Ali is the worldwide VP of Azure AI Platform, Customer eXperience Engineering, responsible for Azure OpenAI (GPT4, ChatGPT..), Azure AI Services, Azure Search, & Azure ML customer engineering, tooling, product planning, business strategy, product commercialization, & strategic engineering engagements. Ali is a Board Member at the Linux Foundation AI & Data, and a member of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) International Technology Advisory Panel (ITAP), helping shape the AI Fintech strategy in Singapore. He is a global, broad, multi-disciplinary leader with 28+ years’ experience in the tech industry across business, product, engineering, research, M&A, corporate strategy, product & startup incubations, VC’s.

He has held many senior leadership roles at Microsoft, built multiple businesses from the grounds up and scaled them, drove product incubations, and in his current tole, has scaled Microsoft’s AI business to a multi-billion dollar one with worldwide scale. He holds patents in Computer Vision, as co-inventor (USPO Patents 10748001, 10748002, 20190332864 A1). He holds B.Sc. in Business Administration in Computer Applications & Systems. He has lived in Europe, MEA, and currently lives in Washington State, USA with his family. He enjoys the outdoors, is an avid reader, and loves to travel and learn about new cultures.

Balaji S. Srinivasan (@balajis) is an angel investor, tech founder, and WSJ bestselling author of The Network State.

Formerly the CTO of Coinbase and General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, he is an early investor in many successful tech companies and crypto protocols, including Alchemy, Anduril, Benchling, Celestia, CoinTracker, Culdesac, Dapper Labs, Deel, Digital Ocean, Espresso Systems, Farcaster, Hadrian, Instadapp, Luma, Minicircle, Mirror, Nucleus Genomics, Omada Health, OpenGov, OpenSea, Orchid Health, Paradigm, Perplexity, Polymarket, Prospera, Replit, Republic, Roam Research, Starkware, Stedi, Superhuman, Synthesis, Varda, Vitalia, VoteAgora, and Zora, to name a few. Balaji was also an early investor in many important crypto protocols including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, Chainlink, NEAR, Polygon, XMTP, and Zcash.

Dr. Srinivasan was the cofounder of Earn.com (acquired by Coinbase), Counsyl (acquired by Myriad), Teleport (acquired by Topia), and Coin Center. He holds a BS/MS/PhD in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University.

Brad is the CEO of Ripple and a member of the Board of Directors. Prior to Ripple, Brad served as the CEO of file collaboration service Hightail. From 2009 to 2012 he was President of Consumer Applications at AOL and prior to that he held various executive positions at Yahoo! from 2003 to 2008, including Senior Vice President. Earlier in his career, Brad helped to pioneer the VoIP industry as CEO of Dialpad Communications. He has previously held several board positions at companies including Ancestry.com and Tonic Health (acquired by R1 RCM).

Charles Cascarilla is the CEO and co-founder of Paxos, a regulated blockchain infrastructure platform that enables the movement of all assets in a trustworthy way. With more than 20 years of experience in financial services, Charles has a unique perspective on integrating blockchain technology with traditional systems. He co-founded institutional asset management complex Cedar Hill Capital Partners in 2005 and its venture capital subsidiary, Liberty City Ventures, in 2012.
 
Charles has been a leader in introducing regulatory frameworks to the blockchain industry by securing the first Trust charter for digital assets and by testifying to the US Senate and House of Representatives on the merits of this technology for the global economy. He was also a founding member of CoinCenter and the Association for Digital Asset Markets. Earlier in his career, Charles was a portfolio manager at Claiborne Capital and an analyst at both Bank of America Securities and Goldman Sachs. He serves on the board of several charities and private companies including Project ALS and The Centurion Foundation.  

Charles holds a B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Notre Dame and is a CFA charterholder.

I support Fortune’s editorial and commercial teams in Asia, and help to lead our business conference and event strategy in the region. Before assuming my current role at Fortune, I was an economics correspondent with the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post and, for six years, led special editorial projects for McKinsey’s Asia practice.

Dante Disparte is Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy at Circle, responsible for overseeing company strategy, communications, policy and public affairs. Since joining Circle in 2021, his leadership in driving market expansion, regulatory engagement, and more have been integral in furthering the company’s mission to raise global economic prosperity through the frictionless exchange of financial value.

Prior to joining Circle, Dante served as a founding executive of the Diem Association, leading policy, communications, membership and social impact. He also brings two decades of experience as an entrepreneur, business leader and global risk expert, most recently as founder and CEO of Risk Cooperative. He also served as an appointee on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Advisory Council. Currently, he is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Digital Currency Governance Consortium and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Additionally, he is co-author of “Global Risk Agility and Decision Making” (Macmillan 2016).

He earned a bachelor’s degree from Goucher College, is a PLD graduate of Harvard Business School, and has an MSc in risk management from NYU Stern School of Business. Outside of work, Dante enjoys speaking and commentating, such as in media outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fortune, BBC, Forbes and Diplomatic Courier.

