Learn innovative strategies, advanced techniques, and best practices from the brightest minds in banking in these actionable, how-to sessions guaranteed to build your brand and your bottom line. This is just the first wave of breakouts announced — more coming soon!
This is only one component of a three-day agenda packed with real-world case studies, how-to strategy sessions, and inspirational keynotes.
More content tracks will be released shortly, including the Growth Strategies Lab, Executive Leadership Series, CMO Masterminds, Power Breakfasts, Lunch & Learns, and the Sponsor Solutions Showcase.
Instructor: Ben Udell, former SVP/Digital Innovation & AI at Lake Ridge Bank
Core Themes: CX, Growth & Retention, Data Strategy, Personalization
Why you should attend:
Every financial institution has an onboarding program, but few are truly optimized for today’s digital-first consumers. Even the smallest gaps in the first 90 days can quietly erode loyalty, engagement, and long-term profitability.
This session will show you what next-generation onboarding looks like. You’ll see how leading financial institutions are integrating behavioral data and marketing automation to personalize the new accountholder experience, accelerate cross-selling opportunities, and turn new relationships into lasting, profitable growth.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: Josh Streufert, Chief Creative Officer/Creative Director & Principal at Strum
Core Themes: Creativity, Brand Strategy, Marketing Strategy
Why you should attend:
What makes some financial brands so much more effective than others? It’s not about rates, fees, and product features. It comes down to how the brain is wired to process, sort, and filter what matters — emotionally, not logically. In a world with endless options and shrinking attention spans, understanding the science of choice is a strategic advantage that marketers of all levels must master.
In this creative learning session, we’ll break down the science behind creativity and persuasion — and how top brands use powerful emotional levers to shape behavior, influence decisions, and earn trust. You’ll learn a framework with simple techniques for making your branding and marketing initiatives more effective, more fun, and more rewarding.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: Derek Elmerick, VP/Managing Director at Deluxe
Core Themes: Deposit Strategies, Pricing & Profitability, Data Analytics, Customer Acquisition & Retention
Why you should attend:
The battle for deposits is brutal. Rate-sensitive customers are shopping relentlessly, while digital challengers make switching easier than ever. But the winners won’t be the institutions who pay the most — they’ll be those that spot at-risk balances early, protect high-value relationships, and capitalize on retention opportunities.
This session shows how to win deposits without losing the rate game. You’ll learn how a data-driven deposit strategy — built on predictive analytics, timed interventions, and loyalty-focused design — balances short-term liquidity needs with long-term profitability while reducing margin leakage and outmaneuvering digital competitors.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: EJ Kritz, Chief Experience Officer at DBSI
Core Themes: CX, Personalization
Why you should attend:
What does cancer have to do with banking? On the surface, not much. But when EJ Kritz was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer in 2019, his journey to recovery became a masterclass in service and personalization. He found himself inside a system that often knew what he needed before he did — addressing his uncertainty about the future, fears of making the wrong choice, and the overwhelming need for someone to make it all feel a little more manageable. All familiar parallels with financial services.
This profoundly personal yet surprisingly relevant session is about the universal human needs that emerge in moments of vulnerability — and how those same needs show up in financial services every single day. You’ll see how empathy can be operationalized, how anticipating needs builds trust, and how financial institutions can design experiences that comfort, guide, and empower people when- and where they need it most.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: Sean Gelles, Senior Director of Payments Intelligence at JD Power
Core Themes: Payments, Gen Z, Demographic Trends, Digital Transformation
Why you should attend:
Traditional payments models built around cards and checking accounts are irrelevant to Gen Z and younger Millennials. Digital wallets, embedded finance, and instant payments are the new frontlines in the battle for customer relationships, and most banking providers are struggling to keep up with this accelerating seismic shift.
This session unpacks what younger consumers now expect from payment providers, and how they are fundamentally reshaping the economics of banking. Drawing on deep research and behavioral trends, you’ll walk away with a strategic roadmap for modernizing payments, and how you need to position your institution to stay ahead of this massive generational pivot.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: Sharon Cook, VP/Marketing Strategy at Vericast
Core Themes: Marketing Strategy, Media Optimization, Data & Analytics, Deposit & Loan Growth
Why you should attend:
Most financial institutions waste 30–50% of their media budgets talking to the wrong people in the wrong places. Why? Because their targeting is too broad, their creative is too generic, and their teams are stretched too thin.
