an M.S. in organizational development from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, California, and a B.A. in political science from the University of South Carolina in Columbia. She is a founding member of the Board of Advisors for Rutgers University Business School’s Executive Education program, helping shape the strategy for Rutgers to compete in the talent needs for the future. Shannon has also been elected to the Board of Trustees of Partners. Partners, formally Partners for Women and Justice, is a non-profit public interest law firm committed to making a meaningful impact in the lives of domestic violence and sexual assault victims.

Fiona Humphrey is a dynamic finance leader with nearly three decades of experience, whose career has spanned the globe, including the world’s major financial centres. Renowned for her risk management acumen and proven ability to deliver ambitious regulatory transformation projects, Fiona has consistently driven impactful organisational change and built high-performing teams within several prominent global institutions. Beyond her executive achievements, Fiona is also committed to making a difference, serving on the board of a non-profit that empowers communities in north-eastern Ghana, as well as supporting the professional development of colleagues and fostering emerging talent within the industry through mentorship. Fiona currently serves on the FinTech Committee of the Financial Women's Association.

Lori Ioannou is an award-winning journalist and digital content strategist. She is currently a contributor and podcaster for The Wall Street Journal and other publications including Consumer Report, CO.com and Reader’s Digest. She is the former senior editor of special reports for CNBC, and a former executive editor of Time Inc. where she oversaw all special sections for the News Group including TIME, FORTUNE, Money, Sports Illustrated and CNNMoney.com.

A former guest commentator for ABC World News This Morning, as well as for CNN, FOX News, she is an advocate for the consumer and focuses her reporting on investing, personal finance, small business and technology trends.

Alix Jules is an innovator dedicated to reshaping the future of business through the transformative power of artificial intelligence. In his current role as AI Business Transformation Leader at Broadridge Financial Solutions, Alix is tasked with embedding generative AI into real-world business practices that deliver tangible, impactful results.

Prior to joining Broadridge, Alix spent over four years leading groundbreaking generative AI initiatives at Google. His leadership launched multi-billion-dollar programs spanning healthcare, media, retail, and gaming, translating sophisticated AI technology into accessible solutions that drive business value. He has a proven track record of adapting technological advancements to diverse cultural and business landscapes, ensuring alignment between innovation and their unique market realities.

Alix’s passion for innovation traces back to IBM Labs, where he first launched his career in advanced automation and AI where he helped launch the IBM Austin Global Services Technology Center, shaping global operations for hundreds of thousands of users and delivering zero-downtime digital transformation in transportation and logistics.

His diverse experiences at Verizon and BT saw Alix excel in leading complex strategic deals and spearheading transformative product developments, reflecting his talent for connecting cutting-edge technology at the edge. Whether navigating multi-million-dollar transactions or pioneering new products, Alix consistently demonstrates an exceptional blend of strategic insight and technical expertise.

Committed to the growth of future tech leaders, Alix mentors entrepreneurs and business leaders in emerging markets, new career AI professionals, serves as an AI academic advisor for various institutions and brings an international academic perspective through affiliations at HEC Paris and ESCP. Whether speaking publicly, mentoring young professionals, or transforming businesses through AI, Alix isn’t just preparing future innovators for the future, he’s helping them create it.

Marianna Lopert-Schaye is the Global Head of Strategic Partnerships, Investments and Innovation (SPIN), which helps accelerate strategic business priorities for the firm.

As the leader of the Partnerships & Investments team, she works closely with business and engineering leaders across BNY to source technology solutions for business challenges, and to test and validate new early-stage technologies that enable new capabilities and efficiencies. She is responsible for making and managing investments in strategic fintech and technology partners, as well as the BNY Ascent program which fast tracks high impact technology pilots. She is a member of the Strategic Investments Committee and Sub-Committee and joined BNY in 2023 as a Managing Director.

As leader of the BNY Innovation Centers, her team offers both a differentiated space in key global hubs (NYC, London, Singapore) and a service capability. The Innovation Centers use a structured approach to supporting business leaders to quickly re-design new processes or launch new products, and enable client coverage teams to show up differently and serve clients better.

Prior to BNY, Marianna held various roles during her 13 years at Goldman Sachs, across corporate strategy and strategic investing teams, as well as sales and trading – both in Sydney and New York. She earned a degree and University Medal in Accounting and Economics and an honors degree in Economics, both from the University of Technology, Sydney. She loves to travel, be active and outdoors, and spend time with her family and 3 children in Scarsdale, NY.

Sri Manchala is the CEO of Trianz, a pioneering applied AI technology company transforming how enterprises approach digital transformation. Under his leadership, Trianz has challenged the industry's traditional migration-heavy approach, introducing a revolutionary accelerated path that enables organizations to achieve enterprise-wide cloud, data, and agentic AI readiness in months - not years.