Denis Beau was appointed Deputy Governor of the Banque de France on 1 August 2017, and was reappointed First Deputy Governor on 12 January 2024.

In this capacity, he was appointed by the Governor of the Banque de France to represent him as Chairman of the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR) and, with effect from 17 January 2024, he was appointed Chairman of the Observatory for the Security of Payment Means. He is also a member of the Board of the AMF and of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank (ECB). Since 1 January 2023, Denis Beau has been Chair of the ECB's Budget Committee (BUCOM).

His tasks as Deputy Governor include in particular the Banque de France's micro-prudential activities, the cash industry, innovation, the Bank’s branch network activities and the internal management of the institution.

Dowson joined Tencent in 2005 and is currently the Senior Executive Vice President and CEO of the Cloud and Smart Industries Group (CSIG). He also oversees Tencent's Technical Committee and Advertising and Marketing Services. Previously, he led Tencent's Social Network Group, driving strategies for QQ and value-added services.

Since 2018, Dowson has spearheaded CSIG’s efforts to drive digital transformation across 30 industries, including healthcare, finance, and retail. He has earned numerous accolades, such as "2022 Tech Leader in the Greater Bay Area" and "Top 50 Best Professional Managers of 2020." Dowson holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Stanford University.

Eric Anziani is a seasoned tech leader with more than 16 years of experience in strategy, partnerships, and innovation in Fintech, payments and financial services. Prior to joining Crypto.com, Mr. Anziani worked at leading global companies Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, PayPal, and Global Fashion Group in London, Paris, Singapore and Tokyo.

Fernando is the CEO of SBI Digital Asset Holdings, a company that oversees and operates digital asset-related businesses, under the SBI Holdings umbrella. SBI Digital Asset Holdings aims to transform capital markets and banking value chains to create end-to-end digital asset solutions for financial institutions. Fernando is an open-source software industry veteran with over 20 years of experience across technology innovation and governance, capital markets and digital assets. He holds unparalleled knowledge of the Asian financial services sector from both a business and technical perspective. Fernando started his career in academia where he became deeply involved with the Linux community. This led him to the corporate world with several roles at the Japanese NTT Group. Fernando has held different roles at SBI Group, including Director of SBI VC Trade, CTO of Japannext, CEO of SBI DigiTrust and CEO of SBI Security Solutions.

Gabriel Makhlouf took up his position as Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland on 1 September 2019. He chairs the Central Bank Commission, is a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, a member of the European Systemic Risk Board, and is Ireland's Alternate Governor at the International Monetary Fund.

Before joining the Central Bank Gabriel was Secretary to the New Zealand Treasury and the Government's chief economic and financial adviser from 2011 to 2019. During his time as Secretary, he led reviews of New Zealand's three macroeconomic pillars (monetary, financial stability and fiscal policy) and the development of a new framework for the development of economic and public policy focused on intergenerational wellbeing. In addition Gabriel was New Zealand's Alternate Governor at the World Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Asian Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He was also co-chair of the Trans-Tasman Banking Council.

Previously Gabriel worked in the UK civil service where his roles ranged from policy on domestic and international tax issues through to large-scale operational delivery. He has also chaired the OECD’s Committee on Fiscal Affairs and was responsible for the UK's Government Banking Service.

Gilles Roth was born on 1 March 1967 in Luxembourg. He studied law at the “Centre Universitaire de Luxembourg” and the “Université Catholique de Louvain” (UCL) in Belgium, where he obtained a degree in law and another degree in business administration and management.

Following the legislative elections of 8 October 2023, Gilles Roth was appointed Minister of Finance on 17 November 2023 in the coalition government formed by the Christian Social Party (CSV) and the Democratic Party (DP).

Gilles Roth was elected municipal councilor in 1993 and became mayor of the city of Mamer in 2000. He joined the Parliament in April 2007 and was reconducted until 2023. In 2013, he became Chairman of the CSV political group.

From 1991 to 1994, Gilles Roth practiced as a lawyer. In 1995, he started working at the Ministry of Finance, before being seconded to the Luxembourg Court of Auditors and the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the European Union in Brussels. In 1998, he returned to the Ministry of Finance and became government advisor, later senior government advisor.

Gillian Tett is a columnist and member of the Editorial Board for the Financial Times. She writes a weekly column on Friday, covering a range of economic, financial, political and social issues. She also serves as Provost of King's College, Cambridge.
Previously, she chaired the FT Editorial Board, ran Moral Money, the FT's sustainability newsletter which she co-founded, and wrote two columns a week. She has been named Columnist of the Year (2014), Journalist of the Year (2009) and Business Journalist of the Year (2008) in the British Press Awards, and received three awards from America's Society of Business and Economic Writers Awards. She is a best-selling and award-winning author of four books, and received the Royal Anthropological Institute Marsh Award and the American Anthropological Association President Medal for her work in social science. She has received honorary degrees from Carnegie Mellon, Miami and Baruch, Exeter, Lancaster, and Goldsmith's universities.

