Speakers

Alana Barnes serves as the Director of Digital in the Payments & Digital Division at the Canadian Bankers’ Association (CBA) where she leads the development of the industry’s digital policy positions. She provides strategic guidance and thought leadership on various emerging issues, including policy initiatives such as consumer-driven banking (open banking) and artificial intelligence. She is responsible for working with Canada’s banks to effectively advocate on behalf of the banking industry to positively shape policy development with key stakeholders in government in open banking.  Previously, Alana held several positions as an Advisor at the CBA where she led research and development of industry responses on issues such as digital currencies and non-financial risk, including third-party risk management and cyber security.

Allison Wendt is a seasoned technology and transformation leader, focused on strategic transformation that improves the lives of others. With over 20 years leading major transformations across various sectors, Allison now helps organizations navigate through major changes including Open Banking/Open Finance, Decentralized Finance and broader Open Data and Artificial Intelligence strategies.

Allison has advised regulators and central banks on digital transformation and open banking/open finance and has led several successful transformations across major financial institutions, governments departments and agencies and regulatory authorities.

Allison’s extensive educational credentials include a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and a Certificate in Open Banking and Open Finance for Regulators from Cambridge Judge Business School.

Bernice Cheung brings 20 years of marketing research and management consulting experience from various industries, including financial services, consumer goods, retail, and healthcare. She helps clients with both qualitative (in-person & online focus groups, in-depth-interviews) and quantitative (surveys, in-person intercepts) market research. She enjoys helping clients with customer valuation, segmentation, targeting, brand studies, and product & ad testing studies.

At Environics, Bernice leads the Syndicated Group Plan Sponsor Study, an annual quantitative study that examines group plan sponsors’ perception on group health, retirement & savings providers and their decision-making process. In addition, she leads the Syndicated FinTech Study, which examines Canadians’ view of Financial Technology offerings and demand for innovation. She also enjoys consulting with clients on a variety of interesting business challenges and creating custom solutions for them.

Bernice is a frequent speaker at conferences – specializing in insights about financial technology, open banking, and consumer perception of fintech adoption.  Most recently she spoke at the FinTech Summit, Payments Canada Summit, and Women in Payments conferences.  Since 2018, she conducts an annual study of 2,000 Canadians named the Canadian Syndicated FinTech Study, which explores Canadians’ perceptions related to technology adoption in various financial transactions, brand awareness, usage and trust of fintech companies.

A member of the Environics Research Group since 2015, she received her MBA from Ivey Business School, with a concentration in marketing and strategy, and an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree with distinction from DeGroote School of Business.

Bhavna Kaushal- Innovator and Thought Leader in Banking, Payments and Loyalty

With 20 years driving partnerships and innovation across Fintech and Fortune 100 companies, Bhavna Kaushal’s experience spans Banking, Consulting, Payments, and Loyalty in Canada, USA and internationally. She currently provides independent advisory services in these areas.

Bhavna’s experience includes leading Strategic Partnerships for Scotiabank’s international retail and digital business, where she steered a transformative digitization mandate and a multi-product loyalty strategy across 25+ LAC markets. Additionally, she spearheaded payments and partnership strategies for the US and Canada at Berkeley Payments, a fast growing Canadian fintech, and led payments innovation across North America at American Express.

A frequent thought leader at industry forums Bhavna has helped shape industry dialogues with Euromonitor International, where she serves as a member of the Global Loyalty Expert Council, and previously with the Canadian Prepaid Providers Organization, and the Association of Card Technology, among others. Bhavna has been recognized with the 2023 Women in Payments Social Impact and Sustainability award. She holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business.

Brian Harris is the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Beem Credit Union, now one of the largest provincially regulated credit unions in British Columbia. In 2024, Brian was instrumental in leading four successful mergers to form Beem, a new credit union whose founding partners share over 80 years of collective history serving 190,000 members in communities across B.C.

As banking transforms with digital capabilities, Brian continues to champion the balance between digital ease and authentic personal experiences. Under Brian’s leadership, Beem embraces innovative technology while staying firmly rooted in the communities it serves. It is through a strong vision that Brian believes we must build genuine connections with members which is essential to building trust and delivering meaningful financial services today, and into the future.

Throughout his career, Brian has worked at the intersection of technological advancement and innovation while honouring the enduring need for human connections. With a professional executive career spanning over 20 years in private and public financial services organizations, and a Fortune 500 payments company, Brian’s wealth of knowledge and expertise includes growing organizations in provincial, national, and global markets. Brian’s unique, personal style has been instrumental in leading teams through large transformational change while ensuring a customer centric approach and growth mindset remains at the core.

