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When

October 11 - 13, 2023 (UTC-04:00 EDT)

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Where

Mohegan Sun

Mohegan Sun Boulevard 1
Uncasville, Connecticut

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Dima Ghawi (Executive Coach, Author at Dima Ghawi, LLC)

Dima Ghawi

Executive Coach, Author at Dima Ghawi, LLC

Dima is Middle-Eastern in her genes, American in her heart, and a global citizen in her spirit. She ignites the untapped potential in individuals across the globe, empowering them to shatter limitations and become courageous, purpose driven leaders. Her own journey is one of escaping confinement, crossing continents, and transforming her life’s purpose. Harnessing the power of her story, Dima is committed to inspiring individuals to attain personal and professional growth.

Through keynote speeches, workshops, and executive coaching, Dima shares her unique leadership transformation journey with one goal in mind: motivate and activate those around her to reimagine their potential and grow into leaders.

Dima draws from two decades of corporate experience leading global teams and developing future leaders worldwide. She has worked across the United States, Europe, Asia, Middle East, and Africa for several Fortune 100 companies including IBM, Merrill Lynch, and Intuit. She has honed a keen expertise in developing leaders to meet the demands of the global workforce.

Dima’s memoir Breaking Vases received many awards including Writer’s Digest 2018 Grand Prize Award, Best Indie Book Award, Readers’ Favorite Award, National Indie Excellence Award, and Nautilus Book Award.

She has been recognized for her services with the 2014 President of the United States Bronze Volunteer Service Award, the 2019 Baton Rouge Business Report “Influential Women in Business,” 2014 Baton Rouge Business Report’s “Forty Under 40” Award, and the 2016 Louisiana State University “Esprit de Femme Award.” She has been featured in numerous publications for her professional and philanthropic work.

Felicity Aston (Explorer, Scientist, Speaker and Author)

Felicity Aston

Explorer, Scientist, Speaker and Author

Felicity Aston MBE is a climate scientist, polar explorer, expedition leader and record-breaker. She is both the only woman in the world to have skied across Antarctica alone and the first person in the world to have traversed the continent purely by muscle power. During more than twenty years of undertaking challenging expeditions in the world’s most extreme environments, she has instigated, organised and led the first British women's team to cross the Greenland icesheet, the world’s largest and most internationally diverse women’s team to ski to the South Pole, and a team of women from across Europe and the Middle East that together skied to the North Pole

Felicity reflects on her expeditions as both physical and psychological journeys. She believes that great achievements do not require innate outstanding capacity, but rather the building of personal confidence and mental resilience. Felicity has spoken widely about the profound loneliness she experienced traversing Antarctica alone and her personal battle to face, every morning, the extreme climate outside her tent, and to cultivate the perseverance we must all call upon in moments of adversity. Following lockdown, her tactics for dealing with this isolation, and her insights on reintegrating with society have resonated with many.

Felicity’s expeditions have repeatedly broken diversity records. Her ongoing commitment to diversity has plugged data gaps, reshaped scientific understanding, and shown that it is the individual and not the stereotype that counts.

In 2023, Felicity will be leading the B.I.G. North Pole 2023 expedition to collect material for crucial sea ice research. Though she has witnessed first-hand the impact of global warming, her outlook is one of pragmatic optimism: Felicity’s talks are fuelled by a resounding hope. ‘Antarctica is a brutal place. We can’t survive it, and yet we do,’ she points out.

She has published five books about her expeditions and her latest book is 'Polar Exposure: An all-women's expedition to the North Pole' published in 2022. Felicity has co-presented two BBC documentaries, and been featured in top news outlets including National Geographic, Vanity Fair, and Marie Claire. She is a Fellow of both the Royal Geographical Society in London and The Explorers Club in New York and has been appointed MBE as well as awarded the Polar Medal for services to exploration.