Jeanette Chan is the Chief Legal, Compliance and Risk Officer at Airwallex, a global financial platform that empowers businesses to operate anywhere, anytime.

As one of the fastest growing fintechs today, Jeanette is responsible for building and leading Airwallex’s robust global compliance and legal team, and ensuring that regulatory and compliance requirements are met in all the countries Airwallex operates in. A key member of Airwallex’s C-suite, Jeanette works with the wider Airwallex senior leadership team to shape and drive the group’s global expansion.

Prior to Airwallex, Jeanette worked at global law firm Paul, Weiss for over 30 years, most recently as the Managing Partner of the China Practice and Head of the Asia Communications and Technology Practice.
Jeanette actively participates in the Hong Kong community and Law community at large. She currently serves as a Listing Committee member for the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) and serves on the Advisory Board member for Women in Law Hong Kong (WILHK). Jeanette is also an active Harvard Law alumni and currently serves as an “Alumni in Residence,” a one-on-one career mentoring program for current Harvard Law students. She is also part of Harvard Law’s Dean’s Advisory Board, a group of Harvard alumni that supports the continued professional development of future leaders globally.

Joanne oversees ASIC’s transformation agenda across digital, data and technology, ASIC’s Registry business, and the delivery of ASIC’s cyber security program. Previously, as Digital Lead, Digital Transformation, Joanne managed the ASIC Digital Transformation Program, delivering ASIC’s vision of being a digitally enabled, data-informed regulator. Prior to this, she held roles as ASIC’s Chief Information Officer and IT Program Director. She has over 35 years experience in the technology industry with a particular interest in sponsoring young women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).

Hon. John Rwangombwa was appointed Central Bank Governor on the 25th of February 2023. His career started in Rwanda Revenue Authority where he grew through ranks to the Deputy Commissioner of Customs for Operations. He then joined the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning in 2002 as the Director of the National Treasury Department.

Having served as the Ministry’s First Accountant General in 2005, Hon. Rwangombwa was appointed Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury in the same year and in 2009 he became the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning. At that time, he oversaw the elaboration and implementation of Rwanda’s First Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS 1), under which Rwanda’s economy was able to achieve high growth at an average of 8% and poverty was reduced by 12% in 5 years from 2006-2011. Since his appointment as Central Bank Governor to date, Hon. Rwangombwa has been able to maintain the stability of the Rwandan Economy and its Financial Sector. He was voted Governor of the year 2015 for the Sub-Saharan Region by Emerging Markets. Hon. Rwangombwa serves as member of various advisory bodies including the Presidential Advisory Council and World Economic Forum on Global Agenda Council.

Jonathan Larsen is now Chief Innovation Officer of Ping An Group and Chairman and CEO of the Ping An Global Voyager Fund.

Jonathan spent 18 years at Citigroup where he was most recently Global Head of the firm’s Retail Banking and Mortgage businesses, generating ~$12Bn in Revenues and spanning 19 countries. He has been at the leading edge of the financial services industry for the last 33 years across the Asia Pacific region and globally. He brings a unique blend of strategic vision, operational depth, and understanding of the new technology landscape. He has led multiple large-scale, successful businesses across a wide range of markets and has extensive experience in negotiating and managing partnerships and M&A transactions.

Prior to Citi, Jonathan was a Principal in the Financial Services Practice of global management consulting firm, Booz Allen & Hamilton where he spent eight years advising large banks and other financial institutions across Asia, Australia and New Zealand and in the United States and Europe.

Jonathan is a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Banking and Finance, Singapore and was named Retail Banker of the Year in 2011 by Asian Banker magazine. He has been widely quoted in major business publications including the Financial Times, Bloomberg, Reuters, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Economist as well as local media throughout Asia Pacific. Jonathan holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the University of Melbourne.

Kfir L Godrich, Managing Director, is the Chief Innovation Officer for BlackRock. He is responsible for driving firm's innovation agenda, the connection with the broad financial and technology ecosystems, including partnerships and ventures that accelerate growth. He is continuously exploring new and emerging technologies under an applied innovation strategy, to practically implement them at BlackRock. In addition, he is responsible for Information Security, Aladdin Data and BlacRock's AI Labs. He also serves as a member of BlackRock's Global Operating Committee.

