Events

Oz Akdeniz is the North America Trade Sales Head at Citibank overseeing a team of Trade and Supply Chain professionals who work with Citi’s Institutional Client Group (ICG). Throughout his career Oz has been passionate about delivering innovative solutions to Multi-National Clients who operate in complexities of international corporate banking. Oz is frequently a speaker and participant at various industry forums in the capacity of guest speaker / panel member on the digitization of payments and trade. Oz is closely involved with the Bankers Association of Finance & Trade (BAFT) in the USA. He was selected in the Future Leaders program in 2018, and subsequently became a Future Leader Mentor in 2019 and is now out he planning committee for the 2020 North American BAFT Annual Meeting. Oz has also been a mentor for the 30% Club supporting aspiring Women in Leadership in NY since 2017. Previously Oz worked at ANZ Banking Group and Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Maram Al-Jazireh is SVP/ Global Head of Financial Institutions at Arab Bank and is responsible for relationships and business development activities with financial institutions globally. She is also a member of the Financial Institutions Credit Committee. Maram grew up in Kuwait and graduated from Oklahoma State University with a major in Accounting. Prior to joining Arab Bank in 2001, she worked at Talal Abu-Ghazaleh International, Cairo Amman Bank, Citibank N.A, Amman and ABN Amro Bank, Dubai. She is co-chair of BAFT MENA Council and an advisory board member of Beyond Capital’s governance committee. She is also a fellow of the Middle East Leadership Initiative, a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network and founder of Mid The Art Reach Project.

Pat was appointed Chief Customer Experience Officer in May 2021, with responsibility for ensuring a persistent focus on customer needs to remove friction and deliver value across the organization’s portfolio of services. He oversees all customer operations, service delivery and support teams as well as standards development, training and customer security, and leads a transformation program that is reinforcing a customer-centric culture across the company. Before assuming this role, Pat held a number of leadership positions at Swift in professional services, project management, service management, training and support. He also has led Swift’s Customer Security Program (CSP), which actively supports the global banking community in the fight against cyber-attacks, and represents Swift regularly at events and on industry committees.

Ana Arsov is a Managing Director, co-heading the Global Financial Institutions rating franchise for Moody’s Investors Service. Ana also holds the position of Global Head of Private Credit for Moody’s, fostering analytical and issuer coverage for the growing private markets between financial institutions, leveraged finance, and securitization markets. Furthermore, Ana leads the analytical and relationship engagement with the Global Systemically Important Banks (GSIBs), non-bank fincos, and securities firms, fostering the linkages with institutions that create assets and structures in the private markets. Ana holds a Master’s Degree in Management (with a specialization in Financial Services and Banking) from Boston University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business from Pace University, New York. Ana also holds a certificate in Board Governance from Harvard Business School.

Andy joined Huntington Bank in 2009. He has responsibility for Huntington’s Global Advisory segment; consisting of the Structured Working Capital Finance and Global Trade & Treasury lines of business. He is a member of the board of directors at Huntington International Inc. He has extensive corporate banking, structured finance, financial institution risk, country risk and cross-border business experience dating back to 2001, primarily at GE Corporate Finance and ABN AMRO prior to Huntington. He earned an MBA from the Carey School of Business at John’s Hopkins University and is a graduate of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking. He earned post-graduate certificates in Executive Leadership from the Wharton School of Business and Fintech from Harvard University. Andy holds several industry certifications including Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) as well as the Certifications in Supply Chain Finance (CSCF) and Payments (CertPay), both issued by the London Institute of Banking and Finance.

As the Director for the US. Commercial Service, Philadelphia office, Tony Ceballos leads a team of trade specialists that provide export assistance in the Philadelphia region, including Delaware, to help SMEs to achieve export growth and support U.S. global competitiveness. Tony also manages trade relationships to integrate program contributions of federal/state/local agencies to increase market access for U.S. exports, foreign investment, and reduce trade barriers. As Executive Secretary for the MidAtlantic District Export Council, Tony manages a consortium of exporters and service providers that offer trade expertise to help American firms compete in overseas markets. His professional accreditations include NASBITE’s certification for Leadership in International Trade and the Executive Certificate in Global Leadership from Thunderbird’s School of Global Management. Tony earned his Master of Arts in International Studies from the Claremont Graduate University. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a Minor in International Relations from the University of California, Riverside.

