Alain DeSouza is the VP of Commercialization at J.P. Morgan, where he is focused on bringing new J.P. Morgan products to Canada.  Alain has spent nearly 20 years in payments spanning, mobile payments, digital wallets, acquiring as well as B2B & B2C payments.   With a background in product, GTM and technology, Alain has delivered on growth for companies ranging from Fintechs to global banks.  Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Alain served as VP, Product & GTM at Clickatell where he brought new products to market and created new indirect channels. He also held leadership roles RBC, Scotiabank and BlackBerry.

Alana Barnes serves as the Director of Digital in the Payments & Digital Division at the Canadian Bankers’ Association (CBA) where she leads the development of the industry’s digital policy positions. She provides strategic guidance and thought leadership on various emerging issues, including policy initiatives such as consumer-driven banking (open banking) and artificial intelligence. She is responsible for working with Canada’s banks to effectively advocate on behalf of the banking industry to positively shape policy development with key stakeholders in government in open banking.  Previously, Alana held several positions as an Advisor at the CBA where she led research and development of industry responses on issues such as digital currencies and non-financial risk, including third-party risk management and cyber security.

Allison Wendt is a seasoned technology and transformation leader, focused on strategic transformation that improves the lives of others. With over 20 years leading major transformations across various sectors, Allison now helps organizations navigate through major changes including Open Banking/Open Finance, Decentralized Finance and broader Open Data and Artificial Intelligence strategies.

Allison has advised regulators and central banks on digital transformation and open banking/open finance and has led several successful transformations across major financial institutions, governments departments and agencies and regulatory authorities.

Allison’s extensive educational credentials include a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and a Certificate in Open Banking and Open Finance for Regulators from Cambridge Judge Business School.

Bernice Cheung brings 20 years of marketing research and management consulting experience from various industries, including financial services, consumer goods, retail, and healthcare. She helps clients with both qualitative (in-person & online focus groups, in-depth-interviews) and quantitative (surveys, in-person intercepts) market research. She enjoys helping clients with customer valuation, segmentation, targeting, brand studies, and product & ad testing studies.

At Environics, Bernice leads the Syndicated Group Plan Sponsor Study, an annual quantitative study that examines group plan sponsors’ perception on group health, retirement & savings providers and their decision-making process. In addition, she leads the Syndicated FinTech Study, which examines Canadians’ view of Financial Technology offerings and demand for innovation. She also enjoys consulting with clients on a variety of interesting business challenges and creating custom solutions for them.

Bernice is a frequent speaker at conferences – specializing in insights about financial technology, open banking, and consumer perception of fintech adoption.  Most recently she spoke at the FinTech Summit, Payments Canada Summit, and Women in Payments conferences.  Since 2018, she conducts an annual study of 2,000 Canadians named the Canadian Syndicated FinTech Study, which explores Canadians’ perceptions related to technology adoption in various financial transactions, brand awareness, usage and trust of fintech companies.

A member of the Environics Research Group since 2015, she received her MBA from Ivey Business School, with a concentration in marketing and strategy, and an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree with distinction from DeGroote School of Business.

Bhavna Kaushal- Innovator and Thought Leader in Banking, Payments and Loyalty

With 20 years driving partnerships and innovation across Fintech and Fortune 100 companies, Bhavna Kaushal’s experience spans Banking, Consulting, Payments, and Loyalty in Canada, USA and internationally. She currently provides independent advisory services in these areas.

Bhavna’s experience includes leading Strategic Partnerships for Scotiabank’s international retail and digital business, where she steered a transformative digitization mandate and a multi-product loyalty strategy across 25+ LAC markets. Additionally, she spearheaded payments and partnership strategies for the US and Canada at Berkeley Payments, a fast growing Canadian fintech, and led payments innovation across North America at American Express.

A frequent thought leader at industry forums Bhavna has helped shape industry dialogues with Euromonitor International, where she serves as a member of the Global Loyalty Expert Council, and previously with the Canadian Prepaid Providers Organization, and the Association of Card Technology, among others. Bhavna has been recognized with the 2023 Women in Payments Social Impact and Sustainability award. She holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business.

Originally qualified as a Chemical Engineer, Carmen has been devoted her career to business transformation through Product Management, Systems Integrations and Customer Success roles in Software. Lived 15 years in the UK where she acquainted a vast experience in Open Banking practices and policies. Since October 2024, Carmen has been serving in the Canadian banking sector in Scotiabank as Director of TranXact, the first-to-market suite of APIs designed to enable embedded finance services.

