FNBO is one of the largest privately held banks in the US and has been in business for more than 165 years. Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, FNBO and its affiliates have over $34 billion in assets and 5,000 employees. Founded in 1857, FNBO has maintained its commitment to customers and helping build strong communities.
Katie Whalen is Head of Small and Midsize Business, Financial Institution Channels and Global SMB Strategy, Merchant Solutions at Fiserv, a role she assumed in July 2024. Most recently, she served as SVP and Head of Issuer Processing for North America. Whalen also has experience from serving at top financial services institutions like American Express (AMEX) & Citigroup. She joined AMEX as Director of Business Strategy and Operations of Global Emerging Payments after working as Mobile Product Lead of Product Management, Development and Financial and Risk Mobile Teams at Thomson Reuters Corporation. Whalen began her career as a Congressional Intern for the Office of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and holds a BA in Government, American Political Science and Public Policy from Cornell University and an MBA from New York University.
Meghan Shue is responsible for helping manage the end-to-end asset allocation process, developing market research, and communicating the investment team’s market outlook and positioning to clients and prospective clients. She is a member of the Investment Committee, which is responsible for deriving the firm’s strategic and tactical asset allocation positioning.
Meghan also oversees the firm’s portfolio construction process — including implementation of asset class views through a variety of proprietary, non-proprietary, passive, active, and factor-based solutions — and chairs the Portfolio Management Committee.
Prior to joining Wilmington Trust, Meghan was an investment strategist at Bessemer Trust, where she helped manage the asset allocation decision and implementation process, performed asset allocation and market research, and published pertinent thought leadership.
She holds an MBA with a concentration in finance from the University of Miami, where she was valedictorian of her graduating class. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering, with a concentration in operations research and financial engineering, from Princeton University, where she was also captain of the swimming & diving team.
Meghan is a regular CNBC contributor and is frequently quoted in financial media communicating the firm’s economic and market views. She was also named to American Banker’s 2022 Most Powerful Women in Banking: NEXT list.
Kim is Protiviti’s Global Leader of Technology Consulting. She is responsible for the strategy, offerings, consulting delivery and external alliance partnerships for all of Protiviti’s technology capabilities, including Security & Privacy, Business Application Solutions, Technology Strategy & Architecture, Enterprise Data & Analytics, Software Services, Emerging Technologies, Technology Risk & Resilience, and Cloud. Previously, Kim was the Financial Services Lead for the Technology Consulting solution. With over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, information technology, and consulting, Kim has been at the forefront of the convergence of technology innovation, business management, and regulatory reform.
Prior to Protiviti, she spent 14 years with UBS in several senior Chief Information Officer (CIO) positions including Global CIO of Corporate Technologies and most recently as Global Head of IT Risk Management. Kim was responsible for understanding the regulatory context surrounding the business, defining required controls, and driving the cultural mindset for compliance. In parallel, Kim had regional responsibility for the Technology group as CIO for Americas and sat on Intermediate Holding Company (IHC) governance boards. Prior, Kim spent 15 years at Andersen Consulting/Accenture where she rose to Partner in the Financial Services industry, aligned to both Capital Markets and Retail Banking clients with a focus on large scale technology implementations, merger execution, organization and solution design and reengineering.
A passionate advocate for diversity and LGBTQ+ equality, Kim serves on the advisory board of Protiviti’s women in technology employee network group. She is also an executive sponsor for Protiviti’s involvement in external industry organizations such as SIFMA, the Women’s Bond Club (where Kim co-chairs the Technology Committee), and the WSTA. In 2021, Kim was named to Consulting magazine’s ‘Women Leaders in Technology’ list in the Excellence in Innovation category.
Kristin Lesher is chief wholesale banking officer for Truist Financial Corporation, a purpose-driven financial services organization committed to inspiring and building better lives and communities.
Named to her current position in February 2024, Lesher leads Truist’s Wholesale Banking teams in providing comprehensive financial solutions to meet the diverse needs of clients served by our commercial and corporate banking, commercial real estate, enterprise payments, investment banking and capital markets, and wealth management businesses. She is also a member of Truist’s Operating Council.
Most recently, Lesher served as executive vice president and head of Commercial Banking Coverage for Wells Fargo where she managed a national team providing local coverage and specialized industry expertise to companies in a wide variety of industries and subsectors, as well as government, institutional and not-for-profit corporations. Previously, Lesher served as co-head of Investment Banking Coverage at Wells Fargo Securities. She has held several senior positions in investment banking, corporate treasury, corporate development, and mergers and acquisitions.
Lesher has served on the Board of Girls on the Run International, including as Chair of the Board from 2019 to 2021, and she is actively involved in Wake Forest University as a member of the Parent’s Advisory Council.
Lesher earned a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, where she was an F.C. Austin Scholar.
Penny Crosman is Interim Editor-in-Chief at Digital Insurance and Executive Editor, Technology at American Banker and Arizent. Prior to taking on these roles, she was Editor in Chief of Bank Technology News and Technology Editor of American Banker. She has held senior editorial roles at Bank Systems & Technology, Wall Street & Technology, Intelligent Enterprise, Network Magazine and Imaging Magazine.
Ruchira is a Global Executive Leader with more than 23 years of financial industry leadership experience and expertise in domains spanning across Payments , Capital Markets / Trading, Prime Brokerage Purchase & Sales, Regulatory Reporting , Fixed Income, Global Transaction Banking – Treasury Management Supply chain finance , Digital Wallet – Commercial Card, Virtual Accounts Payable etc.
In her most recent role, she leads the Customer Authentication Product Platform for TD Bank with expanded mandate across Global Financial Crime – AML/ Fraud/ KYC etc. She is responsible for the strategy, delivery, regulatory alignment and innovation aspects across consumer and commercial products for TD bank as related to customer authentication and ID proofing.
A passionate advocate for diversity and women in STEM , Ruchira enjoys travelling and adventure sports and hiking in her spare time .
As embedded finance reshapes how and where customers access financial services, banks face a defining moment. Should banks aim to power platforms or embed into them? Once the center of the financial relationship, many are now pushed behind the scenes as technology platforms and fintechs own the user experience. This roundtable discussion explores how traditional institutions can evolve with the times—from rethinking partnerships and API readiness to navigating regulation, managing risk, and monetizing embedded opportunities by finding profit in volume and scale and structuring partnership models for sustainable returns.
Customer expectations are evolving faster than ever, and banks are under pressure to keep up. This roundtable discussion will explore how financial institutions can combine innovative technology with the emotional connection that customers still want, and what differentiates the best CX in fintech versus traditional banks. From AI-driven personalization to privacy, trust, and the role of empathy in digital design, this discussion will explore what it takes to create truly connected banking experiences for 2026 and beyond, including how banks are addressing legacy systems and internal silos that block CX innovation, how to overcome cultural and organizational inertia, and how banks can maintain empathy and trust in increasingly digital interactions.