As author of "Crossing the Digital Faultline" and a patent holder, Sri led groundbreaking global research across 20+ industries, analyzing millions of data points on digital transformations. This research revealed the patterns that separate breakthrough results from failure - insights that enabled him to predict the AI transformation challenges organizations face today and architect solutions that bypass them entirely. At the heart of this revolution is Concierto, Trianz's end-to-end transformation platform built on federated data architectures. This 'services as software' model eliminates the time, cost, and risk of massive data migrations, delivering rapid time-to-market advantages that traditional approaches simply cannot match.

Under Sri's vision, Trianz has become a strategic engineering, ISV, and services partner of major cloud providers. Today, leading corporations, governments, and educational institutions across 19 countries are accelerating their transformation journeys with Concierto's federated approach - achieving in months what traditional migration paradigms promise in years

Sri's unconventional journey to technology leadership began at India's prestigious National Defense Academy, where he served as an officer in the Indian Army's Special Forces. This foundation in strategic thinking and mission-critical decision-making shaped his approach to enterprise transformation. He later earned his MBA from the University of Southern California and honed his expertise at KPMG and Cisco, where he led strategic technology-driven change initiatives.

Susan Migliaccio is a strategy and transformation leader who guides organizations through complex challenges across finance, operations, technology, and risk. She specializes in product strategy, business transformation, portfolio leadership, and stakeholder alignment, building consensus and leading cross-functional global teams to drive innovation and measurable outcomes.

At BNY, Susan led transformation initiatives across Asset Servicing client-facing teams and at the enterprise level, spanning product development, operating model design, and digital transformation to enhance client experience and modernize operations.

Previously, Susan was a Director in Advisory Services at PwC, advising clients from individuals to Fortune 100 companies across industries. She began her career as an auditor at Deloitte and PwC.

Susan is Chair of the FWA Fintech Committee, Co-Chair of the FWA 2025 Summit, and a past Board Member. She is a CPA in NY and PA and holds a BS in Accounting from St. Joseph's University.

Annelise Osborne is Chief Business Officer at Kadena, a POW Layer 1 blockchain technology company, where she is focused on upgrading finance. Annelise has over 20 years of experience in finance, credit, real estate, family office, risk, structuring, governance, and digital assets. She is a 2025 Stevie Award recipient for Thought Leadership as well as a board advisor, university lecturer and author. Her bestselling book, From Hoodies to Suits: Innovating Digital Assets in Traditional Finance, hit shelves in 2024. Annelise holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in Economics from The College of William and Mary.

Dennis Owusu-Sem is Chief Operating Officer at This Week in Fintech, the world’s largest fintech publication with over 200,000 global readers, and at Stablecon, the leading global conference platform focused on stablecoins. His work sits at the intersection of traditional finance and emerging technologies.

Previously at Goldman Sachs and BMO Global Asset Management, Dennis brings deep institutional expertise alongside startup experience at Africa-focused fintech Nala. He holds an MBA from the University of Oxford, where he was named to the Dean’s List, and currently serves on the NatWest Advisory Council.

He is a regular speaker on fintech and innovation, and has been featured by Forbes, Yahoo Finance, the Financial Times, and the BBC.

Nataliya Popel, CFA – Managing Director – Head of Structured & Alternative Solutions Team, Stifel New York, New York

Nataliya leads Stifel Structured & Alternative Solutions (SAS) team focusing on diligence, sourcing, analysis, implementation and education of offerings and opportunities in Private Markets, Hedge Funds, Liquid Alternatives, as well as Structured Investments solutions focused on generating enhanced yield, outperformance, management of concentrated equity exposure or downside protection for client portfolios. Nataliya leads a team responsible for sourcing and developing tailored, innovative and low cost solutions for Stifel’s Private Client Group, helping clients achieve strategic investments in their investment portfolios. Prior to joining Stifel over 9 years ago Nataliya was a Vice President at Barclays on Equity and Funds Structured Solutions desk, where she worked for over 10 years and was responsible for origination and distribution of structured solutions and quantitative strategies to banks and broker/dealer clients. Nataliya is a CFA charterholder and holds her MBA from Columbia Business School.

Diana Scott is Center Leader of the US Human Capital Center at The Conference Board. She has deep experience as a transformational human resources and business leader. Previously, she served as Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. She joined Guardian from Prologis, a global logistics company and Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), where she served as CHRO. She also led human resources for John Hancock Financial, where she was the general manager of the 529 college savings plan; general manager of the Group Insurance Division; and VP, direct distribution and e-commerce and Chief Privacy Officer.

Scott has served on many healthcare and professional boards. She was named one of the Bay Area's Most Influential Women by San Francisco Business Journal. She received an AB in German studies from Harvard College.

Diane Sinti is Deloitte’s Consulting’s Future of Work leader focused on Work re-Design and Talent Optimization and Financial Services. Diane and her teams enable complex global organizations to “future proof” and maintain competitive advantage through a focus on value-based outcomes, optimal human:machine collaboration and the re-imagination of work, workforce and workplace.

