Robert Hayman is the Head of Emerging Initiatives and Product Delivery at Central 1 with responsibility for developing new products and services through external partnerships, including open banking capabilities. With 20 years’ experience in the Canadian financial services industry, Rob previously drove payments innovation in Canada at both Visa and Scotiabank where he led the development and deployment of an array of digital products and capabilities, eCommerce solutions, and mobile NFC payment wallets. Rob holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto, and presently lives in Scarborough, Ontario with his family.

Joseph is a software engineer & architect with over 25 years’ experience, who started writing mobile apps before mobile apps existed.

He contributes to IETF and OpenID Foundation working groups, including the FAPI group where he helped write the security profiles used by most OpenBanking ecosystems and is a co-chair of the Digital Credentials Protocols working group. He’s helped companies around the globe architect and deploy secure systems, particularly when mobile apps are involved. More recently he’s been focussed on verifiable credentials, in particular the OpenID for Verifiable Credentials family of specs, along with the associated specifications like mdoc/mdl, SD-JWT VC and the interoperability profiles.

Joseph is CTO at Authlete and Standards Specialist & Certification Director at the OpenID Foundation.

Dr. Richard W. Leblanc is a leading expert on corporate governance and accountability. He was awarded Fellow of the Institute of Certified Management Consultants of Ontario; Academic Fellow of the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes; and is a member of Canada’s Who’s Who. Dr. Leblanc is an award-winning teacher, researcher, lawyer, public speaker, consultant and specialist on boards of directors. He has taught at leading universities including Harvard University.

He has assisted and advised over 200 boards of directors; has authored over 200 publications and reports; has delivered over 600 media interviews and 700 speeches and training sessions; and has served as an expert witness in several court cases involving boards of directors. Dr. Leblanc is a Professor of Governance, Law and Ethics at York University and Director of its Graduate Program in Financial Accountability. Dr. Leblanc is Editor of “The Handbook of Board Governance: A Comprehensive Guide for Public, Private, and Not-for-Profit Board Members,” 3rd Ed. (Wiley, March 2024). His first edition has sold 7,000 copies worldwide and the seminal “Inside The Boardroom” has sold over 6,500 copies.

With over 23 years of experience in Identity and Access Management ranging from product development to executive leadership, Brook has been a major contributor to the businesses, products, processes and standards that drive today’s IAM software market. Brook holds a BS in Computer Engineering from Northwestern University and has held executive positions at IBM, Oracle, and a variety of VC and PE funded companies. In his current role, Brook’s focus is on creating the simplest and most secure solutions for today’s ever-interwoven business landscape, putting security and privacy into the hands of the end-user, and bringing these solutions efficiently to market.

Matt is an court recognized expert in anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and sanctions compliance, and leads the advisory practice team at The AML Shop. He has been assisting governments and financial services companies to assess and reduce financial crime and related regulatory risks for twenty years.

Matt is a Chartered Professional Accountant and has been inducted as a Fellow of CPA Ontario, is certified as an Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and Certified Cryptocurrency Investigator, and accredited as an Anti-Money Laundering Professional, and Certified in Financial Forensics.

Matthew has been qualified as an expert witness in forensic accounting and money laundering, has testified before Senate committees, Parliamentary Committees and the Cullen Commission of Inquiry into money laundering.

Chris has 30 years’ experience building high performing technology teams across many sectors. He has founded a number of start-ups, including a highly successful digital agency, and has helped many global blue-chip brands generate multi-million pounds of incremental revenue by building innovative technology solutions. Chris led the development of the UK open banking standard, chairing both the OBIE’s API Forum and Technical Design Authority. As co-CEO of Ozone API, Chris is responsible for product and delivery, with a focus on regulator relations. He has played a lead role in the development of KSA’s open banking framework and UAE’s open finance framework.

Phill is a deep technical leader who, over the last thirty years, has led many projects to a successful completion. The majority of this work has been in the financial sector including capital markets and risk management. With a strong “hands on” solution background starting in mainframe technologies and continuing through to current state architectures, these successes have come from assembling and managing strong teams with well executed quality processes.

Most recently focusing on incorporating new technologies and thinking into existing legacy financial applications. These include AI to improve transaction monitoring for fraud, AML and intelligent searching of contracts. Currently working with Credit unions and banks to develop a data platform for Interac and other payments processing

Reuben Piryatinsky is the CEO of Altitude Consulting, a Strategy and Technology firm specializing in helping financial institutions adopt open finance and launch differentiated, profitable products. Throughout his two decades in financial services, Reuben has worked with over 15 of the world’s leading financial institutions where he advised the C-suite, led cross functional teams, and launched successful products that are used by over 3 million people worldwide. Reuben has also launched three fintech companies that built pioneering solutions years ahead of their time. An alum of Waterloo Computer Science and Ivey MBA, he is an active member of FDX, an author and an international speaker.

Mark is the Founder & Managing Director of Major Street Enterprises, a boutique advisory firm helping Financial Institutions and Fintechs drive revenue from Open Banking use cases. He has spent the past 15+ years at the intersection of Fintech and established Financial Institutions. Previously as Head of Canada at Plaid, Mark built and scaled the Canadian business. Prior to Plaid, Mark served as a management consultant at BCG and Accenture, where he guided financial services executives through digital growth strategies. He is passionate about the benefits that Open Banking could create for Canadians and our economy.

Eyal Sivan, also known as Mr. Open Banking, is one of the foremost global experts in the open banking space.

In his efforts to drive advancements in open banking worldwide, Eyal created the unique personal brand Mr. Open Banking. Under this persona, he hosts the only podcast dedicated to the open banking community, interviewing the key leaders, innovators and influencers who are driving the emergence of open banking around the globe. Since its launch in 2020, the podcast has grown to over 90 thousand listeners and won several awards, with Eyal being recently recognized by Open Future World as the number one Open Finance Influencer in the world.

Today, Eyal is the General Manager for North America at Ozone API, global pioneers of open banking who’s platform powers some of the largest and most advanced data sharing ecosystems on the planet. In his role, he is responsible for expanding the firm’s global position as a leading open banking solution provider to the United States, Canada and beyond.

Holly Thomas is a Senior Policy Advisor for the Financial Services Innovation team at the Department of Finance. The team is responsible for implementing Canada’s Consumer Driven Banking Framework where Holly specializes in matters related to privacy, liability, governance, and consumer protection.

Prior to joining the Department in 2022, Holly was a Senior Research and Policy Officer at the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) in roles related to strategic policy and the supervision of federally regulated financial entities. Prior to joining the Government of Canada in 2015, Holly was a sessional lecturer at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. She holds a PhD in Sociology from Carleton University.

Samantha is VP & General Counsel at Borrowell, one of Canada’s largest consumer fintech companies that helps people feel confident about money. Borrowell has over 3.5 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.

Allison Wendt is a Senior Consultant with over 20 years of experience in Transformation and Innovation with a heavy focus on financial services modernization. She has provided strategic change leadership to both private and public organizations across Canada and abroad including financial services (RBC, CIBC, HSBC, Investment Planning Counsel), regulators and government (federal and provincial), nuclear (AECL) and healthcare (The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Program), among others. Allison is a certified lean six sigma black belt, certified in PROSCI Change Management and certification in Open Banking & Finance for Regulators from University of Cambridge Judge Business School. She has led more than 20 major change programs with significant transformational components.