Robert Gibbs (White House Press Secretary (2009-2011), EVP & Global Chief Communications Officer, McDonalds (2015-2019), MSNBC Commentator)

Robert Gibbs

White House Press Secretary (2009-2011), EVP & Global Chief Communications Officer, McDonalds (2015-2019), MSNBC Commentator

A top advisor to President Obama for nearly a decade and the former Executive Vice President and Global Chief Communications Officer of McDonald's (2015-19), Robert Gibbs is a communication expert who offers audiences a unique perspective on today's political, business and media environment. Drawing on his experience as both a Washington insider and executive at one of the most recognizable companies in the world, Gibbs provides robust insights into everything from the economy and regulatory environment to healthcare reform.

Steven Rick (Director, Chief Economist of TruStage)

Steven Rick

Director, Chief Economist of TruStage

Steven Rick is a director and the chief economist for TruStage in Madison, WI. His primary responsibilities include conducting strategic research, analysis, and forecasting of the financial services industry with special emphasis on the consumer and credit union markets.

Rick’s forecasts serve as a starting point for the strategic planning process and help to create a clear understanding of the underlying trends and links between the general economy, the financial services industry, and CUNA Mutual Group’s policy owners.

Rick publishes the Credit Union Trends Report, a monthly “pulse check” on the economic state of the credit union movement. He has authored a textbook on asset-liability management for credit union executives.

Before joining TruStage, Rick was the senior economist for CUNA & Affiliate’s Economics & Statistics Department for 22 years. Rick also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the University of Wisconsin Credit Union, a $5 billion financial institution.

Rick holds a senior lecturer position with the Economics Department at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where he teaches Money & Banking and Macroeconomics courses. He is also the facilitator and instructor for CUNA Management School’s Stanford Bank Game, a computerized bank simulation, and has 2 years’ experience as a bank simulation advisor for the Prochnow Graduate School of Banking.

Rick has a B.A. in Economics from Moorhead State University; a B.S. in Finance from Moorhead University, and a M.S. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He also obtained a Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Steven Bibby (Director, Customer Success of eGain Corporation)

Steven Bibby

Director, Customer Success of eGain Corporation

Steven Bibby is in a primary business development role for eGain, where he specializes in assisting financial services clients with knowledge management and digital member engagement. He has over 30 years of experience working in and around contact centers and their information systems, including 10 years of consulting at Booz Allen Hamilton and 13 years at Wells Fargo, where he led efforts to make actionable customer data easier to find and developed a program with associated tools to improve customer financial literacy and wellness. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, and recently celebrated his second son to become an Eagle Scout.

Judy Britt  Cavanaugh, CAMS, PA, CUCE, BSACS, CUERME (VP compliance at The Credit Union League of Connecticut)

Judy Britt Cavanaugh, CAMS, PA, CUCE, BSACS, CUERME

VP compliance at The Credit Union League of Connecticut

Certifications: CAMS (Certified Anti Money Laundering Specialist, Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist), CUCE (Credit Union Compliance Expert, CUNA), BSACS (Bank Secrecy Act Compliance Specialist, CUNA), CUERME (Credit Union Enterprise Risk Management Expert).

Judy joined the CULCT in January 2013 as Training and Compliance Coordinator and currently holds responsibilities as VP of Compliance providing services to affiliated credit unions in CT. Prior to joining the League, Judy had extensive compliance/paralegal experience interpreting state and federal regulations, legal communications, and contracts, as well as providing relevant compliance training. She attended Sacred Heart University for Business Management and obtained her Paralegal Certification from the University of Connecticut.

Ancin Cooley, CIA, CISA (Principal at Synergy Credit Union Consulting)

Ancin Cooley, CIA, CISA

Principal at Synergy Credit Union Consulting

Ancin Cooley, CIA CISA, is the Founder and Principal of Synergy Credit Union Consulting, Inc. (syncuc.com) Synergy helps credit unions grow and thrive by helping them manage risk, increase profits, and help members. Synergy accomplishes this through a suite of services that includes: Director training, strategic planning, Enterprise Risk Management, Internal Audits, and Member Business Lending Audits. As principal, Ancin manages a growing portfolio of clients throughout the United States and Caribbean.

