Current Speakers

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.

In addition to his investment mandate, 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.

Karl Mann is Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Associated Credit Union (ACU) in Norcross, Georgia, where he oversees six strategic areas of the organization. During his 40-year career at ACU, he has taken on progressively greater leadership responsibilities,
guiding technology initiatives that support the credit union’s operations and member experience.

Karl’s expertise spans artificial intelligence, computer networking, programming and development, computer operations, enterprise applications, compliance, business continuity planning, enterprise CRM, and business intelligence. His innovative approach to problemsolving has delivered greater efficiency, cost savings, increased productivity, and improved experiences for ACU’s members and staff.

Recognized through numerous awards and industry honors, Karl has been featured in publications including the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Credit Union Times, and technology trade magazines. His commitment to excellence, collaborative leadership, and sense of humor have
earned him the respect of colleagues throughout ACU and the credit union industry.

Karl is equally committed to developing others. Through his guidance and mentoring, many of his direct reports have advanced into key leadership and officer roles. His dedication to education extends to his participation in the Microsoft TEALS program, where he helps high
school students—including those in communities served by ACU—build computer programming skills.

At the heart of Karl’s leadership is a passion for teaching, creating opportunities, and equipping others with the skills and confidence to achieve career success.

Kojo Inkumsah is a senior technology executive and CTO-level leader with 20+ years of experience driving enterprise transformation across hybrid cloud, multi-cloud, platform engineering and global technology environments. His expertise spans cloud architecture, Kubernetes, DevOps, FinOps, AI operations and cloud-native platforms, with a strong focus on building secure, scalable and resilient technology ecosystems.

He is experienced in aligning technology strategy with business outcomes, driving modernization, operational excellence and innovation across complex financial services environments.

Transforming Financial Services (FS) with Unified Emerging Technology approach is essential today leveraging AI & Data Strategy. Developing Trusted AI, Safe AI frameworks, Guarding data and Information security is essential.

We’re at a technological inflection point where enterprise success hinges on forces of Emerging Technology: artificial intelligence & data. For FSI, this isn’t about adopting new tools—it’s about fundamentally reimagining how we transform Digital experiences for our customers, compete, manage risk, create Strategic value in an AI-native economy.

With over 20 years driving multi-billion-dollar digital transformations—including a decade at AWS architecting solutions leading software engineering, multi matrix teams for F-500 enterprises—I bridge the gap between AI ambition & operational agility. The mandate is clear: organizations that unify AI & data strategy will dominate the next decade.

Strategic Leadership: I work daily in Breaking Legacy Silos, Building AI-Ready and AI Safe Foundations.
Traditional FSI face a critical challenge: decades of investment in mainframes, batch processing, data centers that fundamentally conflict with AI requirements. Success demands more than technical integration—it requires deconstructing how data flows through organizations.

Rekha Pata is the VP of Procurement Data Analytics & Technology Strategy with over two decades of experience delivering digital transformation across highly regulated Financial Services and Global Manufacturing/Energy sectors.

Currently, she leads the strategic integration of AI and Generative AI across all Source-to-Pay (S2P) applications and BI tools at Synchrony, with a focus on translating AI theory into practical, measurable business impact. Her work emphasizes responsible AI implementation—balancing innovation with governance and compliance in enterprise environments.

A recognized industry voice on AI-driven procurement transformation, Ms. Pata has presented at Coupa Inspire for four consecutive years and has also served as a featured expert on the webinar, “The New Power Couple: Why IT & Procurement Must Align in the Age of AI.” She brings hands-on experience driving significant operational efficiencies through advanced process automation and analytics across complex, global organizations, and is passionate about helping procurement and IT teams navigate the practical challenges of AI adoption.