Past Speakers Chicago

Gijs Boudewijn (1958) retired as general manager at the Dutch Payments Association (DPA) on June 1, 2025. After obtaining a law degree of the State University of Utrecht, joined a large savings bank as in-house legal counsel in 1983. In 1988 he joined the Dutch clearinghouse Bankgirocentrale and never left the payments arena, accumulating almost 40 years of experience in domestic and international payments related issues. He was closely involved in EU regulatory issues, the Euro introduction, Y2K, PSD2/3/PSR matters, Open Banking and the RTS of the EBA, instant payments and digital euro. He held positions such as Chair of the Legal Support Group of the European Payments Council (EPC) for 13 years. He also served several terms as EPC Board member, and was Chair and later Vice-Chair of the Payment Expert Group of the European Banking Federation (EBF). He was Vice-Chair of the European Card Payments Association (ECPA), and Chair of the Payments Working Group of the International Banking Federation (IBFed). Last, he was a member of the Payment Systems Market Expert Group (PSMEG) of the European Commission and co-Chair of the EPC’s SEPA Payment Account Access scheme Multi Stakeholder Group on behalf of the credit sector associations. In 2024 he joined the Editorial Board of the Journal of Payments and Systems Strategy, and was appointed Editor as of 7 July 2025. On June 11, 2025 he took office as the new Chair of the EPC Board, and per 1 September 2025 he was appointed as member of the Supervisory Board of European Merchant Services B.V. and subsequently also of CCV Group B.V. In January 2026 he joined the Advisory Board of the European Women in Payments Network (EWPN). He is a regular speaker at national and international conferences on strategic and regulatory payments related issues, instant payments, new technologies, open banking and pan-European payment solutions. 

Jacob Novich is a Senior Manager supporting Deloitte’s US Banking & Capital Markets practice. His experience includes working with both US and Canadian banks on large, transformative programs across Treasury Management and Commercial Payments. He has led programs across the Transaction Banking value chain, including assessment / improvement of critical process, standup of new commercial offerings, development of operating models, planning / execution for commercial online banking portal migrations, and post-merger integrations (primarily focused on target state product selection and planning).

Ben Grout is the VP of Sales & Partnerships at zerohash, where he leads the design and implementation of next-generation blockchain payment infrastructure. With over a decade of experience in corporate finance across London and New York, Ben previous experience at Chainlink, gaining deep expertise in blockchain ecosystems, decentralized finance and smart contracts. He now leverages his background in traditional global banking to bridge the gap between legacy finance and scalable distributed ledger technology.

Thomas J. Nadratowski is a Managing Director and Chief Auditor for Global Financial Crimes at Citibank, with over 25 years of financial services experience across all three lines of defense. His career spans client compliance at Merrill Lynch and senior leadership in Global Financial Crimes Compliance at Bank of America, followed by over a decade in Citi’s independent audit. He leads global assurance of financial crime risk, including strategy, execution, and board reporting in complex environments. Thomas led 3LOD engagements through closure of two public AML Consent Orders, engaging with board leaders and regulators. He holds an MBA, Graduate Diploma in AML, is a CAMS, holds Series 7 and 66 FINRA licenses, and completed executive studies at Columbia and Yale.

Jaime is leading growth efforts for Checkout.com in Atlanta, spearheading U.S. expansion and driving momentum among enterprise merchants. Prior to Checkout.com she led global business development for InComm Payments. With over 15 years in fintech and payments, she’s built landmark partnerships, scaled market share in gift cards and alternative payments, and launched innovative products—including the first crypto gift card and in-store BNPL infrastructure. 🛒💳

She was recently named one of Briefcase Coach’s 50 Inspirational Women Leaders in Atlanta, a testament to her impact and leadership in the local fintech community. 💼

Checkout.com is where the world checks out. Trusted by leading businesses like eBay, Pinterest, Sony, Wise, and Uber Eats, they help deliver seamless payment experiences at the moment it matters most: the checkout.

Pati Partelow is a forward-thinking strategist, continuously analyzing emerging trends in human behavior, disruptive technologies, and industry events. With a focus on driving transformation and growth, she partners with companies of all sizes, specializing in enhancing financial services’ innovation, accessibility, and security. Pati’s expertise includes business strategy and transformation, P&L management, business development, product innovation, and talent development. She leverages a global perspective to drive success in local markets, excelling in consulting sales and delivery, digital commerce, customer experience, and digital payments. With a comprehensive skill set spanning disruptive technologies and industry expertise, Pati is a dynamic leader poised to navigate the evolving landscape of modern business.

