Below are the speakers for the 2024 conference.

Courtney Aldrich

Associate Director

Institute for Leadership Advancement

With over 25 years of experience in higher education, Courtney serves as the Associate Director of the Institute for Leadership Advancement, where she oversees operations, teaches career and professional development, and provides career development coaching to over 200 students annually. Courtney has undergraduate degrees in Public Relations and Advertising from Florida Southern College and a Master of Education in Occupational Studies from The University of Georgia. Courtney’s purpose is to help develop others through her full-time role and volunteering with youth leadership development organizations in her free time. She lives in Athens Georgia and enjoys watching her kids’ sporting events and traveling.

Bob Allan

VP Group Sales Manager – East 

NAVCO

Bob Allan, MBA is the team lead for NAVCO’s East Region. He supports the East sales team on developing strategic initiatives and educating customers on the benefits of partnering with a best-in-class security integrator. Bob comes to NAVCO with an extensive background in Intelligent Buildings and IT. Most recently Bob worked for the Siemon Company where he led their Global Intelligent Building and Strategic Alliance Team and prior to his 9 years at Siemon, he worked for Honeywell Building Solutions. Currently Bob serves as the Chair of CABA’s (Continental Automated Building Association) Intelligent Building Council. 

John Ballantyne

President & CEO

Tru Treasury

John is the Chief Executive Officer at Tru Treasury, a firm focused on providing Credit Unions leading treasury management solutions and advisory services. As the Chief Executive, he is responsible for the development of this company from a startup to a strategic service provider in the financial services industry.

John has 20 years in the financial services industry leading underwriting, treasury management, and payments organizations. Prior to joining Tru Treasury, John held multiple leadership roles at Truist Bank, in the Treasury and Payments business. His roles included Vice President of Digital Money Movement, First Vice President of Liquidity Product & Commercial Card Rebate, and most recently as Head of Treasury Solutions Proposal Management.

Before Truist, John owned, managed, and successfully exited a medical payments FinTech; in addition holding roles at Amazon.com, Travelers Insurance, and Vanguard.

John earned an MBA from Johns Hopkins University, a Bachelor of Science from Shippensburg University, and is an Army veteran, who piloted Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters.

Most importantly, John is a devoted husband to his wife of 17 years and a father of three spunky children.

Ryan Blanscett

Supervisory Examiner

NCUA

Blanscett joined the NCUA as an examiner in Oakland, California in 2010 and moved to the Southern Region as a Problem Case Officer in January 2018. He is currently the Supervisory Examiner for North Carolina and parts of South Carolina. Prior to joining the NCUA, Blanscett worked as a financial advisor and had a series 7 and 66 securities license. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University with a degree in Business Management and is currently pursuing an MBA in Finance.

Mark Cox

President and CEO

Innovative Business Solutions, LLC

Mark Cox is the President and CEO of Innovative Business Solutions, LLC, a Commercial Loan CUSO located in Columbia, SC. Mark joined IBS in late 2013 after 35 years in commercial banking where he served in roles on both the credit side and as a commercial lender and an agricultural lender and has extensive knowledge in commercial & industrial lending and commercial real estate lending. Mark is a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking of the South at LSU, the Wachovia Credit Administration School and the RMA Commercial Lending School at East Carolina University.  

Jorge Esteban

Vice President, Southeast Region, Community Financial Institutions

Visa

Sean Farrell

CEO

QDS

Mr. Sean Farrell joined the company in 2003 while rehabbing a sports injury. He fell in love with the business and was a pivotal instrument in growing the business. His business skills led QDS to initiate a drive to focus the company on systems technology in addition to the desktop coin and currency business. This led QDS to have a greater impact on the overall efficiency and automation for the clients. After initiating some broader programs, Farrell was promoted to EVP and focused on more areas of the company besides just sales as QDS expanded into ATMs, ATM Processing, and new territories. His love for building meaningful relationships with clients and prospects in their strategic planning made him a leader in the industry. In the span of 5 years, Farrell was instrumental in growing the company from 2 states to a regional power covering the Southeast. Hel was then promoted to CEO in April of 2012. He continued to drive the company’s growth while maintaining the culture of the company with a strong focus on processes and customer experience. In June of 2022, after 19 years working beside his father Joe, Mr. Sean Farrell became the sole owner of QDS. His contagious spirit, clear vision, energetic drive, strategic planning, and passion for client’s success continues to propel the operation. Mr. Farrell knows the responsibility of being a managed service provider and the role information security plays in today’s financial landscape. 

