9-9:10am ET

WELCOME REMARKS

Speaker: Peter Gordon, Head of Emerging Money Movement & Business Digital Officer, U.S. Bank

9:10-9:55am ET

BUILD: THE NEW PAYMENTS ECOSYSTEM

Join Madison Donnini, Vice President, Working Capital Consultant, and Ken Gruber, Senior Vice President at U.S. Bank for an exciting, fresh look at the evolving payments landscape from an embedded perspective, and the real-time ecosystem of money movement partnerships that make it possible.

Speakers:

• Madison Donnini, Vice President, Working Capital Consultant, U.S. Bank
• Ken Gruber, Sr. Vice President, National Embedded Payments, U.S. Bank

9:55-10:05am ET

BREAK

10:05-10:50am ET

CONNECT: PARTNERSHIP STRATEGIES FOR ACCOMPLISHING THE WIN-WIN-WIN

We know the customer is always right, but how should that inform the ways you’ll satisfy their expectations? Join Bryan Schneider, Head of FinTech Strategy & Partnerships at U.S. Bank, and a panel of leading payments industry experts for a discussion on the customer’s role in product and solution development and delivery, and how forming partnerships in finance and technology are more customer-minded than ever before.

Moderator: Bryan Schneider, Head of FinTech Strategy & Partnerships, U.S. Bank

Panelists:

• Gunita Bindra, Vice President, Commercial Product Management, Bottomline Technologies
• Gil Brodnitz, Chief Technology Officer, Financial Services, Microsoft
• Jeff Struzenski, Sr. Vice President, Global Banking, Kyriba

10:50-11am ET

BREAK

11-11:45am ET

INNOVATE: THE PROOF OF PARTNERING & THE ELAVON SUCCESS STORY

Merchant acquisition has a long history of innovation and has produced some of the most leading-edge technological developments in the payments industry. Hear from Steven Velasquez, Head of Partner Business Development at Elavon, and a panel of PayFac experts, on how a reimagined partnership model drove enterprise-wide innovation and became a competitive game-changer.

Moderator: Steven Velasquez, Head of Partner Business Development, Elavon

Panelists:

• Ken Gruber, Sr. Vice President, National Embedded Payments, U.S. Bank
• Ashley Isenberg, Vice President, Sales, Finix
• Rafael Rossi, Vice President & Head of Payment Facilitator NA, Visa

11:45-11:50am ET

CLOSING REMARKS

Speaker: Peter Gordon, Head of Emerging Money Movement & Business Digital Officer, U.S. Bank

1:20-1:40pm ET

KEYNOTE: NLP TECHNOLOGIES & APPLICATIONS IN DIGITAL ECONOMY

The goal of natural language processing (NLP) is to help computer to “understand” human languages. In the age of digital economy, many NLP technologies are driven by data and knowledges, including linguistic data, business data as well as domain knowledges. In digital economy platforms such as the Alibaba ecosystem, these data and knowledges are generated, processed and utilized to train machine learning models and systems for various applications such as information extraction, title rewriting, question answer, dialogue system and translation, etc. Overall, the progress in NLP technologies, accumulation of data and knowledges, as well as powerful computing platforms, make it easy to do business anywhere.

Speaker: Dr. Fei Huang, Sr. Director & Principal Research Scientist, Alibaba DAMO Academy

1:40-2:15pm ET

PANEL: ENABLING THE FUTURE OF FINANCE

Sponsored by:

The North American market is being shaped by the following trends: (1) Modernization of Payments infrastructure; (2) Digitization of Commerce; and (3) Reinvention of Banking: Proliferation of Data and Increase in Cybercrime. This session will explore how industry leaders can enable a broader array of payment flows to improve efficiencies and drive competition and innovation.

Moderator:  Michelle Beyo, CEO, FINAVATOR Inc.

Panelists:

• Ginger Schmeltzer, Principal, Mastercard
• Doug Woolridge, Vice President, Financial Services, North America, EPAM Systems

2:15-2:55pm ET

BREAK

Sponsored by:

2:55-3:15pm ET

KEYNOTE: OPTIMIZING THE VALUE OF FINTECH PARTNERSHIPS

Sponsored by:

FinTech partnerships have become increasingly important for banks and others across the financial services sector. But are FinTech partnerships really delivering? There is growing evidence that many of these partnerships are not performing or creating value as expected. This session will cover the role and nature of FinTech partnerships, challenges they typically face, and practical approaches for optimizing the value of FinTech partnerships going forward.