Ben Ellis leads Visa B2B Connect globally. Visa B2B Connect is a multilateral network that builds on Visa’s expertise, delivering B2B cross-border payments that are predictable, secure, and cost-effective, for financial institutions and their corporate clients. Before assuming this role, Ben led strategy for Visa Business Solutions globally, drove growth initiatives within the Global Solutions team at Visa, and lead Visa's enterprise risk management team. Before joining Visa, Ben was a partner in the San Francisco office of McKinsey & Company with 10+ years experience serving financial institutions in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America on a range of topics including strategy, risk management, operational improvements, and organizational design.

Since joining PrimeRevenue as CFO in January 2006, Mr. Feather has successfully ushered us from our very early days as a visionary startup, through the financial crisis to today’s position as a thriving mid-sized leader in the cloud-enabled supply chain finance marketplace. He was instrumental in recapitalizing the company with an $80M investment led by BBH Capital Partners in 2015. Prior to PrimeRevenue, he was in financial management roles at Ariba, Freemarkets and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Nathan holds a BS in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University.

Mr. Joon Kim has 25+ years of experience. He has held various senior positions at Standard Chartered Bank and American Express Bank, most recently as Managing Director and Head of Transaction Banking Sales for Corporate and Commodities for the Americas region. His various experiences include leading Trade Sales, Trade Product Management and Relationship Management teams, with an emphasis on development and sales of trade finance, supply chain financing, receivable services, trade processing and cross-border cash and liquidity management solutions to global financial institutions and corporations.

With strong expertise across the value chain in the payments industry, Grace coleads our payments modernization group. In this capacity, she helps executives keep pace with rapid changes in technology and customer behavior. Since joining McKinsey in 2007, Grace has focused on helping financial-services and e-commerce companies explore new opportunities and achieve stronger revenue growth and operating efficiencies. Her work includes setting digital payments strategy, improving digital marketing, pursing innovation, and investing in strategic partnerships. In particular, she concentrates on helping companies to get better returns on their digital spending, improving the front-end customer experience and optimizing the back-end payments infrastructure.

Shannon Manders is the Editorial Director of GTR, the world's leading international trade finance publication. She is also a freelance financial journalist, editor and editorial consultant with 12 years of experience reporting on and producing print and online publications for the global trade and trade finance sector. Shannon has extensive experience in moderating discussions, both at GTR’s own conferences and at a range of other top industry events hosted by the likes of the ICC Banking Commission, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, SWIFT (Sibos) and the Commonwealth Business Forum. She regularly covers stories from international locations, and has hosted numerous roundtable discussions and webinars.

Sunil Mascarenhas works at Asian Development Bank as a Relationship Manager of Trade and Supply Chain Finance Program since 2019. Sunil manages ADB's Supply Chain Finance Program (SCFP). His main responsibility is to manage relationships with global banks to maximize transaction volumes, provide excellent client service, and ensure constant vigilance in assessing and monitoring risk. Aside from that, Sunil is responsible in driving initiatives to deploy Supply Chain Finance to newer developing markets and helping local banks in those developing markets to launch supply chain finance businesses with a view to making finance available to SMEs. Sunil has been working in the banking sector since 1998. Before joining ADB, Sunil worked at the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) across multiple countries and has worked in various roles in Trade and Supply Chain Finance, Commercial Banking and Risk Management.

Nicole has over thirty years’ experience in banking and executive recruitment. She spent most of her career at Citibank, in her last role as Managing Director, North American Financial Institutions Cash Management Sales Head. At Citibank, Nicole’s roles ranged from Business Development and Sales Leadership to Implementation Head for e-Banking Solutions to North American Cash & Trade Six Sigma Process Reengineering Lead. Prior to Citibank, Nicole worked for The First National Bank of Chicago and Shawmut Bank, in client-facing roles. She started her career in sales at Xerox Corporation. Nicole’s search experience includes hiring senior-level executives for roles ranging from the Global Head of Transaction Banking, to the Global Head of Payments, to Heads of Regions and Countries, Heads of Product, Sales, and Service, and Heads of Operational Risk. Her expertise is in the areas of B2B Payments and Liquidity, Digital Banking, Trade/Working Capital/Supply Chain Finance, and Corporate and Commercial Banking. Nicole began her head-hunting career in 2007 at The Rose Partnership in London as Head of the Corporate and Transaction Banking Practice.

