Aaron Byrne has served as Financial Services Leader at EY Parthenon for the last five years. He has been hailed as a major driver of growth for financial services and financial technology companies, offering unmatched experience in transaction and transformation services. In addition to his accomplishments with EY Parthenon, Byrne was known for delivering next-level results in strategy and transformation while with BearingPoint, Trammell Crow, and Illinois Business Consulting. For his remarkable achievements with EY that resulted in the execution of more than $35 billion in transactions since joining the firm, Byrne was honored as an emerging leader and 40 under 40 by multiple industry organizations. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in environmental design and architecture from Texas A&M University as well as an MBA in finance from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

With considerable international banking and payments experience, Ainsley Ward is an industry thought leader and business development lead for CGI's Payments Solutions. Previously, he worked on payment modernization and open banking in Canada and as an SME in Belgium. Bringing experience from working with banks on every continent, he is well versed in the demands of payment market modernization, finding opportunities from mandatory change, and guiding banks to better outcomes, representing many of his clients in industry working groups and committees including with the EPC and ECB. Prior to CGI, Ward worked with world-leading companies running Management Consulting at FIS (Clear2Pay), as 2FA Product Manager at MasterCard, and Senior Advisor to European banks with ESBG. He is a VISA-accredited EMV consultant and was US EMF Honor Roll listed for his EMV migration contribution. Currently, he works with major global banks undertaking payment market modernization, designing a new RTGS platform, supporting ISO 20022 migration, and examining the future role that banks will play. His thoughts are regularly shared as a panelist and speaker, with his understanding of the bigger picture providing delivery of winning payment strategies and products for clients around the world. He is also a member of the U.K.’s Digital Pound Forum. Ward studied Engineering, Science & Technology at Brunel University in London, and currently resides on the West Coast of Scotland.

Sankar Krishnan is Executive Vice President and Head of Digital Assets with Capgemini. He has responsibility for the global go-to-market for Capgemini’s digital assets capabilities. He is also responsible for strategy and corporate development. Krishnan has held a variety of roles at Capgemini including Head of Business Development for North America and the U.K. Prior to joining Capgemini, Krishnan was a career Corporate and Transaction Services Banker with Citigroup and Standard Chartered Bank, where he spent over two decades in a variety of roles across North America, the U.K., Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. Krishnan is the author of “The Power of Mobile Banking,” published by Wiley in 2014 and listed in Fintech’s Top 4 Books for 2014. He has contributed to leading financial media including BBC, BBC America, American Banker, Forbes, BNN, CNBC and spoken at several industry conferences. Sankar is on several of Capgemini’s digital and innovation forums including Capgemini’s Financial New Tech Challenge 2022.

Nageswar Cherukupalli is an accomplished leader with more than 28 years of experience across multiple leadership roles and manages relationships with marquee financial services clients. He is part of the global financial services executive leadership team at Infosys, with expertise spanning across various business competencies, including sales, strategy, consulting, marketing, and general management. Cherukupalli has partnered with prominent financial services organizations to drive large-scale transformations and innovation at the intersection of business and technology. He is consistently focused on bringing unique cutting-edge solutions through collaborating across his network, including a wide ecosystem of analysts, advisors, experts, startups (fintech), and established industry players. Cherukupalli is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and holds a Bachelors of Technology in electronics and communication. He has keen interest in content, culture, creativity and collaboration, in addition to being a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion. He has written many blogs and spoken at multiple financial services, product and technology events.

Fergus Gordon has more than 20 years of experience advising C-level executives in the global retail and commercial banking industries. Currently, he serves as a Managing Director and Global Client Account Leader for Accenture, with capabilities in digital, cloud, and security. In his leadership role, he specializes in the areas of customer strategy, digital engagement, strategic transformation program design, planning, and delivery. Gordon joined Accenture in 2016 as a Managing Director of Greater China Banking and later served as Banking Practice Lead in Growth Markets. He also spent more than a decade previously as a Partner in Financial Services Management Consulting with Accenture from 1999 to 2012. Between his tenures, he served as a Partner in the Financial Institutions Group with A.T. Kearney. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in economics and accounting from the University of New South Wales.

Florian is a Partner and member of ADL’s global Financial Services Core Management Team and Head of Financial Services Central Europe. He supports top decision makers of leading financial institutions mainly in Germany and Austria on strategy, innovation, and cutting edge topics as well as on all aspects of digital business models. Forst started his career with McKinsey & Company in 2000. He moved to UniCredit Group in 2007 to establish and lead the inhouse-consulting unit, supporting the group across Europe in highly demanding growth, restructuring, and change projects. In 2016, he joined zeb consulting, a leading European consulting boutique focused on financial services, as a Partner. There, he built his client franchise, advising senior leaders of international/European universal banks, German private banks, financial services infrastructure providers, and PE firms. He is a lawyer by training, having studied at the Universities of Munich and Oxford. He holds a PhD in Company Law from the University of Munich.