He brings more than 20 years of experience to the financial services industry. Ancin honed his skills while working at the US Treasury Dept. where he performed examinations for financial institutions ranging from $1 million to $11 billion in total assets. After leaving the Treasury Dept. Ancin worked for a regional accounting firm where he led internal audits, as well as loan and pre-regulatory examination reviews.

When not advising clients, training for triathlons, or spending time with his family, Ancin designs and conducts trainings for the credit union industry. In addition, he is a well sought-after expert contributor to a host of financial publications. He has most recently been featured in Forbes Magazine and the Credit Union National Association. Ancin is originally from New Orleans, LA but, currently lives in Chicago.

Allison Ebner (President at Employers Association of the NorthEast (EANE))

Allison Ebner

President at Employers Association of the NorthEast (EANE)

llison has a passion for helping organizations create powerful people processes and building exceptional workplaces! Her background includes roles that encompass HR, recruitment and corporate branding including talent acquisition, workforce planning, employee engagement and labor trends and compliance. As President of the Employers Association of the NorthEast, she leads their team of HR and Learning & Development professionals as they deliver best practices around compliance, employee relations, effective employee engagement strategies and employee development initiatives.

Allison is a current Board Member and Past President of the Human Resource Management Association of Western New England, a Board Member for the Massachusetts State Council of SHRM, Vice President of the Board for the Mason Wright Foundation, President of the Board for MassHire Springfield and the Chair of the Springfield Regional Chamber’s Legislative Steering Committee.

She is a graduate of Ithaca College in New York where she received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing, and she completed the Mini MBA Management Program with Bentley University.

Paul Gandolfi (Vice President / Branded Sales Director of Dolphin Debit Access, LLC./Euronet Worldwide)

Paul Gandolfi

Vice President / Branded Sales Director of Dolphin Debit Access, LLC./Euronet Worldwide

Paul Gandolfi is the Vice President of Sales for the Northeast Territory, and Branded Sales Director for Dolphin Debit Access, LLC. Dolphin Debit Access, a subsidiary of Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: EEFT) is a full-service ATM & ITM management company that owns and operates ATMs & ITMs for financial institutions. Paul has spent the past two decades working in the Fintech/Financial Services Space. He was one of the very first employees at Dolphin, joining Gay Walston and Ben Allen on their drive to build a true, pure play ATM outsourcing company, when the concept was still new to many. He was instrumental in Dolphin’s double digit growth year over year, and has worn many hats over his tenure. Paul holds a BBA in Strategic Management from the University of North Texas, and lives in Allen, TX, a suburb of Dallas, with his wife and son.

Richard Gose (Chief Political Officer at Credit Union National Association)

Richard Gose

Chief Political Officer at Credit Union National Association

For the past 34 years Richard Gose has worked as a Political Affairs and Trade Association professional. He has applied his experience of campaign politics, grassroots activation, a well-developed understanding of the legislative process, and his expertise with targeted communications to advance the political operations for three major trade associations – the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the American Insurance Association (AIA), and currently, the Credit Union National Association (CUNA).

During his seven years with the NAHB, where he served as Political Field Director, Gose led state and local ballot issue campaigns and statewide grassroots efforts. During this time, he assisted more than 100 homebuilder-supported candidates’ campaigns for state and local office.

Before joining CUNA in 1998, Gose was Political Director for the AIA. It was here that he established effective lobbying strategies, developed state and national coalitions, and designed comprehensive grassroots mobilization programs.