Glenn Grau

Senior Vice President, Sales

PWCampbell

As Senior Vice President of Sales and a member of PWCampbell’s Planning Committee, Glenn is charged with leading the business development team for the company and assisting clients through the re-imagination of their retail branch network. He also helps guide them through the construction process, from program and design development into post construction, ensuring quality and client satisfaction every step of the way.

Glenn spent over 10 years in key management roles for Dollar Bank where he was responsible for twelve branch locations, managed 100 employees and oversaw assets of $2 billion.  This experience, combined with his extensive knowledge in the design-build arena, makes him an authority on branching. Working with hundreds of banks and credit unions to optimize their retail branch network and operations space over the past two decades has enabled him to speak to the latest branching trends, methods to revitalize branch networks for peak performance and profitability, and optimum space planning for operational efficiency and future growth. Glenn has a distinctive knack for blending his diverse understanding of banking, construction, and marketing to provide effective solutions for clients of every size.

Brian Hanson

Senior Manager, Client Support

alterDomus

Brian Hanson is a senior manager at Alter Domus with nearly 20 years’ experience in financial modeling. Brian leads the quantitative modeling for our ECRA line of products including our cash flow, regression, loan level stress testing, and loan growth modeling capabilities. Brian has an extensive history in data analytics including developing machine learning, AI, and process automation models for numerous banks and credit unions. 

Robin Heath

Sale Executive

Fiserv

With a career spanning more than 20 years in the financial services industry developing and nurturing deep rooted relationships, Robin Heath has a unique view into credit unions, their experiences, and their success. She is an entrepreneur, a 10+ year veteran of volunteering with credit unions and currently serves on the board of Valley 1st Community FCU. She has held several roles at Fiserv including her current role as Senior Sales Executive. 

Ty Hoff

Field Examiner

NCUA

Hoff has been a field examiner with the NCUA for over 23 years. He specializes in interest rate risk and liquidity risk. He has examined hundreds of credit unions in his career all over the southern United States including many of the largest credit unions in the Southern Region. Hoff has an MBA from Augusta State University

Adam James 

Partner, Senior Architect 

Design Collaborative

Adam James is a project manager/architect at Design Collaborative, also serving as a partner of the firm. With over a decade of experience in the industry, specifically in the financial market, Adam not only deeply understands the ins and outs of the industry, but has a passion for finding tailored solutions for each client’s specific project needs. He believes in diving in and discovering everything about a client’s mission, vision, and project goals to create a more successful project. Adam is a strong advocate for the client throughout the entire project, making sure that early design goals are translated through every detail and decision. Throughout his career, Adam has managed many projects in the financial industry, including several credit union and bank branches, and a number of headquarters/operations centers such as ORNL Headquarters, SAFE Operations Center, and ALEC Headquarters.

Pankaj Kulshreshtha 

CEO

Scienaptic AI

Pankaj has over 30 years of analytics, risk management, and financial services experience. He also served as the Chief Risk Officer for consumer businesses at GE Money UK. Back in the day when data analytics was still a bleeding-edge problem, he was one of the first few people that started the Analytics CoE for GE in 1998. That section of the business grew to become the world’s largest analytics CoE under his leadership, generating over $240 Million of annual revenues. 
 
A member of the Forbes Technology Council, Pankaj has been a regular speaker at various global events on innovations shaping the risk and fintech landscape. He founded Scienaptic in 2014, based on these very innovations. Through innovative AI tools, Scienaptic is tackling the problem of credit expansion across the globe. More than 135 financial institutions across banks, credit unions, fintech, and other lenders use its platform to constantly improve the quality of underwriting decisions. This enables them to say ‘yes’ to borrowers more often and faster.

Eric Loehr

Chief Revenue Officer

Reseda Group

Eric Loehr is the Chief Revenue Officer at Reseda Group. In this role, Eric oversees and optimizes all revenue-generating activities as it relates to Reseda Group’s service offerings and products. Prior to joining Reseda Group, Eric was the Vice President of Michigan Solutions where he was responsible for identifying, evaluating, contracting and on boarding new MCULSC partners. Prior to that, Eric spent nineteen years in the telecom technology space which included managing the Sprint Credit Union Program. He has held various sales leadership roles selling into both the government and enterprise sectors.  

Eric resides in Michigan with his wife of 26 years, Anne, and can be found on weekends in the Pere Marquette River, outdoors, or visiting his adult children, Carly and Jake. 