Mike Lee has been a major figure in EY’s clients operation in the wealth and asset management spheres. Boasting a 30-year track record of leadership excellence, Lee specializes in directing agile teams that help financial services clients adapt to new and changing circumstances. His work with EY frequently takes him around the world, which enables him to build a diverse perspective leading to the development and launch of groundbreaking new strategies. Lee is widely known as a thought leader on the key issues facing the wealth and asset management industry.

As Global Insurance Leader at Ernst & Young, Isabelle Santenac is responsible for driving a team of more than 18,000 to transform how the world’s insurers do business. A self-described “champion for nurturing talent and diversity” across the EY organization, she heads the company’s contributions to protect the world’s most vulnerable populations as treasurer and board member of the nonprofit organization Positive Planet. Santenac first began her celebrated tenure at EY in 2003, working as a financial services leader in French markets before rising to her current position in 2019. Her illustrious career began over more than 14 years as a partner at Arthur Andersen. She earned a Master’s degree in management from ESCP Business School.

Ken Joseph is a Managing Director and Head of the Financial Services Compliance and Regulation Practice for the Americas at Kroll, based in the New York office. From 2018-2020, he served as Global Leader of Kroll’s Disputes Consulting Practice. He is also a fellow of the Kroll Institute, providing thought leadership on a variety of financial services and regulatory matters, as well as head of the firm’s cryptocurrency task force. Joseph focuses on serving clients who need informed and proven strategies to successfully navigate a broad spectrum of threats arising from investigations, compliance examinations, litigation, and crisis scenarios. He has provided expert testimony and reports on various regulatory compliance and enforcement matters, counseled on multiple high-profile investigations, advised SEC-registered entities on ESG policies and practices, conducted due diligence in the context of M&A transactions, and guided innovators on various digital currency structures and proposed offerings. He has a unique combination of front-line expertise and experience in U.S. securities law, regulatory compliance, and corporate governance, and has served with distinction for a total of over 21 years in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Laura Hay is the Global Head of Insurance for KPMG, a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax, and Advisory services. KPMG is one of the Big 4 accounting firms, with 227,000 outstanding professionals working together to deliver value in 146 countries and territories. With a worldwide presence, the firm continues to build on its successes thanks to a clear vision, defined values and, above all, its people. KPMG’s industry focus helps its firms’ professionals develop a rich understanding of clients'​ businesses and the insight, skills, and resources required to address industry-specific issues and opportunities. Hay has more than 30 years of professional experience in the insurance industry focused on audit, advisory, and actuarial services (including global US GAAP and IFRS conversions), Solvency II and ERM assessments, and finance/actuarial transformations and modeling services (including model risk and control assessments and model validation work). She was named to Consulting Magazine’s 2012 Women Leaders in Consulting List, is a member of the American Academy of Actuaries, and is a Fellow in the Society of Actuaries. Prior to her current role, she worked her way up from Partner to Americas and U.S. Insurance Practice Leader for KPMG US. She got her start as an Actuarial Student for MetLife. Hay earned a Bachelor’s in Mathematics with a minor in Statistics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Michael Abbott is responsible for Accenture’s overall vision and strategy for banking. With more than 25 years’ experience in the banking industry, he is committed to helping banks develop and execute strategies that capitalize on the opportunities of industry disruption. His passion for envisioning what is possible has made him a pioneer in the sector. And his deep expertise in strategic innovation, digital banking, payments, and operational technology has enabled him to help create business and operating models that deliver efficiency, competitiveness, and growth. His corporate career started as a Research Scientist at IBM. He then moved to GE Capital where, as the CMO for Consumer Finance, he started and grew GE’s bankcard business to $10 billion in assets and built its private-label business into a 30% ROE growth engine. He received the Chairman’s Award for decisively leading the business through the financial crisis. Prior to joining Accenture, Abbott was the Founder and CEO of Softcard, which was acquired by Google in 2015 and is now the mobile wallet platform for Google Pay. He is a regular speaker at major banking events and has authored numerous banking articles and reports. He has a Bachelor of Science from Stony Brook University, and a Master's in Electrical Engineering and an MBA, both from Columbia University.

Michael Adler works with leading global and domestic insurance companies and financial institutions to drive business transformation by leveraging digital, data, analytics, AI, technology and best operational practices. He leads KPMG’s collaboration with alliance partners in insurance globally, delivering business value and insights for clients and contributing to the growth of KPMG’s insurance practice. Prior to KPMG, Alder led the global and U.S. insurance consulting practices at IBM and the U.S. insurance consulting practice at PwC, achieving significant growth by acquiring and integrating several innovative and scaled technology and operations companies. At IBM, Adler was one of the leaders who launched Watson, IBM’s AI Platform. He has also led and grown a number of practices focused on business analytics, ERP in financial services, client-server technology, and law firms and law departments. Adler has served on a number of boards including being a past President of the New York City Alzheimer’s Association. He earned his undergraduate degree at Hofstra University and his MBA at the Lubin School of Business at Pace University.

