APEX 2024

With more than 20 years of experience as a top producer in the field of credit union investments, John’s focus since 2004 has been providing value-added advice, service and products exclusively to credit unions. As an Institutional Fixed Income Sales Representative, he collaborates directly with CEOs and CFOs to identify, recommend and implement client-based, risk-appropriate portfolio strategies and securities.

Prior to joining Alloya Investment Services, John served as Senior Investment Representative at Credit Union Brokerage Services. He began his career as a Financial Advisor with UBS Financial Services, Inc. in Boston.

John holds a B.A. from the University of Vermont and an M.B.A. from Boston College. He is a CFA charter holder and member of The Boston Security Analysts Society, Inc. and the CFA Institute. John holds his Series 7 and 66 through ISI.

Kenny Aronoff is one of the most influential and in demand drummers and percussionists in the world. He has entertained millions of people with his drumming, has played on thousands of records, and has been the “go to” drummer for the biggest stars in music while providing the beat of American culture over four decades!

Kenny grew up in a big country farm house in a small town of 3,000 people in the hills of western Massachusetts. He was a self-taught drummer who at the young age of 16 decided to learn how to play timpani, mallets, and legit snare drum. He studied and played with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, including world-renowned timpanist Vic Firth. He went on to study one year at the university of Massachusetts and four years at Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, where among other honors, he was awarded the school’s prestigious performer’s certificate. During summer breaks, when he wasn’t studying timpani with Vic Firth, he played in symphony orchestras at the Aspen Music Festival (run by the Juilliard School of Music) and the Tanglewood Music Festival (run by the Boston Symphony Orchestra). After graduating, Kenny was offered timpani positions in several symphony orchestras, but instead said “no” because he still wanted to be in a rock ‘n’ roll band and be part of a team of musicians that recorded music and toured the world, just like The Beatles did. Kenny spent one year studying drum set with Alan Dawson in Boston and Gary Chester in New York before moving back to Bloomington to start his own band, “Streamwinner“.

Three years later in 1980, he joined the John Mellencamp band, recording 10 albums and toured with him for over a 17-year period. Kenny’s innovative style and solid back-beats became the driving force behind Mellencamp’s long run of definitive hit records in the ’80s and ’90s.

In addition, Kenny is an enormously successful studio musician recording over 300 MILLION records in sales with more than 1300 that were RIAA Certified Gold, Platinum Or Diamond. A true renaissance man, Kenny is also a best-selling author, television show host, and accomplished corporate speaker, having taken the stage for top universities, corporations, and organizations around the world!

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.

Sam Brownell is the Founder and CEO of CUCollaborate, a company dedicated to empowering credit unions to maximize their impact on members and communities. With over a decade of experience in the credit union industry, Sam is an expert in fields of membership, technology solutions, and growth strategies. His mission is to democratize finance by making credit unions more accessible to all consumers, thereby driving membership growth.

In addition to his role at CUCollaborate, Sam serves as an advisor and investor at Credit Mountain. Sam holds a BA in Political Science, Philosophy, and Economics from Denison University and is passionate about solving complex problems to create meaningful change in the financial services industry.

Only 22 years of age, Kendall Burton's story is nothing short of compelling. Being born with a cleft/lip & palate she went through 23 surgeries by the time she was 17. At age 18, she survived an acute ischemic stroke as a freshman in her first semester in college. As a determined young woman, she fought her way back onto the field. After transferring schools three times, she found her forever home at the University of Georgia which led her to achieve her dream of playing at the Women's College World Series. Kendall Burton is on a mission to impact lives with her story of resilience by sharing the most vulnerable and victorious times she has experienced.

Sam Das spearheads investments and advisement for early-stage fintech and insurtech startups. With a background as founder and CEO of a fintech startup, as well as experience in investment banking at firms like Houlihan Lokey, Das brings a wealth of expertise in strategic transactions valued at over $10 billion. In addition to his role at TruStage Ventures, Das serves as Vice President of Corporate Development, driving strategic initiatives for the organization since 2017. A graduate of Brown University with a degree in Applied Mathematics, Das is committed to fostering innovation and growth in the financial and insurance technology sectors.