Speaker: Allen Kent Merrill, Sr. Managing Director, Ankura Consulting Group

3:15-3:50pm ET

PANEL: UPDATE ON CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCY

Central Bank Digital Currency has received a lot of press lately, but what is it and what roll can it play in the payments sphere? What can we learn from other countries and what is the U.S. stance? This session provides a context for a Central Bank Digital currency with experts from the United States and abroad.

Moderator: Brett Mecum, President, Cadmus Public Affairs, LLC

Panelists:

• Craig Borysowich, Director, Enterprise Architecture, Payments Canada
• Peter Tapling, Managing Director, PTap Advisory LLC

3:50-4:25pm ET

PANEL: THE POWER OF MINORITY TRANSACTIONS

Minority-owned banks and credit unions are key contributors to local economies. This educational session will explore best practices when entering the minority-owned marketplace and extending equitable access to underserved markets.

Moderator: Damon Kirk, Founder & CEO, Obsidian Banking

Panelists:

• Gail Burgos, CEO & Founder, Burgos Consulting LLC; Board of Directors Member, Wnet
• Rashedia Mayhane, Founder, Greenchips
• Quincy McKnight, CEO, Covenant Pay Partners

4:25-4:45pm ET

KEYNOTE: THE NEXT REVOLUTION IN FINTECH

The only constant in any industry is change, but it’s particularly applicable to payments. Understanding how the industry is changing is vital to future-proofing your organization. In this session, we’ll discuss key principles of what will make up the future of fintech.

Payments are backbone of fintech. Key principles of people-focused payments:

• Pain-free Payments: Customer expectations of ease continue to rise. If things aren’t easy, people abandon quickly. How seamless is payments…really
• Payments with Purpose: Let’s redefine the word “payments.” Payment = money + data. They must be connected. One w/o the other doesn’t work.
• Pliable Payments: Money has changed in form over the years…yet we still have most forms. Which wins? It shouldn’t matter to most businesses.
• Protected Payments: While technology continues to push payments forward, the one constant in payments is trust.
• Payments with Partners: Gone are the days where one company can do it alone. Payments is an ecosystem and that’s even more true today.

When you put all these together, you get “unified payments”; that’s the future of fintech

Speaker: Barry McCarthy, President & CEO, Deluxe

4:45-5:20pm ET

KEYNOTE: WHY ESG IS FUNDAMENTAL TO BLOCKCHAIN & THE FUTURE OF PAYMENTS

Data provides specificity for ESG by driving informed decision making and sustainable, transparent and accountable best practices. This session will explore the role of ESG in next-generation, decentralized business models and assess regulatory frameworks and respective roles of blockchain, cryptocurrencies, CBDCs, DeFI and the Metaverse in the global payments ecosystem.

Speaker: Nitin Gaur, Digital Assets & Technology Design, State Street Bank

5:20-5:55pm ET

PANEL: PAYMENT PROGRESS: BETTER WAYS TO PAY
The payments landscape is changing, from the propagation of 5G on mobile devices, to smarter, faster, modernized payment options. What does the payment future hold for business and consumer customers, from a user experience perspective? Is faster necessarily better? Will payment security, privacy, and convenience provide transactors with the confidence and protections to finally make frictionless payments a reality? This panel of payment experts will look at various payment options with their visions for creating better ways to way. Attendees will learn about the latest advancement in payments, along with what transactors can expect in the years to come.

Moderator: Greg Wilfahrt, Chief Mobility & Marketing Officer, AP Technology

Panelists:

• Elizabeth McQuerry, Glenbrook Partners
• Robert Skiba, Exec. Vice President, Government Relations & Emerging Technologies, InComm Payments
• Stewart Watterson, Strategic Analyst, Aite-Novarica Group

8:10-8:30am ET

KEYNOTE: OPTIMIZING FOR MOBILE PAYMENTS

Sponsored by:

Mobile phones and tablets are increasingly being used by buyers and sellers alike. Discover successful tactics for optimizing the payment experience on mobile devices.

