Events

Raphael Barisaac, Global Head of Cash Management and Global Co-Head of Trade Finance, UniCredit. Since 2019, Mr. Barisaac is responsible for the Cash Management and Co-Heading the Trade Finance at UniCredit Group level, developing strategy for Innovative solutions within the cash, trade and liquidity management for corporate clients. Mr. Barisaac joined UniCredit in 2015 as Global Head of Trade Products from Surecomp, a leading provider of global trade solutions, where he held various positions for over 15 years in Sales, Operations, Business Development, Account management and Client projects, among others. He started his career in banking at Mercantile Bank in 1994.

Jennifer Bearden is the Associate Director of the International Association of Credit Portfolio Managers (IACPM). The IACM is a non-profit industry association dedicated to advancing the practice of credit portfolio management through advocacy, research, education, communication and promotion of sound practices. The Association has grown enormously since its formation in 2001; IACPM members now total over 100 financial institutions around the globe. In her role, Jennifer works with Som-lok Leung, IACPM Executive Director and Marcia Banks, Deputy Director to further the goals and objectives of the Association. Previously, Jennifer was a Director, Senior Trader at Bank of America Merrill Lynch for nine years. She traded credit default swaps, corporate bonds and loans for the global loan portfolio group covering various industries. Jennifer’s previous experience was as a Director at Bank One in the credit portfolio management group. Jennifer holds an MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern and a BA in Economics, Markets and Management from Duke University.

James Binns is the Global Head of Trade and Working Capital for Barclays Bank, which serves Corporate, NBFI and FI clients globally with teams located in UK, Europe, Americas, Asia and the Middle East. Prior to joining Barclays, James spent 4.5 years at Deutsche Bank where he headed Working Capital Advisory and Trade Finance for EMEA and latterly Global Cross Product Solutions. This followed 20 years at HSBC where James was based across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, USA and UK in a number of senior Corporate Banking and Trade Finance roles.

Jean-Francois Denis is Global Head of Trade Solutions for BNP Paribas. He was previously Deputy Chief Transformation Officer at BNP Paribas Fortis after close to a decade acting as Deputy Head of Cash Management at BNP Paribas, in particular in charge of Payments and Collections products. Before integration in BNP Paribas, he was Global Head of the Electronic Payments Operations at Fortis Bank, in charge of the operations on all geographies. He previously led major programs in the Fortis group: the implementation of a Shared International Payment Center and the setup of the core-banking platform of the Belgian Postbank. He started his career with Siemens where he hold during 8 years engineering positions in the banking and telecom lines of businesses.

Merlin Dowse is an Executive Director and a Global Product Manager within the Core Product team. In this capacity, Merlin leads a global team responsible for the management of digital solutions and innovation available to the clients of J.P. Morgan across the globe. Merlin previously held the position of Global Product Manager for the Portfolio Management Group within Global Trade at J.P. Morgan. In this role he led the digitization efforts of both the internal and external processes supporting the distribution of all trade finance assets. Prior to this, while based in London, he was managing the EMEA Trade product set for the Corporate client segment, where he worked on various initiatives such as the Bank Payment Obligation, SWIFT for Corporates whilst also helping expand J.P. Morgan’s global footprint. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Merlin worked in various capacities in the Trade Services department at Rabobank in the Netherlands. Merlin has been involved in numerous industry-wide initiatives and was recently appointed as Vice-Chair to the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) Banking Commission and he is also the Sponsor of the Commercialisation Working Group under the auspices of the ICC Digital Standards Initiative (DSI).

Robin Findlay is Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing for Surecomp – one of the leading providers of trade finance solutions. He is based in the UK and oversees Surecomp’s sales activities with banks and multi-national corporations across 6 continents. Robin has over 20 years’ experience leading international commercial teams for software providers such as Fiserv, FICO and TransUnion, helping financial institutions in both emerging and established markets to improve processes and profitability. Robin has Bachelor’s degrees in both Chemistry and Modern Languages and is currently studying for a further degree in Astronomy and Planetary Science.

Normand Girard is Director, Global Trade Operations for BMO. He is responsible for the Bank’s processing of all trade finance products in North America and Europe as well as process oversight in Asia. Mr. Girard has 35 years of experience in Global Trade Operations at BMO. During his career with the Bank, he has covered every role in Import, Export, Standby Letters of Credit and Collections as well as integral operations leadership roles throughout the evolution of BMO’s trade finance business. He has been Chair of the BAFT Southeast Committee from 2011 to 2017. He is a Certified Documentary Credit Specialist and currently Chair of the BAFT National Commercial Letter of Credit Committee since 2017.

Carol Hitselberger is co-leader of Mayer Brown’s Banking & Finance practice, and focuses her practice in the structured finance area. She spends significant time on accounting and regulatory developments that impact the structured finance industry. Carol is a member of the Structured Finance Association, the structured finance industry’s leading trade organization, and in 2019 was appointed to the Structured Finance Association’s Executive Committee. In addition, she is a Committee Chair of the Association’s Significant Risk Transfer committee. Carol often works with investors and issuers in structured finance products of most types, including trade receivables, credit card receivables, consumer loans, auto loans, aircraft, leases, franchise portfolios, government contracts, trademark licenses, and various other financial assets.