Nell Campbell-Drake is Vice President of Strategic Industry Engagements for Federal Reserve Financial Services (FRFS).  She has responsibility for FRFS relationship management including Nacha, Payments Associations, industry trade groups, and other business partnerships.  Additional responsibilities include FRFS executive engagement, FRFS payments improvement outreach activities, and FRFS hosted industry advisory councils.  Nell represents the Federal Reserve Banks on numerous payments industry groups.  Before joining the Bank, she worked at Merrill Lynch Brokerage Firm in a variety of capacities.

Nell is an avid bowler and welcomes the opportunity for a challenge!

Luis Felipe Segura is Field CTO at Incode Technologies, advising global banks, fintechs, and marketplaces on identity verification, fraud prevention, and identity assurance programs. He has helped organizations dramatically reduce identity fraud while improving conversion and customer experience.
His work supports leading financial institutions in balancing security, compliance, and user experience, shaping how the industry approaches digital identity. He is a frequent speaker on synthetic identities, biometric risk and liveness, and adaptive fraud and risk controls, helping audiences understand what’s next in fraud defense and customer trust.

Blake McDaniel is an assistant vice president in product management for Federal Reserve Financial Service. In his role, Blake supports the product development and pricing efforts for the Federal Reserve’s FedNow Service offering.

Blake has also held roles in the Retail Payments Office (RPO) of the Federal Reserve System, where he supported the RPO’s Check and ACH product development and pricing efforts. He also worked in the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s human resources and legal functions.

Blake has held roles of varying responsibility on several non-profit boards, including Literacy Action Inc., Oakhurst Cooperative Preschool, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s employee run non-profit, Charity Parity. Blake holds two bachelor’s degrees, a master of business administration degree, and a juris doctor degree from the University of Georgia.

Pratip Daw is a recognized Payment Solutions Leader in North America, specializing in emerging payment rails such as Instant Payments and Open Banking across diverse industry segments. With a strategic view of payments, Pratip believes there are no absolute right or wrong decisions—only opportunities to influence and transform. As a self-described ‘payments influencer,’ he is a passionate advocate for driving payments transformation journeys.

Pratip’s career spans client-facing and global product solution roles in both India and the US, covering the full spectrum of payments and banking, including cash management and trade finance. At J.P. Morgan, he has played a pivotal role in launching and commercializing innovative products like Virtual Account Management and Embedded Payments. His holistic approach and deep expertise enable him to address client challenges with comprehensive, forward-thinking solutions. Pratip is widely recognized for his client-centric mindset and has received numerous accolades for successfully guiding corporate clients through the adoption of innovative payment solutions.

Beyond his professional achievements, Pratip is an avid student of Indian classical music, actively performing and promoting the art within his community and among young children—including his 10-year-old daughter. He enjoys traveling with his family and is always up for outdoor adventures, whether hiking or a friendly game of ping pong.

Fun fact: Born into a family of bankers, Pratip began his career as an auditor before quickly pivoting to banking, continuing the family tradition.

Philippe serves as Managing Director of NAventures, National Bank’s corporate venture capital arm. In this role, he partners with high-growth companies and founders to expand the bank’s investment footprint in fintech and adjacent sectors. His work focuses on identifying emerging opportunities, scaling impactful technologies, and building long-term strategic partnerships.
Philippe Daoust is a senior leader in innovation and venture investing at the National Bank of Canada, where he has spent more than nine years driving strategic transformation and entrepreneurial growth. As Vice President of Innovation, he oversees initiatives that accelerate the bank’s digital evolution, foster experimentation, and support the development of new value-creating capabilities across the organization.
In addition to his investment mandate, Philippe a senior leader in innovation at National Bank of Canada, where he has spent more than nine years driving strategic transformation and entrepreneurial growth. As Vice President of Innovation, he oversees initiatives that accelerate the bank’s digital evolution, foster experimentation, and support the development of new value-creating capabilities across the organization.
Philippe also contributes his expertise as a Board Observer for several companies, including nesto, Synctera, and d1g1t, where he supports teams shaping the future of financial services.

