speakers

Passionate for driving change, Jen is a respected Business Leader with 22 years’ experience working with a range of clients, from start-ups to global FTSE 100 accounts and SI partners, to drive innovation and business transformation. Focussed on building exceptional trusted relationships, and leading global teams, Jen has enjoyed building strategic partnerships with businesses in all sectors with lasting personal connections.

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Currently working at Microsoft, heading up the strategic partnership between Microsoft and Vodafone globally, leading and orchestrating a skilled team across the globe and bringing together the full capability and power of 'One Microsoft' to deliver value and innovation to Vodafone.  Taking particular accountability for driving the Africa partnership on M-Pesa and Vodapay as a key pillar of the recently announced 10 year market making agreement.

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Prior to that at Rackspace Technology for 18 years driving business development, leading sales teams and working with Global SI partners such as Deloitte, Accenture, CapGemini and IBM.

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An alumnus of Oxford University, her personal interests include social mobility, music, public speaking, charity work, travel and embracing geographical and cultural differences.  She has four sons and lives in Beaconsfield, UK.

Megan is Founder and CEO of Caywood, a new WealthTech startup based in London. She moved to the UK from San Francisco in 2016 when she was awarded an Exceptional Talent Visa for her work in fintech to move to the UK to help start Starling Bank as Chief Platform Officer, where she was subsequently awarded Forbes 30 under 30 in recognition of her work.

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She was subsequently headhunted to Barclays to serve as Head of Digital Strategy, and then was promoted to Chief Product Officer for Barclays UK.

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She also served as chairman of the Digital, Tech, and Cyber Board at UK Finance, before now starting her newest venture Caywood, a wealth-tech platform and product that uses AI to provide financial guidance that personalised in real time.

Former COO at Lumon Pay and former Director, Strategic Initiatives at Western Union, Megan Dunford is a pathfinder, finding the way forward from the ambiguous or complex and taking people on a journey from strategy to execution.

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She has 20 years of experience in cross-border payments, most recently as COO at Lumon Pay.

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She is passionate about putting people at the centre of process and solving the problems of today while building the foundations for growth.

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In addition, she is passionate about coaching, developing people and championing women having been a mentor for the Money20/20 Rise-up program and was formerly the Global Lead for Women@WU, Western Union’s ERG for women.

Michelle He is the Co-Founder and COO of Fintern. Before co-founding Fintern, she was a Director at EY in London. During her tenure at EY, Michelle specialised in lending, credit analytics, and driving complex banking transformations for banks and financial institutions.

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Her motivation to start Fintern stemmed from her personal experience after moving from Singapore to the UK 14 years ago. Despite having a stable job and decent pay at EY, and a PhD in AI, she struggled to secure a £5000 loan due to a lack of credit history.

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This inspired her to co-found Abound (the B2C arm) and Render (the B2B arm) to de-risk lending for financial institutions and provide access to finance for individuals like recent graduates and immigrants who have no credit histories.

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She holds a Ph.D. in machine learning from the National University of Singapore and is a trusted advisor to rapidly growing global fintech firms.

Alana is an accomplished business executive with extensive hands-on experience in the foreign exchange, payments and pre-paid cards sectors.

She joined Caxton over 20 years ago and has had many roles during that time. She is now the COO, helping bring our strategy to life whilst focussing on efficiency and output, with a stronghold over product, payments and operations.In addition, she is the CEO of nimbl, a pocket money and children’s financial educational app.

Brooke is Head of Brand and Communications at PensionBee, a leading online pension provider, where she’s passionate about championing the stories of customers, improving financial literacy for pension savers in the UK and closing the gender pension gap.

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Brooke focuses on helping to build trust, grow brand awareness and maximise customer reach through ATL campaigns and brand partnerships. She’s appeared on PensionBee’s very own Pension Confident Podcast, a podcast series aimed at making personal finance and pensions simple for listeners to discuss the cost of friendship and how your financial personality impacts your relationship with money.

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Before PensionBee, Brooke worked for an SME business finance marketplace and across various eCommerce and retail brands both client and agency side.

Angy is an energetic and highly qualified C-Suite Leader with 20+ years’ experience leading and advising on business strategy and transformation across diverse global organisations.

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She brings expertise in people and culture, leadership development, business integration and transformation and is an inclusive leader who provides vision and clarity, builds high performing teams, and with the ability to connect academia with business strategy.

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Angy has developed her knowledge in AI and its ethical challenges, with a passion for addressing this impact and application within business, and is extending this currently as she is studying an MSt in AI Ethics and Society in Cambridge.

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As a lifelong learner, Angy built a successful executive career while also succeeding academically, achieving an MSc in Applied Psychology and a Doctorate focusing on the intersection of creativity, technology and leadership.

Emma Hagan is currently the Chief Executive Officer for ClearBank UKEmma has over 15 years of experience in commercial and corporate banking in both first and second lines of defence.