Dean Marshall

Executive Vice President

eScope Solutions Inc.

As a certified information systems security professional (CISSP), Dean has over 25 years of experience as a speaker, trainer and consultant. He has enabled many organizations to meet regulatory commitments and protect sensitive information. Dean consults and speaks on current cyber threats, testing of security controls and implementation of policy- driven safeguards. Dean focuses on security programs that address emerging risks, cloud computing, AI threats, and new technologies that can protect organizations, such as EDR & SIEM.

Dean actively volunteers as an EMT in his home district on Long Island. He is a Lieutenant safety officer and EMS instructor for the agency.

Joe McLaughlin

Senior Vice President, Financial Advisor, Corporate Retirement Director, Financial Wellness Director 

The Kelliher Corbett Group at Morgan Stanley 

Joe oversees all aspects of plan advisory services – design, investment management, employee communications, and operational and regulatory issues. He advises clients on the selection, implementation and monitoring of plan service providers and investment options, as well as developing plans’ education strategies. 
 
Joe brings over 25 years of experience and commitment to his work in Qualified Plan management. A frequent public speaker on a range of investment and ERISA-related topics, his technical background plays an integral role in the development of the group’s corporate retirement plan business. 
 
Joe earned a B.A. in Economics from Stonehill College and has continued his education for many years. He earned a Chartered Retirement Plans Specialist™ (CRPS®) designation from the College for Financial Planning and a Qualified Plan Financial Consultant (QPFC®) designation. Joe has been named one of the nation’s “Top Retirement Advisers” in PLANSPONSOR magazine’s annual survey from 2004 -2023. The Financial Times recognized Joe in 2017 & 2018 as one of America’s “Top 401 Retirement Advisors.” He was a founding member of the National Retirement Advisor Council, and has served in a leadership role for the National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA). 
 
Joe lives in Lakeville, MA with his wife and three adult children. He is a committed endurance athlete, completing multiple century-distance cycling events, a half-ironman triathlon, and the Boston marathon in 2016. He is a private pilot, working on his instrument rating. 

Harvey Plante

Senior Manager, Product Management

alterDomus

Harvey Plante is the Head of Enterprise Credit & Risk Analytics at Alter Domus with 25+  years’ experience in risk management, financial operations and analytic product management. Harvey leads the quantitative analytics team’s line of products including our CECL, credit loss modeling and stress testing solutions. Harvey has supported mid-size banks and credit unions throughout his career and has sponsored several credit union conferences. 

Austin Rabon

Supervisory Examiner

NCUA

Rabon is an NCUA examiner based out of his hometown of Greenville, South Carolina. He graduated from the University of South Carolina with a Bachelor of Business Administration with a double major in Finance and Real Estate with a minor in Political Science. Rabon is a member of ISACA and is working towards becoming a Certified Information Systems Auditor. He worked on the NCUA testing group for the Information Security Examination (ISE) tool which is currently being used by the NCUA to assess credit unions’ information security programs.

Dave Richter

Vice President

Performance Trust

Dave joined Performance Trust in 2015, bringing a wealth of experience to the firm. He began his career in the securities industry in 1996, specializing in the fixed-income markets. His analytical focus has allowed him to teach portfolio managers representing some of the larger investment portfolios in the country. Prior to joining the firm, Dave spent nine years at Fixed-Income Capital Partners, where he partnered with many of the firm’s depository institution customers to implement specifically tailored investment strategies in order to increase shareholder value.

Dave graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and received his MBA. He is Series 7 and 63 registered.

Erika Romenesko

Strategy Manager, Lending Member Experience

TruStage

Erika puts her passion for understanding human behavior and decision-making to work every day in her role as a Strategy Manager with the Lending Member Experience team for TruStage™. Her recent work leads strategy for using qualitative and quantitative data to understand better members’ needs, motivations, and preferences around loan-related decisions.  

Erika’s passion for credit unions started in the 2nd grade when she joined the Penny Pouch Club at the credit union in her childhood home. She’s worked for TruStage for almost 16 years and is an active CUDE graduate. In 2022, she and colleagues traveled to Africa to share insights and help develop worldwide credit union professionals’ ability to better serve members’ lending needs. Erika holds a B.S. in Biology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, a Master’s in Adult Education from San Diego State, and certificates in Instructional Design and Consumer Decision Making. 

When she’s not unpacking research to create actionable insights, you might find her sending her dog through hoops and tunnels on an agility course or adventuring with her husband in the beautiful outdoors of East Tennessee. 

