Joe Jackman is the Founder & Chairman of Jackman Reinvents, a transformation-focused consulting firm, and CEO of Catapult Capital Partners. With 35+ years advising C-suite leaders and private equity, he’s led major reinventions at Walgreens, Staples, and Loblaws. He’s the author of The Reinventionist Mindset, host of The Reinventionists podcast, and an AMA Marketing Hall of Legends inductee. Joe brings a timely perspective for financial institutions facing disruption and the need to realign for growth.

Ritesh Kotak is a leading Technology and Cybersecurity Analyst, as well as a licensed lawyer in Ontario specializing in Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Emerging Technologies. He began his career in public safety, contributing to cybercrime investigations and the development of cyber-related police units. His expertise led him to the private sector, where he advised Fortune 500 tech companies on cybersecurity, privacy, investigations, AI and digital transformation projects. Ritesh holds an MBA with distinction from the University of Edinburgh and a JD specializing in Technology Law from the University of Ottawa and BBA from the University of Toronto. He also completed the Emerging Leaders Executive Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

As a respected keynote speaker, Ritesh has presented at major international events such as the World Internet Conference (China), NATO-Sponsored Cybersecurity Summit (North Macedonia), FBI/Major City Chiefs Conference (USA), Intersec (Dubai), and the Jamaican Constabulary Force Training Academy. He has also appeared as a witness before Canada's House of Commons committees twice on tech-related issues. Ritesh is a trusted media contributor, with his insights featured in publications such as the BBC, CBC, CTV, Global News, Financial Times, and The Economist.

Sheila joined Central 1 in 2018, becoming President & CEO in 2022 after serving as Central 1’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Interim President & CEO. With more than 25 years of experience in business, risk and financial leadership, she has held senior roles at Payments Canada, the Bank of Canada, and served as CFO at multiple organizations. A respected voice in Canada’s financial sector, Sheila has served on the Interac^® Corp. board of directors since 2023. She holds a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA,CA) designation, a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University, an ICD.D designation and a Master’s Certificate in Enterprise Risk Management from York University.

Prior to co-founding Neo, Jeff was co-founder, Chief Commercial Officer for Skip. Oversaw and drove the growth to 35,000 restaurant partners, including each national brand in Canada - McDonald’s, Tim Hortons, KFC, Burger King, etc. Prior to co-founding Skip, Jeff was a professional athlete: 5x Canadian National Champion, Pan Am Games Medalist & a member of the 2012 Canadian Olympic Team.

Kevin is a recognized leader in the financial services industry – having the unique combination of thirty years in traditional banking and over ten-plus years focused on financial technology. Kevin has been the Chief Revenue Officer for FundMore.ai since its go-to-market strategy was initiated by FundMore in 2020. FundMore is an automated underwriting system designed to streamline the pre-funding process for loans. Customers include Banks, Credit Unions, monoline & digital mortgage lenders, and MICs.

As a recognized leader in the Fintech community, Kevin is the Executive Treasurer of the Canadian Lenders Association (and is the Founder and past Chair of this organization which now boasts over 250 members from the lending and technology marketplace here in Canada). He is an active advisor in the Fintech industry with several Advisory Board positions, and is the founder of two financial technology companies, both which focused on the automation of credit risk analysis.

Prior to his engagement in financial technology, Kevin spent 30 years with The Bank of Nova Scotia culminating in several executive appointments with responsibiltiies across global businesses and markets while serving over 11 years on the Bank's senior credit committee.

Jason joined RBC in 2021 as Head of North America Rates Strategy focusing on Canada/US macro, Fed/BoC policy, and interest rate markets. He has 25 years of experience across various asset classes. Prior to joining RBC, he was the Global Head of Emerging Markets Strategy (FX, Rates, Sovereign credit) and Head of Asia Research (economics, equity, FX, rates, and quantitative strategy) at Société Generale. Before re-joining the sell side, Jason spent five years on the buy side spanning macro, rates, FX, equity, and credit asset classes - CIO at Royal Oak Capital Management and Chief Economist at Exelion, a Singapore based Asia macro hedge fund. Previous roles included Merrill Lynch as a G10 FX Strategist, Goldman Sachs as a G10 FX Strategist and a Canadian economist, and the Bank of Canada focusing on foreign exchange.