In more recent years, at CUNA, Gose has dedicated his unique skillset to enhance state and grassroot political efforts in the financial services sphere. He leverages partnerships with state associations to develop programs and services that assist credit unions in improving their legislative and political standing. These programs include Hike the Hill and Project Zip Code, which focus on building and improving the relationship between elected credit union champions and their constituents. Additionally, he has cultivated several advocacy training programs aimed at training credit union advocates on effective communication tactics. Gose continues to further the credit union movement using traditional strategies, such as direct mail communications, in addition to the latest online and social media outreach approaches. Gose has also been instrumental in improving the political clout of credit unions by growing CULAC, the PAC of Credit Union National Association, into one of the top ten trade association PACs nationwide.

Gose holds a BA in History and Political Science from the University of Tennessee. He and his wife, Jackie, reside in Vienna, VA and have four children. When not working, Gose can be found coaching youth baseball.

Nick Leonard (SVP & GM, Small Markets at Posh)

Nick Leonard

SVP & GM, Small Markets at Posh

Nick leads Poshie – a Posh product that ensures every credit union has access to cutting edge conversational AI technology.

Following graduation from MIT and a brief stint in the aerospace sector, Nick has spent more than a decade bringing new technologies to education, nonprofit, and frontline employment sectors.

Aaron Long (Head of Client Advisory and Strategy at Zest AI)

Aaron Long

Head of Client Advisory and Strategy at Zest AI

Aaron is a native of St. Louis MO and currently resides in Atlanta, GA with his two teenagers. He believes people are the core of every business and if you invest in them, you are investing in the long-term success of your company. Aaron has spent over twenty years leading teams that are motivated to win together and partnering with clients to ensure their success.

As Head of Client Advisory & Strategy for Zest AI, his team makes sure credit unions reach their strategic goals. Also, making sure their members, including our nation’s underbanked, achieve financial success. He has held other notable roles at American Express, Equifax and Fiserv.

Tanya Meck (Partner and Managing Director of Global Strategy Group)

Tanya Meck

Partner and Managing Director of Global Strategy Group

A recognized speaker, author and media analyst, Tanya Meck is a seasoned business leader and communications strategist with experience in corporate reputation, crisis communications, executive visibility, and issue campaigns. She brings over 20 years of experience at the high stakes intersection of media, business, and politics.

Tanya leads GSG’s global communications and public affairs business and is a member of the company’s executive committee. The company was recently named Public Affairs Agency of the Year, and is consistently ranked by industry publications among the top global communications firms. Focused on executable approaches to business challenges, Tanya counsels prominent national and global brands such as The LEGO Group, Dunkin’ Donuts, Nielsen, MGM Resorts, the Rockefeller Foundation, Google, H&R Block. She also advises advocacy campaigns on some of the leading issues of the day including education, women in leadership, choice, and immigration.

Tanya has also been an in-house communications director for a publicly-traded Fortune 500 company, high-ranking government official, and run political campaigns—both as a candidate and as an advisor.

She has over a decade of on-air experience with television and radio, and held a weekly spot on programs such as the Emmy-nominated Sunday morning political news show FOX CT Capitol Report. In addition, she regularly speaks to the media on the topics of communications, corporate reputation, crisis management, and politics. Also a life-long advocate of women and girls, she has authored numerous studies and reports on Title IX in sports, sexual harassment laws, and disparities in gender portrayals in the media.

Tanya graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, where she was an All-American athlete. In 2018, she was inducted into Drew’s Athletics Hall of Fame as one of the schools’ all-time top offensive field hockey players. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy Studies from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut where she served as a graduate fellow and a collegiate field hockey and lacrosse coach.

Isaiah Moskowitz (Founder/CEO of LTI Business Solutions)

Isaiah Moskowitz

Founder/CEO of LTI Business Solutions

In 2016, Isaiah founded the marketing and advertising agency, LTI Business Solutions. The storytelling he provides for his partners is built on over 30 years of media, marketing, and real-life experiences, attracting attention and achieving lasting results. What’s your story?

