Conrad Ford is Chief Product Officer at Allica Bank, which is bringing relationship banking back to the UK’s established SMEs, using the latest technology. Previously Conrad founded leading fintech Funding Options – named in the 2021 Financial Times FT1000 list of Europe’s fastest-growing firms – before stepping down as CEO in 2019. More recently, he has advised a number of the UK’s flagship fintechs, including Starling Bank, iwoca, Coconut and Trade Ledger.

Jason Maude is a coder, coach, and public speaker. He has over a decade of experience working in the financial sector, primarily in creating and delivering software. He is passionate about explaining complex technical concepts to those who are convinced that they won’t be able to understand them. He currently works at Starling Bank as their Chief Technology Advocate and host of the Starling podcast.

Karthik heads the Centre of Excellence and Products team at Torry Harris Integration Solutions (THIS). Over the last two decades, Karthik has worked extensively with Telcos, Banks and Financial institutions, helping define their integration strategy and onwards to realize specific digital business objectives. In his current role, he spearheads organization-wide initiatives, productizing solutions to accelerate enterprise digital imperatives. Karthik has co-authored the book – “Digital API Economy – Beneficiaries, Enablers and Catalysts.”

Stef is a proposition development professional with experience in leading multidisciplinary teams to develop customer-centric solutions for large banks. She is passionate about financial services innovation and the application of new technologies to solve problems and generate sustainable returns.

After her early banking career at Royal Bank of Scotland, Stef joined Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) in 2016 to lead the proposition design for a digital wealth proposition. Subsequently, she was appointed as a member of the Business Banking board in LBG as head of Business Design, focusing on accelerating the digitization of services for SMEs and creating innovative propositions. Recently, her focus broadened to encompass the definition of the future propositional catalogue and operating model in LBG Commercial Bank, enabled by more agile and modular technology.

Stef has a Bachelor Degree in Development Studies with Applied Statistics and a Master’s degree in Applied Social Science (Italy). In the UK, she completed a Master’s degree in Management Research from the University of Manchester. Stef mentors individuals within her company and externally, promoting social and workplace inclusion with a particular focus on the intersectionality between gender, race, sexual orientation and other categories of diversity. She is a proud mother of three boys.