Dinesh Damodharan is a leader with over two decades of experience in the financial technology sector, currently serving as the Senior Vice President of Software Engineering at Mastercard. As the head of engineering for Small and Medium Enterprise Products, he is spearheading the creation of a globally distributed, high-performing engineering organization focused on solving critical challenges for small and medium business owners worldwide, aligning with Mastercard’s mission of advancing global commerce and creating an inclusive digital economy.
Before joining Mastercard, Dinesh held a pivotal role as Director of Software Engineering at PayPal, where he was one of the driving forces behind pioneering top-tier product and platform solutions, including PayPal Shopping, overseeing the launch of a groundbreaking shopping experience as part of PayPal’s mobile app redesign. He has adeptly created and scaled platforms and products, including solutions like Personalization, Customer Segmentation, MarTech, and Loyalty, among others. Dinesh’s exceptional career journey and leadership in the financial technology sector have left a lasting impact on the organizations he has served, marked by a consistent track record of reducing costs, launching critical platforms, and championing strategies to foster collaboration among diverse teams.
Dinesh’s passion for creating products that add value to people’s lives globally with empathy has been a driving force throughout his career, and he strongly believes in the profound positive impact technology can have on people’s lives.
Holly Sraeel is Arizent’s Senior Vice President of Strategy and Content, Live Media, leading content creation and innovation for the events portfolio and introducing new multimedia and invitation-only experiences for senior executives that drive critical conversations and action around corporate strategy, innovation and financial performance. She is part of the company’s operational leadership team and is focused on developing cross-platform programming that creates higher levels of engagement for subscribers, community participants and partners across the company’s brands, including American Banker, The Bond Buyer, Accounting Today, National Mortgage News, Digital Insurance, Financial Planning and Employee Benefits News.
Sraeel is an award-winning editorial director, media executive and content strategist with expertise in developing influential content, communities, and events for C-level executives in the banking and financial services, insurance, technology, and professional services industries. Prior to joining Arizent, she held several content leadership and strategist roles, including for B2B media consultancy New York Ventures, capital markets management consultancy Opimas, Oxford University-incubated startup Wise Responder, and as cofounder of Genesys Partners’ Agility First Forum.
This new role marks a return to the company for Sraeel. In her previous 12-year run, she was a member of the executive team and was pivotal in driving new cross-platform editorial, events and business innovation as SVP of Brand Management; Group Editorial Director of Banking and Technology magazines; and Founder, President and Editorial Director of The Most Powerful Women in Banking,™ the company’s first-ever, community-based media platform, now part of Arizent’s flagship American Banker.
Sraeel is an early honors graduate of Marist College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and a concentration in journalism.
Ian P. Moloney is Senior Vice President, Head of Policy and Regulatory Affairs for the American Fintech Council (AFC) leading the association’s policy strategy across the fintech ecosystem. Prior to AFC, Ian was Head of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Cross River where he was responsible for leading the bank’s regulatory strategy, focusing on fintech and traditional banking regulations, and representing the bank as a regulatory expert to direct Cross River’s public policy objectives and positions to engage effectively with key federal and state regulators and policymakers. Ian was also previously with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in Washington D.C. as a Senior Analyst of Financial Markets & Community Investment, where he worked on fintech, small business lending, and digital identity issues. He has been involved in the fintech space since 2017 and has published multiple reports on fintech topics, both domestically and internationally. Ian has written on fintech issues for the Federation of American Scientists, Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, and the United Nations.
Ian holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, History, and Philosophy with an Ethics Minor from Central Michigan University. Ian also has an MBA from Johns Hopkins University.
Rebecca Schultz is a financial services professional with 20+ years of experience in B2B and B2C marketing and product management. She joined Boost Payment Solutions as the company’s first Chief Marketing Officer in 2021. Rebecca has primary responsibility for establishing Boost as the primary thought leader and solution provider in the B2B payment industry through earned, owned and paid marketing strategies, sales support and demand generation campaigns.
Prior to joining Boost, Rebecca served as Merchant Services Marketing Executive at Bank of America. In this role, she was responsible for the end-to-end marketing strategy for the Merchant Services line of business across all client segments. She previously led product marketing and co-brand partnership marketing for the Bank of America Merchant Services joint venture and spent nine years at Ally Bank in a variety of senior product management roles.
Rebecca is passionate about transparency, equity and inclusion and has served in leadership roles in several community and corporate programs, including the Employee Engagement task force at Boost. She previously served on the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Theatre Conference and Charlotte Ballet and is currently the volunteer Executive Director of Three Bone Theatre, a professional non-profit theatre company in Charlotte, NC that uses theatre as a catalyst for conversation and community change.