Buffy Duke brings an insightful approach cultivated through diverse experiences across 5 continents, spanning large corporations, regulated financial institutions, and nimble startups. She drives key initiatives in areas including mobile wallets, digital banking, AI, embedded finance, payments modernization, and open banking. Buffy's significant contributions have been recognized with the Thought Leadership award from Women In Payments, Canada, and by The Financial Technology Report, which named her one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Financial Technology of Asia.

Sukhman Singh Dulay is the CEO and co-founder of Cyder, a fintech that helps credit unions design, implement, and manage innovative loyalty and rewards programs. By leveraging data-driven strategies, Cyder enables credit unions to increase member engagement, boost product adoption, and drive long-term growth. Under the leadership of Sukhman and his co-founder, Will Christodoulou, Cyder has been recognized as Canada's Most Promising Fintech by the Canadian FinTech Forum and as Canada's Next Best Founders by Next Canada.

Rob is the founding Partner and CEO of PMG Intelligence that launched in 1993. His entire career has been focused on the field of market research and data science and has had the opportunity to lead and support strategic initiatives for Canada’s major banks, insurance carriers, mutual fund industry, and regulatory agencies. In addition to the financial services industry, Rob has played a key role in behavioural research in healthcare and risk management in both private and public sectors, which have supported the creation and evolution of new approaches to behavioural segmentation and predictive analytics. Over the past two-plus decades, he has had the opportunity to speak to and educate public, corporate, government, academic, and non-profit industry partners at a strategic level and has played an active committee role with client organizations, facilitating, and implementing research, data, and data-driven technologies.

James Grosskopf is VP of Fintech Partnerships at Innovation Federal Credit Union. Based in Calgary, he helps Innovation advance its purpose of Simplifying banking for Canadians, with a focus on solving problems through Fintech Partnerships.

James’ career has come full circle. He began in the credit union system, where he earned a financial planning designation before transitioning into leadership where he helped launch virtual services, a move that proved especially timely before COVID. He later moved into fintech, where he helped take a point-of-sale lending solution from concept to a US launch, before stepping into his current role at Innovation. This path has given him perspective from both sides of the table.

He has complemented his experience with education at Oxford, Cornell Tech, Columbia Business School and MIT Sloan. Drawing on these learnings, James introduced a four-step approach that emphasizes transparency, collaboration, execution and measurable outcomes. Through it, the team at Innovation has delivered process optimizations, new member benefits, acquisitions and balance sheet optimization initiatives. The team’s goal is to bring partnerships to life in ways that are practical, compliant and built to last.

James is a doer who thrives on collaboration with peers, partners and other credit unions. He hopes credit unions collectively can become the partner of choice for Canadian fintechs, unlocking mutual gains for both and strengthening Canada’s credit union system.

Brian Harris is an award-winning technology executive and visionary global leader with over two decades of leadership experience spanning global markets, high-growth industries, and community-based transformation. He began his executive career in Victoria Canada, where he helped grow a local FX company into a Fortune 500 payments powerhouse, before taking on senior roles in the U.S., London, England and Denmark.

Now serving as the President and CEO of Beem Credit Union, he brings world-class perspective and deep local commitment to the challenge of building a modern financial institution rooted in trust, inclusion, and technology. Known for his ability to connect strategy with impact, Brian is a respected voice on the future of payments, financial inclusion, and leading transformation with purpose. 

Idan Itskovich is a Strategic Intelligence Analyst for the RCMP's National Cybercrime Coordination Centre (NC3). Having been with the RCMP since 2019, he's worked to support the development and creation of the NC3. Today, he works on NC3's Strategic Intelligence team.