Frank Santucci

Managing Director, Fixed Income Strategies

Stifel

Frank Santucci is a Managing Director in the Fixed Income Strategies Group at Stifel Nicolaus and Company, and is an authority on asset liability management in the institutional fixed income market.

He has worked with hundreds of institutional investors nationwide in a career spanning more than 38 years, and he is the principal author of the Balance Sheet Management Services ALM model used by Stifel’s credit union clients. The user-friendly ALM analysis has become instrumental for many institutions in the active management of their balance sheets.

During his tenure at Stifel, he has become a trusted and much sought after resource for institutions of all sizes. He is a frequent speaker at regional and national conferences on various ALM and risk management practices, as well as current industry trends.

Prior to joining Stifel, Mr. Santucci served as an Account Executive for Guardian Financial Group in Huntington Beach, California, a financial services company specializing in investments and insurance products for 401(K) and the defined benefit plans of Fortune 500 companies.

Frank pursued his higher education at Long Beach City College and at California State University of Long Beach in Long Beach, California. Frank currently holds Series 7, 63, and 24 licenses from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Frank is also an Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America.

Brad Thien

Relationship Manager

Aunalytics

Brad Thien has been providing cutting-edge business solutions for over 35 years with a focus on serving the financial industry. With experience ranging from bank teller to VP of Operations at a $2B financial institution, he has deep insight into how mid-size institutions can leverage strategic partnerships to overcome obstacles throughout their business. Additionally, Brad has experience with a significant number of IT solutions that aim to reduce operating costs, improve efficiencies, and increase revenues. As Relationship Manager with Aunalytics, he continues helping mid-size financial institutions understand and use technology to improve customer relationships, strategically deliver products and services, and drive competitive advantage. 

Greg Tomaszewicz

Sr. Financial Strategist

The Baker Group

Greg Tomaszewicz is an Associate Partner, Sr. Financial Strategist with the Baker Group. For over 17yrs Greg has helped credit union clients across the country in evaluating their balance sheet risks and opportunities. In addition, he works to develop new analytics to aid those clients in meeting the challenges of an ever-changing economic environment. Greg takes a strategic and consultative approach with credit union executives where his areas of focus include balance sheet management, liquidity and loan strategies investment portfolio management and strategies, as well as education on all aspects of the balance sheet.

Greg holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from Stony Brook University. He is a registered representative and general securities principal with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and holds his series 7, 63 and 66 licenses.

Theresa Tschumperlin

President/CEO

Ultum Group

Theresa Tschumperlin serves as President/CEO of Ultum Group, a CUSO focused on providing premiere end-to-end Commercial and SBA Lending services to financial institutions. She has spent the last 12 years of her career in Commercial and SBA lending, holding many executive leadership positions within sales, operations, and technology. Theresa is passionate about teaching others, each credit union is unique and should be treated that way, through Ultum Group she is given the opportunity to customize solutions to fit each Credit Unions unique situation. Theresa is passionate about using commercial and SBA Lending to help Credit Unions diversify their portfolios, increase yields, non-interest fee income and better serve current and potential members. 

Andrew Williams  

Partner Success Manager 

myCUmortgage

Proud to be a Carolina resident and with you at LAUNCH, Andrew loves statistics—especially the numbers that show the opportunities for credit unions to grow their mortgage business and help their members fulfill their dream of homeownership. Andrew joined myCUmortgage in March 2015 to support the people helping people service model of credit unions. As a Partner Success Manager, he lives up to his title by providing partner credit unions with roadmaps, state-of-the-art systems and personalized service to help them become great mortgage lenders. Andrew has nearly 20 years of financial experience from Bank of America, Internetmortgage.com and Principal Residential Mortgage before finding his home collaborating with credit unions at myCUmortgage. He earned his B.S. in Organizational Communications from the University of Nebraska and an M.S. in Management from Peru State College in Peru, Nebraska and was recently honored by the Carolinas Credit Union League with the 2022 Partner in Philanthropy Award.  

Joe Woods

SVP, Marketing & Channel Partnerships

Dolphin Debit Access

Joe Woods has spent 20+ years serving the financial services industry.  During his tenure in the industry, Joe has worked for several organizations including Dun & Bradstreet, Corporate One FCU and CU24, a payments network focused CUSO. Joe’s work has been published in the industry trades. He has written dozens of payments-related articles and has spoken across the country at conferences throughout his career. In 2016, Joe received the Credit Union Development Educator (CUDE) certification from the National Credit Union Foundation.