Haffi leads a team of risk advisors at M&T Bank’s second-line operational risk that provide oversight for the core bank. He has 15+ years of experience in non-financial risk management in financial institutions, focusing on the development, implementation, oversight, and execution of Operational Risk and Enterprise Risk programs.

Haffi, led several workstream in an enterprise risk convergence project in a mid-sized us bank and the topic of shared taxonomies, elements and methodologies is something he believes can be rewarding for risk management.

Gislason has had several speaking engagements at non-financial risk conferences focusing on shared taxonomies, frameworks, and increased utility of the Operational and Enterprise Risk programs. He has also had the opportunity to lecture in the ERM program at Columbia University and is a member of the Non-Financial Risk Advisory Board at CeFPro.

Gislason is a GARP-certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM).

Education:

M.S. International Economics and Finance, Newcastle University, UK

B.S. Industrial Engineering, Technical University of Iceland

Stephen joined Bank of Ireland UK in 2016 and has since held a number of senior Risk roles and membership of senior governance committees. Since March 2021, he has been the Head of UK Non-Financial Risk, with second line of defence responsibility for Frameworks and risks including, but not limited to, Technology, Information & Cyber Security, Fraud, Data, Business Continuity Management, Outsourcing and Transformation & Change. Stephen is the Chair of the Bank’s Regulatory & Operational Risk Committee. He has In excess of 30 years of experience in banking and wider Financial Services. Previous positions have spanned first and second line roles, across front, middle and back office. Prior to joining Bank of Ireland UK, positions held included Head of Operational Risk, Private Banking, RBS (2014-2016) and Head of Operational Risk, Coutts & Co (2010-2014).

Ekaterina has nearly 20 years of experience helping financial institutions globally to integrate environmental and social dimensions into their operations, both from ESG risk and sustainable finance opportunities standpoints. Throughout her two-decades long career in sustainable finance and ESG, she held various roles at the World Bank and International Finance Corporation covering ESG strategy, policy, standards and frameworks, investment due diligence, research and innovation. She played a vital role in designing World Bank’s own corporate environmental and social standards, policies and procedures.

In her last role, she delivered global leadership in sustainable finance by integrating ESG risk management structures into World Bank’s financial sector lending portfolio and building capacity of financial institutions across 5 global regions and over 40 countries to strengthen their ESG strategies and systems. This was achieved through extensive investment client engagement with ministries of finance and economy, central banks, regional and national development banks, commercial banks, private equity and venture capital funds, housing market lenders, special purpose vehicles, sustainable energy, transport, and water development entities to ensure full integration of environmental and social sustainability into commercial financial sector lending operations and public-private partnerships.

Ekaterina also has a solid track record of foundational work that shaped sustainability and ESG as a distinct field within the international banking and investment industry since its inception. For example, she authored pioneering research on banking and sustainability and served on the steering committees and governance bodies of several multi-stakeholder sustainable finance initiatives that brought together banks and investors around solving global challenges (climate, biodiversity/ natural capital, sustainable supply chains etc.), such as Natural Capital Finance Alliance. The Alliance was the foundation upon which current major initiatives are built, such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).

Ekaterina holds a PhD in Economics, an MBA from the University of Ottawa, Canada, and a degree in business and commerce from Uppsala University in Sweden.

Julien Haye is an experienced board advisor and risk leader with over 26 years in financial services. He is Chief Risk and Compliance Officer at FinTech firm Fennech and Managing Director of Aevitium LTD, a specialist advisory practice supporting boards and executive teams in strengthening governance, culture, and strategic resilience.

A former Chief Risk Officer and senior risk executive in global financial institutions, Julien has led major risk and compliance transformations across complex, regulated environments—including heading a Global Non-Financial Risk function. He is the author of The Risk Within, a book exploring how psychological safety enables better decision-making and risk oversight, and host of the CPD-accredited RiskMasters podcast.

Jimi has over 25 years’ experience in operational risk, compliance and regulation. After completing his PhD. on financial regulation and public choice economics, Jimi joined the UKFSA where he worked first as an operational risk policy specialist, then as a bank and investment bank supervisor, and finally as Technical Specialist on Operational Risk and then the lead on Basel 2 Implementation in Wholesale Firms Division. He then joined the GSIFI MUFG and for 8 years led teams on regulatory affairs, risk and compliance policy.
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Since 2016 he has managed his own risk consultancy NJ Risk and Regulatory Consulting supporting a range of clients on operational risk and regulation, including operational risk framework development, GRC implementation, RCSA and operational resilience. In 2020 Jimi formed The JADEtc Partnership with senior industry professionals Andrew Sheen and David Goodyear to provide support to firms including on operational risk and operational resilience.
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Since 2017 Jimi has been Chairman of the Institute of Operational Risk (IOR) – England & Wales. Jimi is also a Fellow of the IOR and a Technical Specialist member of the Institute of Risk Management and a Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments.