This unfiltered session will show you how top-performing banks and credit unions are using hyperlocal growth strategies to outmaneuver the megabanks. You’ll see how they are finding untapped pockets of demand and dramatically improving targeting efficiency to lower acquisition costs with neighborhood-level insights, dynamic creative generation, and AI-powered optimization. Hear real client stories as they reveal what works, what flopped, and why local relevance is now the single biggest multiplier of marketing ROI.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: Don Sklenka, SVP/AI Optimization Strategy at Claritas LLC
Core Themes: Marketing Strategy, Segmentation, Personalization, Artificial Intelligence
Why you should attend:
Modern marketing isn’t about more campaigns — it’s about continuous optimization. Institutions that connect data, creative, and media into one learning system are pulling ahead fast.
In this panel discussion, top financial marketers reveal how they are modernizing marketing stacks without overcomplicating them. These innovative trailblazers will prove you don’t need a dedicated data science team to build automated engines that evolve in real time. You’ll see how leading banks and credit unions are aligning strategy with technology to make smarter, faster decisions, as they transform their audience segmentation models, automate and personalize creative, and optimize media budgets.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: Lincoln Parks, Co-Founder of Lincoln James Inc.
Core Themes: AI, Personalization, Data Strategies, Marketing
Why you should attend:
Community banks and credit unions can’t outspend megabanks — but they can outsmart them. In the AI era, it’s all about data maturity. Institutions that engineer the right data foundations to deliver personalized experiences at scale will grow faster and more efficiently than their larger rivals.
This session shows how marketing teams of any size can turn AI from a buzzword into a true growth multiplier — without blowing up the budget. You’ll walk away with a clear blueprint for scaling personalization across all channels and touchpoints to anticipate customer needs and strengthen relationships using your existing data.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: Kelly Ball, CEO of Pathfinders and Assistant Teaching Professor at the University of Notre Dame
Core Themes: Financial Education, Digital Engagement, Social Media
Why you should attend:
When younger consumers have financial questions, they aren’t looking to financial institutions for answers. They’re turning to sites like TikTok, YouTube, and Reddit first — social platforms flooding the internet with financial advice that’s often more entertaining than accurate. But when you don’t own the narrative, you’re putting customer relationships at risk.
This session challenges leaders to redefine what “financial education” means in a world dominated by viral social media content. You’ll see how to transform financial education into a strategic moat — not the perfunctory public service most financial institutions dismiss. You’ll learn how to build credibility, trust, and confidence as you create learning experiences that engage today’s digital consumers.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: Dr. Lindsey Piegza, Chief Economist and Managing Director at Stifel Nicolaus & Co.
Core Themes: Growth Strategy, Strategic Planning
Why you should attend:
Economic uncertainty. Interest rate volatility. Persistent inflation. Neurotic regulators. These are top concerns affecting strategic plans in banking — all with massive implications on razor thin margins. With consumer confidence wavering, what’s the right path forward? For banks and credit unions, every strategic decision — from deposit pricing to loan growth — now hinges on anticipating what’s around the corner.
In this fast-paced economic outlook, you’ll get the data, insights, and foresight needed to build a strategic plan with confidence. This session will decode the latest economic indicators, explain how they translate into opportunities and risks for financial institutions, and reveal what every banking leader should be watching to stay ahead of shifting market forces.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: Jean Pierre LaCroix, President and Chief Strategy Officer of SLD
Core Themes: Generational Segmentation, Wealth Marketing, Brand Positioning
Why you should attend:
The most significant wealth transfer in history is underway right now, with younger generations set to inherit $21 trillion from Baby Boomers — a massive demographic shift that’s fundamentally reshaping how people choose and interact with financial institutions.
This session reveals how forward-thinking banks and credit unions redesign customer journeys with modernized value propositions to capture a disproportional share of this once-in-a-generation growth opportunity. You’ll learn how to align leadership, culture, and innovation around the realities of this historic transition, and reframe your brand to resonate with today’s younger, purpose-driven consumers without alienating legacy customers.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: Danielle Calcara, SVP/Marketing at Newground
Core Themes: Branch Design, Retail Experience, CX, Branding
Why you should attend:
In this session, you’ll take a tour of global retail environments that are setting the new standard. Grab a front row seat as you explore inspiring design concepts from leading financial institutions and world-class retailers. You’ll see what actually works — from experiential design and retail technologies, to immersive brand storytelling — and why yesterday’s models are broken.