Jennifer Golbeck is a Professor in the College of Information Studies and Director of the Social Intelligence Lab at the University of Maryland, College Park. She received an AB in Economics and an SB and SM in Computer Science at the University of Chicago, as well as a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, College Park. Professor Golbeck began studying social media from the moment it emerged on the web, and she is one of the world’s foremost experts in the field. Her research has influenced industry, government, and the military. She is a pioneer in the field of social data analytics and discovering people’s hidden attributes from their online behavior, and she is a leader in creating human-friendly security and privacy systems.

Professor Golbeck is the author of several print and online publications, including the books Analyzing the Social Web, Online Harassment, Introduction to Social Media Investigation: A Hands-on Approach, and Computing with Social Trust. She is a frequent contributor on NPR. Her TED Talk on what social media “likes” can reveal was featured in TED’s 2014 Year in Ideas.

Inspired to help demystify finance for investors and enable institutions to better engage and retain clients, Margaret Hartigan founded Marstone, a Rhode Island-based digital wealth platform available for financial institutions to white-label and offer to their clients. Prior to starting Marstone, Margaret was a top quintile financial advisor for 10 years in the Global Wealth Management Group at Merrill Lynch, split between New York and San Francisco. A graduate of Brown University, Margaret is an active leader in the alumni and major development efforts at both Brown University and Phillips Exeter Academy. She’s a member of the Milken FinTech Advisory Committee, serves on the NPX advisory board, and is a former trustee of Sonoma Academy, in Santa Rosa, California.

Carlos Hernandez has served as the Lead Lender Relations Specialist at the Small Business Administration (SBA) since December 2011. He actively engages the Massachusetts network of lenders and financial institutions through webinars, conference calls, and other outreach initiatives. Carlos earned his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Central Florida. A U.S. Army Reserves veteran, he proudly served as a Staff Sergeant with two tours under Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Nicholas Hinrichsen earned his MBA from Stanford's Graduate School of Business and co-founded a digital car retailing company in 2013, which he sold to Carvana in 2017. After three years with Carvana, Nicholas and his co-founder Chris Coleman launched Clutch to transform Credit Unions into FinTech lenders. They raised $41M in venture capital and acquired 110 Credit Unions as clients, enhancing their consumer-facing account opening and loan origination experiences.

Rhian Horgan is the founder and CEO of Silvur, a CUSO/FinTech that helps credit unions grow deposits and improve member engagement for the segment with the most assets as they navigate their post-W2 financial lives. Prior to becoming CEO of Silvur, Rhian was a Managing Director for JP Morgan Chase. Rhian is a best selling author and has been a vocal advocate for ensuring that Social Security is modernized to meet the reality of 21st century retirement.

Daniel Horowitz has been a Lender Relations Specialist at the SBA’s Rhode Island District Office since April 2018. He brings extensive experience from various federal roles, including positions with SBA’s Office of Policy and Planning and the US House of Representatives Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. A former small business owner and consultant, Dan has deep expertise in leveraging SBA programs to support businesses. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from Towson University and resides in Barrington, RI, where he volunteers on a town commission and enjoys life with his three sons.

Jamie leads Arkatechture as the Founder & CEO with energy & compassion. Through the growth and evolution of Arkalytics, he embarks on a journey to build a community of data-driven financial institutions. He is a data engineer at heart with 20+ years of experience building large operational databases, data warehouses, and decision support systems. Combined with his business intelligence and data visualization development background, Jamie enables organizations to design, implement, and adopt the information systems necessary to advance their strategic goals through data analytics.

Barry Kirby is a highly accomplished professional in the fintech and credit union industry, currently serving as the Co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer at Union Credit. Before this, he was the Senior Vice President and Managing Director at CuneXus, a subsidiary of TruStage. Barry's career includes significant contributions to business development, fintech product growth, strategic channel partnerships, client relations, marketing, underwriting, and risk assessment. He was also part of the original team that built the DecisionLender platforms and managed TCI for 15 years, a company later acquired by MeridianLink. With extensive experience and a proven track record, Barry continues to drive innovation and growth in the fintech sector.