Speaker: Shane Logsdon, Director, Product Management, Heartland

8:30-8:50am ET

KEYNOTE: THE SECRET WEAPON: FIGHTING OFF FINTECHS WITH DIGITAL BILL PAY

Sponsored by:

Fintechs are relentlessly launching products designed to replace or break apart a bank’s traditional accounts receivable offering. Without digital payment capabilities, banks are sitting targets for fintechs who can provide these services with greater efficiency and lower cost.

Speaker: Jed Rice, CEO, Aliaswire

8:50-9:25am ET

PANEL: HOW IMPORTANT IS A POS & WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS? FROM POINT OF SALE TO POINTS OF INTERACTION

Modern POS systems enable merchants to manage multiple business priorities beyond just payment processing. This session will share tips on leveraging cloud-based next-generation POS systems to control costs, reduce friction, mitigate risk and improve productivity and customer experience.

Moderator: David Lott, Payments Risk Expert, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Panelists:

• Allen Kopelman, CEO, Nationwide Payment Systems
• Heather Mlachnik, Sr. Vice President, Acquiring & ISO Sales, PAX Technology Inc.
• Ali Raza, Director, Protiviti

9:25-10am ET

PANEL: BUILDING FREIGHT FINTECH: DISRUPTING PAYMENTS IN THE TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY

Slow payments create major roadblocks for trucking owner-operators, many of whom are dealing with cash flow challenges, driver shortages, and supply chain issues. The solution: fintechs can drive faster payments, greater fuel card functionality, tailored rewards, and increased cash flow. Industry leaders discuss how to embed payments and tailor solutions to drivers’ needs, tackle cash flow issues in logistics, and accelerate payments for carriers and trucking companies.

Moderator: John Kingston, Editor at Large, Market Expert, FreightWaves

Panelists:

• Atif Siddiqi, CEO, Branch
• Luis Silva, Vice President, Digital Partnerships, Mastercard
• Jerry Tolochko, Strategy & Planning, Uber Freight

10-10:35am ET

NETWORKING BREAK – EXHIBITS OPEN

Sponsored by:

10:35-10:55am ET

KEYNOTE: THE POWER OF EMBEDDED REAL-TIME PAYMENTS

Sponsored by:

Embedded real-time payments allows companies, regardless of industry, to partner with banks to offer real-time payment services directly to their clients, deepening relationships, improving loyalty, value and monetization by removing extra layers needed to complete a transaction. Join this session to discover the power of simple, flexible, and tailored embedded real-time payments.

Speaker: Peter Gordon, Head of Emerging Money Movement & Business Digital Officer, U.S. Bank

10:55-11:30am ET

PANEL: MAKING MOBILE THE HOME OF TOUCHLESS PAYMENTS

This session explores growth in mobile payments in the US, including the role of superapps, NFC, QR codes, and faster payments.  Hear an expert panel from the world of payments and fintech, including the US Payments Forum, discuss the drivers, barriers, use cases and future of mobile payments.

Moderator: Greg Wilfahrt, Chief Mobility & Marketing Officer, AP Technology

Panelists:

• Deborah J Baxley, Co-Chair, Mobile & Touchless Payments Working Committee, US Payments Forum, and Partner, PayGility Advisors
• Travis Dulaney, President, Timeis
• Jessica Washington, Assistant Vice President, Payments Research & Outreach, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

11:30am-12:25pm ET

PANEL: DEFI PAYMENTS – WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW NOW

Decentralized finance (DeFi), which is based on blockchain technology, leverages stable coins, which are gaining acceptance and regulatory approval. DeFi products and services allow consumers to make direct payments to merchants and billers without bank or payment card network facilitators. This session will review available technology, products and services and the regulatory landscape, addressing key issues such as whether lack of anonymity will hurt DeFi adoption and the current state of stable coin participation by major FIs and federal and state regulation.

Moderator: Linda Odom, Partner, K&L Gates

Panelists:

• Robert E Daniel, FinTech Catalyst, Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC)
• Jeff Gapusan, Vice President, Strategy, Ledgible
• Dan Nunez Cohen, Sr. Policy & Regulatory Counsel, Crypto.com

12:25-1:15pm ET

NETWORKING LUNCH BREAK – EXHIBITS OPEN

Sponsored by:

1:15-1:35pm ET

KEYNOTE: WHAT DO CONSUMERS HATE ABOUT PAYMENTS?