This session will teach banking executives:
This 30+ page PDF gives you a comprehensive overview of the Forum 2026 — who’s attending, ticket prices, agenda, speakers, a schedule of events, and much more!
Instructor: Tricia Hrotko, SVP Strategic Managed Services at Digital Onboarding
Core Themes: CX, Change Management, Communications Strategy, Digital Transformation
Why you should attend:
Within the next few years, most financial institutions will face a huge tech headache. Whether upgrading a legacy core, deploying a new digital platform, or untangling post-merger systems — it’s an operational nightmare. But many leadership teams underestimate the complexity and importance of communications in these moments. The reputational risk is enormous, and the margin for error razor thin. Get it wrong and irate customers will defect.
This session will arm you with a disciplined framework to transform these chaotic and disruptive transitions into genuine relationship-building opportunities. Learn how to craft the ideal communications strategy and effectively prevent post-conversion attrition when your institution changes the critical systems customers depend on most.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: Corey Wrinn, Managing Director at Rivel Banking Research
Core Themes: Artificial Intelligence, Reputation Management, CX
Why you should attend:
A friendly banker in your local branch used to be the face of financial advice. Now AI, automation, and algorithms determine how financial institutions earn — and lose — consumer confidence. The pressure to make technology feel reliable, transparent, and human has never been higher.
This session reveals what people really think about AI and how it is quietly eroding trust in financial services. You’ll see what banking leaders must change immediately in their digital, data, and AI strategies to rebuild confidence before customers defect.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: Gina Bleedorn, CEO/President of Adrenaline
Core Themes: Artificial Intelligence, Reputation Management, CX
Why you should attend:
In banking, it’s nearly impossible to stand out with brand names like Community, First, or National. These generic, me-too monikers are a silent tax on growth — confusing consumers and constraining acquisition as marketing budgets are drained. And in an industry dominated by consolidation and expansion, countless financial institutions will be legally forced to change names.
This fast-paced session reveals how leading financial institutions create differentiation, accelerate growth, and quantify enterprise value by investing in strong, strategic brand names. Learn how to evaluate whether your institution’s name still works — and what you need to do when it doesn’t.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: Daniel Darst, Deputy CMO at Flagstar Bank
Core Themes: Branding, Marketing Strategy, Generational Marketing
Why you should attend:
Banking providers face an unprecedented challenge: engaging five living generations — from Boomers to Generation Alpha — each with its own values, preferences, and expectations. How do you speak with equal credibility to an 80-year-old retiree and a 20-year-old digital native without sounding irrelevant to one or inauthentic to the other?
This session reveals how enduring financial brands develop strategic plans and marketing messages that stretch a singular brand across radically different audiences. Drawing on real-world case studies, you’ll see how to align your brand with generational attitudes and life-stage needs as expectations and technologies evolve.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: Michael Toner, Innovation Advisor at Profor
Core Themes: Emerging Technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Innovation Strategies
Why you should attend:
The convergence of AI and blockchain is redefining what innovation means in financial services. While many institutions chase trends and buzzwords, a few are quietly turning these technologies into tangible business value — building trust, reducing friction, and creating more intelligent customer experiences.
This session cuts through the hype to focus on the strategies and real-world applications that matter most. You’ll see how AI and blockchain are reshaping consumer engagement, operational efficiency, and risk management — and what it takes for financial institutions to separate practical innovation from passing fads.
This session will teach banking executives:
Panelist: Mujesira Dudic, Director of Digital Transformation/Financial Services at Capgemini
Panelist: Hayat Yahia, Principal/Product Management at Naehas
Panelist: Mark Spotanski, Vice President, Partnership Operations of FNBO
Core Themes: Brand Strategy
Why you should attend:
Neobanks, embedded finance platforms, and digital-currency networks roll out new offers and products in weeks — not years. Banks can’t keep up. Why? Outdated compliance frameworks, disconnected systems, and manual workflows that bring product marketing to a standstill.
This session aligns compliance, marketing, and technology around a new approach to creating offers and approving disclosures. You’ll see how to make these processes faster without sacrificing the control regulators expect, so you don’t lose deposits, payments, and loyalty to challengers with more agile systems.