Steven Lotito is Managing Director and Head of Trade Finance in Transaction Banking for the Americas at MUFG Union Bank, N.A. In his role, Steven manages the sales and product management organizations responsible for advising the bank’s client’s in the Corporate, Commercial and Japanese Corporate Banking segments in North America navigate some of the most important trade markets by delivering timely information on international markets, bringing innovative products to market, and providing trade financing solutions and risk management strategies. Steven has more than 30 years of experience in commodity finance and international trade finance. Prior to MUFG, he served as Senior Vice President and Head of Sales, Global Trade & Receivables Finance, North America; and Director and Head of Transaction Banking for the Americas at HSBC Bank USA and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group respectively. In addition, he has held senior trade and commodity finance roles at ABSA Banking Corp., Ecoban Finance Ltd., Phibro Inc., and Chase Manhattan Bank.

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.

Michael McDonough leads the Trade & Working Capital functions for Santander’s Commercial Bank franchise in the United States. In this role he leads teams providing solutions across the Commercial Card, Core Trade and Supply Chain / Accounts Receivable solution sets. Additionally, his team leads the development and management of the Domestic and International working capital channels, which include Santander’s international Treasury Management platform. Prior to this role, Michael held a number of roles at J.P. Morgan including global product head for the Corporate Trade & Supply Chain Finance business and head of N. America Trade & Export Finance. Michael previously held global Supply Chain Finance roles at RBS and ABN Amro in London and Amsterdam. Michael has both a BS and a MBA from Boston College.

John T. Murray is a Senior Vice President in Global Trade Product and Portfolio Management in Treasury Services Global Product Management. His responsibilities include Trade and Supply Chain Finance Product Management for North America corporates, ECAs and BNY Mellon Network. Previously John worked with acquisition and distribution of trade-related assets from bank counterparts and risk mitigation with non-bank (insurance) and World Bank IFC programs. He also worked in sales for the Mid-Atlantic and Southern U.S. investment grade corporate and financial institutions for trade processing and supply chain finance. Prior to his sales roles, John managed the Client Services and Implementations unit within the Trade Finance Services division, responsible for trade product relationship management, new business implementation and business administration.

Caryn Pace is a Managing Director in Global Payments Solutions at Bank of America. She heads Global Portfolio Management & Product Risk in Global Trade & Supply Chain. In this role, she has responsibility for the trade portfolio including monitoring, development of risk mitigation strategies, forecast impacts, and balance sheet management. Her team has oversight of risk mitigation on a portfolio and transaction level, including routines involving high risk transactions, asset quality, and business control. To drive and influence the global trade business strategy, she engages with clients and potential third party partnership opportunities to understand market perspective and evolving product needs. Caryn is a part of Bank of America’s Hispanic-Latino Executive Council. She serves on the GPS Social & Economic Action Council and is an active leader in junior talent initiatives. Previously, she held positions within global trade at J.P. Morgan where she worked for 12 years. She currently serves as a Vice-Chair on the International Chamber of Commerce Banking Commission. Caryn received her bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and is based in New York.

Ebru Pakcan is the Head of Treasury and Trade Solutions business for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) based in London. Ms Pakcan is actively engaged with Citi's clients across Corporate, Financials Institutions and Public Sector entities, developing payment, cash management and trade financing solutions to meet their evolving requirements. She leads a team of business managers, product and sales specialists across a set of diverse markets and disciplines.

Gayle Roenbaugh is the Export Finance Director for the West Region with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Working closely with the network of SBA field offices and SBA’s Office of International Trade (OIT), she provides international trade and export finance expertise to small business exporters and lending communities to deliver them effective export results. Gayle works with SBA-staffed U.S. Export Assistance Centers (USEAC) to educate small business exporters, their lenders and trade related organizations on trade finance products through market knowledge, financing options and trade connections. She also provides insights into SBA’s trade policy and market developments in collaboration with key stakeholders. Prior to joining SBA, Gayle was Senior Regional Manager for Export Development Canada (EDC) where she provided market knowledge, trade connections and financing origination to support the development of Canada’s direct or indirect export trade. She was also Senior Trade Sales Manager at HSBC Bank’s Global Trade & Receivables Finance group and led the sales, execution and management of the bank’s SBA and Export Import Bank of the U.S. Of The United States (EXIM) lending programs as well as Supply Chain, Receivables Finance and traditional trade solutions and has held similar roles at RBS Group, PNC and JPMorgan Chase.

Tom Scarpulla heads customer retention and relationship management for the Americas at StoneX Technology Services LLC (STS). STS is a dedicated technology unit within StoneX Group Inc., a global financial services company headquartered in New York. STS provides a range of business-driven financial technology solutions designed for business driven goals and needs. Solutions include SWIFT connectivity, integration, treasury management solutions, and compliance. Tom joined StoneX Technology Services in early 2019, previously he worked at SWIFT in New York where helped lead the Asset Management and insurance vertical.

Ms. Kristine Siebel retired in 2022 after 45 years in the Letter of Credit world. At retirement she was a Vice President at Societe Generale in their Trade Finance Group, previously she had been a Senior Credit Officer for Royal Bank of Canada responsible for their Captive Reinsurance Business in New York. Prior to joining RBC, Ms. Siebel was Assistant Vice President and Standby Letter of Credit Risk Officer for JPMorgan Chase Bank in New York. Ms. Siebel began her career in Trade Services with JPMorgan Chase’s predecessor bank Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company. Ms. Siebel has extensive experience in both the issuance and the risk aspects of Standby Letters of Credit. She has been a member of the BAFT North American Standby Letter of Credit Committee since its inception in 1994 and was the Chair of the committee until her retirement. At this time she is also an Honorary Member of BAFT.