Matthew Parker-Jones joined Scotiabank in February 2023. Matthew provides strategic direction for GTB’s product strategy, developing a profitable growth plan for products across all customer segments including Small Business, Commercial, Corporate and Financial Institutions as well as strategic leadership and executive sponsorship for all Enterprise Payments business initiatives. Matthew joined Scotiabank from JPMorgan Chase (JPMC), where he was, most recently, Managing Director, Global Head of Pay by Bank and Business-to-Consumer Payments. In this role, he was responsible for global initiatives related to open banking and emerging payments, working closely with some of the world’s leading companies and FinTechs. Matthew also served as Country Head of Treasury Services for Canada. Previously, Matthew held senior roles including Head of Strategy for Global Payments as well as Head of North America Payments Transformation.

Amy Sahm joined Fulton Financial’s International Group in 2002 following a long-term career in the Japanese banking and trade industry. She works as department manager, overseeing product development, operations, sales and risk management. The International Group at Fulton is responsible for foreign exchange risk management and all international transactional products and services including Trade Finance for Fulton’s customer base. The International Group primarily serves import / export SME clients within Fulton’s five state footprint. She serves as a Board Member and Treasurer of both the World Trade Center of Harrisburg and the Mid-Atlantic District Export Council supporting the US Commercial Service Export Assistance Center. Amy is a member of the International Business Advisory Board of Elizabethtown College where she mentors students and presents guest lectures on international finance. Amy also holds a Board seat at BAFT as well as a Co-Chair position on the North American Council. In addition to BAFT, Amy is active throughout the North American regional bank network in several international banking industry groups.

Maarten has more than 24 years of experience in the Transaction Banking space with a specific focus on Correspondent Banking and International Cash Management. Maarten joined Barclays in 2010 with a mandate to build a euro clearing proposition for Financial Institution clients. Having built the proposition and managed the migration of the platform from London to Frankfurt in 2019, his focus shifted towards cash management origination and sales activities. In his current role as Head of Global FIG Sales, Maarten leads a global team of cash sales specialist covering the Financial Institutions and FinTech client segments. In addition to his position at Barclays, Maarten holds advisory roles at several industry bodies covering the international payments market. He is a member of the Advisory Group on Market Infrastructure for Payments (AMI-Pay) at the European Central Bank, a forum for the exchange of views on developments in payments. He serves on the TARGET Workgroup at the European Banking Federation and was a founding member of the Swift workgroup that developed the new GPI standard for cross-border payments.

Stephen Alsace has over 20 years’ experience providing advice on financial crime, AML and sanctions issues. He recently assumed the role of Global Head of Sanctions at RBC in May of last year. Prior to joining RBC, Stephen was a Director in the Global Investigations and Compliance practice of Guidehouse consulting since 2018. While at Guidehouse, Stephen led projects relating to AML and sanctions gap assessments for global financial services and digital asset clients, and was embedded as a Senior Leader on the Compliance Team for a global payments service provider. Stephen also spent over 18 years at CIBC, starting in the Legal Department as the lead lawyer on AML and Sanctions, then as the Global Head of Sanctions and Terrorist Financing. Stephen has spoken at numerous conferences in Canada, the US and UK on sanctions matters, provided sanctions and terrorist financing instruction to the RCMP, FBI and MI-5, and has testified as an industry expert on sanctions matters Canadian Parliamentary and Senate Subcommittees in 2017 and 2022. Stephen has law degrees from the University of Windsor and University of Detroit Mercy and a Master’s degree on European Integration from the University of Strasbourg.

Leonardo Baccala is the Global head of Product Development in Trade & Working Capital Solution organization and takes a horizontal leadership role across Trade Working Capital Loans, Receivables Finance, Payables Finance and Core Trade. Mr Baccala's is responsible for setting the product platform strategy, promote business digitization and infrastructure modernization and improve client experiences, considering the evolution of the industry and clients’ needs globally. Prior to this appointment, Leonardo was the head of Product Development for Trade Americas and Regional Product Manager responsible for Trade Digitization in Latin America. Mr Baccala joined Citi as Senior Project Manager in Brazil starting in 2011, and moved to US as head of Enterprise Services for Latin America in 2014. Ever since, Leonardo has managed the implementation of a variety of projects, driving efficiency product transformation and digitization for the business.