Prior to leading Beem, Brian served as President and CEO of Interior Savings Credit Union, where he prioritized community engagement and member-focused experiences. Brian also served as the Chief Product Officer at Nets, Europe’s leading paytech provider delivering groundbreaking digital platforms and experiences to more than 150 European financial institutions. Prior to that, Brian held executive leadership positions at Currencies Direct and Western Union Business Solutions where he led the evolution of international money transfer systems and business payment solutions for customers around the world.

A lifelong learner, Brian studied at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford; the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business; and Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia.

Eric Saumure is a Co-founder and Principal at Zenbooks, a forward-thinking online accounting firm helping businesses streamline their finances with modern technology. With a deep passion for financial accessibility, Eric has seen firsthand how Canada’s lack of Open Banking creates unnecessary friction for businesses, accountants, and financial professionals alike.

As an early adopter of digital-first accounting solutions, Eric works closely with business owners who struggle with outdated banking processes—manual reconciliations, unreliable bank feeds, and limited data access. He’s a vocal advocate for Open Banking in Canada, pushing for real-time financial data access to empower businesses, increase competition, and modernize the financial sector.

At the Open Banking Expo, Eric invites industry leaders to challenge the status quo, highlights real-world pain points, and demands action on Open Banking. His message is clear: Canada is falling behind, and it’s time to catch up.

Explorer, Teacher, Coach

If I ever get the opportunity for a memoir, well one that someone would read, it would be called “The Accidental Career”. I’m fascinated with physics and their applications in the real world, and here I am leading Digital Transformation at Mainstreet Credit Union.

How did I get here? A long, winding, and amazing road full of luck and leaps.

I obtained an engineering degree, Western 2004, and learned that the best part of my program was learning to break things down and put them back together in new ways. Yet, I graduated as an Engineer with no awareness of where I could go. After experiences with a few companies in building automation and energy, I landed a role at TD Bank and the idea of a career started to form.

My roles included managing an asbestos program, a construction pipeline, distribution and channels strategy, and leading a product group. Through this array of widely diverging jobs, I learned that the best part of every role was working out how to help each team achieve more than they thought possible, and use technology to make things easier.

Digital Transformation is the perfect next step and I have been with Mainstreet Credit Union, making it even easier for our members to do business with us.

My career so far has helped me uncover my purpose:

use my positivity and ability to challenge, to bring a smile to everyone I meet,

and for those willing, help them achieve their adventure

I live in London with my wife, Jen, our three year-old daughter Eva, and our menagerie of dogs (Oliver, Piper, and Morgan), and cat Phoebe.

I am passionate about strong communities, and am proud to work with a group that reinvests. I volunteer with the United Way, Animal Rescue Foundation, Verge Social Capital, and the London Chamber of Commerce. As a proud southwestern-Ontarian, I was honoured to be recognized by Business London Magazine in 2016 as a “Top 20 Under 40” recipient.

My hobbies include getting lost in a solid video game or novel, playing baseball, and teaching myself to drum. Recently, I’ve taken any chance I can to be out cycling and you are likely find me in a coffee shop in any of our many towns.

Sharing my favourite…

Books: “1984”, “Infinite Jest”
Films: “2001: A Space Odyssey”, “Office Space”, “Charade”
Video Games: “Bioshock”, “Dark Souls”

Jude Leclerc is the Head of Treasury Services for JPMorgan Canada. In her role, Jude is responsible for setting product direction and go-to-market strategies for Payments, Cards, and Liquidity, enhancing client relations, generating revenue and franchise growth, and ensuring operational excellence.

Jude is a global banking and payments transformational leader with 20+ years of experience in business, operations and product management. She is a seasoned synthesizer and an integrated thinker who aims to make the complex clear, with a passion for product development, automation of processes, and digitally-driven designs.

Jude has worked in organizations across Canada, the US and the United Kingdom (UK). For 10 years, Jude worked at the Bank of Canada and subsequently Payments Canada, the country’s clearing and settlement body, where she focused on Payment Operations, Regulatory Policy and Government Relations. Upon her arrival in the UK, Jude joined HSBC’s Payments and Cash Management team and held roles in Sales and Business Management driving the formulation and execution of strategic initiatives and ensuring robust financial planning for the business. After 7 years, Jude returned to Canada to lead HSBC’s Payments and Cash Management Product team, where she delivered large scale programs from ideation to commercialization across US and Canada. Leveraging her years of experience, Jude is now focused on JP Morgan’s Canadian franchise.