Josh Stein arrived to the American Bankers Association in October 2017. He works alongside Mike Gullette in the ABA’s efforts with the FASB and the U.S. banking regulators in helping bankers understand and implement policies and regulations related to accounting, financial reporting, internal controls, and capital management. Specifically, Mr. Stein is working on efforts related the implementation of FASB’s CECL standard. Mr. Stein brings to the ABA almost twenty years of experience. Mr. Stein started his career as an auditor for KPMG, where he concentrated on financial institutions. He worked as an analyst and an inspector for the PCAOB. He also worked in an accounting policy position at a large private equity firm. Mr. Stein is a Certified Public Accountant.

David Unsdorfer is a Senior Vice President at StoneX Technology Services (STS) in London, and is responsible for growth in the EMEA and Asia Pacific regions. STS is a dedicated technology unit within StoneX Group Inc., a global financial services company headquartered in New York. STS provides a range of business-driven financial technology solutions designed to drive business performance and improve operational efficiencies. Prior to joining StoneX, David held senior relationship management positions with both ClearBank and SWIFT.

Kris Van Broekhoven is Chief Financial Officer of Komgo, the multi-bank digital platform that is streamlining trade finance and introducing blockchain based tools to mitigate fraud. Until recently, Kris was Global Head of Commodity Trade Finance at Citibank, where he spearheaded the digital transformation of trade finance and led Citi’s involvement as a founding member of Komgo. Prior to Citi he was EMEA head of structured commodity trade finance at Deutsche Bank. Kris has 26 years of international banking experience and is determined to bring an inefficient and paper based industry into the digital age.

Michael Vrontamitis is the Lead Industry Principal for Finastra’s Lending Business Unit, which covers Cash Management, Trade and Working Capital Management, Retail and Corporate Lending. He also advises several start-ups, including Kountable Inc, and is a member of the World Trade Board. A renowned industry thought leader, he is particularly passionate about the intersection between sustainability, technology and finance and the impact digitalization can have in narrowing the trade finance gap and enabling sustainable supply chains. Prior to Finastra, Michael spent 25 years with Standard Chartered, spanning both wholesale and retail clients, as well as investor relations, working in Hong Kong, London and Singapore. He was the Global Head of Trade Finance Product, and most recently responsible for the bank’s trade finance business with European and American headquartered companies. He also looked after sales, product, distribution, service and implementation in Europe and the Americas.

Stephen Wojciechowicz is a Senior Principal in Product Management for BNY Mellon, responsible for development and delivery of USD Clearing services. He is a chairman emeritus of the BAFT Payments Committee and a former dean of The Payments Institute. He joined BNY Mellon in 2019 after holding leadership positions in risk and product management at Deutsche Bank and HSBC. He has held a variety of roles at SWIFT, including sales and market development of file transfer and FX trade matching services in North America.

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.

Andrew Boyajian leads product commercialization of emerging payments and fintechs for Wholesale Payments at J.P. Morgan. Focused on harmonizing products and platforms across the North American markets, he works with networks to modernize payments and evaluate fintechs for opportunities and growth. With expertise across the payments industry, Andrew previously served as Head of Banking, North America for TransferWise, expanding the company into Canada, the US, and Mexico as well as managing its strategic financial partnerships. He also served as Director of International and Payments at Kickstarter, where he launched the crowdfunding company across to new audiences across seventeen markets. Andrew graduated from Elizabethtown College with a BS in International Business and began his career with financial operations roles at Google and Eventbrite.

Marie-Laure Gastellu is the Global Head of Trade Services since November 2016. Engaged in the transformation of trade finance, she is an executive banker with 30 years of experience in banking, transformation, innovation and management of large French and international teams. Marie-Laure joins Societe Generale in 1989 within the internal consulting department. In 1994, she takes responsibility for a portfolio of corporate clients in Paris and then in New York, and runs SG Americas’ Marketing division from 2001 to 2004. Until 2006, Marie-Laure is Global COO of Societe Generale’s division for corporate clients and investors, and then Chief of Staff to Chairman and CEO Daniel Bouton between 2006 and 2009.

Natasha Condon is the Global Head of Core Trade within Wholesale Payments at JPMorgan Chase. She has 15+ years of experience across trade finance and working capital solutions for both corporate and financial institutions. She has extensive experience with providing strategic working capital advisory, risk mitigation, sales growth, and digital efficiencies for the top multinationals in the world. Natasha comes to the firm from Citi, where she was the Global Trade Sales Head. While there, she led five regional teams around the world and provided personal leadership on large strategic deals.

Neil Gregory is Chief Thought Leadership Officer of the International Finance Corporation, the private investment arm of the World Bank Group. He has held a range of senior strategy and management roles at IFC, including research, business planning, investment and advisory functions. He was previously Adviser to the UK Executive Director of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and an Economic Adviser to the UK Government. He has extensive work experience in South Asia, China, Africa and the Caribbean. A British national, Neil has MA and MSc degrees in Economics from Cambridge and Oxford and an MBA from Georgetown.