In her roles she leverages broad consulting and international corporate experience partnering with her clients to achieve market alignment, business goal achievement and positive talent and customer experience. Her experience includes work re-architecture, legal entity restructuring, M&A, Private Equity, new business, global business services development, location strategy, business line and operations transformation, technology modernization and union negotiation/works council consultation. Diane has acted as an India global business services center Management Committee Member, HC regional head, generalist, strategist and deep functional expert; and Deloitte’s Human Capital Offering Chief Modernization Officer, FSI M&A and FSI AI Leader.

Diane is on the Boards of Directors of the YWCA of NYC. Past Board seats include the Women’s Refugee Commission, The Wall Street Women’s Alliance and the Women’s Bond Club. Former industry affiliations include Goldman Sachs, TD Bank and TD Waterhouse Discount Brokerage.

Susan Sobbott is a financial services leader with extensive expertise in strategy, operations, and marketing at both the C-suite and Board levels. She has scaled multi-billion-dollar businesses, driven digital and data transformation, and guided high-growth ventures. She consistently applies her signature customer first approach to tech start-ups and legacy firms alike.

Notably she held several C-suite roles at American Express including President, Global Commercial Services and President, American Express OPEN. Susan led market-defining initiatives, including founding Small Business Saturday. The movement revitalized communities on a national scale generating awareness, profitability for entrepreneurs and set a new standard for mission-driven brands. Her expertise spans membership services, small, medium, and global enterprises. Her leadership philosophy is guided by stakeholder engagement, fair and inclusive culture, and inspiring servant leadership to deliver both economic and social value. Susan has been a consistent leader of women’s development and leadership acceleration across a wide range of organizations, and initiatives, working to advance both female founders and corporate executives.

She serves on boards of public, private equity, and venture-backed companies, and is an advisor to both enterprise and start up technology firms. She currently is a board member at WEX, Inc., Next Insurance, Bambee, Kargo, Ideas42 and the Darden School at the University of Virginia.

Susan is a graduate of the Darden School of Business and Georgetown University, and a recipient of an honorary doctorate from NYIT. She is the mother of two young adults and owner of one energetic Labrador retriever.

Albana Theka is the 60th President of the Financial Women’s Association (FWA), a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the professional development of women across the financial services industry.

A seasoned finance and technology executive, Albana most recently served as Director of Analytics and Data Strategy at the Building Service 32BJ Health Fund, where she led cross-functional teams to deliver data-driven solutions that informed financial decisions and enhanced the member experience. Prior to that, she was Senior Director of Data and Analytics at New York City Health + Hospitals, where she spearheaded the creation of the Financial Sustainability Analytics Center of Excellence.

Earlier in her career, Albana spent over a decade at NYU Langone Health, holding leadership roles across finance, operations, and strategy. As the head of Financial Planning and Analysis, she managed complex, multi-million-dollar budgets and helped guide long-term financial strategy. She began her career in retail banking, spending five years at Ridgewood Savings Bank.

Albana holds a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from St. Francis College and an Executive MBA from St. Joseph’s College in Brooklyn, NY.

In addition to her professional pursuits, Albana is a passionate musician. She is the lead vocalist of the Albi Band, performing across venues in New York City.

Tanya Van Court is is the Founder and CEO of Goalsetter, a groundbreaking family finance platform that empowers the next generation with smart money habits through interactive financial education, savings tools, and culturally relevant content. Inspired by her 8-year-old daughter, Tanya left a successful career as an executive at Nickelodeon, Discovery Education, and ESPN to bring her passion for kids, families, and digital innovation into the financial services space.

Under Tanya’s leadership, Goalsetter has revolutionized youth financial education by integrating game-based learning into its app and expanding financial literacy access through Goalsetter Classroom—a national, curriculum-based financial education program. Designed to meet state mandates and national standards, Goalsetter Classroom equips both educators and students with real-world money management skills, and partners with schools, districts, credit unions, banks, and municipalities to drive systemic change.

Tanya is deeply committed to closing the wealth gap and promoting financial inclusion by ensuring every child in America has access to the financial education they need to thrive. Through strategic partnerships with community organizations, financial institutions, and school systems, Goalsetter is helping to build a financially empowered future for families across the country.

Tanya and Goalsetter’s mission have been featured in prominent outlets across the country, including New York Times, Today Show, CNBC, TechCrunch, NBC News, FOX Business, AfroTech, Yahoo Finance, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Inc Magazine, Forbes, and many others.

Originally from Oakland, California, Tanya now lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband, Rich, and their four children. She holds a B.S. in Engineering and an M.A. in Education from Stanford University, where she developed a passion for using technology to drive educational and social impact. She has been a member of Unitus Community Credit Union for over 25 years and is also a proud member of Bethpage Federal Credit Union.

Mandy Xu is Vice President and Head of Derivatives Market Intelligence at Cboe. She produces actionable insights and analysis on derivatives market themes and flows, with a focus on Cboe’s leading suite of volatility products. Prior to her current role, she was Managing Director and Head of Equity Derivatives Strategy at Credit Suisse. Mandy is frequently cited in the financial media, including the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Financial Times, and Bloomberg News. Mandy graduated with honors from Harvard University with a B.A. in Economics and is a CFA charter holder.