This session will teach banking executives:
Panelist: Jeff Whiteside, Senior Director of Security & Risk Governance at Chime
Panelist: Yan Zhang, Senior Audit Manager at CapitalOne
Panelist: Ajish Abraham, VP of Infrastructure & Security at iBusiness Funding
Core Themes: AI, Risk Management, Security
Why you should attend:
AI is reshaping every facet of banking — from risk assessment to fraud prevention. But its real test isn’t technical. It’s ethical. Financial institutions now face a defining moment: how to balance innovation with accountability, and how to maintain public trust when algorithms make more decisions than people do.
This session explores how financial institutions can establish a foundation of trust in an AI-driven environment. You’ll see how forward-thinking organizations reengineer governance frameworks, rethink compliance, and reorient culture around responsibility — not just speed — to stay credible, compliant, and competitive.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: Manny Tocco, COO/Head of Business Banking Strategy of Citizens Bank
Core Themes: Business Banking, Relationship Banking, Growth Strategies
Why you should attend:
Business owners wrestle with financial pressures every day — from cash flow constraints to capital needs. The last thing they need is another business banker paying lip service to their challenges while pushing more loans on them. They want a true financial partner who understands their pain points, anticipates their needs, and helps them grow — not just a better rate or product pitch.
In this session, a 30-year business banking veteran reveals how institutions that act as true growth partners — not just lenders — earn loyalty, wallet share, and lasting revenue streams. You’ll learn how to expand business relationships and create long-term value by aligning your institution’s strategy with what clients actually need — not just what the institution wants to sell.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: Wil Reynolds, Founder & CEO of Seer Interactive
Core Themes: Digital Marketing, Artificial Intelligence
Why you should attend:
AI has changed the rules of online search forever. In this new era of algorithmic disruption where machine learning models dictate brand visibility — not search engine page ranks — financial institutions that cling to the old “SEO playbook” are doomed.
This session reveals what it takes to win in the AI-powered search ecosystem. You’ll learn how to evolve from chasing rankings to building real authority, why you need to optimize for trust and credibility instead of keywords, and how to future-proof your institution’s digital presence in a world where AI is now the gatekeeper to customer attention.
This session will teach banking executives:
Panelist: Sarah Iceely Hill, SVP/Growth at Brand Active
Panelist: Joli Murtha, Head of Brand at Truist
Panelist: Anthony Bonamassa, Director/Global Brand Management & Activation at Citi
Panelist: Chad Langford, Director of Marketing at First Interstate Bank
Core Themes: Brand Strategy
Why you should attend:
Many financial institutions wrestle with outdated brands that just don’t work anymore. Some do nothing and slowly lose relevance, while others overcorrect with sweeping changes that confuse customers and drain budgets. Most organizations land somewhere in the middle — ready to modernize, but careful not to dilute the equity they’ve spent decades building. The smart play is often a disciplined brand evolution — one that balances purposeful change with practical decision-making, ensuring you evolve where it matters most without overspending.
In this session, you’ll see how leading banking providers sharpened their relevance, protected their heritage, and managed budgets strategically. You’ll leave with a decision framework that cuts through internal debates, so you can align your leadership team around the costs, timing, and impact of brand refresh initiatives.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: Joe Sullivan, CEO of Market Insights
Core Themes: Demographic Trends, Strategic Growth, Consumer Behavior
Why you should attend:
The banking industry faces a demographic crisis. By 2034, adults over 65 will outnumber children for the first time in history — a demographic inversion that is completely redefining how Americans spend, borrow, and save. To capitalize on this unprecedented growth opportunity, financial institutions must throw out obsolescent marketing plans written for younger markets that simply no longer exist.
This session reveals how the longevity economy is reshaping financial behavior — from the psychology of aging customers to the economics of intergenerational wealth transfer. You’ll learn how to reposition your institution for relevance and profitability, and reimagine how your brand, products, and workforce must adapt to these tectonic demographic shifts.
This session will teach banking executives:
Instructor: Kerry-Ann Stimpson, Chief Marketing Officer at JMMB Group
Core Themes: Internal Marketing, Leadership, Culture
Why you should attend:
Marketing isn’t just about advertising and customer-facing communications. The most successful financial brands are built from the inside out — where every employee understands, believes, and delivers on the brand promise. Yet many institutions still treat internal marketing as an afterthought (if they think of it at all).
This session reframes internal marketing as a critical leadership discipline that drives performance, alignment, and growth. Drawing on real-world experience, this session shows how marketing leaders can embed brand purpose into their institution’s culture, connect internal behaviors to external outcomes, and transform staff engagement into measurable business results.
This session will teach banking executives:
