Rubail joined Visa in 2011, with his current role leading Visa’s Growth functions, overseeing Global Strategic Partnerships and Product areas. This includes Agentic commerce, A2A Non-Card, Crypto, and Stablecoins. Prior to this, Rubail held a variety of leadership roles at Visa, spanning M&A, Corporate Development, Venture functions, and Global Digital and Fintech Partnerships.

Virginie Dhouibi is a Managing Director and Global Head of Instant Payments at Citi, where she oversees the strategic direction and implementation of real-time payment solutions worldwide. She is a key architect of Citi’s digital transformation, driving industry innovation, developing Citi’s global value proposition across 65+ countries, and engaging with regulators to shape emerging standards.

Virginie champions thought leadership, notably co-authoring Citi’s “Real-Time” Global Perspectives and Solutions report and speaking at various forums like the Citi Institute’s Future of Finance Forum on the “Impact of Real-Time Payments.”

Her diverse 20-year career, including leadership roles at J.P. Morgan and her multicultural background bring a unique global perspective to her role.

Andrew Dresner is an MD in Corporate Strategy at Fifth Third Bank. He focuses on Commercial Payments, working with the bank’s market leading NewLine unit. In his spare time, Andy authors the “Payments in Full” Substack with 2,000+ subscribers. Prior to his time with 5/3, Andy was a Partner in McKinsey’s payments practice where he served issuers, acquirers, networks, processors, Fintechs and financial sponsors. Before McKinsey, Andy was Head of Integrated Payments Strategy at JPMorganChase, where he led strategy for both wholesale and retail payments. Andy was JPM’s lead on the formation of Zelle and served on the Zelle Advisory Committee for many years. Prior to JPM Andy was a Partner at Oliver Wyman Financial Services where he focused on Payments topics.

Kyle Caldwell serves as Vice President, Head of Fraud Prevention at The Clearing House, where he leads enterprise efforts to define and execute the strategic vision for fraud prevention across the payments network. Known for his ability to connect strategy with execution, Kyle works across business, technology, and risk teams to deliver forward-thinking solutions that strengthen the industry’s defenses against financial crime.

Prior to joining The Clearing House, Kyle spent nine years at a large regional bank, where he held multiple leadership roles across fraud strategy, operations, and product development. He also gained valuable experience shaping fraud solutions on a broader scale during his time at fintechs, helping financial institutions address evolving threats through identity, analytics, and biometric technologies.

Kyle brings an end-to-end perspective to combating fraud, shaped by years on the front lines and sharpened by strategic leadership roles. His approach blends operational empathy with product innovation—ensuring solutions are not only cutting-edge, but also grounded in real-world impact.

A recognized industry leader, Kyle is frequently invited to speak at conferences, roundtables, and executive forums. His work reflects a deep commitment to advancing collective progress in fraud prevention and fostering a more secure, resilient financial ecosystem.

Sean Murray is Chief Product & Digital Officer at Barclays US Consumer Bank and is responsible for driving new products, card platform modernization, and digital customer experiences. He also manages the business prioritization and planning process for the US consumer bank with operations and technology teams in an agile environment. The Product Office is focused on enhancing product innovation and delivering new products to market with efficiency, quality and speed.

To foster innovation within the US Consumer Bank and deliver next-generation digitized financial solutions, the Product Office launched the Innovation Lab (iLab) in 2022. The iLab enables Barclays to map customer journeys for partners, elevate customer experience and digital capabilities, as well as identify key priorities on our roadmap.

Sean has served as Chief Product Officer since the group was formed in April of 2020 and is a member of the Barclays Bank Delaware (BBDE) Executive Committee. He is also a mentor for Unreasonable Impact, a Colorado-based, international company that supports a Fellowship for growth-stage entrepreneurs, channels exclusive deal-flow to investors, and partners with institutions to discover profit in solving global problems.

Prior to Barclays, Sean was the Citi Fintech Chief Product Officer from 2015 to 2019. He held various roles at JP Morgan Chase within their consumer division, including Card Services, Retail Banking, and Mobile, E-Commerce and Payments groups from 1999 to 2014.

Sean has a B.S. from Fordham University in Finance and Banking, and an MBA in Marketing and eCommerce from Rutgers University. He serves on the board of two non-profits: The Challenge Program and The Greater Philadelphia YMCA. He also coaches for the Freedom Girls Lacrosse club.

With three decades as a change agent transforming the financial services industry, Ather Williams III serves as head of Global Payments & Liquidity and Wholesale Digital at Wells Fargo.

He leads a multi-billion-dollar business that delivers a comprehensive suite of payment and liquidity solutions for Commercial, Corporate & Investment Banking, and Wealth Management clients. In this role, his combined responsibilities enable him to drive enterprise-wide transformation and deliver innovative client solutions in a rapidly evolving industry. 

Ather’s career reflects a deep intellectual curiosity and a passion for building from the ground up. His prior roles include consultant, financial analyst for The Walt Disney Company, Silicon Valley executive, and senior leadership positions at some of the largest U.S. banks.

Before joining Wells Fargo, Ather spent nearly a decade at Bank of America, where he led the multi-billion-dollar Global Transaction Services business and later served as president of Business Banking, advising over 30,000 small and mid-sized U.S. companies. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at JPMorgan Chase, overseeing business strategies, products, and technology solutions in Treasury & Securities Services.

Recognition:

Leadership and board memberships:

Ather serves on the Board of Directors of Blue Shield of California where he chairs the Finance and Investment committee and is a member of the Audit committee. He is a member of the Executive Leadership Council, the premier organization for Black leaders globally. At Wells Fargo, he serves on the Board of Directors for the Wells Fargo Foundation, is executive sponsor of the Patent Executive Group, and co-executive sponsor of the Black & African American Connection (B&AAC) employee resource network.

Joey Pizzolato is a reporter at American Banker, covering payments. Previously, he’s covered auto and equipment finance, the mortgage and housing industry, and bank technology and marketing. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from the Naslund-Mann School of Writing at Spalding University, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from DePaul University.


Innovation, Trust and the Next Era of Global Payments

Global payments are entering a new phase, shaped by real-time expectations, growing complexity, and rapid advances in technologies such as blockchain, biometrics and artificial intelligence. At the same time, mission-critical payments infrastructure needs to be modernized while maintaining the resiliency and security that clients depend on.

In this fireside chat, Umar Farooq, will share his perspective on where the payments industry is headed and what it takes to innovate at a global scale. Drawing on his experience leading one of the world’s largest payments franchises and helping shape the firm’s blockchain strategy, Umar will discuss how client needs are evolving, where innovative breakthroughs are emerging, and how new technologies are being applied in payments today.

The conversation will explore how J.P. Morgan Payments is using blockchain infrastructure, biometric authentication and AI-driven capabilities to enhance speed, security and transparency across payments. Attendees will walk away with a high-level view of the payments landscape and a practical understanding of how large institutions can responsibly scale innovation without compromising trust or stability.