Sponsored by:

Join us as we discuss how to end payment friction, which payment experiences prevent customers from buying, and which ones make them come back for more.

Speaker: Nick Hughes, Head of Growth, GoCart

1:35-2:30pm ET

PANEL: WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR PAYMENTS
What opportunities do crypto and metaverse  present for greater modality for digital commerce?

Moderator: Nitin Gaur, Digital Assets & Technology Design, State Street Bank

Panelists:

• Russel Moore, Director, Corporate Strategy & Development, Global Payments Inc.
• Ryan Rugg, Partner, Head of Blockchain for Americas, IBM
• Rajesh Venkatraman, Global Head, Vice President, Payments FinTech (in Stealth Mode)

2:30-3:05pm ET

PANEL: LOYALTY IS THE NEW, DEMOCRATIZED CURRENCY

This session will explore digital money technology as a way to mint, store, and use money and create your very own customer value chain. By incentivizing customers to pay non-customers with loyalty money, your customers can recruit new customers, who can perpetuate the value chain.

Moderator: Larry Berlin, Founder, Blue Point Advisory Services

Panelists:

• Chelsea King, Channel Development Manager, Valutec
• Gideon Samid, Chief Technology Officer, BitMint, LLC

3:05-3:50pm ET

NETWORKING BREAK – EXHIBITS OPEN

Sponsored by:

3:50-4:10pm ET

KEYNOTE: FROM SHARE OF WALLET TO SHARE OF LIFE: DECONSTRUCTING THE FINTECH FLYWHEEL

Banks everywhere are trying to re-invent themselves to compete more effectively with fintechs and others seeking to disintermediate them from their customers. They know data and partnerships are important, but despite millions spent cleaning up data and lots of fanfare about partnerships, these efforts rarely achieve desired results. This talk explores how leading fintechs have used data to create a customer experience flywheel and provides a framework for product and partnership strategies to change the game.

Speaker: Amy Young, Industry Digital Strategist, Microsoft

4:10-4:45pm ET

PANEL: THE RISE OF DIGITAL COMPENSATION

With declining cash usage and rising contact-free payment methods, companies are evaluating new options for attracting and paying high-quality workers. This session will explore how companies are innovating their payroll and payouts in response to current economic trends, from COVID to gig workers, and why these new forms of digital compensation are the future.

Moderator: Alex Cooper, Sr. Vice President, Sales, Ingo Money Inc.

Panelists:

• Travis Dulaney, President, Timeis
• Chip Harden, CEO, FuturePay Holdings Inc.
• Brian Hassan, Co-CEO, Kickfin

4:45-5:20pm ET

PANEL: NAVIGATING THE BNPL JOURNEY

Sponsored by:

Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) offerings, traditionally used in brick-and-mortar settings, tend to focus on the merchant/acquiring side but must expand and evolve in a digital direction, guided by merchant-agnostic mobile wallets. The session will explore the history of BNPL, the current post-pandemic payments environment and emerging domestic and international trends. Specific emphasis will be paid to global BNPL adoption and various implementations around the world.

Moderator: John Stewart, Editor, Digital Transactions

Panelists: 

• Darren Beyer, Co-founder, Chief Product & Strategy Officer, Qolo
• Tim Harris, CEO, FuturePay Holdings Inc.
• Ryan Tuttle, Sr. Consultant, Euromonitor International

5:20-5:40pm ET

KEYNOTE: PAYMENTS IN METAVERSE – HOW BLOCKCHAIN BRIDGES THE GAP BETWEEN WEB 2.0 & WEB 3.0

Sponsored by:

Bloomberg estimates that the Metaverse market may reach $783.3 billion in 2024, representing a compound annual growth rate of 13.1%. With such substantial potential, Web 3.0 and Metaverse merchants will transform the economy. There are built-in tools and proprietary cryptocurrencies in these parallel universes of tomorrow facilitating payments. With Blockchain and DeFi fueling this engine, the tectonic plates of payments in Metaverse are sure to shift, addressing the looming concerns around Privacy, Security, and Fraud. This session will help you de-mistify the noise and get the wheels turning.

