Sumeet Chabria is Founder and CEO of ThoughtLinks, advising Fortune 500 banks and capital-markets leaders on technology innovation and AI-driven transformation. He brings deep, enterprise-wide expertise across retail, commercial, wealth, capital markets, and payments, and is a trusted partner to top firms, fintechs, VCs, and boards. He focuses on technology-enabled growth, efficiency, risk, resilience, and the future of work.
Previously, he was Global COO for Technology & Operations and Head of Global Business Services at Bank of America, and Global CIO for Banking & Capital Markets at HSBC. He teaches executive education on technology and AI at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College, holds senior advisory roles with leading firms, and serves on the board of Liberty Science Center. He was named to Business Insider’s 100 People Transforming Business.
Irina Berkon is the Chief Financial Officer of Metallicus, a San Francisco-based leader in digital asset technology. Under her leadership, Metallicus has made remarkable progress in bridging the gap between cryptocurrency and traditional finance, building the infrastructure needed for regulated, real-time payments and digital asset innovation.
With a mastery of financial governance and regulatory frameworks, she ensures Metallicus operates at the highest standards, fully aligned with BSA, AML, GDPR, and ISO 20022. Her precision in compliance and institutional trust makes Metallicus the strongest bridge between blockchain and banking at scale.
In addition to her responsibilities at Metallicus, Irina is also a Managing Director at Golden Seeds, an angel investor network dedicated to funding women-led companies and creating opportunities for women disrupting their industries.
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.
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 at Truist Financial Corporation, where she leads one of the nation’s largest wholesale banking businesses spanning commercial and corporate banking, investment banking and capital markets, commercial real estate, and wealth management. She also oversees Truist’s enterprise payments business, including consumer and wholesale payments and digital asset strategy.
As a member of Truist’s executive leadership team, she is responsible for driving a nearly $11 billion business that represents over half of the company’s financial results. Since joining Truist in 2024, Lesher has accelerated growth, deepened client engagement, and increased performance while attracting and developing talent across the franchise.
Prior to Truist, Lesher held senior leadership roles at Wells Fargo, including Head of Middle Market Banking and Co-Head of Investment Banking Coverage. She previously served in corporate development and treasury roles focused on acquisitions and integrations, and capital and balance sheet strategies.
Lesher holds an MBA from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree from Duke University.
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 .
Anne Clarke Wolff is a 30-year transformational leader in the financial services industry with expertise managing large scale global businesses and working with companies through financial life cycles – from initial public offerings to mergers and acquisitions. In 2021, Anne founded Independence Point Advisors (“IPA”), a women-owned investment bank and advisory services firm, where she serves as its Chief Executive Officer. Prior to IPA’s launch, Anne spent the majority of her career managing businesses focused on banking relationships, access to capital markets as well as treasury transformation. During her roles building Bank of America’s $10B Global Corporate Banking business, and as Head of Sales for JP Morgan’s Treasury and Securities Services business, Anne drove double digit revenue growth and built best in class teams to extend the banks global capabilities in serving multinational clients. She also served as Head of North America Corporate Banking at Citigroup and has been repeatedly recognized as one of The Most Powerful Women in Banking by American Banker and Notable Women in Finance by Crain’s New York.
Kristin Streett is ServiceNow’s Head of Banking, Americas. She oversees strategy and execution within their financial services, working with customers on their employee and customer experience initiatives. With over 25 years’ experience in Banking and FinTech, Kristin specializes in digital transformation strategy, process optimization, enterprise-wide technology program implementations, target operating model design, and change management.