Current Speakers

Gautam Garg is an experienced digital banking and deposits executive focused on transforming how customers engage with financial services. With 15+ years of experience, he has led digital growth, product strategy, customer acquisition, and transformation initiatives across deposits, lending, credit cards, and loyalty. Today, he leads digital growth and strategy for Deposits at Oaken financial, a flagship deposits brand of Fairstone Bank, where he is applying AI, analytics, and customer-centric design to accelerate growth, improve customer experience and retention, and building a more data-driven, agile digital banking organization. Prior to embarking on a journey with Fairstone Bank, Gautam held various leadership positions at TD Bank and Scotiabank.

Ron Kaine is AVP, Fraud & Compliance Products and Services at Central 1, where he leads the strategy, development, and delivery of fraud prevention, anti-money laundering, and compliance solutions serving credit unions and financial institutions across Canada. With more than 35 years of experience spanning fraud management, credit risk, financial crime, data privacy, analytics, and product leadership, Ron has dedicated his career to helping organizations stay ahead of evolving threats while enabling safe, trusted financial services.

At Central 1, Ron leads teams responsible for fraud prevention and compliance services that support the majority of Canadian credit unions, helping protect millions of Canadians and hundreds of billions of dollars in financial transactions annually. He works closely with financial institutions, regulators, payment ecosystem participants, and technology partners to strengthen resilience against fraud, financial crime, and emerging risks.

Prior to Central 1, Ron held leadership roles with Equifax, Assent Compliance, and Privacy Analytics (IQVIA), leading product strategy, fraud solutions, risk management, and global technology initiatives across North America, Europe, Latin America, and Australia. Throughout his career, he has championed the use of data, analytics, and innovative technologies to drive measurable business outcomes while protecting consumers and organizations from fraud.

In 2026, Ron and the Central 1 team were recognized with the PayTech Award for Best Fraud Combat Solution, acknowledging innovation and measurable impact in protecting financial institutions and their members from increasingly sophisticated fraud threats.

Today, Ron is particularly focused on the intersection of fraud prevention and artificial intelligence, exploring how emerging agentic AI capabilities can augment fraud analysts, improve detection and investigation workflows, automate decision support, and help financial institutions respond more effectively to complex financial crime risks. He is a frequent speaker on fraud strategy, payments modernization, AML, compliance, financial crime trends, and the future application of AI in risk management.

Shefali Bharti is a passionate customer centric Payment leader with extensive experience delivering payment innovations used by millions of customers. Throughout her career, she has led product strategy across banking, fintech and payment consulting while working in multiple countries and with global organizations. Passionate about emerging technologies, AI, and the future of digital payments, she enjoys sharing practical insights on product leadership, innovation, and building customer-centric solutions.

Andrew Rizkalla is Global Head of Sales at Aquanow, where he leads commercial strategy and institutional client development. He brings two decades of trading and institutional business-development experience across fixed income, equities, and digital assets, spanning Europe, Asia, and North America. Andrew began his career in fixed income and credit structuring in London and New York, before moving into equity and program trading at Deutsche Bank and J.P. Morgan in Hong Kong. He moved into digital assets in the mid-2010s, holding trading and business-development roles at Abra, Paycase, and LINE Corp across San Francisco, Toronto, and Tokyo, before joining BitMEX as Head of Client Development. At Aquanow, he leads global sales across banks, fintechs, PSPs, brokerages, and trading platforms, with a focus on moving institutional clients from pilot to production-grade deployment.

Bhavna Kaushal is a banking and fintech executive turned strategic advisor who helps senior leaders and teams navigate market, regulatory, and technology shifts to drive growth. She has built a career defined by reinvention, innovation, and leading through complexity spanning Fortune 100 companies, global banks, and high-growth fintechs across 25+ international markets. A frequent contributor and thought leader at industry forums, Bhavna is recognized for delivering market-shaping innovations in Canada and the U.S. She holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business and was honored with the 2023 Women in Payments Social Impact and Sustainability award.