Shawn Haynes is the Vice President, Operations and Business Management at BAFT. Mr. Haynes joined BAFT in spring 2017. His primary responsibilities include oversight of BAFT’s regional councils and the association’s educational offerings. Since joining, Mr. Haynes has stood up the BAFT Project Management Office, which connects banks with specific consulting or training needs to industry professionals. Prior to his role with BAFT, Shawn worked as management consultant leading operational-improvement programs for manufacturing, and financial services industry clients.

Carsten Hils is the Global Head for StoneX Groups Payments Division. He has started the business in 2003 and has managed it since then. Prior to working for StoneX Group, Carsten held positions in Treasury, Trading and Asset Management with major financial institutions in Frankfurt, London and New York. His focus was on the markets of developing world in the foreign exchange, money markets and in the interest rate segment. He received his education and formal bank training in Germany.

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.

Vinod Madhavan is currently Group Head: Trade, Standard Bank. In this role he is responsible for Trade, one of the universal capabilities identified by Standard Bank, to be delivered across the Group. Thereby, allowing Standard Bank to show up as one universal financial services organization, wherever they are based and whichever client segment they are servicing. He also has P&L responsibility for Trade across the Group (i.e., across sectors in Corporate & Investment Bank and divisions in Personal & Business Banking units). Standard Bank franchise (spanning 20 markets in Africa) offers trade and supply chain finance services and solutions, to clients in Institutional, Corporate, Commercial, Business and Enterprise client segments.

Luke Perkins is our Head of Global Cross Border Payments, driving the product strategy, development and innovation across ANZ’s cross border payments products. Luke is a Transaction Banking professional, with over 20 years’ experience in the Payments industry. Starting in Operations and Technology through the early part of his career, Luke has since specialised in the Financial Institutions segment, with roles including establishing ANZ’s Network Management function; Head of Agency Clearing (Australia), Head of Financial Institution Sales (Americas) and most recently, Head of Clearing Product (Australia and New Zealand).

Dave joined Form3 in 2022 in order to lead the charge to bring Form3's platform and capabilities to bear on the US market. Dave has worked in transaction banking for over 25 years and joined Form3 from SWIFT where he was Chief Executive for the Americas, UK and Ireland with responsibility for the company's largest relationship as well as its global securities business. Prior to SWIFT, Dave was the Global Head of Financial Institutions at Barclays, responsible for the bank's correspondent banking, FI trade, flow FX, and liquidity management businesses for FIs. He has also worked at Deutsche Bank and Bank of New York in both product and strategy roles and across various products lines including cash, trade finance, custody and corporate trust.

Gerald Walker was appointed Chief Executive Officer of ING Americas in July 2017. He has worked for ING since 1990, holding a range of senior positions - most recently as CEO UK, Ireland, Middle East & Africa. Non-executive positions have included: Chairman of the Board of The Association of Foreign Banks (UK); Board Director of TheCityUK, Board Director of the European Association of Banking & Financial History (Germany) and Member of the Wholesale Advisory Committee of the British Bankers Association. He holds a Masters Degree in Economics from The University of Edinburgh (UK).

Craig Weeks is an independent consultant for organizations needing Trade Finance, Supply Chain, and other Transaction Banking expertise. Craig serves as an advisor to the Global Trade Professionals Alliance, an organization dedicated to the development of international standards to harmonize and facilitate inclusive and trusted Trade. Craig is also an Executive Practicum Adviser within the North Carolina State University Supply Chain Resource Cooperative (and a member of the SCRC Advisory Board). Craig is an Advisory Board member of the Falcon Group, a leading inventory management solutions provider and also an advisor to Capital and Credit Risk Manager (CCRM), a Singapore-based FinTech. Craig was appointed as a Senior Advisor to ESG Validation, a London based entity providing the investment community with independent, consistent, and evidence-based assessment of ESG performance. In March 2019 Craig was appointed to the 2019-2020 cohort of the Trade Finance Advisory Council (TFAC) of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Craig served as SVP and Manager of the International Banking Group of US Bank where his responsibilities included managing the Trade Finance, International Financial Institutions, and Supply Chain Finance teams. Prior to US Bank, Craig was President and CEO of IRIA (US) Inc., a subsidiary of a Swiss-based specialist broker of commodity-related structured credit, and political risk, insurance products. Craig’s experience includes 4 years at Citibank and 14 years with JPMorgan where he served as MD and Global Trade Sales Head for both institutions.

Enno’s primary role is to help Surecomp fulfill its mission to enable seamless, sustainable trade for everyone by removing barriers and fostering collaboration. He is responsible for driving Surecomp’s strategic direction to ensure product development is completely aligned with customer needs. A seasoned expert in the field of corporate banking with a focus on cash and trade, Enno joined Surecomp in March 2021. Prior to that he spent five years at leading global management consultancy firm McKinsey. He has also held senior positions at Commerzbank, one of the world’s top 20 trade finance banks. Enno’s command of the trade finance industry and his strong customer orientation are key to enabling customers drive growth through enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, fostering collaboration and improving customer service.