The Strategic Intelligence team works to identify cybercriminal trends, emerging threats in the cybercriminal landscape, profile threat actors and authors the RCMP's annual threat assessment on cybercrime. In his current role, Idan focuses on better understanding the cybercriminal ecosystem, malware, ransomware and the enablers of cybercrime and cyber-enabled fraud.

Dan Iwachiw is the Vice President and Head of Product at Visa Canada. Dan leads the Consumer Payments and Value-Added Services for Canada. Dan is responsible for the overall strategy, transformation, and delivery of core consumer products including credit, debit, prepaid and platform benefits, as well as an ever-expanding array of Value-Added Services from digital, risk & identity, and acceptance solutions. During his 12 years at Visa Canada, Dan has held various leadership positions in Visa Consulting and Analytics, Strategy and Business Development, and Financial Institution Partnerships.

Prior to joining Visa, Dan spent over 10 years in leadership positions at American Express in the Canadian Card business.

Dan holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Smith School of Business at Queen's University.

Darrell Jaggers leads First West Credit Union’s information technology department and digital transformation practice. A talented executive with more than 30 years of IT and financial services experience, Darrell has built a strong reputation of accelerating change through an innate understanding of technology and people. He has a track record of successful enterprise system conversions and technology implementations and is constantly looking for the next wave of technology enablement. Darrell’s reputation as an IT leader and innovator has drawn significant interest from suppliers and the fintech community. This has enabled First West to rapidly build its technology and digital expertise and move to the forefront of digital transformation initiatives. Darrell ensures his IT experience is used to drive member experience and ensure the security of the credit union’s systems and digital assets. He is passionate about enabling business transformation through technology by providing a comprehensive suite of IT services to First West’s brands and members.

Darrell brings board experience, serves as a leader on credit union system committees, is well known as a strong collaborator and solution facilitator in the industry, and has helped shape credit union information and payment systems across Canada. Recognized as a member of Vancouver Island’s “Top Forty under Forty” in the financial services category, he has earned distinction among his peers and provides mentorship to many within and beyond the financial co-operative and technology industries.

Through a variety of roles, including leading sustainability, distribution strategy, and digital platforms, Jamie finds every opportunity to help people achieve more than they thought possible and use technology to make things easier for members (and customers). Jamie is passionate about strong communities. He volunteers with the United Way, Animal Rescue Foundation, Verge Social Capital, and the London Chamber of Commerce. In 2016, Business London Magazine recognized him as a “Top 20 Under 40” recipient.  Jamie holds degrees in engineering and business from Western University. He lives in London, Ontario, with his wife, Jen, his five-year-old daughter Eva, their menagerie of pets, and a drum set.

Janet Lalonde is the Vice President of Business Program Delivery at Payments Canada, responsible for leading the development of the Real-Time Rail, the new, 24/7/365 payment system that will facilitate the real-time delivery of low-value payments.

Janet has more than 20 years of experience in the financial industry with a strong focus on the clearing and settlement of retail payments. Previous to her current role, Janet led the delivery of the AFT enhancements and industry adoption of ISO 20022 which are both important elements of Payment Canada’s modernization program. Prior to that, Janet led the Payments Canada initiative to create a framework of rules and standards for cheque image exchange between Canadian financial institutions. 

With over two decades of experience safeguarding financial institutions from fraud and misconduct, Jenn MacDonald is a recognized leader in the world of financial crime prevention. As Director, Anti-Fraud Program and Corporate Security at Vancity, she blends deep industry expertise with a sharp strategic mind to build resilient systems that protect members, reputations, and bottom lines. Jenn’s career spans frontline business operations, payments, investigations, enterprise risk strategy, and executive-level program design. With her unique blend of operational depth and strategic foresight, she’s known for turning complex fraud threats into actionable insights—and for making even the driest compliance topics unexpectedly engaging.

When she’s not chasing fraudsters or shaping policy, Jenn is mentoring the next generation of fraud fighters and championing ethical leadership across the financial sector.