Mr. Godrich service with the firm dates to 2014 as Global Head of Technology for BlackRock. Prior to that, Kfir served as CTO for Hewlett Packard Co. (HP) Technology Services, where he was responsible for road-mapping technology for company's Consulting and Support business units, as well as Advisory Board for HP Labs. He international experience lays in complex systems. Over the years Kfir's worked spanned chronologically from C4ISR to Data Centers, Alternative Energy, Fintech, Cyber, Data and Analytics and ML/AI. He received National Security awards, has been recognized as AI Pioneer at the United Nations, and has a rich portfolio of technology IP. Kfir began his career in the IAF after completing Electrical and Computer Engineering studies at Ben Gurion University.

Mr. Bo Li assumed the role of Deputy Managing Director at the IMF on August 23, 2021. He is responsible for the IMF’s work on about 90 countries as well as on a wide range of policy issues.

Before joining the IMF, Mr. Li worked for many years at the People’s Bank of China, most recently as Deputy Governor. He earlier headed the Monetary Policy, Monetary Policy II, and Legal and Regulation Departments, where he played an important role in the reform of state-owned banks, the drafting of China’s anti-money-laundering law, the internationalization of the renminbi, and the establishment of China’s macroprudential policy framework.

Outside of the PBoC, Mr. Li served as Vice Mayor of Chongqing—China’s largest municipality, with a population of over 30 million—where he oversaw the city’s financial-sector development, international trade, and foreign direct investment. Mr. Li was also Vice Chairman of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese. He started his career at the New York law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell, where he was a practicing attorney for five years.

Mr. Li holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and an M.A. from Boston University, both in economics, as well as a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School. He received his undergraduate education from Renmin University of China in Beijing.

Maha is Centre Head, BIS Innovation Hub Singapore.

Having been newly appointed, most recently Maha was Head of Department for Early and High Growth Oversight leading the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) response to the Kalifa review of Fintech. A Senior Leadership Team member, she is setting up this new department from the ground up as part of the FCA’s strategy.

Prior to this, Maha served as Chief Payments Officer at Pay.UK on secondment from the FCA, responsible for running the payments operations of BACS, Faster Payments, Image Clearing Services and related managed services.

Maha joined the FCA in 2017 to set up the first Payments Department and was responsible for crafting and implementing the FCA supervisory strategy for the UK Payments Sector. This included leading the implementation of the Second Payments Services Directive (PSD2) and Open Banking.

Maha has a keen interest in observing and participating in the many exciting changes that are unfolding in the financial services, innovation and fintech environment. She recently sat on the SteerCo developing the strategy and blueprint for the UK’s newly created Centre for Finance Innovation and Technology.

She has a Degree in Commerce from Macquarie University and a Masters in Public Administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Mahendra Nerurkar is the Vice President of Emerging Countries Payments at Amazon, leading Amazon's payments operations for APAC, MENA and LATAM. He is dedicated to making digital payments trusted, convenient and rewarding ultimately simplifying customers' lives and helping them fulfill their aspirations.

Previously, Mahendra led product and general management roles for various global businesses at Amazon. And prior to Amazon, he worked as a strategy and technology consultant at Oliver Wyman and Computer Sciences Corporation advising clients in North America, Europe and Asia.

Mahendra holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, and a Bachelor's in Civil Engineering from the University of Mumbai.

Marco Argenti is the Chief Information Officer at Goldman Sach. He is a member of the Management Committee, the Firmwide Technology Risk Committee, the Firmwide Client Franchise Committee and the Firmwide Enterprise Risk Committee. Marco joined the firm as a partner in 2019.

Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Marco served as vice president of technology of Amazon Web Services (AWS) since 2013, where he started and ran several AWS businesses, including mobile, serverless computing, Internet of Things, and augmented and virtual reality. Before that, he spent several years at Nokia Corporation, where he was senior vice president and global head of Developer Experience and Marketplace from 2011 to 2013, with responsibility for Nokia’s developer ecosystem and app store across the company’s entire product portfolio.

Earlier in his career, Marco was a board member and chief executive officer of internet and mobile company Dada S.p.A., as well as a board member, executive vice president of strategy development and chief technology officer of Canadian e-commerce solutions provider Microforum Inc., where he founded Internet Frontier Inc., an internet publisher and e-commerce retailer. He previously founded and sold Dreamware S.r.l., a software development firm, to Microforum Inc.

Marco serves on the Board of Advisors for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and is a board member emeritus of Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Hall.

Marco earned a master’s degree in Informatics Engineering from Università di Pisa – Facoltà di Ingegneria and a Professional Engineering qualification in Management Engineering from Politecnico di Milano.

Marco is Head of International at iCapital and a member of the Firm's Executive Committee. In this role, he is responsible for the global expansion and overall development of the Firm's business outside the United States with a focus on EMEA, APAC and LATAM markets.

