Maria G. Gotsch is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Partnership Fund for New York City, the $130 million investment arm of the Partnership for New York City, New York’s leading business organization. The Fund has built a network of top venture capital and corporate experts to identify and support the city’s most promising entrepreneurs to create jobs, spur new business and expand opportunities for New Yorkers.

In addition to leading the Fund’s investments and operations, Maria has spearheaded the creation of the Fund’s strategic initiatives, helping grow the city’s innovation sectors, including fintech and commercial life sciences. These initiatives include three private sector labs (FinTech Innovation Lab; NY Digital Health Accelerator; NY Fashion Tech Lab); three public sector labs (Transit, Environmental and Buildings Tech Labs); NYCSeed; BioAccelerate Prize NYC (proof-of-concept funding for university-based biomedical research); and, the Arts Entrepreneurial Loan Fund.

Maria has also led the creation and operations of several small business relief programs: ReStart Central and Financial Recovery Fund (assistance and funding for small businesses impacted by 9/11/01); and, the NYC Small Business Resource Network (assistance for small businesses impacted by COVID-19 economic shutdown).

Maria has been featured in Crain’s “Most Powerful Women in New York,” “Notable Women in Tech,” and “Notable Women on Wall Street”; City & State’s “The Life Sciences Power 50” and “2024 Trailblazers in Economic Development”; Institutional Investor’s “The FinTech Finance 40,” and one of three winners in American Banker’s “Most Influential Women in Fintech for 2023.”

Before joining the Fund in 1999, Maria was Managing Director at BT Wolfensohn (now part of Deutsche Bank), providing strategic and financial advice related to mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures and the development of business strategies. Maria also worked at LaSalle Partners and for Merrill Lynch Capital Markets in New York and London. Maria has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Wellesley College. She was also the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to study international relations at the Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales in Geneva, Switzerland.

Maria is a member of the boards of Sonepar SAS and Sonepar USA Holdings and serves as Chair of the audit committee of Sonepar SAS. Headquartered in Paris and privately-held, Sonepar is the global leader in B-to-B distribution of electrical products and services.

She is also a member of the NYS Department of Financial Services’ Financial Innovation Advisory Board, Hospital for Special Surgery Innovation Advisory Council, the Cornell-Tech Runway Visiting Committee, the New York City and New York State Life Sciences Advisory Councils, Columbia Business School’s HPM Advisory Board, and the ProPublica Leadership Council.

Kristen Bibby is Senior Vice President and Head of Digital Product & Design for Santander’s U.S. digital bank, Openbank, where she leads digital product strategy and customer experience across its growing portfolio of consumer products.

Kristen has spent her career building and scaling innovative digital products at the intersection of technology and financial services. Prior to Santander, she was Managing Director and Head of Product for J.P. Morgan’s Capital Connect, where she led development of a digital investment banking platform leveraging software and AI. Earlier, she led fintech product development at Toast and held several product leadership roles at Goldman Sachs, including leading the team responsible for defining and building the end-to-end Apple Card experience.

Kristen brings a multidisciplinary perspective spanning product strategy, design, technology, marketing, and customer research, with a particular focus on building high-performing product organizations and using technology to reimagine complex customer experiences.

Heidi Sexton is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Sound Community Bank, where she leads the implementation of strategic initiatives across the bank’s technology, compliance, marketing, risk management, and client support departments. She is passionate about creating exceptional customer experiences by aligning people, processes, and technology to deliver seamless, personalized banking services.

Throughout her career, Heidi has led enterprise-wide initiatives that strengthen operational excellence, enhance digital capabilities, and improve customer engagement across the organization. Her work focuses on breaking down organizational silos, leveraging emerging technologies, and ensuring innovation delivers meaningful value for both customers and employees.

With more than 20 years of community banking experience, Heidi brings a practical perspective on balancing technology, risk management, and relationship banking to meet evolving customer expectations. She is a graduate of the Washington Bankers Association Executive Development Program and Pacific Coast Banking School. Heidi previously served on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Community Bank Advisory Council and as Board Chair of Financial Beginnings Washington, reflecting her commitment to advancing financial education and strengthening communities. She was also a recipient of the American Banker Team Award, recognizing the impact of collaborative leadership and cross-functional innovation in banking in 2022 and 2026.
Looking ahead, Heidi is particularly interested in how artificial intelligence, data-driven personalization, and embedded financial services will reshape the banking experience while preserving the trust, relationships, and human connection that remain at the heart of community banking.