Sajid is an accomplished financial risk management expert with over a decade of experience in the banking industry. Over the last eight years, he has gained recognition for his thought leadership in AI applications in finance, digital banking solutions, and fintech risks. Sajid Iqbal has played a pivotal role in raising awareness around risk management practices, regularly contributing to international conferences, writing insightful articles for top industry journals, and offering expert commentary in interviews. With a wealth of knowledge and hands-on experience, he continues to drive innovation and enhance risk profiling within the banking sector. Currently, he holds the position of vice president of risk management at Habib Bank AG Zurich, responsible for Market Risk, Liquidity Risk, Operational Risk, and Model Risk Management. Additionally, he holds a regulatory position of Head of Risk for activities licensed by the Security & Commodity Authority UAE within the bank.

Hunter Kreger is the Asst. Director of Financial Crimes & OFAC Officer for Blue Ridge Bank, N.A. In this role he oversees 314a, AML, Fraud, and Sanctions related matters.  Prior to joining Blue Ridge Bank in 2023,  Hunter was the Deputy OFAC Officer at Atlantic Union Bank and held multiple positions at Deloitte in their Independence and Conflicts Network.  He received his degree from the College of William & Mary in Economics and is a Certified Global Sanctions Specialist (CGSS).

David brings deep experience in business resilience. At Wells Fargo, he is responsible for the operational resilience strategy and transformation to ensure robust plans are in place to deliver essential services when faced with severe but plausible scenarios such as extreme cyber-attacks, IT system outages or third-party supplier failure. Prior to Wells Fargo, David was the Managing Director and the Global Head of Security and Business Continuity at DTCC, and the Chief Security Officer at The Clearing House Payments Company.

In his volunteer work, LaFalce has been an elected member of the Board of Directors of the Global Resilience Federation and leads the Business Resilience Committee Executive Advisory Group. He has also served on the in various executive committees at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), Financial Service Sector Coordinating Committee (FSSCC), and the Financial Sector Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC). LaFalce is a graduate of Lafayette College and has completed dual Masters Degrees from Georgia State University and Southern Polytechnic State University. He holds Certified Information Security Manager, Certified Protection Professional, Certified in Risk and Information Systems.

Amit Lakhani has wide and varied experiences in managing risks across key areas such as cyber and third party services risks for organisations of all sizes. He started his career working as a consultant with Accenture where he developed and deployed multi-million dollar programmes involving compliance and risk elements, especially information security and cyber risks. Further, Amit worked at large multinational organisations in his role at KPMG driving strategic decision-making, investments and risk reduction programmes.
In his current role, Amit looks after third party/vendor risk management across the Corporate and Institutional Banking division for BNP Paribas. He has developed and is embedding global third party risk management initiatives and more importantly raising the risks at Boards and Executive Committee levels to have clear visibility on the identification, assessment, monitoring and reporting of third party services risks. The global role entails him to face up to regulators across many geographies, develop and establish solutions that are generic but addresses key risks that BNP Paribas faces in its operations.

Merlin Linehan is a Risk Manager at the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD), working across Crisis management and business resilience. Merlin has supported the Bank through a number of major geopolitical and IT events including Covid, Ukraine and Log4j. Merlin is also a regular contributor to publications such as Frontera, PRMIA and Risk Screen and others covering geopolitics, risk and technology. He has also appeared in various media outlets including the FT, BBC and Global Capital commenting on China’s global role and emerging markets

As Senior Vice President and Chief Risk Officer for Ulster Savings Bank, located in Kingston, NY, I am responsible for oversight of all Bank risk management functions, including the Bank’s Legal and Compliance departments; I also serve as the Chief Information Security Officer. I previously served as Vice President and Risk Manager at Bankwell in Bridgeport, CT, as First Vice President and Audit/Compliance Officer at Naugatuck Valley Savings and Loan in Naugatuck, CT, and as Senior Attorney with the FDIC. I hold a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Rhode Island, a Juris Doctorate from the University of Houston, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tulane University.

Jennifer has over 20+ years in finance and risk management. She has worked for many companies with progressive leadership roles from analyst to CFO including the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Cerner, DST Output, Pioneer Services, UMB Financial Corp, and National Advisors Trust. Her experience ranges from corporate finance, treasury management, financial planning and analysis, model validation, third-party risk, corporate insurance, and leading teams of varying sizes.