Cathy Ly is the Vice President of Small Business Banking at Equitable Bank, where she focuses on supporting small business owners with innovative solutions. Cathy also leads the bank’s Open Banking strategy, aiming to enhance customer experiences through seamless, pro-customer digital banking solutions.

Prior to EQ Bank, Cathy worked for over a decade as a management consultant at ZS Associates, the Boston Consulting Group, Jackman Reinvents, and independently as a Customer Experience advisor to executive teams in hospitality, retail and financial services. She has deep empathy for the experiences of small business owners having also spent four years of her career running a home décor business and getting shot down by many a small business loan officer.

Cindy Zhang is a senior associate at the Toronto office of McCarthy Tétrault LLP. She specializes in the regulation of Fintechs and financial institutions. She provides strategic legal guidance when assisting clients navigating complex legislative and regulatory requirements affecting their operations, products and services, including AML, cost of borrowing, consumer protection, retail payments and market conduct rules. A Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist with ACAMS, Cindy has extensive experience with PCMLTFA, its regulations and FINTRAC expectations for reporting entities. She is a recipient of the Rising Star Award (Canada) by Women in Payments, recognized as IFLR1000 Rising Star: Financial Services Regulatory, and Ones to Watch: Banking and Finance Law by Best Lawyers in Canada.

Eric Saumure is a Co-founder and Principal at Zenbooks, a forward-thinking online accounting firm helping businesses streamline their finances with modern technology. With a deep passion for financial accessibility, Eric has seen firsthand how Canada’s lack of Open Banking creates unnecessary friction for businesses, accountants, and financial professionals alike.

As an early adopter of digital-first accounting solutions, Eric works closely with business owners who struggle with outdated banking processes—manual reconciliations, unreliable bank feeds, and limited data access. He’s a vocal advocate for Open Banking in Canada, pushing for real-time financial data access to empower businesses, increase competition, and modernize the financial sector.

At the Open Banking Expo, Eric invites industry leaders to challenge the status quo, highlights real-world pain points, and demands action on Open Banking. His message is clear: Canada is falling behind, and it’s time to catch up.

Jan Antoš is CTO at Trask, technology consulting and delivery company. Jan is a visionary who is dedicated to technological and business innovation and new trends.  For the last 25 years, he has been involved in large-scale digital transformations of major European banks. Jan has taken part in European open banking activities for the last 11 years. He helped to text the regulation, participated in creation of standards, educated the market and promoted open banking and designed and delivered several openbanking platforms to Trask’s European clients. Now Jan is transferring his experience to Canada and USA.

Judy Bei is a Managing Director at Citigroup based in New York. She is the Global Head of Domestic Payments Product for Citi’s Services business.

Judy has more than 20 years’ experience in banking and consulting industries in the United States and in Asia. Prior to this role Judy spent four and half years at Standard Chartered Bank as the Global Head of Payments Product and then as the Managing Director of Group Strategy based in Singapore. Before Standard Chartered Judy was in various global and regional leadership roles at Citigroup based in New York, managing institutional and consumer banking products. She launched the world’s first open loop transit payment platform in New York and advised Fortune 500 corporations on cash management. At the beginning of her career, Judy spent four years in management consulting helping multi-national corporations develop growth strategies. Judy was born in China and has an MBA degree from Harvard Business School. She has three daughters and enjoys spending time with friends and family.

Karen is an experienced Senior Executive in the financial services industry for over 20 years. She works closely with the Canadian fintech community and other partners. Karen has been a member of the board of directors of the Canadian Prepaid Provider’s organization since 2015 and also serves on the Board of Open Finance Network Canada. She is a strong entrepreneurial professional with an MBA focused in International Business from York University.

Kaustubh (“Kaus”) Srivastava is the Head of BMO US Digital and Business Banking Technology at BMO which is a leading financial institution north and south of the border. He is a seasoned technologist with 20+ years’ experience, having spent much of his career at Headstrong in several progressive leadership roles. Since joining BMO in 2019, he has led his teams in delivering multiple high impact digital transformation projects which resulted in improving app ratings from below 4.0 up to 4.8 on both App store and Google Playstore. He is passionate about delivering best-in-class self-serve experience for all their digital customers and creating future-ready digital technology assets that can serve BMO and it’s customers for years to come.

He earned his Bachelors in Technology Degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee ( IIT-Roorkee). He currently lives in the suburbs of Chicago with his wife and 9-year-old daughter. He enjoys competing in ping pong, cricket and soccer and is a big lover of Avenger Movies.

Mark is the Founder & Managing Director of Major Street Enterprises, a boutique consulting firm helping Financial Institutions & Fintechs grow revenue through Open Banking, Embedded Finance, Fintech Partnerships & AI.  He has spent the past 15+ years at the intersection of Fintech and established Financial Institutions.  Previously as Head of Canada at Plaid, Mark built and scaled the Canadian business.  Prior to Plaid,  Mark served as a management consultant at BCG and Accenture, where he guided financial services executives through digital growth strategies.  He is passionate about the benefits that Open Banking could create for Canadians and our economy.

Mike Boush is the Head of Banking for North America at Wise where he oversees US and Canada bank partner integrations and relationships. He has been a change agent, product creator and leader of digital adoption in financial services for nearly three decades. Before joining Wise he was Managing Director for Consumer Digital Banking at Goldman Sachs. He has also held leadership roles at Discover Financial Services and Bank of America.

Sam is VP & General Counsel at Borrowell, one of Canada’s largest consumer fintech companies that helps people feel confident about money. Borrowell has over 3 million members and was the first company in Canada to offer credit scores for free. Borrowell also offers Rent Advantage, the first program to let renters build credit with rent payments without their landlord’s involvement.

Prior to this, Sam was legal counsel at President’s Choice Financial, a mid-sized bank, and a corporate lawyer at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in the Financial Services Group where she advised financial institutions and fintechs on a broad range of corporate commercial matters including payments, privacy and regulatory compliance.

As Director Strategy – Emerging Businesses, Sandeep leads BMO’s efforts on monitoring and driving strategy, integration and business response towards disruptive market forces that drive the evolution of payments, retail and business banking (such as Open Banking, RTR, Digital Assets, Banking as a Service & others).  He is also responsible for the creation and ongoing refinement of Horizon 2, 3 roadmap to inform capability gaps to defend against disruptions.

Sandeep is a graduate of the Smith School of Business, Queen’s University with a Masters of Business Administration degree. He also holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the National Institute of Engineering in India.

Sonia Bakshi is a highly accomplished banking professional with over two decades of experience in Treasury and Trade solutions, Digital Platforms and Payments. Her expertise lies in optimizing global cash management systems, ensuring compliance, and driving innovation in financial services. She is recognized for her strategic relationship building, delivering measurable results, and providing forward-thinking leadership. Throughout her career at Citibank Canada, Sonia has held progressively senior roles, consistently exceeding expectations. As Senior Vice President and Product Head for Canada Digital Services, she spearheads the management and commercialization of digital platforms. Her leadership in optimizing client relationships and driving initiatives like Digital platforms re-innovation, Regulatory enhancement and various modernized Payment methods has been instrumental in the company’s success.

Prior to her current role, Sonia excelled in various positions at Citibank, including Client Readiness Head and Client Service Senior Specialist, where she demonstrated her expertise in compliance, client satisfaction, and process improvement. Sonia’s commitment to professional development is evident in her certifications and training in Lean methodology, project management, and leadership.

She is also an active advocate for diversity and inclusion, serving as a Global Mentor for Women in Payments, Mentor for Asian community and leading initiatives supporting Multicultural Women Circle and the LGBTQ+ community at Citi.

Stephanie Zee is Vice President, IT Risk Transformation at Scotiabank. She has responsibility for technology risk governance and oversight. Stephanie has more than 20 years of experience in treasury and card product management and innovation, sales and marketing, banking operations, and Payments, Operational, AML, Fraud and Cyber risk management.

Stephanie has earned the ICD.D designation for Corporate Governance from the Rotman School of Business, a Master of Laws Degree from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, and a Master of Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

Subramanian Viswanathan (“SV”) is a seasoned digital transformation leader with over two decades of experience in the banking and financial services industry across Southeast Asia, the United States, and Canada. Currently serving as Associate Vice President and Head of the Financial Services Practice at Iris Software, he draws on his strong functional expertise in banking, collaborating with senior executives at leading financial institutions to drive strategic digital initiatives.

A former banker, Subramanian brings a blend of domain expertise and technological acumen. His portfolio includes successful implementations in areas, amongst others, Conversational Banking, Digital Assets, Payments Modernization & API Banking.

Vlad has spent over a decade building and leading fintech innovations that redefine how payments work. As Chief Technology Officer at Paybilt, he architects real-time payment solutions that make transactions seamless, on-brand, and built for conversion—whether online, in-store, or on mobile.

Before joining Paybilt, Vlad held CTO roles where he led software and hardware product development while advancing artificial intelligence–long before it became a mainstream focus. His expertise is backed by more than 15 international patents in machine learning and AI.