Braulio Lam  is Vice President, Engineering, Digital at EQ Bank, where he leads technology and engineering across digital banking, payments, money movement, cards, small business banking, and core banking transformation initiatives. With more than 20 years of experience in banking, payments, and fintech, Braulio previously served as Chief Product Officer at Payfare and co-founded Pungle, the first Canadian fintech to integrate directly with Visa Direct for real-time payments. A recognized fintech leader and speaker, he is passionate about real-time payments, fraud prevention, AI-driven innovation, and building secure, resilient financial systems.

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.

Sahba Kazerooni is an accomplished information security leader and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) based in Toronto. With deep expertise spanning corporate cybersecurity strategy, incident response, application security, and IT risk management, he has successfully built and transformed enterprise security programs across highly regulated environments. Throughout his career, including leadership roles at Laurentian Bank of Canada and Security Compass, Sahba has focused on delivering risk-based, pragmatic strategies that align robust defense mechanisms with overall business enablement. Known for his collaborative leadership style and emphasis on building highly engaged teams, Sahba remains an active, trusted voice within the Canadian technology and cybersecurity community.

Kalyani Bhatia is the Head of Client Channels & Chief of Staff at The Clearing House, a U.S.-based payments networks that clear and settle more than $2 trillion each day through wire, ACH, check image, and real-time payments. She works with the Executive Leadership team on payments innovation, board relations, and cross-border payments modernization. Prior to joining The Clearing House, Kalyani was Global Head of Payments & PMI at SWIFT. Before joining SWIFT, she spent 18 years at Deutsche Bank in a variety of leadership roles. 

Camelia Salem leads Payments Technology for Kainos in North America, specializing in payment modernization across multiple domains, including wires, instant payments, AFT, cheques, and open banking, as well as broader financial services transformation. She works with financial institutions to deliver innovative, resilient payment solutions and drive change across the payments ecosystem. As a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.), Camelia brings a unique combination of technical rigour and end-to-end business insight, bridging strategy and delivery to support organizations solving complex payments challenges.

Alongside her industry work, Camelia researches emerging payments technologies and the future of the space, bringing a unique combination of strategic, technical, and domain expertise to the evolving payments landscape.

Shreya Mathur is a Payments Strategy leader at Deloitte, advising executives at leading financial institutions and payment market infrastructure providers on payments strategy and modernization. Her expertise spans real-time payments, payments infrastructure, open banking, and emerging payment models, helping leaders translate market, regulatory, and technology shifts into strategic priorities and actionable roadmaps.  

Tony Clark is the Head of Canada Banks & Americas Corporates and Partners at Swift, where he leads business development and strategic engagement across Canadian financial institutions, multinational corporates, and key ecosystem partners throughout the Americas. He works with industry leaders to advance innovation in payments, financial messaging, digital assets, and resiliency, helping organizations navigate industry transformation and unlock new growth opportunities. With extensive experience across banking, corporate treasury, and market infrastructures, Tony is committed to strengthening collaboration and driving the future of global financial services.

Vishal is a Financial Services industry specialist and leads AWS’ worldwide business and market development efforts for Agentic and Generative AI for Payments, where he is responsible for defining the global strategy, developing sales motions and go-to-market strategies, and helping customers and partners to achieve their business goals leveraging AWS capabilities across the end-to-end value chain. Over the past 7 years, he has held leadership roles in AWS’ Financial Services and Partnerships businesses. Before joining AWS, Vishal spent over 15 years with PwC Consulting in New York, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, where he held various senior leadership roles and was responsible for leading global strategic initiatives for Fortune 100 financial institutions on finance and digital transformation, mergers & acquisitions, and strategic risk and regulatory management.

Mike Hurley is the Chief Executive Officer of the Nova Scotia Credit Union Deposit Insurance Corporation (CUDIC). Nova Scotia CUDIC has a tri-mandate including Deposit Insurance, Credit Union Regulation & Risk Management, and Atlantic Central Regulation. Mike is the current Chair of the Canadian Credit Union Prudential Supervisors Association (CUPSA) and held the Vice-Chair role for three years prior to taking over as Chair.

Mike spent 15 years in Senior Financial roles in the public and private sector prior to joining CUDIC in 2018. During this time, Mike was also Board Director with Teachers Plus Credit Union in Halifax, NS for 8 years. Mike is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Michele Poole is the Founder and Principal Advisor of DeepPoole Advisory, where she works with fintechs, payment service providers, financial institutions and industry leaders navigating payments modernization, market entry, ecosystem participation, strategic partnerships and AI-enabled change.