Anne Clarke Wolff is chairman of Global Corporate and Investment Banking (GCIB) at Bank of America. Based in New York, Anne focuses on some of our largest global clients to help drive client coverage effectiveness and collaboration across GCIB. Her responsibilities include leveraging the strategic delivery of the bank’s balance sheet and increasing opportunities for C-suite and boardroom dialogue across the globe. Prior to this role, Anne spent the past eight years building Bank of America’s strategic corporate banking and leasing businesses into industry leaders. Anne is the executive sponsor for the Women’s Leadership Council within Bank of America’s Global Banking and Markets. She has been recognized by American Banker as one of The Most Powerful Women in Banking and by Crain’s New York as one of the publication’s Notable Women in Finance.

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.

David Woo is head of Global Rates, FX and EM Fixed Income Strategy & Economics Research at BofA Global Research. In this role, he is responsible for the bank’s views and forecasts for developed and emerging sovereign bond yields and exchange rates. Woo also serves as a member of the Research Executive Management Committee. Woo joined BofA Global Research from Barclays Capital, where he served as head of Global Foreign Exchange Strategy for six years. Before joining Barclays, he spent four years at Citigroup as head of Local Markets Strategy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He began his career as an economist at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. Woo has a B.A. in mathematics from Tufts University and a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University.

Saravana Perumal Govindarajulu, currently works as “Head of Correspondent Banking & Network Management” at Emirates NBD, Dubai. He carries extensive experience in Clearing Products & Correspondent Banking, and well versed in Cross Border Payments & International Clearing and Settlement Systems. His current role includes managing the Group Clearing Product as offered to Financial Institutions clients in all presence locations of Emirates NBD(ENBD), and group’s Nostro relationship as part of his Network Management responsibilities. Prior to joining ENBD, Saravana was associated First Abu Dhabi Bank, Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), managing the clearing product and offshore USD/EUR clearing system. Before moving to Dubai, Saravana also worked with banks in Germany and India, managing the High Value Payment Business, and carries deep understanding and experience in managing the risks associated with cross border payment business. Saravana holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce graduated from India.

Alale Allal serves as the Export Finance Director, Southeast Region f or the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of International Trade covering the Southeast Region of the U.S. he oversees a team of Export Finance Managers, that are tasked with meeting the daily demands of the small business export community. He is responsible for ensuring the overall success of his defined region which includes helping small businesses to grow their export sales. Mr. Allal is also responsible for coordinating efforts with State and County officials to ensure SBA meeting the needs of the community.

Brian Anderson is Vice President, International Banking Development at Finzly. Brian has spent his career introducing innovative fintech solutions to International Bankers in Global Payments, Foreign Exchange and Trade Finance. With over 30 years’ experience in business development and product management at financial technology companies like Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg, and Finzly, Brian brings deep domain expertise in foreign exchange, international and domestic payments, treasury management, trade finance and other markets.

With more than 14 years’ experience in the financial sector, Mencia has held several positions in Global Debt Finance (GDF), Risk Division and Global Transaction Banking (GTB) since she joined Santander Corporate & Investment Banking in 2006. She joined Santander in 2006 as a member of the Global Project Finance Group, where she led complex structured transactions across different geographies and industries. In 2010, she moved to the Risk division, as Director of Structured Finance, becoming responsible, at a global level, for the Infrastructure and Natural Resources sector.

Marcos is Global SPOC (single point of contact) on the Go To Market team at SWIFT, based in New York. He supports global adoption of the ISO 20022 Cross Border Payments and Reporting messages as part of SWIFT’s ISO Adoption Programme. Marcos works closely with banks and other financial institutions, promoting and supporting innovation of the end user’s payment experience, harmonizing systems/schemes and refining efficiency of operations. All with the goal of helping to achieve the SWIFT Strategy of Fast and Frictionless Payments.

David is an advisor to banks and Managing Director in EY’s Financial Services Organization based in Chicago. At EY he leads their Trade Finance and Working Capital Finance practice in North America as well as EY’s Trade Automation Platform solution. David is has over 30 years of experience in the banking industry, primarily in Transaction Banking, including developing new innovative growth strategies, achieving revenue growth, improving efficiencies, deploying leading-edge technology and leading large-scale global transformation programs. He recently led EY’s Trade Finance and Working Capital Finance practice in North America. Previously he held global executive roles in at Citibank and ABN AMRO/LaSalle Bank as well as consulting firms advising the sector. He has served as a Director of bank subsidiaries focused on Trade and was a Founder / Director of the Trade Information Network, an industry consortium designed to improve small to medium-sized enterprise access to funding.

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.

Louise joined SWIFT in Singapore in 2019 and is responsible for Global Trade Strategy; she collaborates across the Trade eco system to diagnose industry challenges, and reshape the landscape. Louise has over 15 years’ experience in Financial Services, gained across 3 continents, in disciplines including Business Development, Strategy and Leadership. She joined SWIFT from Barclays Bank, where she most recently served as Head of The Financial Institutions Group (FIG), Asia Pacific. Prior to moving to Asia, she held a number of positions at Barclays including Head of Global Client Solutions consulting senior management, on the strategic ramifications of structural and regulatory reform.

Stacey Facter has been Senior Vice President for Trade Products at BAFT for the last six years. Ms. Facter is responsible for managing all the Association’s activities related to trade products and serves as the primary subject matter expert for trade issues, overseeing and managing BAFT’s trade councils, committees and working groups and helps members develop guidance tools for the trade industry. Ms. Facter serves as a public spokesperson for the organization to stakeholders, regulators and policy makers on industry matters affecting the international trade finance community and is BAFT’s primary technical resource for trade related education and training.Ms. Facter has more than twenty-five years of experience in international banking, including over twenty years with JP Morgan Chase Bank, covering emerging markets, international trade finance, cash and risk management, and securities collateral management.