Sean is currently the Head of Risk and Compliance at Buckinghamshire Building Society Bank; having previously held senior risk roles at Barclays, Santander, Shawbrook and Pay.UK. Sean is responsible for the development, maintenance and oversight of the Society’s risk profile including Credit Risk, Financial Risk and Operational Risk. A self-confessed “risk evangelist”, Sean is driving data-driven risk assessment, taking an intelligence driven approach to change risk management, ensuring risk management drives dynamic strategic enablement and facilitates value creation.

Roderick Powell is Senior Vice President and Head of Model Risk Management at Ameris Bank in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to joining Ameris Bank, Powell was a Director at KPMG LLP where he specialized in model development, implementation, and validation for large Financial Institutions, including Banks, Insurance Companies, and Mutual Funds. He also worked at Bank of America where he was Senior Vice President and Head of Market Risk Management for the Mortgage Securities Trading Desk. Powell earned his MBA from Florida State University. He also earned a Certificate in Applied Machine Learning and Data Science with Python from Emory University. In addition, Powell is a Certified Financial Risk Manager (“FRM”). He is a frequent speaker on the use of Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Process Automation in the Financial Services industry.

Jeremy has over fifteen years of experience and expertise in the financial services and legal sectors, and is currently Senior Vice President and the Director of the Product Risk Management group in the Operational Risk Management division at U.S. Bank.

Jeremy is responsible for overseeing the enterprise Business Change risk management program, including intake, routing, assessment, and governance. In addition, he leads the Operational Risk Management process for strategic transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, and equity investments. Prior to this work, Jeremy served as a director in the U.S. Bank Third Party Risk Management group. Jeremy graduated with an Economics degree from the University of Minnesota and a Juris Doctor from the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, MN. Prior to U.S. Bank, Jeremy worked for a legal publishing company and subsequently clerked for a District Court Judge in Hennepin County, MN.

Christel is the current Chief of the Environmental and Social Risk Management Unit in the Office of Risk Management bringing her innovative perspective to transform the way the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) manages environmental, social, and governance risk. In this capacity, she is responsible for climate, disaster, biodiversity, environmental, social, and governance risk management oversight, quality assurance, and portfolio monitoring and reporting. Her vision for a sustainable and inclusive future empowers her team to explore emerging risks and practices, to constantly learn and grow, and to continuously improve processes for the benefit of the Latin America and Caribbean region.

Christel has over 17 years of expertise in development, portfolio, project, and risk management from international development organizations and the private sector. Her years of experience at the IDB include roles as Budget Officer in corporate and operational departments, as well as experience in the field as the Chief of Operations in the Barbados office followed by the position of Operations and Business Transformation Advisor for the Vice-Presidency for Countries.

Christel holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Economics and Public Administration from the University of Bordeaux IV in France, as well as a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Houston, Clear Lake, Texas, USA. She also holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification from PMI, is certified in INDES Project Management for Results (PM4R), has been part of the Emerging Women Leaders Program (IDB), and has participated in several USAID Rules and Regulations Workshops. Christel is fluent in five languages: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Kriolu (Cape Verde).

Gary Savill is Head of ERM Programme Delivery for Starr Insurance since 2022 working previously in SAGA and AXA UK for 10 years as Head of Operational Risk and as Deputy Head of Operations for Sanlam Investment Management prior to that. Gary is a Chartered Management Accountant and is also a Specialist member of the IRM and member of the Institute of Management.
Gary has extensive experience of risk management frameworks, people risk, Solvency II, control assurance, risk appetite, conduct risk, risk culture, third party risk oversight and building high performance teams. He has a particular interest in psychology and decision making.

Andrew is best know for the 8 years he spent at the UK regulator, firstly in the FSA and subsequently at the PRA. During his time at the regulator, Andrew managed the Operational Risk Review team and represented the UK on the BCBS’ and EBA’s Operational Risk working groups. After life at the regulator Andrew joint HSBC and then Credit Suisse before retiring in 2019 and setting up a consultancy to provide assistance and training in Operational Risk matters. Andrew actively promotes the development and discipline of Operational Risk and is a Fellow of the Institute of Operational Risk.

With over 30 years of financial services industry experience, Chris has an in-depth knowledge of model risk management, model governance, model validation, financial model development, Asset Liability Management, and team development. Chris is currently the Director of Model Risk Management at Arvest Bank and was previously Vice President, Director of Model Risk Management at TIAA Bank for five years. His experience includes leadership roles at Diebold and Fiserv, where he consulted with financial institutions nationally and internationally to design and implement financial strategies to maximize productivity and growth, as well as Asset/Liability Management and quantitative analysis at HSBC and First Niagara Banks.