Marco has more than 25 years of international experience in the financial industry and has held senior executive positions in global organizations in wealth management and private equity. He joined iCapital from UniCredit, where he was CEO of Group Wealth Management and a member of the Group Executive Management Committee. Previously, Marco was with Deutsche Bank for 14 years, including nine years as Head of Wealth Management EMEA and CEO of Deutsche Bank Switzerland and, prior to this, as Global Head of Private Equity for the Wealth Management division. Before joining Deutsche Bank, Marco was Head of Private Equity Secondary Investments at LGT Capital Partners. He started his career with UBS where he held various roles in investment banking and private equity in Zurich, London, and New York.

He received a Master of Arts (lic. oec. HSG) from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and has served on the boards of the Swiss Bankers Association, the Association of Foreign Banks in Switzerland, and the Swiss Finance Institute. He is currently a member of the Advisory Committee of Elevandi, an organization set up by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to foster an open dialogue between the public and private sectors to advance fintech in the digital economy.

Marco Pistoia, Ph.D. is Managing Director, Distinguished Engineer, and Head of Global Technology Applied Research and Head of Quantum Computing at JPMorgan Chase.  He joined JPMorgan Chase in January 2020. Formerly, he was a Senior Manager, Distinguished Research Staff Member and Master Inventor at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York, where he managed an international team of researchers responsible for Quantum Computing Algorithms and Applications. Dr. Pistoia was at IBM Research for 24 years.

In August 2022, Dr. Pistoia was certified as the 250th most prolific inventor of all time He is the inventor of 271 patents, granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and 319 patent-pending applications. In March 2023, Dr. Pistoia was one of the 12 technologists included in the HPCwire People to Watch 2023, a 21-year-old program that "recognizes HPC professionals who play leading roles in driving innovation within their particular fields, making significant contributions to society as a whole. Over the course of the program, HPCwire has recognized nearly 200 HPC luminaries who have gone on to achieve extraordinary things."  In May 2023, Dr. Pistoia received the Instinet Positive Change: Visionary Markets Choice Award. He has published numerous conference papers and journal articles in the areas of Cybersecurity and Quantum Computing.

Dr. Pistoia received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from New York University in May 2005. He is the lead author of nine printed books, including Enterprise Java Security (published by Addison-Wesley in English and by Tsinghua University Press in Chinese) and Java 2 Network Security (published by Prentice Hall), both used as textbooks in many universities worldwide. He is also a coauthor of the online book Learn Quantum Computation using Qiskit. Dr. Pistoia has been the recipient of several awards, including five ACM/IEEE Distinguished Paper Awards.

Martha Sazon, President & CEO of Mynt, the holding company of GCash, the #1 Finance Super App in the Philippines. Appointed as CEO in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, her focus on customer-centricity has propelled GCash into a lifeline to many Filipinos. With Martha at the helm, GCash is now the Philippines' first and only “duacorn” with millions of registered users, a 3x increase of its user base vs pre-pandemic. As a result, GCash is now a household name and is being used as a verb in the country.

Prior to GCash, Martha had 20 years of experience in various industries like food, OTC drugs, personal care, and telco. Martha spent 12 years at Globe Telecom during which she pioneered many breakthroughs and achievements for a wide array of products and headed the Broadband business.

Martha has also worked as a Marketing Director and Category Leader for Asia at GlaxoSmithKline and as a Senior Product Manager for Del Monte. Martha has attended and finished IMD and INSEAD executive programs and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Accounting (Cum Laude), from the University of the Philippines, Diliman. 

Melissa C. Guzy is the Founder and Managing Partner of Arbor Ventures. Before the founding of Arbor Ventures, Melissa was a Managing Partner and a member of the Investment Committee at VantagePoint Capital Partners, where she invested in early stage technology companies in Asia, Europe and Silicon Valley. Her current board positions include EverCompliant, Fundbox, InCountry, Tabby, Planck Re and TrueAccord. Melissa was the investor board member of Paidy which was acquired by Paypal for $2.88 billion. Melissa also sits on the Board of Trustees of The Jackson Laboratory whose mission is to discover precise genomic solutions for disease and empower the global biomedical community in the shared quest to improve human health.

Melissa attended Wellesley College and earned a master’s degree in Finance from the University of Florida. She is the author of the paper “Venture Capital Returns and Public Market Performance”. Melissa is the Co-Chair of the Hong Kong Venture Capital Association (“HKVCA”) Venture Committee, a member of the Board of Directors of the HKVCA and the Singapore Venture Capital Associate and a former member to the Hong Kong SFC on Innovation. Additionally, she was a guest lecturer on the Venture Capital Industry at the University of Florida, Hong Kong University, Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Melissa is also a Hopkins Fellow and participated in the Women’s Leadership Program at Harvard University. She has been recognized as a Top 100 Influencer in Fintech (NxtBnk), AlwaysOn Fintech Power Player, as well as one of the Top 13 Women in Asia of Tech Influencers.

Nick Studer is the CEO of Oliver Wyman, and Vice Chair of Marsh McLennan.

Nick has supported chief executives and senior business leaders on topics spanning governance, strategy, sustainability, risk management, public policy & regulatory response.