Keith Melton is responsible for driving the execution and commercialization of the next phase of TCH’s instant payments strategy, with a particular focus on expanding the RTP network and strengthening its position as the leading instant payments platform in the United States. With a passion for innovation that delivers exceptional outcomes across financial services and technology, Melton has held leadership roles at industry-defining institutions including The Clearing House, the Federal Reserve System, IBM, and Truist Bank. Over more than two decades he has built deep expertise across payments, financial services, strategic planning, product management, and team development. Before joining TCH, Melton served for seven years with Federal Reserve Financial Services as Senior Vice President and Head of Product Management. Earlier in his career, he spent a decade at IBM as the global executive with full P&L responsibility for IBM’s $100 million Payments and Banking software business.

Cheryl Gurz is Vice President of Product Management for Real-Time Payments (RTP) at The Clearing House (TCH), a banking association and payments company that operates core payment systems that clear and settle nearly $2 trillion in payments each day, including the RTP® network, the first new payment rail in the U.S. in over 40 years and the most advanced real-time payments system in the country. Since joining TCH in 2019, Cheryl has led efforts to drive adoption and utilization of the RTP network, advising financial institutions and businesses on best practices, use cases, and industry trends related to real-time payments. She brings over two decades of experience in product development, bank operations, auditing, and solution consulting. Her leadership roles at organizations such as CGI, Citi, BNY Mellon, and MBNA have centered on modernizing and strategizing payment systems to meet the evolving needs of the financial ecosystem.

Vipul Suvarna is a senior banking operations leader with more than 20 years of experience across high-value payments, global clearing systems, and technology transformation. As Director of Payment Operations at MUFG Bank, he oversees strategic initiatives spanning USD and FX payment workflows, system modernization, regulatory readiness, and operational risk reduction. Vipul has led major upgrades to platforms such as SWIFT, Fedwire, CHIPS, and ISO 20022 infrastructure, consistently improving Straight Through Processing (STP) and strengthening end-to-end controls.

Beginning his career in India with roles at Citi, J.P. Morgan, and Fundtech, he developed deep expertise in QA, UAT, and payment technology implementation. Known for building high-performing teams and partnering effectively across IT, operations, risk, and compliance, Vipul brings a balanced blend of operational insight and strategic foresight. He is passionate about advancing the future of payments and is committed to shaping scalable, resilient, customer-centric payment ecosystems in a rapidly evolving financial landscape.

Gretchen Bartholomew, Chief Operating Officer of KEMBA Financial Credit Union, leads the organization’s operational strategy, service delivery, and enterprise‑wide execution. With a career defined by over 20 years of operational excellence, member‑centric leadership, and a passion for empowering teams with innovative solutions, Gretchen oversees key functional areas including electronic payment infrastructure, deposit operations, member experience, credit/debit portfolio growth and evolution, and strategic initiatives that strengthen KEMBA’s position as a leading financial credit union.

A progressive operational executive, Gretchen brings extensive experience introducing new processes to payment solutions, updating systems, preparing organizations for regulatory demands, and mitigating operational risk. She is known for driving organizational alignment, building scalable processes, and introducing enhancements that elevate both efficiency and member satisfaction. She is committed to shaping the next generation of payment platforms, focusing on creating robust, scalable systems that deliver exceptional member experiences in an increasingly dynamic financial world.

Kapil Shukla is a distinguished Financial Crime Compliance leader with over 19 years of global experience across major financial institutions. Currently serving at Bank of America, Kapil has led large-scale AML, KYC, and Sanctions initiatives across North America, Europe, and Asia.
A results-driven professional, he has collaborated with leading regulators including FinCEN, OFAC, FCA, and MAS, driving risk mitigation, governance excellence, and operational transformation. His leadership focuses on strengthening compliance frameworks, advancing technology integration in AML systems, and nurturing high-performing teams.
Kapil’s extensive experience and thought leadership make him a respected voice in the evolving landscape of financial crime prevention and regulatory compliance.