Michele brings more than 20 years of experience across payments, banking and fintech, with a career spanning strategy, product and program leadership, and bringing new capabilities to market. She has held senior and executive leadership roles within two of Canada’s major banks, a payment service provider and Interac, alongside extensive experience as an independent payments consultant and advisor. As a consultant and advisor, she has been engaged by Payments Canada and Interac, as well as banks, fintechs and other organizations across the payments ecosystem.

Known for bringing clarity to complex industry change, Michele combines strategic insight with a strong understanding of how decisions translate into execution. Having worked across financial institutions, payment infrastructure, fintechs and emerging market participants, she brings a broad ecosystem perspective and an ability to connect different points of view, challenge conventional thinking and focus conversations on what comes next.

Michele is also Co-Founder of Finclusiv Edge, a Halifax-based nonprofit focused on advancing awareness, dialogue and action on financial inclusion across Canada’s financial services and fintech ecosystem.  Her broader leadership experience includes payments industry advisory and standards work, as well as nonprofit board leadership.

Philippe is Managing Director of NAventures, overseeing investments in technology companies that advance National Bank’s transformation. He sponsors the team’s investment decisions, represents NAventures on portfolio company boards, and champions the relationships connecting founders to business units across the bank.

Previously, Philippe built and led the integration and separation practice at a Big Four firm, advising Canadian financial institutions on major transactions. He also practised in the United States, France, Latin America, and New Zealand.

Akshath Goyal is a Vice President in Business Banking Strategy and Partnerships at U.S. Bank, where he leads strategic fintech, payments, and AI-driven partnerships that help small and mid-sized businesses grow and thrive. He works across product, technology, risk, operations, and external partners to bring innovative banking solutions to market, with a focus on embedded finance, digital payments, customer acquisition, and emerging financial technologies. Prior to joining U.S. Bank, Akshath held leadership roles at Shopify, where he led product and payments partnerships, helping expand the company’s commerce and financial services ecosystem. He is passionate about the future of payments, fintech innovation, and the intersection of banking and technology.

Lamia Mekouar is a banking executive with more than 20 years of experience in product management, cash management, correspondent banking, payments, lending, and business transformation initiatives. She currently leads the Banking Product Management function at IG Wealth Management, overseeing the deployment of banking solutions that support advisors and clients across Canada.

Prior to joining IG Wealth Management, Lamia served as Head of Enterprise Portfolio Management at Laurentian Bank and Head of Payments and Receivables at Citibank Canada. Earlier in her career, she held leadership roles at Scotiabank across International Banking, Commercial Banking, and Global Transaction Banking.

Lamia holds an MBA in Finance and Marketing Strategy from HEC Montréal and professional certifications in Change Management, Project Management Professional (PMP), and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS).

Brent Mizzen is Senior Vice President, Payments & Digital at the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA). He oversees the CBA’s policy and advocacy on issues at the intersection of payments, digital, technology and banking, working closely with members.

Before joining the CBA, Brent worked on a broad range of policy issues with the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) from 2011 to 2023 where he held positions of increasing responsibility and scope.

Prior to joining the CLHIA, Brent spent 10 years developing public policy at the Government of Canada, primarily at the Department of Finance.

Brent holds a Master of Economics degree from the University of Waterloo and an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Western University.

Grant Armstrong is Chief Growth Officer at WealthONE Bank of Canada, where he leads the bank’s origination strategy and oversees residential & commercial mortgage origination. In this role, Grant plays a key part in advancing WealthONE’s growth as a national alternative lender by aligning credit leadership with commercial objectives and market opportunities.

Grant brings more than 20 years of experience in the Canadian mortgage and financial services industry. Prior to joining WealthONE, he held senior leadership roles at Community Trust, most recently as Head of Distribution, and earlier in his career at major financial institutions including RBC and CIBC. His background spans credit, distribution, and mortgage origination, giving him a unique perspective on building scalable lending platforms.

Well known for his strong business development capabilities, Grant has a proven track record of expanding mortgage programs, strengthening broker relationships, and partnering cross-functionally to drive sustainable growth. He is recognized for translating market insights into practical lending solutions that support both brokers and borrowers.