Nick led our Financial Services practice as well as our Consumer, Industrials and Services practices, representing each of these businesses on the firm’s Global Leadership Team. He leads Marsh McLennan’s firm-wide initiatives on climate and sustainability.

Nick has worked extensively on industry and public policy initiatives. He has supported the FSB, IIF and the World Economic Forum; he was a founding Director of TheCityUK, a founding member of the FICC Markets Standards Board, a member of the UK’s Voluntary Carbon Markets Steering Committee and is Interim Chair of the Sustainable Markets Initiative Energy Transition Task Force.

Nick is a keen advocate of inclusion and a sponsor of diversity – he leads the firm’s inclusion and belonging strategy and has been twice named a Top 20 advocate by INvolve/EMpower.

Nick graduated with a First Class Honors degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Cambridge University.

Mr. Reis has a degree in Management and Business Administration from the Portuguese Catholic University, with further executive training at Harvard Business School (USA) in Strategic Finance (2005), at Insead (France), Advanced Management Programme (1995) and also at the Catholic University, in the Advanced Management Programme for Executives (1994-95).

Mr. Reis is a manager and consultant.

Mr. Reis was President of AICEP - Agência para o Investimento e Comércio Externo de Portugal, from 2011 to 2014.

Mr. Reis was Executive Secretary of the Strategic Council for the Internationalisation of the Economy (CEIE).

Mr. Reis was a member of the National Council for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Industry Council within the Ministry of Economy and coordinated the Permanent Investor Support Commission (CPAI).

Mr. Reis was a member of the General and Supervisory Board of Portugal Ventures.

Mr. Reis was Senior Advisor to the Executive Committee of Banco Millennium BCP in 2014, Executive Director of BCP Capital in 2015, Director of Strategic Marketing and Business Development in 2017 and Director of Institutional Banking at Millennium BCP between 2019 and 2021.

Mr. Reis was also a member of the Advisory Board of Banco Português de Fomento, chaired the Advisory Board of the Portuguese Diaspora and was a member of the Supreme Council of the Portuguese Red Cross.

Mr. Piyush Gupta has been Chief Executive Officer and Director of DBS Group since 2009.

DBS is a leading financial services group in Asia, headquartered in Singapore. Recognised for its global leadership, DBS has been named "World’s Best Bank" by several global publications like Euromoney and Global Finance. The bank is at the forefront of leveraging digital technology to shape the future of banking, and was also named “World’s Best Digital Bank” by Euromoney. In addition, in 2019, DBS was listed among the top ten most transformative organisations of the decade by Harvard Business Review.

Prior to joining DBS, Piyush had a 27 year career at Citigroup, where his last position was Chief Executive Officer for South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Piyush is currently the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Singapore Management University, and Chairman of the Mandai Park Holdings Board. He is also Vice-Chairman of the Institute of International Finance, Washington, and Vice-Chairman of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Executive Committee. In addition, he is a member of Singapore’s Advisory Council on the Ethical Use of AI and Data. He sits on the boards of Singapore’s National Research Foundation, and the Singapore’s Council for Board Diversity. Piyush is a term trustee of the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA). Previously, he has been a member of the Singapore Emerging Stronger Taskforce, aimed at defining Singapore’s future in a post-Covid world, the UN Secretary General’s Task Force on Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals, and the McKinsey Advisory Council.

Piyush has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree in Economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, India and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM, Ahmedabad.

Piyush was awarded the Public Service Star by the President of Singapore for his meritorious services to the nation in 2020. He is a recipient of the 2023 Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, the highest honour conferred by the Indian Government on the country’s diaspora.

Piyush was named one of the world’s top 100 best-performing chief executives in Harvard Business Review - 2019 edition of "The CEO 100". He was named Global Indian of the Year by the Economic Times in 2021, Singapore Business Awards' Outstanding Chief Executive of the Year in 2016, and Singapore Business Leader of the Year by CNBC in 2014.

In his personal capacity, Piyush takes a keen interest in nature, and is a Co-Chairman of the BirdLife International Advisory Group.

Rajat Taneja is President of Technology for Visa Inc., responsible for the company's technology innovation and investment strategy, product engineering, global IT and operations infrastructure. He joined Visa in this role in November 2013.

Prior to joining Visa, Taneja was Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Electronic Arts Inc., from October 2011 until November 2013, responsible for platform engineering, data center operations and IT, supporting the company's global customer base. From 1996 until 2011, he worked at Microsoft Corporation, including most recently as the Corporate Vice President, Commerce Division, in 2011 and the General Manager and Corporate Vice President, Online Services Division, from 2007 to 2011.

Taneja holds a B.E. in Electrical Engineering from Jadavpur University and an MBA from Washington State University. He served on the Board of Directors for Ellie Mae, Inc. from 2015 to 2019. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for MSCI since June 2021.