Graham Finding is based out of the UK, and is currently Global Head of Business Financial Crime Risk in HSBCs Global Trade & receivables Finance business. He has over 36 years’ experience in the banking industry working in Internal Audit, Operational Risk, International Operations and Trade Finance. He is also Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce Financial Crime & Policy Group and a member of the ICC/BAFT/Wolfsberg Trade Finance Principles Working Group.

Normand Girard is Director, Global Trade Operations for BMO. He is responsible for the Bank’s processing of all trade finance products in North America and Europe as well as process oversight in Asia. Mr. Girard has 35 years of experience in Global Trade Operations at BMO. During his career with the Bank, he has covered every role in Import, Export, Standby Letters of Credit and Collections as well as integral operations leadership roles throughout the evolution of BMO’s trade finance business. He has been Chair of the BAFT Southeast Committee from 2011 to 2017. He is a Certified Documentary Credit Specialist and currently Chair of the BAFT National Commercial Letter of Credit Committee since 2017.

Jake Jacobson is practice leader commercial, corporate, and small business banking technology. Working with our world class CCSB business, strategy, and process experts EY is helping banks modernize and innovate around corporate lending, treasury and cash management, payments, trade, and supply chain. Jake joined EY in 2014, before that he was a director of strategy at IBM. Jake earned a BS in finance from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Josh Kroeker is the Chief Product Officer of Contour, a network to lead a global adoption of blockchain-based trade solutions. Josh has 15 years of experience in Hong Kong and Canada in senior positions across trade finance business development, learning and development, trade finance product management and corporate banking innovation at HSBC, one of the world’s leading trade finance banks. Josh’s passion is to increase the accessibility of trade finance through technology and has been involved in a majority of the industry’s trade digitisation efforts in the past decade, particularly in regards to traditional trade products. Most recently he has led a global innovation team pioneering the use of blockchain to provide a breakthrough for trade and trade finance, a notoriously difficult to change industry.

Oswald Kuyler is the Head of Strategy Europe for Monetago, the world's foremost fraud prevention technology provider to prevent domestic and cross-border duplicate financing. Kuyler currently holds multiple advisory positions on the international stage. Digital Standards Adviser role to the International Chamber of Commerce UK. Adviser to the International Chamber of Commerce Digital Standards Initiative (DSI) Governance Board. Kuyler has also joined the MineHub Board of Advisors. A technologist focused on accelerating the digitization of trade. Driven by the opportunity for the financial services ecosystem to service more customers as digitization produces more efficiencies, products and risk mitigations.”

Alexander R. Malaket, CITP, is the President of OPUS Advisory Services International Inc., in Canada, and Founder and Managing Director of Trade Finance Associates Pte in Singapore. Mr. Malaket is recognized internationally as a specialist and senior consultant in international trade and trade finance, having advised top-tier financial services, corporate, government and international institution clients across the globe, and having developed and delivered a variety of training seminars on an international basis. Mr. Malaket serves as a member of the Executive Committee and Technical Advisor to the ICC Banking Commission in Paris, as Secretary/Treasurer of the World Trade Centre in Winnipeg and is a long-time member of the Toronto Regional Board of Trade/World Trade Centre, as well as a member of the SWIFT/ICC Industry Education Group on the Bank Payment Obligation. Alexander is a member of the Board of Directors of the Forum for International Trade Training, Ottawa, Canada. Alexander is the author of “Financing Trade and International Supply Chains”, published by Gower/Ashgate UK.

Mr. Steve Nichols is the BAFT Representative for Asia. Based in Signapore, he is responsible for growing the BAFT transaction banking community in Asia. Formerly an executive vice president and head of Global Trade Services for the Wells Fargo International Group (IG)., he was responsible for setting and implementing the overall trade strategy and direction for trade activities and ensuring that Wells Fargo trade businesses and initiatives are synchronized as an integrated business.

Gwynne joined Lloyds Banking Group in Feb 2018 to lead the Global Transaction Banking (GTB) Financial Institutions (FI) and NBFI Sales teams. Gwynne was then asked to lead the GTB Global Trade business, which included Open Account and Traditional Trade Product, Solutions and Sales across SME, Mid-Caps, Large Corporates and FIs. In 2021 Gwynne took on the role as Head of Working Capital within Client Products, responsible for the suite of Invoice Financing solutions in addition to Trade Finance. Effective June 2022, she became CIB of Head of Trade, Lending and Working Capital Solutions & Sales. Gwynne has significant International experience through her time with Barclays Bank, Wells Fargo and SCB. She spent 18 years in Asia, as Managing Director, Head of Asia FI and Co-Head of Asia Corporate with Barclays as well as CEO & MD of Southeast Asia for Wachovia Bank, when she acquired the Hanoi business and was responsible for six offices in the region. In her earlier career with Wachovia (Well Fargo), Gwynne was based in the both the U.S. and Italy, opening the Milan Office and leading Coverage & Sales across some of the Southern Europe markets. In addition to her current role as Managing Director & Head of Lending, Trade and Working Capital, Gwynne is a passionate advocate and driver of diversity and sustainability initiatives across the organisation and has developed relationships with a number of FinTech's within this space – championing partnerships and pilots to address sustainable supply chain finance, mapping and risk mitigation, as well as carbon scoring to support UK corporates with Scope 3 emissions reduction. She is engaged across industry bodies such as UKEF, ITFA and BAFT, representing Lloyds Bank.