Proven Enterprise Risk Management expert and ESG advocate with an established track record of driving enterprise wide initiatives for the world’s top financial institutions. Leverages vision, leadership, innovation and relationship management skills to achieve success. Expertise in leading global initiatives to align risk management practices with business goals.

eniz Tudor recently joined Chatham Financial, the largest independent financial risk management advisory and technology firm, providing services in hedging and derivatives. She is the former Head of Modeling at Bread Financial, a large retail and credit card lender, parent company of Comenity and Comenity Capital Banks. At Bread Financial, she led the company’s model development team covering more than 100 models and tools including Treasury, Capital, CECL, Pricing, Yield Share, Climate, Operational Loss models. She previously was the Head of Financial Risk Strategy at Bread Financial reporting to the Banks’ CFO and President on first and second lines respectively. Before Bread Financial, she was a Senior Director at Moody’s Analytics co-leading the Credit Analytics department as well as managing and innovating several credit products. She also worked as an Assistant Professor teaching Risk Management at MBA and undergraduate levels in San Francisco. She is an experienced leader and strategist specializing in audit, enterprise risk management, economics/scenario planning, compliance/governance, product management, analytics, and AI/ML. She has been working for several years as a thought leader focusing on trends, giving several industry presentations and webinars, and writing many white papers. She has a PhD from UCSD and a MSL (Master’s in Law) degree from Fordham University. She also has a graduate level Acctg certificate from Harvard and leadership certificates from MIT and Yale.

Freek van Velsen is Chief Audit Executive at LeasePlan Corporation since September 2019. LeasePlan is an international company operating in over 30 countries and is a leader in automobile leasing and fleetmanagement. LeasePlan is being supervised by the ECB. Before joining LeasePlan Freek was Head of ORM Retail and Private Banking at ABN AMRO Bank. In this role Freek was responsible for operational risk management for the Retail and Private Banking activities, including Retail subsidiaries and Private Bank international network. Prior to rejoining ABN AMRO Bank, Freek was Chief Financial and Risk Officer of a local member bank at Rabobank where he was responsible for Finance, Risk Management and Corporate Recovery. Freek was previously the Audit Partner for Regional Markets Asia at Royal Bank of Scotland based in Singapore. Prior to joining RBS, Freek was the Regional Head of Audit Asia Pacific for ABN AMRO Bank. Before moving to Asia Freek was based at ABN AMRO’s Head Office responsible for the global audit coordination and reporting of various Investment Banking lines of businesses. Freek started his career as an officer at the Royal Netherlands Air Force. Freek graduated with a MSc in Business Economics from the University of Tilburg and an Executive Master of Finance and Control from the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Freek is a Certified Internal Auditor.

Olga Voytenko is a Managing Director of Operational Resilience with Silicon Valley Bank. She is responsible for building the global operational resilience program and supporting resolution and recovery planning. In her role, she is regarded as the operational risk and resilience expert who promotes the importance of sound operational resilience practices and supports her financial organization in the timely and effective build and execution of operational risk and resilience management programs and processes. Prior to this role, Ms. Voytenko was the Global Head of Third Party Risk Management with State Street Corporation, where she was responsible for building the Third Party Risk Management program and managing third party risks, including operational resilience and cyber security risks. Ms. Voytenko’s extensive experience across financial and non financial risk domains includes serving as Vice President within Treasury leading the Global Liquidity Risk Management team, as well as, leadership roles in Recovery Resolution Planning, Valuation & Analytics, and Corporate Audit. Ms. Voytenko also contributed to Sun Life Financial, where she held a leadership position in the Investment Finance and Security Valuation team.
Olga holds a Master of Science in Business Administration from Suffolk University and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance from Boston University.

Philip is an internationally experienced risk & compliance leader and Non-Executive Director with 30+ years in Financial Services. Skilled in strategic risk programs, governance, and compliance frameworks. Passionate about developing people and driving success. Philip is a regular event speaker and runs his own consultancy firm specialising in Non-Financial Risk especially the design and implementation of risk frameworks, GRC implementations and NFR strategy.

Hands-on and results-driven Risk Management Executive with 25+ years of leadership expertise in internal audits, regulatory compliance, controls, and overall strategic audit planning/execution for companies such as CLS Bank, Credit Suisse and UBS and BNP Paribas.

Strong, energetic leader with forte in streamlining processes ensuring compliance with regulatory standards; extensive experience launching internal audit and risk management operations.

Trusted and active advisor in dissecting, analyzing and presenting key strategic financial solutions to executive leadership.

Active volunteer and board member with Bridges Outreach since 2015 focusing on feeding and servicing people in need in NJ and NYC, providing input into the strategic planning process and doing fundraisers with local businesses and schools.