Srinivas Njay (Founder & CEO of interface.ai)

Srinivas Njay

Founder & CEO of interface.ai

Srinivas led a digital strategy from scratch for a financial institution to scale it to several billion in assets. He also spent over a decade on Artificial Intelligence research during his Master’s degree and work at Microsoft. Decades of AI research & experience in leading digital strategies to scale financial institutions inspired Srinivas to start interface.ai with a mission of enabling financial wellness by leveraging AI.

Jim Olney (Vice President, Payments Strategy at Alloya Corporate FCU)

Jim Olney

Vice President, Payments Strategy at Alloya Corporate FCU

Jim Olney provides research and analytical expertise to support the strategic decisions of Alloya. Olney joined the corporate in 1989 and has held roles in research and development, innovation, product management and strategic initiatives, all with an emphasis on payment services. He was instrumental in Alloya’s check processing consolidation projects, successfully migrating over 900 credit unions to the corporate’s current platform in 2017 and another 90 in 2021. As a leader of Alloya Insights: Faster Payments, Olney’s strong analytical background is useful in researching and analyzing payment trends to identify opportunities to position credit unions for the future. He expects to collect and summarize research reports on a variety of payment topics from checks, person-to-person (P2P) and cryptocurrency to empower participants with information to make decisions on faster payments.

Jamie Resker (Founder and Practice Leader of Employee Performance Solutions LLC)

Jamie Resker

Founder and Practice Leader of Employee Performance Solutions LLC

Jamie Resker is an expert in continuous performance management, and she has created a program called Conversations to Accelerate Employee Performance and Potential. This program helps organizations transition into a culture of continuous performance management by providing an intuitive conversation framework, cutting-edge tools, and training for all employees. By asking insightful questions, employees can take charge of their own performance and development, while managers can confidently identify strengths, articulate future contributions, and swiftly correct off-target performance.

Caroline Santangelo (Senior Vice President, Marketing and Product Performance at Workers Federal Credit Union)

Caroline Santangelo

Senior Vice President, Marketing and Product Performance at Workers Federal Credit Union

Caroline Santangelo is the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Product Performance at Workers Federal Credit Union. In her role, Caroline is responsible for raising awareness for the credit union and its financial wellness services and driving the performance of products by furthering the credit union’s member relationships. Under her leadership, Workers Federal Credit Union reaches millions of people, lands headlines in national and business outlets, and wins numerous leadership, product and marketing awards including 14 recent Credit Union National Association Diamond Awards and two Telly Awards.

Prior to joining Workers Federal Credit Union, Santangelo held marketing and analytical leadership roles at Liberty Mutual Insurance, WGBH, and Arkwright Mutual Insurance Company.

She earned her MBA from Boston University and her bachelor’s in business from Binghamton University.

Crystal Streeper (Sr. Compliance Officer and Training Coordinator at ViClarity)

Crystal Streeper

Sr. Compliance Officer and Training Coordinator at ViClarity

Crystal Streeper is an experienced financial industry professional. Having worked in various roles at credit unions throughout California since 2008, she has extensive credit union experience with an emphasis on consumer and real estate lending.

In her current role as a Sr. Compliance Officer and Training Coordinator at ViClarity, she provides compliance and training assistance to affiliated leagues and credit union clients nationwide.

Michael Villafana, Jr. (Director of Corporate Partnership Services at Worcester Red Sox)

Michael Villafana, Jr.

Director of Corporate Partnership Services at Worcester Red Sox

Michael Villafana is the Director of Corporate Partnership Services for the Worcester Red Sox. He recently wrapped up his first season with the organization, after 3 seasons with the St. Paul Saints, Triple-A-affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.

As a sports professional, Michael is a firm believer that there is more to a game than just the product on the field. In his current position, he has the opportunity to create experiences for fans through partnerships. Most notable this year, through the WooSox partnership with Workers Credit Union, Workers Reality debuted at Polar Park, a first-of-its-kind, state-of-the-art Augmented Reality game.

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