Fintech Leaders

Tibor Bartels heads-up the ING Transaction Services department for the Americas region. He is responsible for Payments and Cash Management solutions, Liquidity Management, Working Capital optimization and Traditional Trade solutions.

Starting 2016, Tibor moved to NY to build an on-the-ground presence for Transaction Services in the region. Currently he leads a team of product specialists that have in-depth discussions with America’s based multinationals on how to improve their daily banking set-up.

Tibor has been with ING for over 16 years and started his career as a trainee and worked in various departments of the bank. In 2007, Tibor joined the Transaction Services department with regional responsibility for the United States. Currently he is a considered to be a specialist for treasury optimization and market trends in Europe and has been regularly been interviewed by sector magazines.

Hakan Danis is currently Director in MUFG Union Bank where he is managing a team that is responsible for designing scenarios and projecting macroeconomic and financial series for BAU baseline, CECL, CCAR/DFAST, Resolution and Recovery Plan scenarios, JFSA (Japan Financial Services Agency) and MUFG Japan internal scenarios. He is model owner of several macroeconomic and stress testing models that have been used during CCAR/DFAST submissions. He has also developed a model that has been used to rank scenarios based in their severity and constructed ad-hoc macroeconomic models to help Credit Strategies Group on stress testing related projects. He actively participates in Review & Challenge and Overlay Committee meetings for credit loss and PPNR forecasts during CCAR/DFAST processes. Prior to joining MUFG Union Bank, he was Senior Economist in the Research Department at BBVA, where he was responsible for macroeconomic analyses and forecasts of the U.S. economy for the BBVA Group. These forecasts were accepted one of the most accurate forecasts of U.S. economic trends in 2010 and 2011 by Bloomberg. He holds a PhD in Economics from Terry College of Business, UGA and is expert in time series econometrics and monetary policy. He has published several academic papers and worked as editor and guest editor in academic journals

Dipanjan Das (DD) is a strategic thought leader and proven general manager with 15+years of experience in P&L Management, Banking Compliance and Regulations, Product Management, and Digital Marketing spanning multiple industries. In his current role, DD leads all aspects for multi-product cross-sell and 3rd party strategic partnerships  for Capital One Retail and Direct Bank, especially in the New-to-Credit segment. In 2016-17, he was intricately involved in Capital One Retail Bank’s response to the FS industry-wide sales practice exam conducted by the OCC.

At Ally Financials, he led the analytics team focusing on the online auto auction business and the web analytics strategy for their dealer facing businesses. DD has a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and a Masters degree in Operations Research and Statistics from UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a huge foodie who also loves to cook, travel and dabble with projects around the house. He lives with his wife and 2 adorable kids in the
suburbs of Washington DC

Chris Ekonomidis’ biography will be coming soon! Find them on LinkedIn below

Alessia Falsarone, SASB FSA, is a Managing Director with PineBridge Investments in New York, a global asset manager focused on high-conviction investing. She is responsible for the alignment of portfolio strategy and investment risk across the developed markets credit platform, including as head of sustainable investing. Prior to PineBridge, she held senior investment roles at AIG, Citigroup and Credit Suisse. Ms. Falsarone is a mentor in the Stanford IGNITE accelerator program and a Member of the Board of 1787fp, a digital platform focused on consumer finance. Ms. Falsarone is an alumna of Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Co-Founder of Plootus, a FinTech start-up in the Wealth Management industry, based out of New Haven, Connecticut. Sunil has led multiple teams and projects at GE, ING, and PwC in strategy, finance and risk management. He is a 15-year financial services veteran with experience in Asset Management, Lending, and Capital Markets. He is an MBA from NYU Stern, a Chartered Accountant and a finance graduate from Shri Ram College of Commerce. He has also completed an executive program in FinTech from MIT.

Armel R. Kouassi is a senior finance professional with broad-based experience in Banking, Fintech, AI, Asset Liability and Treasury Portfolio Modeling. His experience includes a wide range of products with assignments in several major financial institutions and a Big 4 Audit Firm. He has worked and lived in numerous locations throughout the United States, Europe & Africa. Recently Mr. Kouassi is Head of Balance Sheet and Asset Liability Modeling for Northern Trust headquartered in Chicago. Armel has shifted between entrepreneurial and senior banking roles in his career.
Armel is certified Financial Risk Professional and a member of Global Association of Risk Professional. Armel received an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, a master’s in finance from ESCP Europe, Paris, France and a master’s in statistics and economy from ENSEA Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Armel is a father of 3 girls, speaks three languages, he is passionate of economic empowerments, Arts and Music and is member of the Board of Directors of the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra. He is a board member of NewArts/12.14 Foundation in Connecticut, USA. The 12.14 Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering well-being in children by instilling grit and resilience through a character development program coupled with high-level mastery experiences. Armel is member of the Board of the Wharton Club of Africa, promoting and helping to invest in Africa.

Jacob Kosoff’s biography will be coming soon! Find them on LinkedIn below

Sabeena serves as Deputy Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer to the investment banking division of Bank of China International – specifically, BOC International (USA) Holdings Inc. and its two subsidiaries, BOCI Commodities & Futures (USA) LLC, a registered futures commission merchant and CME Group Inc. clearing member, and BOC International (USA) Inc., a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA (collectively, “BOCI”). Prior to joining BOCI, Sabeena served as Futures & Derivatives Counsel and Compliance Advisor to E*TRADE Financial Corp., E*TRADE Clearing Corp. and E*TRADE Securities Corp. Her previous professional work also includes the Office of General Counsel at Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Incorporated, the Division of Enforcement at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Bank of New York Mellon’s Legal Division, the Securities Fraud Prosecution division of the Attorney General’s Office for the State of New Jersey, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer to Alpari (US), LLC and Alpari Securities LLC.