J.D. (John David) Penner is a treasury management and payments expert with over 25 years of experience. He founded JD Penner Enterprises Inc. in 2019 to provide leadership, consulting, and training services to financial institutions and corporate treasury professionals looking to grow capabilities and optimize treasury management globally.

J.D. has held roles at RBC, Scotiabank, Bank of America, CIBC, IBM, Intellect Design Arena Ltd., and in working capital management outside banking. He leads client, sales, product, and technology teams to develop and deliver treasury and payment solutions for financial institutions and large corporates. He is also a regular presenter in industry forums and has published several articles and blogs for his 1,500+ followers on LinkedIn and for corporate entities such as IBM on their external channels.

From 2013 to 2019, J.D. represented Canada on the Swift Corporate Advisory Group and co-chaired a Payments Canada Modernization working group. He serves on the Association for Financial Professionals’ Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) Exam committee. J.D. earned his CTP designation in 2004 and Masters of Canadian Treasury Management in 2006.

With over 18 years of experience in the compliance industry, Holly leads the Alessa team as Chief Executive Officer. In a previous role managing partner relationships, Holly worked with numerous AML/KYC and fraud software providers to implement solutions to clients of all sizes, in a variety of industry verticals. This front-line experience allowed Holly to garner a deep foundational knowledge of the nuances of the fraud and compliance landscape, leading to her recognition as a thought leader in the compliance space. Her speaking engagements at AML and fraud panels, often discussing the convergence of the two fields, showed an industry need for a solution able to provide a comprehensive view of clients. This recognition of clients’ needs to consolidate point solution vendors into a singular platform, providing greater efficiency and accuracy, has allowed for a natural transition to Holly’s leadership of Alessa, an all-encompassing solution that brings together KYC, KYB, AML, and fraud into a singular platform.

Geoff Rice is a Principal at Dorset Consulting Inc., specializing in complex program management and stakeholder engagement for major financial technology initiatives. He is currently leading the Industry Readiness workstream for Payments Canada's Real-Time Rail (RTR) project, where he is responsible for preparing and monitoring the RTR participants for a successful implementation. With a strong focus on building and maintaining key relationships, Geoff represents Payments Canada in external governance meetings and provides subject matter expertise to various working groups. His expertise lies in developing processes to support and monitor industry-wide readiness, identifying risks, and ensuring effective collaboration between internal teams, vendors, and industry participants to achieve project objectives.

In his capacity as Coast Capital’s Chief Risk Officer, Peter is responsible for directing and leading the risk oversight function for Coast Capital in accordance with our risk appetite and regulatory requirements. This includes assessing the adequacy of, ensuring compliance with, and effectiveness of Coast Capital’s operating procedures.

Peter holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Manitoba. He brings over 35 years of financial service experience to his role, including progressively senior roles within HSBC Bank Canada. Peter is a Member of the Canadian Bankers Association Risk Committee, the Canadian Bankers Association SMSB Risk Committee and Director of the Risk Management Association Vancouver chapter.

Todd leads Deloitte’s Market Infrastructure Cluster and Payments Practice. He is responsible for leading Deloitte’s efforts across a range of financial services institutions, exchanges, networks, processors, service providers and regulators.

Todd’s team delivers market leading advice, delivery, and on-going operational support on a wide range of mandates including technology enabled transformation, payments systems modernization, M&A advisory and process optimization. Todd is an active advisor to senior financial services executives, Boards, private equity investors and regulators.

Prior to joining Deloitte, Todd was the Senior Vice President of Enterprise Payments and Innovation at CIBC. Prior to CIBC, Todd led the Corporate Strategy Practice at Deloitte and the North American Financial Services sector at Monitor Company. Todd has served on the Boards of various payments companies and industry stakeholder groups.

As the Director of Industry Readiness and Deployment for the Real-Time Rail (RTR), Aaron is focused on engaging with RTR participants to understand and meet their readiness needs for RTR deployment. A career payments professional, Aaron has led payments transformation initiatives in both the Canadian and US markets, working with some of Canada's biggest banks and payment service providers. 