Earlier in his career, Grant served in the Canadian Armed Forces, working with Royal Canadian Army Cadets. Grant retired at the rank of Captain, after nearly 20years of service. This was an experience that shaped his leadership style and instilled a strong foundation of discipline, accountability, and teamwork.

Grant is a collaborative leader who values transparency, accountability, and long-term partnerships, and he is committed to supporting WealthONE Bank’s mission of delivering flexible, thoughtful lending solutions to Canadians.

Alain DeSouza is VP, Product & GTM at J.P. Morgan, focused on bringing new J.P. Morgan products to Canada. He has 15+ years of payments experience across mobile payments, digital wallets, acquiring, and B2B/B2C payments. His background spans product, go-to-market, and technology, with a track record of driving growth across fintechs and global banks. Previously, he was VP, Product & GTM at Clickatell, where he launched new products and built new indirect channels, and he has held leadership roles at RBC, Scotiabank, and BlackBerry.

Amit Tandon is the Chief Product Owner for Real-Time Rail (RTR) at TD Bank Group, where he leads the bank’s participation in Canada’s new real-time payments ecosystem and the enablement of real-time payment capabilities for TD clients across consumer, business, and treasury segments. With more than 15 years of experience in payments, product management, strategy, and business transformation, Amit has led several complex banking and payments initiatives across multiple global markets. He also serves as an Industry Co-Chair for the RTR Working Group, where he collaborates with financial institutions, Payments Canada, and Interac to identify, address, and drive resolution of key industry issues supporting Canada’s transition to real-time payments.

Courtney Kim is a VP of Digital Channels at Alterna and a product executive specializing in digital finance and high-growth transformations. With extensive leadership experience across banking and retail, she focuses on building intuitive digital experiences and leveraging next-generation architecture to meet evolving consumer needs. A champion of AI-driven innovation and customer-obsessed design, Courtney is dedicated to navigating the complexities of modern financial infrastructure as the industry transitions to an always-on, real-time era.

Brian Ford is a transformative executive leader and Vice President and Head of Business Solutions and Digital Assets at ATB Financial, where he sits at the cutting edge of global transactional banking. With over 30 years of experience spanning North America and Asia-Pacific, Brian leads the growth and innovation of ATB’s Payments, Liquidity, Trade Finance, and Cryptocurrency divisions.

A recognized thought leader at the intersection of traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi), Brian is a champion for the evolution of digital asset technology. His career is defined by high-stakes transformation, including a five-year tenure in Asia where he served as Country Head for HSBC’s Global Liquidity and Cash Management business in South Korea. Whether building business lines from the ground up or spearheading mobile-first solutions in the world’s most advanced digital markets, Brian bridges the gap between legacy stability and future-forward innovation.

When he isn’t navigating complex regulatory landscapes or scaling multimillion-dollar divisions, Brian is a dedicated advocate for animal welfare. He is a passionate supporter of parrot rescues and is frequently featured in local media alongside his four adopted rescue parrots.

David Odigie is a seasoned financial services leader with over two decades of experience leading transformative programs, managing enterprise risk, and overseeing high-impact strategic initiatives. Currently serving as Senior Director, Payments Delivery & Integration at RBC, David is the trusted leader spearheading stakeholder engagement, modernization of payment infrastructure, and enterprise risk strategies across critical portfolios including Real-Time Rail.

David’s tenure at RBC is marked by a series of successes in leading cross-functional teams, executing enterprise-wide change, and establishing governance practices that align with global expectations. He has consistently delivered high-value programs, managed portfolios exceeding $100M, and delivered value. He drives the delivery and implementation of new and in-flight payment initiatives, including product development and payment network compliance mandates for low value payments. He owns responsibility for a growing portfolio of Payments programs and develop the future roadmap to introduce RBC differentiated services for clients while managing partnership and relationships within and outside the bank.

His leadership style is anchored in talent development, performance excellence, and stakeholder collaboration. David is deeply credentialed, holding certifications in portfolio, program, project management, risk and information systems control, business analysis, and product management. He is a multi-awarded leader recognized for excellence in strategic execution and transformational leadership, including RBC’s Global Citizens Award, Convention Award and Leo Award. He is a lifelong learner setting benchmark in executional excellence.