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Prior to joining ClearBank in 2020, Emma worked for Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), where she was Chief Risk Officer for EMEA, serving as part of the EMEA leadership and global risk leadership teams.

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Prior to SVB, she worked at Lloyds / HBOS in a variety of roles.

Alexandra is Head of Product, Europe at ClearBank.

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She leads ClearBank’s international expansion plans and product deliveries across payments. Before joining ClearBank in 2022, Alex was Vice President, Wholesale Payments at J.P. Morgan, where she managed SEPA Instant in the EMEA region.

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Prior to focusing on payments, Alex worked in J.P Morgan’s Real Estate team and at Citi Private Bank across New York and London within the Investment Finance team.

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Alexandra Rivas has a B.S. from the University of Southern California, focused on Real Estate Development

Myriam is a Financial Services Chief Operating Officer and a Strategic Business Change Programme Director.

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Based in London, England, she brings her expertise to the financial services industry. With a keen eye for transformational change, Myriam navigates complex business landscapes, driving impactful programs.Her leadership reflects her commitment to innovation and strategic growth.

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Additionally, she is an enthusiastic African dancer and speaks fluently three languages.

With a decade of experience spanning IT, fintech, and cryptoassets domains, Polina is a seasoned professional at the forefront of blockchain technology and data analytics.

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Collaborating with prestigious institutions such as the United Nations, the Economist, the Inter American Development Bank and Cambridge University, Polina brings a wealth of expertise to the table. As the founder of Syntagma Labs, a web3 consulting agency, she excels in startup consulting, strategy development, and decentralization initiatives.

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Renowned for her proficiency in conducting comprehensive industry research at Cambridge and analyzing blockchain data, Polina is a sought-after speaker on topics, including DLT, DeFi, AI, data analysis, web3, decentralisation, and strategic planning.

Amber is currently the Chief Marketing Officer at Airbox Systems an independent UK company that specialises in operational information sharing software for the emergency services.

Her work includes leading strategic initiatives, driving operational efficiency, and advocating for diversity and inclusion within the organisation and the broader fintech community.

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She previously held CEO roles at fintech Oakam, where she spearheaded initiatives to increase representation of minority females and launched disruptive alternatives to traditional credit scoring.

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Her experiences as a black female CEO in a male-dominated sector have fuelled her commitment to mentoring and supporting women in fintech, as well as speaking publicly about the importance of diversity and inclusion in driving industry innovation and growth.

Valerie Kontor is a dynamic professional with a passion for driving innovation and fostering DEI within the fintech industry.

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During her tenure at Funding Circle, a London-based fintech pioneering commercial lending solutions, Valerie has traversed diverse roles, ultimately finding her passion in product management.Beyond her professional endeavours, Valerie is deeply committed to fostering an inclusive environment both within Funding Circle and across the wider fintech landscape.

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She’s the Founder of Black in Fintech, a program set to focus on the innovation, challenges, and successes within the fintech space, all from the perspective of Black leaders and entrepreneurs.

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She is also listed on the Women in Fintech Powerlist for 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Raquel is currently Head of Marketing for Edenred Payment Solutions.

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Born in Brazil and raised in Germany, she holds a Master's in Business Management from the University of Leeds. With over a decade of experience in tech marketing, she transitioned to fintech at Gocardless in 2019 before taking her current role at Edenred Payment Solutions at the end of 2022.

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Raquel has built the marketing function within Edenred Payment Solutions from the ground up, as well as leading the marketing strategy for the rebrand - taking the business from ‘PPS’ to ‘Edenred Payment Solutions’ - and launching the news at Money 2020 in 2023.

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Today, Raquel drives brand growth, leading a team of experts in product marketing, branding, design, content, and events. Passionate about diversity and inclusion, she actively champions initiatives for women's empowerment within and beyond the workplace.

Karine is Head of Sales at Edenred Payment Solutions. Formerly working at Railsr most recently as Head of Portfolio Accounts, Core Markets UK & Europe, Karine was promoted three times in her 3.5 years with the business.

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Since moving over to Edenred Payment Solutions in December of 2022, she has been responsible for sales across both retail and fintech, two of the businesses biggest growth markets.

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She has secured some of the businesses most renowned clients, and currently leads a team of five and is bolstering the team to help achieve a clear vertical-led sales model.

Ruwani is an experienced payments and loyalty professional, creating customer-centric solutions for over 16 years within tech, product and propositions teams. She is responsible for successfully delivering large and complex solutions globally, recently with EML/Nuapay and previously with Amadeus Payments, Collinson, Barclaycard and American Express.

Ruwani has an expansive breadth of knowledge across the payments and loyalty ecosystems - from gateway processor and acquiring to card schemes, to issuing and rewards programs globally.She can adapt to change in a fast-paced matrix environment, creating new digital products, identifying new business models and propositions with key emphasis on customer experience. Teamed with strong analytical, leadership and influencing skills to nurture and drive cross-functional teams, Ruwani is an multi-skilled expert in delivering commercially viable solutions through the use of technology.