Jude is a graduate of the University of Ottawa (Canada) and holds both an Honours Degree in Communications and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA).

Judy Bei is a Managing Director at Citigroup based in New York. She is the Global Head of Domestic Payments Product for Citi’s Services business.

Judy has more than 20 years’ experience in banking and consulting industries in the United States and in Asia. Prior to this role Judy spent four and half years at Standard Chartered Bank as the Global Head of Payments Product and then as the Managing Director of Group Strategy based in Singapore. Before Standard Chartered Judy was in various global and regional leadership roles at Citigroup based in New York, managing institutional and consumer banking products. She launched the world’s first open loop transit payment platform in New York and advised Fortune 500 corporations on cash management. At the beginning of her career, Judy spent four years in management consulting helping multi-national corporations develop growth strategies. Judy was born in China and has an MBA degree from Harvard Business School. She has three daughters and enjoys spending time with friends and family.

Michael Cascone is the Vice President of Government Experience, Americas, at Xero. Prior to joining Xero in 2021, Michael was the founding Senior Director of the Scale-Up Institute Toronto at the Toronto Region Board of Trade. He led the launch of the small business accelerator, and ran a number of high impact programs focused on small business growth and digitization. In his time leading the organization, the Scale-Up Institute Toronto supported over 2,000 small businesses across Ontario, securing significant private and public sector investment, and winning the 2020 Ontario Chamber of Commerce Chair’s Award for Innovative Programming.Michael also has over ten years of experience in both the federal and provincial governments, focusing on innovation and scale-up policy, trade agreement negotiation, and the automotive sector. He actively participates in the small business research community as well, acting as an expert advisor on a number of research councils. He is the Vice Chair and Treasurer of the Scugog Township Economic Development Advisory Committee.

Natacha is a seasoned leader in digital transformation with over 20 years of experience in digital strategy and IT delivery. She led the launch of National Bank of Canada’s Open Banking channel and now drives its strategies. She was involved in advocating for FDX in Canada, as part as her previous role as a board member and co-chair of the Canadian working group. Motivated to positively impact her organization and society, Natacha strives to empower both business and citizens to improve their financial well-being with confidence and ease.

Passionate about consumer empowerment, data analytics, and financial innovation, Natacha is dedicated to creating digital financial experiences that meet the evolving needs. She also actively participates in leadership programs as a coach and mentor, sharing her expertise and guiding the next generation of leaders.

Sam is VP & General Counsel at Borrowell, one of Canada’s largest consumer fintech companies that helps people feel confident about money. Borrowell has over 3 million members and was the first company in Canada to offer credit scores for free. Borrowell also offers Rent Advantage, the first program to let renters build credit with rent payments without their landlord’s involvement.

Prior to this, Sam was legal counsel at President’s Choice Financial, a mid-sized bank, and a corporate lawyer at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in the Financial Services Group where she advised financial institutions and fintechs on a broad range of corporate commercial matters including payments, privacy and regulatory compliance.

As Director Strategy – Emerging Businesses, Sandeep leads BMO’s efforts on monitoring and driving strategy, integration and business response towards disruptive market forces that drive the evolution of payments, retail and business banking (such as Open Banking, RTR, Digital Assets, Banking as a Service & others).  He is also responsible for the creation and ongoing refinement of Horizon 2, 3 roadmap to inform capability gaps to defend against disruptions.

Sandeep is a graduate of the Smith School of Business, Queen’s University with a Masters of Business Administration degree. He also holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the National Institute of Engineering in India.

Shruti is a purpose-driven Product leader with 15+ years of global experience spanning South East Asia, Middle East and Canada and Joined CIBC in April’21 where she launched the Costco Onboarding & Engagement journeys. She is currently working as a Director, Open Banking Strategy at CIBC leading Industry & Government engagement, Value Add Use cases and Data enablement Strategy. Shruti is also the Co-lead of CIBC’s International Professionals Network, an employee network helping newcomers in the bank. Shruti identifies herself as an intersectional feminist and believes in equality of opportunities and pay for women.

Stephanie Zee is Vice President, IT Risk Transformation at Scotiabank. She has responsibility for technology risk governance and oversight. Stephanie has more than 20 years of experience in treasury and card product management and innovation, sales and marketing, banking operations, and Payments, Operational, AML, Fraud and Cyber risk management.

Stephanie has earned the ICD.D designation for Corporate Governance from the Rotman School of Business, a Master of Laws Degree from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, and a Master of Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.