Speakers
If you are interested in becoming a speaker, please contact Melissa Sefic at melissasefic@economist.com.
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Amy Whelan Stock Yards Bank & TrustVP & Manager, Credit Card Sales, Commercial Banking -
Bradley Matthews US BankBradley Matthews leads the strategic development and marketing of commercial purchasing and travel card programs for U.S. Bank’s middle market business-to-business customers in North America. He assumed the position in February 2015 after having previously led the bank’s strategic travel payment product team. Bradley has been in the financial services and payments business since 1998. His experience includes 13 years leading strategy, development and operations for financial services technologies at American Express. Bradley earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Cincinnati, where he majored in Computer Science, with an emphasis on robotics and artificial intelligence. Bradley is an accomplished public speaker who has presented at numerous professional forums, including the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP), the National Association of Purchasing Card Professionals (NAPCP) and Commercial Payments International (CPI)’s Middle Market Commercial Cards and Payments Summit. He serves on CPI’s Middle Market Advisory Board. His on-camera experience includes the Killer Innovations podcast and Middle Market Executive On Location, among other programs.
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Chris Kangas Mastercard
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Christina Wagner Priority Commercial PaymentsChristina recently joined Priority Commercial Payments as senior vice president of strategic partnerships and commercial acceptance. Previously, Christina was senior director of partnerships and new initiatives at Visa Inc., where her leadership was instrumental in developing product strategy and building an ecosystem of strategic business to business partnerships in the accounts payable, accounts receivable and alternative lending segments. Prior to joining Visa, Christina spent 10 years at TSYS, a global payment processor, serving in various leadership positions within information technology, consulting and product management. As director of business and product development, Christina delivered solutions for financial institutions who support the small business, corporate and government sectors. Christina earned her bachelor of science in management information systems from Troy University and her master of business administration from Auburn University. Outside of work, Christina enjoys spending time with her husband and her five children, cooking and traveling. When she is not busy with her family, she enjoys yoga, reading and wine tasting.
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Frank Martien IndependentConsultantFrank Martien is an expert in B2B payments strategy where he focuses on network-rail settled B2B payments (e.g., virtual cards, corporate cards, p-cards, business credit cards, and fleet cards. His engagement experience includes a wide spectrum of strategy, primary and secondary market research, financial analysis, vendor selection and M&A-related client assignments. Frank’s clients include banks, payment networks, private equity firms, and multinationals. Through client assignments, speeches at major industry events and client conferences, articles and quotes in payments-related publications, and as an advisory board member of Commercial Payments International, Frank is a recognized industry expert. Frank received his MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia. He received his undergraduate degree from Washington & Lee University.
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John Aprile MastercardSVP, Product Management
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Jon Beckstrom MastercardVP Business Development
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Mahendra Gupta RPMG
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Melissa Sefic The Economist GroupSVP, Head of Commercial Payments InternationalMelissa Sefic is SVP, Head of Commercial Payments International which is an organization that produces educational networking events for professionals in the commercial card and payments industry. With over 15 years’ experience in the conference and events business, Melissa comes from American Banker where she oversaw sales and business development initiatives acting as a consultant to many organizations looking to expand their brand and thought leadership presence in the U.S. She is based in New York City.
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Ray Champ Citizens BankSVP, Head of Commercial ProductsRay joined Citizens Financial group in December 2017 and leads the Commercial Card product strategy encompassing core product management, development, and payables. Ray leads a number of initiatives to drive competitive differentiation for Citizens and more importantly, value for its Commercial Banking customers. Ray’s team is also responsible for strategic product roadmaps across traditional card, virtual card, spend reporting tools, and supplier enablement. Previously, Ray served as the lead of Commercial Products at Mastercard in North America managing Product development and management initiatives for the small business, mid-market, large market and public-sector segments. Ray was charged with developing a differentiated product strategy across a host of Commercial Card assets. In addition to Product, Ray also led Mastercard’s relationships with a number of issuers including JPMorgan, WEX, HSBC, and Citizens spanning credit, debit, prepaid, cobrand, and commercial card portfolios. Ray lives in Connecticut with his wife and 2 daughters.
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Richard Palmer RPMG
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Rosemary Susalla Fifth Third BankHead of Strategic Accounts
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Steve Murphy Mercator Advisory GroupDirector, Commercial & Enterprise Payments Advisory Group -
Tom Stewart National Center of the Middle MarketExecutive Director
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Tony Yazzolino Umpqua BankSVP, Commercial Card & Merchant DirectorTony came to Umpqua Bank through the Sterling Bank merger in 2014 and has been with the combined companies for 12 years leading and growing the bank’s card based payments business. He currently oversees the bank’s credit card programs and includes a combination of in house and agent programs to support the bank’s commercial and consumer banking units. Tony began his career in 1992 with West One Bank and has held various roles at US Bank, Wells Fargo, and local community banks and has over 20 years of experience in payments, cards, and acquiring business lines. Tony graduated from University of Oregon, Northwest Intermediate Banking School, and the ABA School of Bankcard Management. Tony lives in Portland Oregon with his wife and 3 daughters.