Ann Barron‑DiCamillo is Chief Information Security Officer at U.S. Bank, leading enterprise information security strategy and ensuring alignment across business priorities, regulatory expectations, risk, and cost.

She joined in June with 27+ years of global cybersecurity leadership, most recently at Citi, where she led cyber operations and technology optimization to reduce risk and drive modernization.

Previously Director of U.S.-CERT and a senior leader at American Express, Ann brings deep expertise in resilience, governance, and execution at scale.

A recognized leader in the financial sector space, Ann was previously Chair of the Board for the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) and will serve a three-year term as the Chair of the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council (FSSCC) beginning in August.

She holds degrees from American University and Baylor University, is a Harvard Kennedy School fellow, holds a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification since 2004, and an active Top Secret security clearance.

Kara West is the Chief Enterprise Risk Officer for Capital One and a member of the company’s Executive Committee, reporting directly to the CEO and Board. As part of the company’s dual-Chief Risk Officer Model, Kara is responsible for enterprise, compliance, operational, and technology risk management as well as the aggregated view of risks across Capital One. Capital One is a leading technology-based financial services company serving more than 100 million customers across a diverse set of businesses.

Prior to her current role, Kara was the Chief Audit Officer and a member of the Executive Committee. As Chief Auditor, Kara led Audit in providing independent assurance and challenge to the business. She was responsible for developing Capital One’s audit strategy and plan, and ensuring the company maintains an effective control environment on behalf of the Board of Directors.

Throughout Kara’s tenure at Capital One, she has played key risk management roles across the enterprise serving as the Card Chief Risk Officer, Retail and Direct Bank Chief Risk Officer, and as the Managing Vice President of Enterprise Risk Management, where she was responsible for enterprise-wide risk programs and the associated processes and tools. While in Card, Kara also actively helped shape the organization’s Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (DIB) agenda as the co-Accountable Executive.

Prior to joining Capital One in April 2013, Kara held various second and third line risk management roles at Freddie Mac, was the Chief Auditor at Sallie Mae, and served as a financial services consultant.

Kara holds a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Virginia and Certified Public Accountant, Certified Internal Auditor, and Certified Risk Management Assurance licenses.

Stacey Mullin, Managing Director, is BlackRock’s Deputy Chief Operating Officer as well as the firm’s Global Chief of Staff. In her roles, Ms. Mullin helps align the firm horizontally to deliver the spectrum of BlackRock’s capabilities seamlessly to our clients.

As Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Ms. Mullin is responsible for partnering with functional and regional management to support growth and client service across channels, to manage risk, to promote operational efficiency, and to respond to market and regulatory change. In her Chief of Staff role, Ms. Mullin advises senior leadership on strategic priorities and engagements with clients, policymakers, the BlackRock Board of Directors and other key stakeholders around the world.

Prior to her current appointments, Ms. Mullin served as COO for the Europe, Middle East & Africa region, based in London, and before that as COO for the firm’s capital markets businesses. Over the years, she has navigated the firm through major changes in the market and geopolitical environment, including Brexit, Covid and return-to-office, and has helped to refresh our business and financial strategy in response to shifting market trends.

Prior to joining BlackRock, Ms. Mullin was a leader at Oliver Wyman, a financial services consulting firm. She earned a BA degree in Mathematics from Harvard College.

Deluxe Marketing, a division of Deluxe, delivers data-driven marketing solutions that help businesses reach and convert the right customers. Combining actionable analytics with full-service agency support, we guide campaign strategy, audience integration, production, deployment, forecasting, and attribution to drive measurable results.

Donna Hart is Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the Americas at SMBC, where she leads the company’s Information Security program.

Donna brings 30 years of extensive experience to SMBC, spanning Information Security, Technology Infrastructure, and Cyber Risk. She joined SMBC from Ally Financial, where she served as CISO and was accountable for designing and implementing a comprehensive information security and technology risk management program. In that role, she strengthened enterprise cyber resilience, enhanced governance and controls, and briefed both board members and regulators on strategic security initiatives. 

Prior to Ally, Donna spent over two decades at Wells Fargo and Wachovia, where her leadership spanned enterprise endpoint security, network and perimeter defense, remote access, large-scale VPN and segmentation programs, and cyber-infrastructure operations with high availability and strict policy adherence.

Donna is recognized as an industry leader and has contributed to the broader security community through her involvement with FS-ISAC, BITs, and the Women in Technology Steering Committee. Her experience building high-performing teams, maturing crisis management and risk functions, and delivering secure, scalable solutions aligns strongly with SMBC’s commitment to operational excellence and resilience.

Donna holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Computer Information Systems, from Appalachian State University.