Mr Ravi Menon served for 36 years in the Singapore Public Service.

Mr Menon was the longest serving Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Under his leadership, MAS implemented effective monetary and macroprudential policies, reformed the financial regulatory framework, strengthened skills development in the financial sector, and developed Singapore into a vibrant centre for green finance and a leading global FinTech hub. MAS was named Central Bank of the Year in 2019 by the UK-based publication Central Banking, which lauded MAS as a “pioneer in creating a framework to facilitate next-generation technological and financial innovation” and noted its coherent supervision as a financial regulator and enviable track record for monetary and financial stability.

As Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade & Industry, Mr Menon played a pivotal role in supporting the economy during the global financial crisis and enhancing Singapore’s access to external markets. As Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, he helped to formulate fiscal policies and a framework for spending the income from government reserves.

Mr Menon is currently Chairman of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) APAC Network Advisory Board and a member of the GFANZ Principals Group. He is also a Trustee of the Singapore Indian Development Association, a community self-help group.

Richard Teng is the CEO of Binance, bringing over three decades of experience in financial services and regulatory affairs. Richard collaborates closely with regulators, policymakers, industry players, and users to drive Binance's growth in a compliant and sustainable manner. Since joining Binance in August 2021, he has held various senior leadership roles within the company.

Prior to his tenure at Binance, Richard served as the CEO of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), where he established himself as one of the world’s leading innovative regulators. His extensive experience also includes roles as the Chief Regulatory Officer of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and the Director of Corporate Finance at the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Richard holds a Master’s degree in Applied Finance from the University of Western Australia.

Sarah Breeden became Deputy Governor for Financial Stability on 1 November 2023. She is a member of the Monetary Policy Committee, Financial Policy Committee, Prudential Regulation Committee and the Bank’s Court of Directors. She has specific responsibility within the Bank for financial stability, the supervision of financial market infrastructures, international issues, central bank digital currency and fintech.
Sarah also leads the Bank of England’s work on climate change, domestically and internationally, a role she has held since 2016. She has been a Steering Group member of the international central bank and supervisors’ Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) since its inception in 2017, and chaired its macrofinancial workstream from 2018 until early 2022.
Sarah joined the Bank in 1991. Prior to her current role, Sarah was the Executive Director for Financial Stability Strategy and Risk and a member of the Financial Policy Committee (2021-2023). Previously, she was the Executive Director for UK Deposit Takers Supervision (2019-2021), responsible for the supervision of the UK’s banks, building societies and credit unions, and Executive Director for International Banks Supervision (2015-2021), responsible for supervision of the UK operations of
international banks. Before that, Sarah held a variety of roles, including leading the design and risk management of financial market operations undertaken by the Bank during the financial crisis, and then leading the Bank’s work to support the transition of prudential regulation of banks and insurers from the Financial Services Authority to the Bank.
Sarah has an MA in Economics from Cambridge University and an MSc in Finance from the London Business School.
She is a trustee of the Education Endowment Foundation.

Sarah is Executive Director Markets, and Executive Director International.

As Executive Director Markets she is responsible for the delivery of the FCA’s statutory market integrity objective and co-leads the combined Supervision, Policy and Competition (SPC) division with Sheldon Mills.

As Executive Director International she leads our international function, proving overall leadership for our international priorities in support of the FCA strategy.

Sarah is the Executive Director sponsor for the FCA's Edinburgh office, as well as sponsoring the FCA's gender diversity network.

Prior to joining the FCA Sarah was the Director of the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC), a multi-agency partnership housed in the National Crime Agency, created in late 2018 to deliver UK system leadership on economic crime. Before then she was General Counsel/Legal Director for the National Crime Agency as well as leading the NCA's transformational people programme.

Serey Chea is the Governor of National Bank of Cambodia. She is passionate about financial inclusion and women economic empowerment. Achievements under her leadership include the establishment of Credit Bureau Cambodia in 2012 that propelled Cambodia’s Ease of Access to Finance to number 7 worldwide in 2017 by the World Bank, the introduction of Bakong, a national backbone payment system using DLT allowing interoperability amongst all financial service providers making financial services more accessible and affordable, and the introduction of financial literacy into the general education program. Serey holds a PhD in economics and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) and a member of the Alumni Community of the Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Sergey Nazarov is the co-founder of Chainlink, the universal platform bringing the future of global markets onchain. Chainlink has enabled over $14 trillion in transaction value by providing financial institutions, startups, and developers worldwide with secure access to real-world data, offchain computation, and cross-chain interoperability across any blockchain. Chainlink powers onchain finance applications and high-integrity markets for banking, tokenization, DeFi, global trade, and other major sectors. Nazarov has worked with major market infrastructure providers and institutional banks such as Swift, DTCC, Sygnum and Fidelity International, ANZ, and many others, giving him a unique perspective on what is required to accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology and tokenization and build a global unified Internet of Contracts.