Mike A. Parra, CEO of DHL Express Americas, is responsible for the management of DHL Express business activities in over 55 countries and territories across the Americas, which includes the company's presence in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Mike joined DHL in 1997 as a Service Center Manager in South Florida and quickly progressed within the DHL organization in leadership roles within the U.S. and Americas Region. Before his most recent appointment in 2016 as CEO of DHL Express Americas, Mike served for nearly three years as CEO of DHL Express in the U.S. He has also served as Senior VP of Network Operations for the Americas Region and Senior VP & Area General Manager, Western U.S. Before his career at DHL, Mike worked for ten years with TNT Express Worldwide.

Daniel Pische serves as the National Director of Trade Finance within the SBA’s Office of International Trade in Washington, DC. As Director, Daniel is responsible for the design and delivery of SBA’s export loan programs and oversight of SBA’s national staff of Export Finance Managers. Prior to joining the SBA, Daniel worked at First American Bank for over 15 years where he led their Trade Finance Division and served as a member of the bank’s Senior Loan Committee. Daniel served on Department of Commerce’s Trade Finance Advisory Council during the second charter term and continues to serve as the SBA’s ex-officio representative where he assists with recommendations on improving access to Trade Finance for small and midsized exporters.

David M. Sena joined the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) in 2001 in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. He served as Vice President, Treasurer before being named Chief Financial Officer in 2012. In October 2017, Mr. Sena was named the Senior Vice President of the Office of Board Authorized Finance (OBAF). OBAF is responsible for transactions underwritten for presentation to the Board of Directors and typically include medium-and long-term transactions above $10 million.

Ms. Kristine Siebel retired in 2022 after 45 years in the Letter of Credit world. At retirement she was a Vice President at Societe Generale in their Trade Finance Group, previously she had been a Senior Credit Officer for Royal Bank of Canada responsible for their Captive Reinsurance Business in New York. Prior to joining RBC, Ms. Siebel was Assistant Vice President and Standby Letter of Credit Risk Officer for JPMorgan Chase Bank in New York. Ms. Siebel began her career in Trade Services with JPMorgan Chase’s predecessor bank Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company. Ms. Siebel has extensive experience in both the issuance and the risk aspects of Standby Letters of Credit. She has been a member of the BAFT North American Standby Letter of Credit Committee since its inception in 1994 and was the Chair of the committee until her retirement. At this time she is also an Honorary Member of BAFT.

Marc Smith is a Financial Services Consulting and Technology Entrepreneur and founder of Conpend. He has specialised himself in the execution of strategic change in Trade Finance using technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and DLT. His current focus is on digitalisation and automation of the Trade Finance processes covering compliance, TBML and examination of documentary credits according to the ICC rules.

Edward Stoltenberg is a Director for Treasury and Trade Solutions, Global AML Risk, serving as an AML resource to the Trade Business. In his current role, he is responsible for all AML aspects of the Trade AML program, working with stakeholders across the three lines of defense. Mr. Stoltenberg was selected to lead the embedding of machine learning into operations processes to detect Trade Based Money Laundering, and Sanctions red flags. Due to the successes of the before mentioned, Mr. Stoltenberg embarked on several exploratory projects to implement machine learning in areas such as vessel behavior and Military Dual Use goods. Mr. Stoltenberg joined Citi in 2014, leading Citi’s Horizontal AML Risk Assessments, conducting reviews in areas of higher AML risk, including Trade Finance. Prior to his work in financial services, Mr. Stoltenberg served as an Armor/Cavalry Officer in the United States Army.

David J. Vidal holds the position of Managing Director in the Defense Production Act Program (DPA) at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. In his role, Mr. Vidal manages the origination and underwriting of transactions within the Life Science and Pharmaceutical Industry practice in the DPA Program. The DPA Program is focused on financing projects that expand domestic manufacturing capacity for U.S. supply chains, with a focus on COVID-19 investments. Prior to his role at DFC, Mr. Vidal served as Head of International Trade Finance at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), where he led SBA’s nationwide trade finance program. Mr. Vidal also led various international initiatives and served as a U.S. Delegate for the United States-Mexico-Canada International Trade Agreement (USMCA) while at SBA.

Naomi Gendler Camper is Chief Policy Officer at the American Bankers Association. In this role, she leads the ABA’s policy and advocacy functions, including government relations, regulatory policy and compliance, economic research and the office of strategic engagement. Her division also includes specialized groups, such as the Card Policy Council and the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade. Prior to joining the ABA in June of 2018, Naomi spent 13 years as a Managing Director at JPMorgan Chase in a variety of roles. As head of federal government relations from 2005 to 2012, Naomi was responsible for leading and expanding the firm’s engagement with Capitol Hill and the Administration during a time of significant change to the banking policy and regulatory landscape. She also served as head of consumer public policy and ran JPMorgan Chase’s Office of Nonprofit Engagement.