Alexa Deuschle has dual responsibilities as the US Head of Strategic Payment Initiatives and the Global Operations Cross-Border and Cross-Currency Value Stream lead. With HSBC since 2016, she has held key roles in many transformation programs including replacement of the firms Core Banking system, the retail banking divestiture, and most recently the ISO 20022 migrations. Alexa is leading the design and implementation of innovative solutions by identifying opportunities to improve end to end client experience and streamline operations.

Patrick DeVilbiss is a subject matter expert in trade finance and oversees product management of CGI Trade360, a SaaS-based end-to-end trade finance platform utilized by global financial institutions to deliver trade services. He has supported the development of large-scale platforms delivered to top 10 global financial institutions in the trade finance space. Previously he worked for the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade, where he helped to position the transaction banking industry for long-term growth and success by developing best practices and delivering education and training to member institutions.

Richard Dzina is responsible for the on-going development and execution of product strategy for CHIPS and SVPCO, and also contributes broadly to the evolution of our payment systems. Most recently Richard served as Executive Vice President and Wholesale Product Director for the Financial Services Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In this role he had responsibility for the Fedwire Funds, Fedwire Securities, and National Settlement Services and the Bank’s Cash and Custody Function. Prior to this responsibility he led the Market Operations Monitoring and Analysis Function of the Markets Group during the financial crisis. Over the course of his 28-year career at the Fed Richard also ran the Bank’s Central Bank Services Function, led the International Cash Staff, and performed numerous other roles canvassing the Bank’s monetary policy, supervisory, and financial services responsibilities.

Ryan Leirvik is the Founder and CEO of Neuvik, a cybersecurity company. He has nearly two decades of experience in offensive and defensive cyber operations, computer security, and executive communications. His expertise ranges from discovering technical exploits to preparing appropriate information security strategies to defend against them. Ryan is also the author of “Understand, Manage, and Measure Cyber Risk” (Apress 2023).

Jim has thirty years of experience in financial services and technology, having held global and regional leadership positions with JPMorgan for 17 years in payments and cards, as well as Deutsche Bank in trade and supply chain finance. Much of the last decade has been spent working on digital innovation in the fintech space, including as the America’s Region Head for SunTec Global Business Solutions. Currently, Jim is the Americas head of sales for Pelican.ai, bringing a robust suite of AI driven payments and compliance solutions to the corporate, retail banking and insurance markets. Jim has sat on several industry advisory boards and is a current member of the BAFT payments committee.

Martin is Head of U.S. Client Relationships for Financial Institutions at Bank of China, New York Branch. Based in New York City, he originated and managed cross-border capital market businesses and flow businesses across Asia-Pacific, North America, and Latin America, with main focuses on RMB-denominated and Asia-related business opportunities. Martin has more than 24 years of experience in financial services and he joined Bank of China in 2020 from HSBC. Under his stewardship, Bank of China U.S. and HSBC U.S., respectively, were named Best RMB Bank in the U.S. by The Asset multiple times since 2017.

Martin Markiewicz is the co-founder and CEO of Silent Eight - a creator of artificial intelligence-powered solutions to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Based in Singapore, Martin provides the vision and the driving force behind the company’s advancements in fighting financial crimes. Silent Eight solutions are utilized by leading banks for AML and CFT purposes.He has over 16 years of experience with software and artificial intelligence solutions covering a wide range of applications. With an education in mathematics and a strong passion for entrepreneurship, Martin has created many successful startups in Europe and Asia, including a successful IPO. In 2001, he launched his first startup, konsultant.it, which offered software & hardware development solutions for SME’s. From there he moved to Wola Info, a leading European IT company, to become a strategic sales director. He then established SevenFlow Investments – a multidisciplinary engineering company with a track record of landmark projects. SevenFlow Investments would finally become a part of a highly successful IPO. Martin loves modern technology, computer gaming, and is fully dedicated to living a green lifestyle that respects our planet and all of its inhabitants.