Shaun Khalfan serves as SVP and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at PayPal. Prior to joining PayPal, Shaun served as the CISO for Discover Financial Services and four-time CISO with experience at world-leading financial services institutions and top U.S. government agencies. He has repeated success shepherding digital transformation aligned with business goals, launching cybersecurity frameworks, building security engineering teams, ensuring protection of assets, data, privacy, and company reputation. Shaun is a graduate of the University of Maryland and has an MBA from the George Washington University School of Business. He serves on the board of the Kohl Children’s Museum, is an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and an independent director at Valimail, the global leader in e-mail authentication.

Shelley McKinley is the Chief Legal Officer at GitHub where she leads AI development across Trust and Safety, Social Impact, Developer Policy, Product & Regulatory Legal, Commercial Legal, and Legal Operations.

Shelley started her career at Microsoft supporting parts of the Developer Division in 2005. Prior to joining GitHub, she was the head of Microsoft’s Technology and Corporate Responsibility organization, where she oversaw a team that drove the use of technology to benefit society through priorities such as accessibility, environmental sustainability, broadband access, responsible AI, and justice reform.

In addition to counseling customers seeking to adopt AI developer tools, Shelley is an outspoken advocate for mental health awareness and loves a good outdoor adventure.

Tal Cohen is President of Nasdaq, leading Nasdaq's Market Services and Financial Technology divisions. In this capacity, he is responsible for Nasdaq’s North American and European Market Services businesses as well as the company’s portfolio of marketplace technology, surveillance, risk management and regulatory reporting solutions.

Prior to joining Nasdaq in April 2016 as the Senior Vice President of North American Equities, Tal was the Chief Executive Officer of Chi‐X Global Holdings, LLC from 2010 to 2016. From 2008 to 2010, he served as CEO of Chi‐X Americas.

Before joining Chi-X, Tal held several senior leadership roles at INSTINET, including Senior Vice President of Business Development and Product Strategy and Co‐head of electronic trading for North America, from 1999-2008. Before joining Instinet, he served as M&A Manager at American Express, building out its strategic investment portfolio. Tal started his career at Arthur Andersen as an Auditor and Senior Business Advisor focused on the Financial Services and Telecom industries.

From 2009-2016, Tal served as a Director on the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) Board. He additionally served as a Director on the Canadian Depository for Securities (CDS) Board from 2013-2016.

Tal holds a B.A. from SUNY Albany, an M.B.A. from New York University’s Stern School of Business, and is a Certified Public Accountant. He also holds FINRA Series 24, 7 and 63 licenses, the CSI Partners, Directors, and Senior Officers Designation (PDO).

Umar Farooq is the Co-Head of Global Payments. JP Morgan’s Global Payments business combines treasury services, trade & working capital, commercial cards and merchant services to help clients operate across 150+ countries. The business is the largest processor of UDS payments across the world with daily transaction volume of around $10 trillion. Prior to this Umar was the Global Head of Financial Institution Payments and CEO of Onyx by JP Morgan. Onyx is a J.P. Morgan business unit that leverages cutting-edge technologies like Blockchain to develop innovative products, platforms and marketplaces. Previously he was the Global Head of Digital Wholesale Payments and Head of Blockchain for the Corporate and Investment Bank. Umar has also held leadership positions in Chase Bank in the past including Head of Small Business Segment and National Sales Manager for Chase Business Banking. Umar holds a B.S. in Computer Science, B.S. in Economics and M.Engg. in Computer Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Umar received his JD from Yale Law School

Valerie A. Szczepanik is the Director of the Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub) Office at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  Ms. Szczepanik also served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. She clerked for federal judges on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and, prior to clerking, practiced patent law. Ms. Szczepanik received her Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University and her Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. 

Valérie Urbain became Chief Executive Officer of the Euroclear group in May 2024 having previously served as Chief Business Officer and a member of the Euroclear group Executive Committee.

Before her position as CBO she was Chief Executive Officer at Euroclear Bank, with responsibility for Euroclear Bank’s Operations, Commercial, Client Service, Banking and Network Management divisions worldwide.

Between 2009 and year end 2014, Mrs. Urbain was the CEO of the three ESES Central Securities Depositories (CSDs), namely Euroclear Belgium, Euroclear France and Euroclear Nederland.

Prior to this, she was Managing Director and head of the Human Resources division of the Euroclear Group from 2005 until 2009.
Earlier in her career, Mrs. Urbain held a number of positions in Product Management, Commercial and Network Management.
Before joining Euroclear in 1992, Mrs. Urbain worked in the Investment Banking and Bond Sales departments of Banco Hispano Americano and in the Corporate Banking division of Continental Bank (both in Brussels).

Mrs. Urbain holds a degree in Commercial Engineering from the Solvay Business School (Belgium).