Joyce Phillips is an accomplished CEO and transformative leader with over 30 years of experience across retail banking, credit cards, insurance, and wealth management. Currently, she is the Founder & CEO of EqualFuture Corp., a FinTech startup based in San Francisco, building an analytics-based, AI-enabled financial technology platform that delivers affordable personal financial wellness to individuals and businesses.

Prior to EqualFuture, Joyce Phillips held significant executive positions at Citigroup, where she served as Global Head of International Retail Banking. In this role, she oversaw product distribution and expansion efforts across Citigroup’s retail banking operations in 42 countries. During her tenure, she also led Citibank in Japan as Country Head and was CEO of Citicorp Diners Club Japan.

Her extensive background includes roles including Group Managing Director of M&A, Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer, and CEO of the Global Wealth Division at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ). ANZ is among the top 25 banks globally, operating in 34 markets across various continents.

Joyce Phillips also served as President and COO of American Life Insurance Company (ALICO), a subsidiary of AIG, which had a presence in 55 countries. Her board experience includes notable companies like Western Union and Reinsurance Group of America (RGA). She currently serves on the board of First Interstate Bank Holdings, chairing the Technology, Innovation, and Operations Committee.

Joyce Phillips is also an active director on the Smithsonian National Board and chairs the board of Girls Inc. NYC, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering young people through education.

She was included in the U.S. Banker “25 Most Powerful Women in Banking and Finance” list multiple years and named one of the Top 100 Fintech leaders in Asia. Her innovation in marketing has also been recognized at the prestigious Cannes Lion marketing festival.

Joyce Phillips holds an MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University and is fluent in Japanese.

Brandon Snower is a former investment banker turned fashion designer, entrepreneur and creative director of the New York cult lifestyle brand, Le Alfré. What started as an idea has turned into one of the fastest growing menswear brands in the US.

3 years ago, Brandon quit his career on Wall Street advising billion-dollar companies to pursue an idea within the menswear clothing space, on his own, without funding, experience or connections in the fashion industry to create a heritage brand for the next generation of men in a cool, unique and innovative way. 

From what started in a small Upper East Side studio apartment with Brandon fulfilling & hand-delivering packages has grown to a full team, the opening of their newest 6,000 sq ft Madison Ave Flagship Penthouse Store “Alfré’s Penthouse”, and collaborations with some of the world’s leading brands, institutions and people.

Claire Williams is American Banker’s Congress reporter, where she tracks political risk for banks from the halls of Capitol Hill. She’s previously covered financial policy for Morning Consult and agribusiness for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Prashant Mehrotra is the Chief AI Officer of U.S. Bank, where he leads the strategy and implementation of Artificial Intelligence for the organization. He is an accomplished AI executive, patent holder and speaker, with extensive experience creating, building and leading AI/ML initiatives across finance, insurance, and retail sectors. Prior to joining U.S. Bank, he was Head of the AI Center of Excellence at Allstate, where he led intelligent automation, developed innovative AI-driven platforms, and scaled teams to accelerate AI adoption. With a strong background in Technology, Prashant previously held key leadership roles at Capital One and Staples, where he successfully implemented advanced analytics ecosystems and data strategies. He earned his Bachelor of Technology from IIT Delhi and executive education from Kellogg.

Jennifer is the Sales Leader for North America Financial Services at NVIDIA. Her team works with the top banking and asset management firms to drive growth and innovation by leveraging NVIDIA’s full stack AI platform to transform their business. In her 6 years at NVIDIA, Jennifer has worked with top financial firms to harness the power of AI and GPU accelerated compute in the cloud and on-prem datacenters. She aligns NVIDIA’s groundbreaking AI software and innovations to empower financial services customers to drive new capabilities in areas such as trading, asset management, and customer engagement by unlocking the potential of Gen AI through AI Factories and GPU accelerated HPC workloads.

Sri Ambati is the founder and CEO of H2O.ai. A product visionary who has assembled world-class teams throughout his career, Sri founded H2O.ai in 2012 with a mission to democratize Al for anyone, anywhere, creating a movement of the world’s top data scientists, physicists, academics and technologists at more than 20,000 organizations worldwide. Sri also regularly partners with global business leaders to fund Al projects designed to solve compelling business, environmental and societal challenges.

Most recently, Sri led the initiative o2forindia.org, sourcing O2 concentrators for more than 200 public health organizations in Tier 2 cities and rural communities in India during the Delta wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, helping to save thousands of lives. His strong “Al for Good” ethos for the responsible and fair use of Al to make the world a better place drives H2O.ai’s business model and corporate direction.

A sought-after speaker and thought-leader, Sri has presented at industry events including Ai4, Money2020, Red Hat Summit and more, is a frequent university guest speaker, and has been featured in publications including The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, IDG and the World Economic Forum and has been named a Datanami Person to Watch.

Before founding H2O.ai, Sri co-founded Platfora, a big data analytics company (acquired by Workday) and was director of engineering at DataStax and Azul Systems. His academic background includes sabbaticals focused on Theoretical Neuroscience at Stanford University and U.C. Berkeley, and he holds a master’s degree in Math and Computer Science from the University of Memphis. Sri is inspired by his two daughters and genius wife.

Janna Wagoner is a dynamic and accomplished technology executive with over 14 years of experience at Fifth Third Bank, where she has led transformative initiatives across commercial, consumer, enterprise, and risk IT. Janna is known for her strategic leadership in technology transformation, organizational change, and execution excellence. Throughout her career, Janna has held a variety of impactful roles, her diverse experience reflects a deep understanding of the banking ecosystem and a relentless drive to improve how technology powers the business.

Janna brings a continuous improvement mindset to every challenge, thriving in ambiguity and complexity. Her “banker first” approach—grounded in her finance background and insatiable curiosity about the business—sets her apart from traditional technology leaders. She is passionate about building strong relationships with business and strategic execution partners, a skill often referred to as her “superpower.” Janna believes that trust and connection unlock creativity and innovation, and she leads with empathy, clarity, and purpose.

As other lenders have struggled in the small business market recently, Hanmi Bank has grown its SBA loan production by double digits in the first six months of this year. 

The Los Angeles based- bank increased its SBA loan production by 18% between January and June 2025 over the same time period in 2024. In fiscal year 2024, Hanmi Bank reported $187 million in SBA loans, which was a 25% increase over fiscal year 2023. 

Led by executive vice president and chief community lending officer Anna Chung, Hanmi Bank continues to stay the course through chaotic markets and tough conditions.

Racquel Oden‘s role spans two of HSBC’s most strategically important businesses: she serves as U.S. head of international wealth and premier banking and U.S. head of global private banking. 

Since joining HSBC in 2023, Oden has been instrumental in driving the bank’s strategy to expand its wealth business in the U.S., which is a key growth market within the bank’s global portfolio. 

Achieving these goals at a tumultuous time for markets and geopolitics brings its own set of challenges, as HSBC’s wealth and private banking serves  20 million clients worldwide.

“With a client base that is globally minded, my biggest challenge today is ensuring that we are providing the same world-class advice that our clients have come to expect in a world that is constantly changing and evolving,” Oden said. “The news headlines have moved so rapidly this year, it’s our responsibility as wealth advisors to anticipate what’s around the corner and deliver tailored advice in a personal way — all at once.”