Rebecca was named to the American Banker Most Influential Women in Payments: NEXT list in 2024. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Communications degree from University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL and an MBA from University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School in Chapel Hill, NC.
Christian Santaniello is Senior Vice President, Head of Commercial Deposits and Treasury Management for Axos Bank, where he oversees sales, operations, and product management for the commercial deposit business. Mr. Santaniello has over 25 years of experience in banking, focused on deposits and treasury Management. Before joining Axos, Mr. Santaniello held positions at several financial institutions, including Citizens Financial Group in Boston, MA, Countrywide Bank in Thousand Oaks, CA and City National Bank in Los Angeles, CA. During his career, he has held leadership roles across product management, sales management, operations, strategic planning, finance and analytics. Mr. Santaniello earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Tufts University and graduated from the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington. He holds a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP®) designation from the Association for Financial Professionals.
Chris advises banks, financial technology companies, and financial service companies on a variety of regulatory compliance and enforcement matters, including matters involving fair lending, fair servicing, unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (UDAAP), Community Reinvestment Act compliance, money transmission and payments, alternative credit, state law and deposit issues.
He also advises both banks and financial technology companies on the use of new technologies and digital channels, the development of novel financial products, establishing technology-based partnerships, and resolving disputes with partners and third-party service providers.
Prior to joining Mitchell Sandler, Chris was an associate at Buckley Sandler focused on the financial services industry, and had a decade-long career in retail banking and lending before entering the law.
Ruby Kaur is the Enterprise Payments, Chief Segment Risk Officer at Huntington Bank where she and her first line risk team provide oversight and guidance across strategic payment initiatives, partnerships, and innovation. In her role, Ruby fosters cross functional collaboration between risk, product, and sales teams to ensure alignment, compliance, and strategic risk management across the organization.
With 20+ years of risk experience, Ruby brings unparalleled industry expertise. Ruby is passionate about building strong risk management frameworks that not only protect the organization but also enhance operational efficiency and cross team collaboration. Her deep understanding of payments risk and regulatory compliance enables her to navigate complex challenges while supporting business growth and innovation.
Prior to joining Huntington, Ruby was Head of Commercial Product Risk at KeyBank, where she provided risk management thought leadership for Commercial Bank strategy and oversaw the end-to-end risk governance. Ruby held various risk related roles throughout her career including First Line of Defense Risk partner at PayPal, and at American Express, where she developed significant payments and operational risk domain expertise. Ruby also served as the Payments & Receivables Global In-Business Risk Head at Citibank, partnering closely with the regional and global risk teams across Treasury and Trade Solutions.
Ruby earned her undergraduate degree from De Montfort University, England, and attained her fellowship with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
Veteran bank executive Rob Nardelli serves as Director of Commercial Banking for DailyPay, a leading financial technology company creating groundbreaking payments innovation. In his role, Nardelli serves as a Sales lead for channel top partnerships, leveraging his vast experience in Business Strategy, Panel Discussions, Strategic Business Development, Treasury Services and Bank Partnerships.
Prior to joining DailyPay, Nardelli served as Senior Vice President, Citizens Financial Group, serving as Senior Sales Specialist focused on Treasury Solutions and consulting corporate clients on how to optimize their working capital, efficiently manage their operating liquidity and improve their cash management processes.
Nardelli’s experience also includes several leadership roles at JP Morgan, including Vice President, serving as a Treasury Management Officer with a sizable portfolio of clients primarily focused in the sports, media and technology industries.
As the Vice President of Transaction Banking, Janis directly oversees Priority’s ACH.com and transaction-oriented Passport team engagements under Al Acevedo, Head of Banking and Treasury Solutions at Priority. Her primary responsibilities include but are not limited to managing pricing, go-to-market strategies, product features, and executive oversight on key banking initiatives required to support the financial service needs of our Small to Mid-Corporate customers.
With over 15 years of experience in high-impact sales roles within financial and technology services, Janis’ payment expertise, industry knowledge, and passion for innovation make her a Subject Matter Expert in simplifying the complexity of specialized payment processing. Janis is a Certified Treasury, ACH, and Purchasing Card Professional, with a Bachelor of Science degree from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo living in Central California.
Molly Hugar is a senior vice president and lead payments advisor with KeyBank. She oversees KeyBank’s commercial payments clients in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany, and is responsible for delivering the bank’s products and services to middle market customers. Previously, she was commercial banking middle market relationship manager at M&T Bank.
As a civic leader, Molly serves as the board treasurer of NYS’s ARC of Erie County and is a board member for the Maria M. Love Convalescent Fund. She earned her MBA from the University of Buffalo, and B.S. in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University.