Nicole Bodack is a Managing Director in Financial Services for Accenture, specializing in information technology services and consulting. She is a management and technology consulting executive with 21 years of experience working with leading financial services institutions across the globe. She currently serves as Growth Markets Industry Lead for Capital Markets for Asia Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. She is also responsible for the company's wealth and asset management business in the regions. In her 20-plus years with Accenture, she has directed numerous large-scale and complex transformation programs and provides pragmatic advisory services across corporate and investment banking, wealth management, and asset management. She is also a leader in the firm’s diversity and inclusion initiatives and a mentor for female talent developing their careers. She holds a diploma in economics and banking from the Berlin School of Economics and Law.

Ola Engebretsen has worked in financial services for more than 20 years, helping clients use technology to transform and grow their business. Engebretsen currently leads Kearney’s financial services practice in the Americas. Prior to this role, he co-led Kearney’s digital transformation practice in Europe. Engebretsen’s expertise includes driving large-scale transformation programs with large banks, insurance companies and payment providers, focusing on developing solutions that are new to the world, to drive much more disruptive change than just incremental improvements. Lately, he has pioneered Kearney’s work in experience lead transformation across front, middle, and back office. Engebretsen holds a Master of Science in economics and business from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Paul is RSM’s National Capital Markets Industry Leader focused on assurance, tax, and consulting services to broker-dealers, futures commission merchants, exchanges, clearing organizations and proprietary trading firms. He brings more than 30 years of experience serving clients, including assisting with interpretations and applications of SEC and CFTC net capital guidelines, CFTC segregation and secured rules, and SEC customer protection regulations. Paul is a graduate of RSM’s Executive Leadership Academy and is recognized for driving client and talent experience, including most recently as RSM’s Chief Diversity Office Award recipient. Paul is a frequent moderator and speaker at industry seminars on accounting and regulatory matters and served on several external and internal peer reviews of financial services practices.

Paul Sharma leads Alvarez & Marsal’s European Regulatory Advisory Practice. He specializes in non-routine regulator issues such as investigations, diligence, remediation, business transformation, restructuring, and litigation. His expertise spans financial crime, market conduct, consumer protection, prudential standards, and financial stability. He works across the banking, insurance, payment services, and investment/securities/commodities sectors. His assignments have included work in respect of financial institutions based in (or whose parent is based in) the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Switzerland, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Nigeria, Bahrain, Lebanon, and UAE. He was formerly the Deputy Head of the U.K.’s Prudential Regulation Authority, an alternate member of the boards of both the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), and a member of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. He earned a Master of Arts in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge.

Simon Kent is a Senior Partner at Kearney and the Global Lead for Financial Services. He is based in the London office and has over 25 years’ experience working across the global financial services market. He is passionate about building successful teams and developing talent, and is an active coach and sponsor who aims to make work enjoyable for all involved. Kent has extensive experience in working with clients on a range of strategic transformation topics including corporate strategy, growth, efficiency, ESG, and digital transformation. In addition, he has supported clients in launching a range of new fintech and challenger banks. He has received several awards, authored a series of thought leadership articles, is a regular industry commentator, and represents the firm at the World Economic Forum (Davos). Kent received a BA Hons in Economics and Politics from Newcastle University. He is married with two children and enjoys spending time with family, traveling, and following sports.

During his extensive experience, Titus Bocseri helped companies accelerate development and introduction of products and services, lower costs, comply with changing regulations and better align business and technology investments. He partners with executive teams at leading insurance companies to transform around strategic growth initiatives, strategic cost reduction, business and operating strategy, and organizational and cultural transformation. In his tenure as the Managing Director of the Global Slalom Strategy, Bocseri has built strong relationships with all the strategic business units across the company and worked with them on strategic initiatives. He assessed implications of key future trends and strategic issues impacting the industry and the company, led the expansion to new markets, and set-up strategic alliances. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School – dual emphasis on Corporate Strategy and Finance. In addition, he has an MS in Integrated Weapons Systems at Military Technical Academy.

Ioannis Michos is a Managing Partner in Tata Consulting Services, where he heads the financial services and insurance consulting practice in EMEA. Michos is an acclaimed thought leader in the industry and throughout his career has been involved and led some of the most iconic initiatives in the financial services and insurance sector. Michos serves clients across geographies and advises executives on complex strategic, operational, financial, risk, and technology related topics, which enable them to achieve material operational efficiencies, cost benefits, improved bottom lines, superior operating results, and increased profitability. Under his leadership TCS’s financial services and insurance consulting practice has experienced a three-digit year on year growth over the past four years. Prior to joining TCS, Michos served in multiple senior executive positions in organizations like Willis Towers Watson, PwC, Grant Thornton and Achmea Group. He also holds a Master of Science in Management, a Bachelor of Science in Economics, an executive degree on growth and transformation from INSEAD. He is also a chartered accountant (FCCA) and a CFA Charter holder.