Arijit Das is a visionary and technically grounded leader driving digital transformation across global financial services. As Global Head of Digital Asset Development at Northern Trust, he focuses on leveraging emerging technologies—including robotics, machine learning, distributed ledger technologies, and tokenization—to build scalable, future-ready digital asset solutions.
With wide-ranging international experience across the United States, Belgium, France, Canada, and India, Arijit brings a uniquely global perspective to innovation, delivery, and enterprise transformation. His background includes extensive offshore delivery experience, enabling him to bridge strategy, engineering, and execution across diverse operating models.
A hands-on and execution-oriented manager, Arijit is deeply involved in shaping technology-led transformation programs from concept through implementation. He is also a co-inventor on three blockchain-related patents, reflecting his commitment to applied innovation and practical impact. Arijit is widely recognized for combining strategic vision with technical depth to advance the adoption of next-generation digital asset technologies.

Deborah Baxley is an internationally recognized payments strategy expert and founding partner of PayGility Advisors, a consultancy serving issuers, networks, fintechs, processors, and central banks worldwide. A charter member of the U.S. Faster Payments Council and long-time Chair of the U.S. Payments Forum’s Emerging Payments Committee, she has been a driving force in advancing real-time, mobile, and contextual payments in the United States.
With more than 25 years of leadership experience at IBM, Capgemini, and Teradata, Deborah has guided over 50 clients through modernization of core payment systems, deployment of instant-payment rails, and integration of open-banking APIs, tokenization, and fraud-mitigation analytics. Her current work focuses on multi-rail payment orchestration, stablecoin innovation, and the convergence of FedNow, RTP, and card rails to deliver 24×7 liquidity.
Deborah frequently speaks and moderates at major industry events including the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Payments Symposium, U.S. Payments Forum conferences, and Faster Payments Council Summits. Her thought leadership explores how ISO 20022, programmable money, and AI-driven agents are redefining settlement, identity, and trust across digital ecosystems.
She is a Certified Smart Card Industry Professional and an Accredited Faster Payments Professional, known for connecting innovation, strategy, and execution across the evolving payments landscape.

Richard Dooley is a highly experienced and trusted treasury and payments executive with more than 28 years of leadership across corporate banking, fintech, and financial services. As Vice President, Treasury Management – Technology, Media, Telecom & Embedded Payments at Fifth Third Bank, he advises complex, high-growth organizations on payment optimization, embedded finance, and working-capital efficiency.

Richard is known for serving as a strategic advisor to C-suite executives and treasury teams, combining deep industry knowledge with a practical understanding of client processes and business objectives. His expertise spans treasury management, faster and real-time payments, ISO 20022, digital assets, liquidity, and capital markets, enabling clients to navigate both current demands and emerging industry shifts.

Having guided clients through multiple market cycles—including the dot-com boom and bust, the 2008 financial crisis, major regulatory reforms, and the COVID era—Richard brings a resilient, outcome-driven perspective. His approach centers on delivering measurable results, operational leverage, and long-term strategic value in an evolving payments landscape.

Katherine Wong is a nationally recognized leader in instant payments, enterprise modernization, and digital‑asset–ready operating models, known for guiding Fortune 500 organizations through the shift to real‑time, multi‑rail money movement and stablecoin strategies. As a Transformation Solutions Principal at Paradigm Innovations & Consulting, Inc., she helps clients modernize complex technology ecosystems, strengthen fraud and cyber‑risk controls, and accelerate adoption of next‑generation payment capabilities. Paradigm Innovations delivers strategy, architecture, and execution support across digital transformation, AI‑enabled operations, and financial‑services modernization while equipping organizations with the frameworks, governance, and delivery models needed to scale securely and sustainably. At the core of her work is a simple goal: to change how people build and use technology, making it more practical, less overwhelming, and better aligned with how we want to spend our time.

Petra Bianca Bellido is Senior Vice President, Payments & Receivables at HSBC, where she oversees the strategy, execution, and management of corporate payments and receivables solutions. She plays a key role in streamlining HSBC’s payment flows, promoting operational efficiency, and enabling seamless financial transactions for large institutional clients. Petra is focused on aligning receivables innovations with risk management, regulatory compliance, and customer experience to support HSBC’s lead in global payments and cash management.

