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.

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.


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.

Mary Ellen Egan is a journalist with more than 25 years of experience in business and investigative journalism. She has been a staff writer and editor at Forbes, The American Lawyer, First Amendment Watch and American Banker. She has freelanced for Bloomberg, Bloomberg Law, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Stanford Graduate School of Business and Thomson Reuters. She is currently an adjunct professor of journalism at New York University.

Sabrina is the senior vice president of global fintech programs at Mastercard. She leads the award-winning global startup engagement program, Start Path, which works with select later-stage startups and helps them to scale, leveraging a customized combination of Mastercard’s technology, expertise and channels. These companies cover a diverse set of areas including payments, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, wearables, logistics and financial inclusion.

Prior to Start Path, Sabrina worked in Mastercard’s digital payments organization, where she helped build and commercialize several new payment technologies such as Mastercard’s tokenization platform and Mastercard Send.

Sabrina received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Cornell University with concentrations in technology and entrepreneurship. She has been a volunteer with The Resolution Project since 2014.

Paul has oversight over the next generation of digital platforms to provide best in class Online and Mobile capabilities. As part of the digital strategy, Paul is responsible for TD’s API functionality and ensuring TD delivers an open banking infrastructure to support clients and FinTech partnerships. These new and improved capabilities will maximize value and enhance the Customer experience for TD Bank’s Commercial clients.

Paul has more than 15 years of experience in financial services focused on building and scaling digital products as well as developing comprehensive strategies for global banks. He joins TD from J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM), where he was responsible for fintech partnerships and blockchain-based products for its treasury management business. Previously, Paul spent time at PwC where he led risk and capital projects at several global banks. Additionally, Paul founded PwC’s RegTech practice, which uses technology to manage regulatory processes. As a result, Paul formed several partnerships with emerging RegTechs that deploy emerging technology to reduce fraud.