Paulina is Executive Director and Head of the Trade and International Banking team at BBVA in Mexico City. She is responsible for the FI clearing product, as well as for leading a group of sales and service professionals, covering relationships across the world. She´s also responsible for leading Transaction Trade Finance sales for banks and more recently for corporates. Paulina has over 14 years of experience in the transaction banking industry, with a focus on Financial Institutions. She holds a Green Banking Certificate from RENAC Renewables Academy, multiple Corporate and leadership post-graduate certificates from IESE Business School in Spain, as well as International business/trade certificates from Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico.

Hillel Olivestone is the Head of Strategy and Corporate Development at Cross River and joined the company at its inception in 2008. His responsibilities include supporting the Bank’s pursuit of new initiatives, partnerships, and potential M&A opportunities. Hillel also created and runs Cross River Digital Ventures the company’s venture capital arm. Hillel previously served as the Treasurer and Head of Strategy and Innovation and continues to play a multifaceted role in Cross River’s growth. In addition to Cross River, Hillel has worked at JP Morgan in its Digital Wealth Management group and as an analyst at Cedarview Capital Management, a high yield debt fund. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Yeshiva University.

Miriam Ratkovicova is a Managing Director in the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Sanctions practice of Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP. She has more than 20 years of experience advising US, Canadian, European and Asian large financial institutions on various Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)/AML, Sanctions, Anti-Bribery & Corruption and other Financial Crime compliance matters. Specifically, Miriam has led multiple large and complex projects involving historical transaction investigations, Know Your Customer (KYC) remediations, AML and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) risk assessments, and customer risk ratings. Miriam has delivered AML/Sanctions engagements in numerous countries throughout Europe, including Germany, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Portugal, UK, Cyprus and Slovakia. Currently, Miriam is serving several large financial institutions based in China, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.

Nick Smit is a Managing Director, Head of Financial Institutions North America, with responsibility for originating and executing transactions for financial institution clients in North America, including asset managers, insurance companies, and banks. Nick has 18 years experience in the financial industry, primarily in corporate and global client relationship management. After he joined ING in 1995 as an Account Manager in Global Clients based in Amsterdam, he held various management roles within ING’s global banking network, including Head of Corporate Banking in Geneva, Head of Global Clients and Head of Corporate Clients for the Nordic Region based in Brussels, and Chief of Staff for ING’s global corporate and institutional business based in Amsterdam. Prior to joining ING, he worked in international trade and export finance at Standard Merchant Bank in Johannesburg.

Raghu Srinivasan is part of Global Payment Solutions at Bank of America and is the Global Head of the FI Clearing products. Additionally, he oversees the Bank’s strategic relationship with SWIFT. He is a member of the CHIPS Business Committee at The Clearing House, SWIFT USNG, and the Payments Market Practice Group. Previously Raghu led the US and EMEA cash management payment processes handling wire & ACH transactions valued greater than $1.4 Trillion per day. He also led the development of the strategy and establishment of the Bank’s Sanctions Screening Center of excellence – a scalable enterprise shared service to monitor compliance of customer relationships and day-to-day transactions with Bank’s global economic sanctions program. In addition, he supported the end-to-end payment business through business risk management control roles, establishment of processes to demonstrate compliance with global regulations and served as liaison on corporate audit / global regulatory reviews. Raghu joined Bank of America in 2004, in Corporate Audit and led audits across multiple business units covering Card Services, Global Markets, Wealth Management, Staffing support and Global Development Centers of Excellence. Subsequently, Raghu, led the turnaround of the Bank of America Merchant Services and in 2009, helped in the due diligence efforts and formation of Banc of America Merchant Services (JV).

Moshe joined Traydstream in 2020 and is Global Head of Sales and Implementations for Europe and the Americas. Before joining Traydstream, he was Executive Vice President at Surecomp for over 12 years responsible for sales and pre sales. Moshe has an MSC in Computer Science and an MBA degree from Tel Aviv University and has been a lecturer on Information systems for over 20 years.

Ken Wong is Head of Product Strategy and Innovation for the Global Transaction Bank at TD Bank that encompasses the Financial Institutions, Cash Management and Trade Finance lines-of-business. He has been in the financial Industry for over 30 years in different business divisions from Consumer Banking to Corporate and Institutional Banking with roles from Front Office Financial Services Sales and Relationship Management to Back Office Operations and Technology. He is a seasoned Treasury, Cash Management and Payments practitioner with extensive experience in the Foreign Exchange integrated Payments and Clearing space. He has extensive international exposure with working assignments in Asia, Europe, Middle East and North America.