Rob oversees Co-operators commitment to building a sustainable, resilient and financially secure society for Canadians and their communities. Delivering on the organization’s strategy, he directs its ongoing evolution from an insurance-focused company to a holistic financial-services provider – one that offers multi-line insurance and investment products, and personalized advice.

As a strong advocate of co-operative values, Rob believes that the way to foster Canadians’ financial strength is to invest in communities, so they can better withstand and recover from social, economic and environmental challenges. That’s why he has guided the company's investment of more than $7.05 billion – 52.6% of its total portfolio – into impact investments.

On the global stage, Rob is the Chair of the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF) and its charitable foundation, and is a member of the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) Steering Committee. He also shares his expertise on the Sustainable Financial Action Council (SFAC) and the Investment Advisory Board (IAB) of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).

Rob holds a BA with distinction in Theoretical Mathematics and an M.Sc. of Applied Statistics from the University of Guelph. He also holds a Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) designation.

Tolga is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA), where he serves as BC's Superintendent of Financial Institutions, Superintendent of Pensions, Superintendent of Real Estate, Registrar of Mortgage Brokers as well as Chief Executive Officer of the Credit Union Deposit Insurance Corporation (CUDIC).

With over 13 years of experience in financial regulation, crisis management, compliance, and innovation, Tolga has built a strong reputation as a leader in regulatory oversight. Before joining BCFSA, he oversaw financial institutions at the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), playing a key role in safeguarding Canada's financial system and overseeing regulatory risks.

Tolga's career is defined by his strategic leadership in high-stakes environments, showcasing his expertise in regulatory frameworks, public service, and economic and policy analysis. He has held senior roles in the federal government, including Assistant Deputy Minister of the COVID-19 Task Force at Health Canada, Assistant Deputy Minister at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, and Director General of Health Canada's Consumer and Hazardous Product Safetly Directorate.

Tolga holds bachelor's degrees in law and commerce and two master's degrees in law from the University of Oxford.

Kris Zanuldin is Head of KONEK, building convenient and trusted payment experiences for consumers, merchants, and financial institutions—with a vision to become Canada’s leading way to pay. He brings over 20 years of experience in payments, e-commerce, and fraud prevention. Kris previously served as Head of Product for Amazon Pay, leading global initiatives to simplify digital checkout for millions of customers, and has held leadership roles at Forter, American Express, and Powered by People. His work focuses on advancing secure digital transactions and creating seamless, trustworthy customer experiences. 

Julie joined Central 1 in 2016, assuming her current role in 2023 after holding progressively senior positions in client experience and member relations. Prior to Central 1, Julie held key positions at the Canadian Co-operative Association and the Co-operative Development Foundation of Canada, building strong relationships with credit union leaders and supporting global co-operative development. Julie is a graduate of the University of Guelph and holds a postgraduate certificate in leadership from Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business.

Brent joined Central 1 in 2015 as Chief Investment Officer, bringing decades of financial leadership experience from senior treasury roles at Manulife Financial and earlier positions with CIBC in Toronto and New York. At Central 1, he manages a $10 billion investment portfolio and oversees funding and financial services for clients across Canada. Brent holds a Master of Business Administration from McMaster University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder. He serves on the board of Aviso Wealth Inc., chairs its Audit Committee, and sits on the boards of CU CUMIS Wealth Holdings, Co-operators Insurance, and Central 1 Trust Company.

Barclay joined Central 1 in 2025 as Central 1’s Chief Payments Officer, bringing more than 20 years of experience in both Canadian and international payments and financial services. He has held multiple executive roles at TD Bank, including VP and Head of Product, Canadian Credit Cards – where he led the largest product and loyalty transformation in the bank’s history. At TD, he also served as VP, Customer Strategy and VP, Decision Sciences and Payment Networks. Earlier in his career, Barclay spent 13 years at American Express, leading end-to-end payments businesses and some of the company’s largest global partnerships. He most recently served as Chief Payments Officer at Metrolinx.

