REGISTRATION OPENS

WELCOME

PANEL: THE INTERSECTION OF AI, DATA, AND BUSINESS STRATEGY

Panelists include:
Jamie Warder
Chief Information and Digital Officer
Alliant Credit Union
Board Member
Titan AI

Abigail Doolittle
Head of Enterprise AI and Analytics
KeyBank

Olga Kupriyanova
Director, AI and Data Engineering
ISG

KEYNOTE: AI AND THE DAWN OF PROGRAMMABLE BANKING 

With the rise of AI-driven automation and real-time data flows, financial institutions must be prepared to interact directly with the AI agents and proprietary software programs that their commercial clients have already embedded within their organizations. This session will dive into how financial institutions can prepare and manage this coming wave of change.

Speaker:
Girish Mutreja
President & Co-Founder
Paywhere

PANEL: THE AI JOURNEY — ADVANCING FROM PILOTS TO ADOPTION 

As financial institutions start to embed AI into their daily work, which use cases are getting the green light to scale across the organization? From an operational perspective, what steps are involved in the process? What hurdles became apparent along the way and how were those resolved? How did executives choose which projects to move forward with? Which ones did not make the cut and why?

Moderator:
Xiaochen Zhang
Founder and Executive Director
AI 2030

Panelists include:
Tiffany Gradzki
VP, Digital Assets and Financial Markets, North America
Northern Trust

Anitha Yeddula
Senior Director of Application Development
Capital One

Flora Wu
Enterprise AI & Data Executive
Formerly with Northwestern Mutual

COFFEE BREAK

KEYNOTE: PAYMENT MODERNIZATION: PREPARING FOR STABLECOINS 

Instead of the “what” and “why,” this session is all about the “how.” While banks and credit unions are debating whether to support new payment types, they are still running siloed infrastructure across RTP, FedNow, ACH, wires, Zelle — and soon, digital assets, including stablecoins and tokenized deposits. But that approach isn’t efficient or sustainable. So what steps do financial institutions need to take to be ready to adopt new rails and technologies? Here are key strategic decisions that leaders must evaluate to simplify complexity and prepare for the future.

Speaker:
Paul Steinbrecher
Director of Payments Consulting
Alacriti

PANEL: STABLECOIN STRATEGIES — WHAT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ARE UP TO 

Panelists include:
Myles Harrison
Chief Product Officer
AMINA Bank

Sara Krople
Partner, Audit & Assurance
Crowe

MIDDAY:

LUNCH 

AFTERNOON:

PANEL: MANAGING RISK IN AN AI WORLD 

Panelists include:
Meera Das
Managing Vice President, AML Risk Modeling and Advanced Data Insights
Capital One

Sumeet Abichandani
BSA/AML & Sanctions Compliance Officer
Mercury

Alicia Mahoney
Principal Payment Strategist
First Tech Federal Credit Union

Aimee Marva
Senior Director, AML Analytics and Operations
Ally

PANEL: THE EVOLUTION OF PAYMENTS: MODERNIZATION, OPTIMIZATION & INSTANT ACCESS 

As commercial clients and businesses demand faster access to funds, greater visibility into liquidity, and seamless digital experiences, the payments landscape continues to undergo a fundamental transformation. From real-time and instant payments to embedded banking and intelligent payment orchestration, financial institutions and their commercial clients are rethinking how payments can become a strategic driver of growth, efficiency and client value. This executive-level discussion will explore how banks and their commercial clients are modernizing payment strategies to improve working capital, accelerate liquidity, enhance the client experience, and strengthen risk and fraud mitigation in an increasingly real-time environment.

Moderator:
Kathryn Albright
EVP, Head of Treasury Management, Global Payments & Deposits
Columbia Bank

Panelists:
Katherine Weislogel
Head of Commercial Payments Client Success
Fifth Third Bank

Dhiren Patel
SVP, Head of Liquidity Solutions, Institutional Client Group, CRE & Impact Finance
U.S. Bank

Adam Keen
Director in the Financial Services Practice
West Monroe

KEYNOTE: THE FASTEST PATH TO DIGITAL ASSETS: HOW BANKS AND CREDIT UNIONS CAN ACTIVATE STABLECOIN PAYMENTS AND TOKENIZATION WITH CORE PROVIDERS

Stablecoins and tokenized deposits are moving from pilot to production — but the regional and community banks and credit unions launching the fastest aren't the ones that built from scratch. They're the ones activating services through their existing core banking partners. This session is about the embedded partnership model, which is compressing what used to be a 12-month buildout into weeks, and examines what that means for financial institutions ready to compete on next-generation payment rails.

Speaker:
Brandon Goodwyn
VP of Partnerships
Fireblocks

COFFEE AND CONVERSATION 

BRIEFING ON FINTECH RISK 

This briefing will use a SWOT framework to evaluate bank-fintech partnerships in today’s shifting environment. In addition to partnership opportunities and governance/control challenges, it will address emerging threats from regulatory and policy changes that could allow fintechs and digital asset firms more direct access to payment infrastructure or chartering pathways, potentially changing the economics and strategic relevance of traditional bank sponsorship models.

Speaker:
Clayton Mitchell
Managing Principal, Fintech
Crowe

PANEL: MANAGING FINTECH RELATIONSHIPS 

Panelists include:
Fariba Akrami
SVP, North American Head of Fintech and Digital Payments AML
Citi

Steve Hopwood
SVP, Financial Products Leader
Synchrony

Josh Rodriguez
AVP of Fintech and Mission Integration
West Community Credit Union

Pam Kaur
Founder
Next Arc Advisory
(Formerly with Alloy Labs and BankTech Ventures)

EXECUTIVE KEYNOTE

Speaker:
Fariba Akrami
SVP, North American Head of Fintech and Digital Payments AML
Citi

CLOSING REMARKS

Speaker:
Erik Van der Kolk
CEO
Banking Exchange

MIXER / NETWORKING 

Please hang out and keep the conversation going. Drinks will be served.