Umar Farooq is the Global Co-Head of J.P. Morgan Payments. A business in the Commercial & Investment Bank, J.P. Morgan Payments enables organizations of all sizes to execute transactions efficiently and securely, transforming the movement of information, money, and assets. The team of experts tackles complex challenges at every stage of the payment lifecycle. And its industry-leading solutions facilitate seamless transactions across borders, industries, and platforms.

Operating in over 160 countries and handling more than 120 currencies, J.P. Morgan Payments division is the largest processor of USD payments, with a daily transaction volume of more than $10 trillion.

Before stepping into his current role, Umar was the Global Head of Financial Institution Payments Sales and CEO of Kinexys by J.P. Morgan, where he leveraged cutting-edge technologies like blockchain to create innovative products, platforms, and marketplaces. His previous roles include Global Head of Digital Wholesale Payments and Head of FinTech for the Corporate and Investment Bank, along with leadership positions in Chase Business Banking.

Umar’s academic background includes a B.S. in Computer Science, a B.S. in Economics, and an M.Eng. in Computer Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a J.D. from Yale Law School.

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.

Kim Fitzsimmons is an accomplished payments executive with the vision, drive and passion to help companies grow and achieve sustainable results. She joined Talus in 2020.

At financial services giant J.P. Morgan, Fitzsimmons served as president of global merchant services. She was chief executive officer of Cynergy Data prior to its merger with Priority Payment Systems and held several leadership positions, including North American president of merchant services and community banks, during a long tenure with First Data. A principal and co-founder of EFS Card Services, Fitzsimmons began her 30-year payments career with Concord EFS.

Voted one of the top 100 Global Sales Leaders of 2020 by The Modern Sale, Fitzsimmons has been named as one of the Industry’s Most Influential Women in Payments by American Banker four times and has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Midwest Acquirers Association (MWAA). She has also served as president of both the Electronics Transactions Association (ETA) and PayTech Women (formerly Wnet). 

Fitzsimmons earned a degree in business administration from the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). She serves on the Ole Miss Business School board of advisors and volunteers for the school in a wide variety of capacities.

Eynat Guez is a leading expert and entrepreneur in global payroll, payments, and global workforce management with over 20 years of experience. As co-founder and CEO of Papaya Global ($3.7B valuation), her focus is on fixing technology gaps in payroll for enterprise companies with growing global workforces. Guez is implementing her vision for modernizing payroll and payments by replacing decades-old methods with a single end-to-end embedded solution that mirrors consumer financial transactions. Fortune recently named Guez as one of the 15 most powerful women in tech, and FinTech Magazine recognized her as a Top 10 founder-CEO.

Michael Ruttledge is the Chief Information Officer and Head of Technology Services for Citizens Financial Group. He oversees all aspects of the bank’s technology environment, from customer- and client-facing applications to the people, processes and infrastructure supporting Citizens’ day-to-day business operations. He spearheaded our Next Generation Technology transformation to modernize the bank and deliver personalized, digital solutions for customers and delivered a major up-skilling initiative and strong culture of learning through immersive Engineering and Architecture Academies, digital credentialing and building of critical skills for the future such as AI, Blockchain, Modern API’s and Cloud.

Before joining Citizens in 2019, he previously held the position of Unit Chief Information Officer of American Express Co. He has more than 20 years of experience in infrastructure and engineering roles within the financial services industry including payments, merchant services, customer service, risk, fraud, banking and finance. He has been recognized for developing the vision, strategy and innovative culture to execute new digital capabilities, big data, payments, and next generation analytics platforms that advance business strategies. He received a graduate degree in Information Systems from the University of Brighton in the United Kingdom.