Carol Ann joined Central 1 in 2023 as Chief Risk Officer, responsible for risk management, compliance, regulatory and government affairs. She previously served as Chief Risk Officer for both the Bank of Canada and Payments Canada, where she led enterprise, operational and financial risk functions. Carol Ann also held senior roles at the Bank of Canada focused on financial stability and oversight of systemically important financial market infrastructures. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Science and a Master’s in Financial Economics from the University of Toronto, and a Master’s Certificate in Enterprise Risk Management from York University.

Stephen joined Central 1 in 2009 with more than 25 years’ experience in operational leadership and client experience across multiple sectors. Since joining us in 2009, he has led major transformation initiatives, including the merger of Credit Union Central of Ontario and the British Columbia Central Credit Union and key payment systems modernization. He has led and supported numerous important advancements for Central 1 and its members, including real-time payments, cheque image capture and fraud detection controls. As a strong client advocate, Stephen is also accountable for operational excellence across Payments Operations, Support, Product Compliance, Design and Delivery.

Ron joined Central 1 in 2022, bringing more than 30 years of experience spanning credit, collections, fraud, data privacy and product management. Ron leads the Fraud and Compliance Products and Services team at Central 1, delivering fraud prevention, Anti-Money Laundering and compliance solutions to clients across Canada. Ron brings a global perspective and has worked in a number of international markets across Europe, Australia and South America. He is a champion for innovative technologies that protect over 5 million Canadians daily. Ron holds a BA in Legal Studies from Carleton University, along with certifications in product management and strategy.

Tracey Kliesch (ICUDE) joined Central 1 in 2022 and is the AVP, Treasury Client Services & New Business. Tracey has been in the credit union system for over two decades specializing in treasury & payments, business development, community impact and operationalizing values.

She holds a Master's degree in Co-operative and Credit Union Management from Saint Mary's University and is the co-chair of the Co-operative Management Education (CMEC), the umbrella orgranization overseeing the work of the International Centre of Co-operative Management (ICCM).

Chris joined Central 1 in 2022 and now leads Platform Strategy and Product at Central 1, building the next-generation API platform that supports modern, customer-centric banking for our clients. Chris is a financial services executive with more than 20 years of experience at the intersection of product and technology in banking. He has held leadership roles at Canada’s major banks and fintech startups, spanning digital banking, payments, big data and user experience.

Bryan joined Central 1 in 2010 and is now Chief Economist, leading a team focused on macroeconomic and regional analysis for Central 1 and clients across the financial sector. He authors key economic and housing outlooks, provides frequent media commentary and speaks regularly at industry events. Within Central 1, Bryan contributes to risk and treasury committees and leads Central 1's IFRS9 National Platform business. Prior to Central 1, he held economist roles with the BC Real Estate Association, CMHC, and in academic research. Bryan holds an MA in Economics from Simon Fraser University and a BA from the University of Manitoba.

Scott is the Product Director, Payment Applications. He has over 25 years of experience with Central 1 beginning with traditional paper-based processing through the transition to image-based processing, centralized cheque returns, and image exchange. Today, Scott is responsible for product management of core payments including Interac e-Transfer, bill payments, and report and file exchange. As part of the journey towards Payments Modernization, Scott is a member of Payment Canada’s Real-Time-Rail (RTR) Working Group and leads Central 1's initiatives for RTR including Interac e-Transfer for Business moving to the Payments Canada RTR Exchange Clearing & Settlement.

Liz Marasse is a payments and digital strategy professional based in Ottawa with over a decade of experience in the payments sector. At Central 1, she leads payments strategy, stakeholder engagement, and change management, focusing on creating capabilities for credit unions, smaller financial institutions, and fintechs to leverage emerging payments capabilities.

She was nominated for the Women in Payments "Inspiration Award" in recognition of her work supporting clients as they navigate and plan for payments modernization. Liz holds a Master's Degree in Information Studies from the University of Ottawa and is an active member of several industry professional networks.