Glory LeDu is the CEO of CU Risk Intelligence and League InfoSight, Inc., a league-owned company that provides compliance solutions to over 3,000 credit unions nationally, through credit union league/association partners. LeDu’s background includes over 20 years in the financial industry, including with credit unions, investment banks, and broker dealers. LeDu is passionate about compliance and regularly assists compliance professionals from large and small institutions, as well as provides compliance training to credit union employees, officials and examiners.

LeDu received her Bachelor of Science degree from Northern Michigan University and a Master of Science degree from Pace University.

Barb Lowman is the President of CUNA Strategic Services (CSS). Serving in the credit union industry for more than twenty-five years, she is a seasoned credit union technology and operations executive with a proven track record of delivering innovative products and superior service to help credit unions and their members thrive. As a Credit Union Development Educator (CUDE) and relationship-driven leader, Barb genuinely believes in the credit union philosophy of “People Helping People” and lives it in both her personal and professional lives every day. As an extremely motivated and driven individual, she embraces her role and the opportunity to partner with credit unions to create and execute growth strategies and improve the financial lives of their members.

Sarah Martin leads Pulsate, a mobile-first, personalized member engagement platform that helps customers optimize revenue and engagement through data-driven mobile marketing communications headquartered in Dublin. Before joining Pulsate, Sarah founded Mamabud, an e-commerce platform for direct business-to-consumer sales in China. Earlier in her career, she held key positions at Digicel and Unilever. Sarah holds an MBA and a Master's in Marketing from University College Dublin. With her diverse experience, she continues to drive innovation in mobile marketing and member engagement.

Tuesday Perkins joined the New Hampshire SBA office as a Lender Relations Specialist in February 2020. She oversees the marketing, outreach, and training for SBA lending programs across the state and serves as the District International Trade Officer, helping small businesses expand into exporting. Prior to the SBA, Tuesday worked with the Department of Homeland Security as an Immigration Services Officer. She holds an MBA in Human Resources and Leadership from Franklin Pierce University and enjoys outdoor activities, camping, and spending time with her two grown children.

Melissa Pomeroy is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at the Cooperative Credit Union Association (CCUA), where she strengthens relationships with credit unions and industry partners to help them achieve their goals in a dynamic market. Previously, she led a team at St. Mary’s Bank, the nation’s first credit union, and has held leadership roles in the healthcare sector. Melissa holds a Bachelor’s in Mathematics and Economics from Lafayette College and a Master’s in Operations Research from George Washington University.

Tanya Van Court, Founder and CEO of Goalsetter, introduces a family-oriented app merging financial literacy with entertainment, akin to Nickelodeon meets Fintech. Goalsetter pioneers as the first holistic money app for families, instilling healthy financial habits from cradle to graduation. Featuring FDIC-insured savings accounts, teen/tween debit cards with parental controls, and game-based financial literacy quizzes, Goalsetter prioritizes learning before spending. Van Court's background spans senior roles at Discovery Education and Nickelodeon, and she holds engineering degrees from Stanford alongside invaluable parenting expertise from her own children.

Trisha has worked for Velera, formerly PSCU, for 26 years and is responsible for the onboarding of financial institutions, new strategic project/product integration, client engagement and training/documentation. She oversees the deployment and support of fraud mitigation rules on behalf of all clients. Trisha has held a variety of positions within the payments industry, including call center, private label, implementations/conversions, product control and fraud detection.

At a time when individuals are struggling with their job satisfaction, an unlikely ally was found in a former Fortune 50 executive turned employee advocate. Tessa White, known as the Job Doctor, launched a practice to help individuals better navigate the workplace, and help companies better unlock the potential of their people, just as the pandemic hit.

Tessa exploded on social media with her expertise on careers and how to navigate the complicated relationship between individuals and the workplace in late 2020, after 20 years leading human resources functions within the Fortune 50 to fast growth start-ups. Her insights struck a chord, garnering more than one million followers on social media and she is consistently ranked in the top 1% of similar creators on her LIVE career sessions on TikTok.
Her unique perspective on the modern workplace earned her a place on USA Today’s list as one of the top speakers to watch in 2022.

Her book, The Unspoken Truths for Career Success, was released February 28, 2023 and her podcast, The Job Doctor is In, is available on Spotify and Apple.

When she isn’t working with companies or individuals about the modern workplace, she can be found on the river, where she flyfishes. Hard.