Gary’s the founder, President & CEO of Payall Payment Systems – the first end-to-end infrastructure provider of technology for cross-border payments through banks, central banks and regulators. The company has developed category defining software for counterparty risk management, multi-jurisdictional compliance, real-time transaction risk management and intervention as well as global payment orchestration that makes cross-border payments through banks safe, efficient (fast, low-cost), transparent and inclusive. Payall’s counterparty risk, transaction monitoring, multi-jurisdictional compliance and payment processing are featured at the U.S. Federal Reserve Marketplace

Gary has also served as an Industry Advisor to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank since 2006 – initially working with the Payment Card Center and now the Consumer Finance Institute.

Gary’s career in banktech, regtech, payments and fintech began in 1996 when he co-founded WildCard Systems – some have called WildCard Systems the “first fintech”. The company pioneered a new payment card – prepaid Visa and Mastercard cards – and built the first-ever Visa & Mastercard prepaid card issuing platform. Seven of the ten largest U.S. banks were customers as well as nearly fifty banks around the world by 2005. In fact, the first Visa-card ever issued in China wasn’t a debit or credit card, but a prepaid Visa TravelMoney card processed by WildCard through five Chinese banks.
Gary’s considered the world’s foremost expert on technology innovations associated with counterparty risk management, complex multi-jurisdictional compliance and multi-channel and form factor global or cross-border payment orchestration.

Gretchen is an Entrepreneurial-minded Product Leader with experience designing and launching global financial and non-financial products in multiple areas including Fintech, e-Commerce, Cybersecurity, Identity & Trust. Her career encompasses product development, business growth, and tech consulting. Passionate about innovative payment solutions, she currently focuses on faster payments, AI, and other related technologies shaping the future of money movement. She is dedicated to delivering seamless and secure payment solutions that benefit both businesses and consumers, consistently pushing the boundaries of innovation in the payments industry.

Dean Nolan is Managing Director at SRM, leading its Commercial Payments practice. With over 30 years in financial services, Dean has driven over $1B in value helping banks, credit unions, and fintechs modernize their payment products and platforms. His experience includes senior roles at Fifth Third Bank, Wells Fargo, MasterCard, FISERV, and Bank of America, as well as leadership and advisory positions with numerous Paytechs. A recognized industry thought leader, Dean is an active speaker and author. He also serves on the Board Advisory Group for the US Faster Payments Counsil and as Executive Director of PayCLT.

Erin Moore is a SWIFT Payments Product Expert supporting the execution of SWIFT’s strategy of fast and frictionless cross-border payments. She is responsible for promoting ISO20022 migration, gpi, SWIFT Go, Pre-validation and Case Management. She works closely with financial institutions to transform the end user’s payment experience, harmonizing systems and schemes and refining efficiency of operations. She is a member of Women in Payments and a SWIFT Diversity and Inclusion global ambassador.

Prior to joining SWIFT in 2020, Erin worked for The Clearing House and Citibank, holding various roles in product management and sales support and operations and technology as both an individual contributor and manager.

Erin holds a master’s in business administration from the University of Delaware.

Donna Turner is an industry thought leader in payments, product management, fraud risk management and operations. Having spent more than 30 years in financial services with PNC & Bank of America, she then went on to serve as Chief Operations Officer for Early Warning Systems, the industry consortium behind the Zelle payments network. It is this deep and broad set of experiences that she brings to the table in the founding of Risk Insight Solutions, an advisory firm aimed at assisting companies in developing sustainable growth, addressing risk, and delivering exceptional experiences.
While in banking, her experiences spanned large scale, global operations; product and P&L management; risk management; process engineering and enterprise fraud risk management. This compilation of experiences brought to life a passion for optimization, where the delicate balance of customer experience, operational expense and risk tolerance must be perpetually challenged and adjusted as customer expectations, capabilities, platforms, risk, and expense appetites all shift and evolve.
At Early Warning, having joined prior to the launch of the Zelle network, the joy was in bringing the network to life, which meant cross organization orchestration in concert with the design, execution and often reimagining of function and processes to be agile, scalable and provide exceptional service all within an established risk tolerance of reputation, financial and operational risk.
Donna was recognized as one of the ‘Most Influential Women in Payments’ and holds two patents in the fraud risk management arena. She has served as Chair of the Board for the Ada Jenkins Center, is currently on the board of directors for The Knoble, and as an investor/advisor for Primal Brewery. Her educational background spans undergrad at the University of Florida, with certifications in Operational Management from the University of Michigan and Risk Management from Harvard University.
Donna’ passion now lies in sharing her experience and insight to enable the success of others.