Sabeena is licensed to practice law in New York and New Jersey and is an active member of the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association and the New Jersey State Bar Association. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Political Science from the University of Toronto, a Master of Arts in International Relations from Columbia University and a Juris Doctor from the St. John’s University School of Law. She also serves as Chair for the New York County Lawyer’s Association Futures & Derivatives Committee, and member of the Foreign and Comparative Law Committee and Futures and Derivatives Committees of the New York City Bar Association.

Steve is Head of Liquidity and Capital Risk at Celsius Network, where his current responsibilities focus on cryptocurrency risk management of liquidity, market, credit, and capital. Steve has over 20 years of industry experience in risk management and quantitative modelling, with experience building portfolio management and analytics infrastructure at Merrill Lynch, Bank of Montreal, ABN AMRO, and Regions Bank. Steve has a Ph.D. in applied physics from Northwestern University, a B.S. in physics from University of Colorado in Boulder, and has held Series 7 and Series 63 certifications

Michael is a financial services executive with experience across a broad spectrum of the asset management industry, including operations management, compliance, and product focuses

Bradley Mirkin is a Cybersecurity, Financial Crimes and Regulatory Compliance expert. He is a former securities regulator, broker-dealer Chief Compliance Officer, senior compliance officer leading Cybersecurity, AML and Fraud Compliance for one of the world’s largest investment advisors and law firm partner representing US and foreign investment advisors, hedge funds and broker-dealers in investigations and enforcement actions brought by the SEC, FINRA and other US financial regulators. The focus of his practice is on regulatory compliance in areas such as Cybersecurity, Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Crimes with a special emphasis on issues involving Information Security and Compliance Software.

He is the former co-chair of the American Bar Association’s International Anti-Money Laundering Committee, was appointed to the ABA’s Task Force on Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Initiatives and is the former vice-chair of the ABA International Law Section’s International Financial Products and Services Committee. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, the London School of Economics and Political Science and Brandeis University.

Mr. Morisano is Chief Risk Officer at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China overseeing the Americas where he has a significant impact on business development, risk management, information technology and cybersecurity.

He serves as an independent director of a Fintech and also a private company where he chairs the audit committees. He received his credit training at the Chase Manhattan Bank, holds an MSc in Information Systems and a BBA in Statistics.

Mr. Sangha is the Global Head of Data Science , Risk, and Market Intelligence for State Street Verus and leads a risk and investment strategy team for an artificial intelligence platform that integrates machine learning, natural language processing, portfolio and risk management, and human experiences to explore connections and extract relevant insights between market-moving events and multi-asset class portfolios.

Mr. Sangha is an accomplished global macro portfolio manager, strategist, and risk manager, with over 20 years’ experience. He has advised firms on developing quantamental approaches to trading — strategies at the intersection of structural, statistical, and fundamental trading, utilizing data science, machine learning on both structured and unstructured data, and behavioral analytics.  Further, he has led several investment strategy and risk management teams and held a number of senior positions, including Chief Investment Strategist at a $6 billion global macro volatility hedge fund, and Senior Global Macro Trader at a $400 million hedge fund.

Mr. Sangha began his career at Goldman, Sachs & Co.,in the Global Investment Research Division.  He received honors at the International Mathematics Olympiad, served on the Canadian Mathematics Olympic Team, and is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Brown University.

Craig has over 30 years of governance, enterprise risk management, business development, technology and audit experience gained from working with the world’s top institutions (First Data, RBS, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, Dean Witter, & Merrill Lynch). Currently, Craig is Head of Enterprise Risk Management Strategy at First Data and is also the CEO & Founder of RiskTao, LLC which specializes in Enterprise Risk Management training.
Prior to these roles, Craig was RBS’s Global Head of Operational Risk Systems & Analytics and was responsible for providing strategic direction and oversight. In addition, Craig was Head of Operational Risk Management for RBS – Americas where he was responsible for driving the buildout of Americas ORM practice, Compensation Initiative, 2nd line challenge and managing regulatory relationships. In addition, Craig co-chaired the Americas Compliance and Operational Risk Committee and represented ORM on several domestic and international senior risk committees.

Dr. Veeramani is a Risk Management executive with a demonstrated history of successfully leading high visibility initiatives at global and midsize financial institutions. He is currently SVP, Chief Economist with Wintrust Financial Corporation. He leads the bank’s Economic Analysis & Scenario Selection, Risk Strategy, and Risk Analytics programs.

Dr. Veeramani is a published author and frequent speaker on topics related to risk & financial analytics, creation of data-driven business intelligence, and economic trends. He conducts regular economic briefings at the Illinois Chambers of Commerce and various other business organizations in Illinois.

Dr. Veeramani earned his MS from the Gatton School of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky and his Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky. He is a graduate of the Advanced Risk Management Program from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining Wintrust Financial Corporation, he held various risk management positions at Morgan Stanley, Discover Financial Services (spin-off from Morgan Stanley) and HSBC.