Speaker: Ganeshram Ramamurthy, Director of Engineering, Emerging Technologies, Relevantz

8:30-8:50am ET

KEYNOTE: FRAUD ALWAYS FOLLOWS THE MONEY

Sponsored by

Consumers not only want new, creative, and convenient options to purchase goods and services, they demand it. They also expect a secure, personalized, and engaging omnichannel experience on all their devices. While merchants and e-commerce businesses rush to meet those demands, fraudsters opportunistically attack vulnerabilities within online shopping sites or take advantage of outdated purchase and return practices. Join this session to hear how AI and ML-driven technology can proactively detect and prevent digital fraud while delivering the right data and insights to help identify consumers, assess risk, enhance engagement, and grow revenue opportunities throughout the customer journey.

Speaker: Casey Zenner, Vice President, Global Sales, Kount, an Equifax Co.

8:50-9:25am ET

PANEL: LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS IN CRYPTO PAYMENTS

The session will cover legal developments in cryptocurrencies, highlighting emerging regulations, industry trends, and opportunities and pitfalls.

Moderator: James Huber, Partner, Global Legal Law Firm

Panelists: 

• Louis Armitage, CEO, Armitage Accounting/Crypto Consultants
• Michael Douglas, Global Legal Law Firm
• Edward A Marshall, Partner, Arnall Golden Gregory LLP

9:25-10am ET

PANEL: CNP FRAUD, FALSE DECLINES & ATOS

This presentation highlights new approaches to data-driven security solutions based on encryption and tokenization that leverage quantum randomness and Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC).

Participants will share insights and use cases.

Moderator: Henry Yu, President, HK Association of Atlantic; Chairman, National U.S. HK Business Association

Panelists:

• Andrew Deignan, Chief Marketing Officer, MagTek
• Mansour Aaron Karimzadeh, President & COO, Vality Corporation
• Ruihua Louise Liu, Co-founder, CB Payments Inc.

10-10:20am ET

NETWORKING BREAK – EXHIBITS OPEN

Sponsored by:

10:20-10:35am ET

KEYNOTE: THE EVOLUTION OF DATA BREACHES – AND WHAT IT MEANS TO OMNICHANNEL COMMERCE

2013 marked the beginning of high-profile malware attacks against retailers that catapulted the term “data breach” into the mainstream. Hackers have expanded threat vectors to include ransomware, phishing and e-skimming, while moving beyond the point-of-sale into Ecommerce and targeting healthcare, critical infrastructure, and more. Data breach damages are only rising, with IBM reporting the average cost of a breach increasing 12.7% from $3.86M in 2020 to $4.35M in 2022. Bluefin founder Ruston Miles will discuss the evolution of data breaches and their threat to the omnichannel acceptance environment, with an overview of key findings from IBM’s 2022 Cost of a Data Breach report and breach prevention and mitigation.

Speaker: Ruston Miles, Founder, Bluefin

10:35-11:05am ET

PANEL: MOVING THE NEEDLE: THE IMPORTANCE OF SPONSORSHIP

Sponsored by:

Focus on the importance of sponsorship, the impact it has on the industry and women and minorities advancing.

Moderator: Audrey Blackmon, General Manager, Strategic Partnerships, BHG Financial; Executive Board Member, Wnet

Panelists:

• Gail Burgos, CEO & Founder, Burgos Consulting LLC; Board of Directors Member, Wnet
• Polly Van Duser, Vice President, Talent Acquisition, One Inc.; Executive Board Member, Wnet

11:05-11:40am ET

PANEL: BEYOND PASSWORDS & PANS: THE NEW FRONTIER OF IDENTITY MANAGEMENT & FRAUD-FREE COMMERCE, POWERED BY ANONYMOUS BIOMETRICS

Identity management experts will discuss anonymous biometrics and its transformative potential for providing merchants, issuers and acquirers with secure, fraud-free online commerce without compromising customer convenience or privacy. Panelists will share how stronger authentication will help merchants replace passwords, card numbers, PINs or OTPs with anonymous biometrics-based multi-factor authentication to create more secure ways to login, check-in, transact and checkout.

Moderator: Marianne Crowe, Vice President, Secure Payments

Panelists:

• Christina Hulka, Executive Director & COO, FIDO Alliance
• Deepak Jain, Founder & CEO, Wink
• Jeremiah Mason, Sr. Vice President, Product Management, authID