Christine Dirringer is the Head of Energy & Asset Based Structured Debt at BNP Paribas, overseeing the combination of two structured debt product platforms, Energy Structured Debt (ESD) and Asset Based Lending (ABL). ESD is a product group focused on the structuring of bank debt for commodity (namely energy) marketing companies and hybrid commodity marketing/midstream companies. BNP has a leading market position in this sector and Christine came up through this platform at BNP. Christine joined BNP’s commodity finance group in 2007 and after a stint as a Team Leader, ultimately assumed the role of Head of Commodity Structured Debt (now ESD) in 2017. She took on oversight of BNP’s rapidly growing ABL platform in 2020.

Lisa Frazier is the head of Wells Fargo’s Innovation Group, an enterprise-wide organization devoted to accelerating the company’s delivery of next-generation, customer-inspired technologies, products, and services. The Innovation Group leads programs in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), research and development (R&D) in new technologies, the Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator, and Greenhouse℠ by Wells Fargo, a mobile-first banking experience geared toward improving financial health and planning to customers who need it, like students or others who are new to banking, or those who are paid irregularly.

Ms. Patricia Gomes is Head of Global Trade and Receivables Finance (GTRF), North America for HSBC. In this role, she is responsible for leading and managing the GTRF business across Commercial banking and Global Banking clients. With 20 years of experience in banking, Ms. Gomes joined GTRF from the Financial Institute Group (FIG), where she was Head of North America. She has worked for HSBC since 2004 in a variety of roles in London, Hong Kong and New York. Prior to joining HSBC, Ms. Gomes worked with Citigroup, in Financial Institutions coverage and Credit Risk Management in both London and Lisbon.

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.

Rhona O’Connell joined the London office of StoneX in April 2019 to set up a team of analysts covering the metals markets, crude oil and products, and part of the softs and agricultural sector, to complement the existing teams in the Americas, Ireland and the Far East. She has over 35 years’ experience as a metals markets analyst and is a recognised authority in the precious metals sector. She has worked in a number of aspects of the industry, including the mining sector, commodities broking at Rudolf Wolff where she was a major contributor to Wolff’s Guide to the London Metal Exchange, and in the equity markets and investment banking. In the latter role she was the Group Precious Metals analyst at Shearson Lehman, where she responsible for advising or supporting a range of market participants from trading through equities to corporate finance.

Alexander Peters, executive director with 27 years of experience in financial leadership roles covering M&A, debt capital markets, trade & structured finance, corporate finance, financial reporting, commodity risk management encompassing oil & gas (upstream, midstream, downstream) as well as metals & mining sector. Highly specialized in high growth and turnaround commodity business with strong focus on emerging markets.

Diana Rodriguez is Vice President, International Policy at BAFT where she leads the association's global government relations strategy, focusing on prudential, regulatory and global trade policy matters. Her portfolio includes Basel III implementation, Libor transition, and U.S. trade policy. She coordinates joint advocacy with partner trade associations and other global stakeholders to advance BAFT policy priorities. Prior to joining BAFT, Diana served in the Obama Administration as Senior Advisor for International Trade at the U.S. Small Business Administration. There, she advised the SBA Administrator on a global portfolio of trade policy and trade finance matters, and oversaw the Agency’s global entrepreneurship promotion efforts in Asia, Europe and Latin America. Before that, she served as a Director in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s International Affairs Division leading trade policy efforts in Mexico.

Marc Singer is a leader of the McKinsey Digital Practice, focused on helping clients identify digital and omni channel opportunities for growth and performance improvement to translate into sustained growth. He serves leaders in a variety of consumer-facing businesses, including financial services, retail, media, telecommunications, and technology companies that sell into these vertical markets. In particular, Marc works with companies to set strategic direction and act on multifaceted, technical, operational, and organizational changes necessary to become more competitive. Recently, Marc worked with a travel provider to understand and act on the way shopping and buying in the category continues to be transformed by digital channels, with actions including reallocating marketing spend and building digital and analytics capabilities to acquire customers more effectively. In addition, he helped a leading consumer-goods company design and implement a modern marketing organization with appropriate digital, analytics, and agency-management capabilities. He also supported a digital music-subscription business with competitive strategy subscriber growth and retention.

Nicole Verkindt is the Founder & CEO of Canadian technology company, OMX (theomx.com). OMX is a global procurement platform specialized in driving socio-economic returns. The platform helps to increase and measure local spend/socio-economic impacts, including ESGs and other sustainability metrics. Previously, she led a global, high tech manufacturing business. Nicole is on the Board of the Canadian Federal Crown Corporation, CCC (Canadian Commercial Corporation) that performs government to government contracts between Canada and other countries around the world. She is a frequent technology commentator on CBC and technology columnist. She was a “Dragon” on CBC’s Next Gen Dragon’s Den, dedicated to early stage technology businesses and was an investor on Gimlet media’s show “The Pitch”. She was named Start Up Canada’s national woman entrepreneur of the year in 2017 and received the Canadian Advanced Technology Peter Brojde award for Next Generation leadership. She is on the board of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and a Next Gen member of the Business Council of Canada, as well as Co-Chair of the BCC’s Task Force on Canada’s Economic Growth. In 2019, she was named StartUp Canada’s Woman Ambassador of the year as well as one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40.

Normand D’Arcy is Senior Manager, International Services for National Bank of Canada. He is responsible for the Bank’s international products. He also oversees the evolution of international trade and supply chain financing. Mr. D’Arcy has been working in banking for more than 20 years, covering trade finance, international operations and strategy, as well as international payments.