October 2021 Speakers

Tiffany Abinsay

Tiffany Abinsay is the Head of Learning Technology for Citi, and has been with the company since 2007. She has held many different roles at Citi in the learning and talent space, across Operations, Technology and L&D. Currently, Tiffany leads the team responsible for managing the implementation and strategy of all learning systems across Citi to define the learning eco-system. She has been engaged in multiple enterprise system transitions to SaaS, including Degreed and currently Area 9. Tiffany has a background in Computer Science, which helps to bridge the gap between business and technical knowledge to drive innovative solutions.

Patricia Aquaro

Patricia E. Aquaro was Managing Director and Head of Risk & Professional Excellence within Global Talent & Development at BNY Mellon. She was responsible for developing learning solutions to cultivate a strong risk culture and enhance the professional skills of employees across the company.

Previously, Ms. Aquaro was Credit Portfolio Manager for Broker-Dealers, Alternative Funds and Finance Companies in the Global Financial Services Credit Division. In 2007, she concluded a high-priority initiative for the division by establishing a central group to manage affiliate relationships across the institution and ensure compliance with Regulation 23 A & B, which governs transactions between a bank and its affiliates. She was also responsible for the integration of existing portfolios and new credit exposures resulting from the merger of The Bank of New York and Mellon Financial.

After completing the Bank’s formal credit training program, she joined Global Client Management and developed a new centralized credit underwriting function for the North American Banks Division. She subsequently implemented this model across all groups within Financial Institutions. Ms. Aquaro joined The Bank of New York Mellon in January 1996 through the acquisition of JP Morgan’s global custody business.

Ms. Aquaro was an active member of WIN, BNY Mellon’s Women’s Initiative Network, and a member of The Women’s Bond club. Previously, Ms. Aquaro served as a member of the Financial Institutions Portfolio Management Committee and as a Steering Committee member for BNY Mellon’s Tri-party Market Practices Reform Initiatives. For three consecutive years she served as the Co-Chair of the Annual Women United in Philanthropy Luncheon committee and also served as Secretary on the Board of Directors for CMCAS – Capital Markets Credit Analyst Society.

Ms. Aquaro earned her B.A. degree in Mathematics from Manhattan College and currently resides in Manhattan, New York.

Matt Boschi

Matt Boschi is an award-winning training leader that specializes in the development of: team members, instructional designers, trainers, business leaders, skill-based training programs, and organizational learning platforms. Matt and his teams have spearheaded the development and implementation of company-wide training for three different organizations that have ranked in the "Top 125" training organizations in the world (as ranked by Training Magazine). For the last 9 years, Matt has directed/lead all the training initiatives for the country’s second largest mortgage company (United Shore) and number one wholesale mortgage lender in America (UWM). Matt’s company has recently secured three consecutive Top Ten rankings from Training Magazine (#8 in 2018, #9 in 2019, and #5 in 2020) and has made the prestigious Top 125 list for six consecutive years.

Matt’s other accolades include:

• 25 years of hands on experience in the “people development” business. First as a Weapons Sergeant in the US Army, then in numerous roles throughout corporate America. These roles have included: Presenter, Facilitator, Instructional Systems Designer, Organizational Development Specialist, Training Team Leader, Training Director, Assistant Vice President, Training Consultant, and most recently, Vice President of Training.
• 10X Top 125 Award Winner (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
• 2X Trainer of the Year Award Winner
• 2X National Best Practice Award Winner (Training Weekly: Nov/Dec 2016 and May 2019)
• Disney Institute Graduate (2018) and Training Magazine Certification Earner (2016)
• Recipient of numerous Military Decorations, Medals, Badges, Citations, and Campaign Ribbons.

REBECCA BOYLE

Rebecca Boyle is an Enterprise Account Executive with Lessonly. Lessonly is a powerfully simple training software, purpose-built for Sales and Customer Service teams, that enables continuous training and coaching. Via engaging, bite-sized micro-lessons, teams are able to serve clients more efficiently and effectively, thereby adding capacity to management and SMEs. Lessonly has helped financial companies dramatically impact bottom line results via quicker onboarding, increased client acquisition, larger deals, higher NPS/CSAT, and increased customer and staff retention. Lessonly supplements companies' existing HRIS and CLMS platforms by providing an easy way to build, access, update, and search for content; it also provides the ability for customer-facing teams to practice and receive direct feedback in a streamlined, scalable fashion. Finally, Lessonly integrates seamlessly with various sales enablement tools like Content Management Systems (CMSs) and Learning Experience Platforms (LXPs.)

Rebecca worked in both Client Services and Sales across multiple financial companies and understands first-hand the power and bottom-line impact of ongoing training for frontline financial professionals. She began her career in business consulting before moving into financial services. After getting licensed, she started as a Client Service Analyst before quickly moving into Institutional Sales as a global Investment Bank. She switched gears and worked in both Finance and Administration for a national education nonprofit for 8 years before returning to the private sector. Before joining Lessonly, Rebecca worked in Business Development for a small Private Equity group, and most recently as a Wealth Management Advisor at a Regional Bank.

Rebecca got her BA at the University of Notre Dame, and her MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She resides in Indianapolis with her young daughter (Leona) and her rescue pit bull mix (Griffey.)

Stephen Egri

Stephen Egri is Client Director for Financial Services and Insurance in EMEA at GP Strategies. “There is no such thing as a stupid question, only the one you don’t ask.” With a passion for learning and performance and where it converges with design and technology, Stephen is a big believer in the creativity we all have inside of us.

As a listener and a problem solver, he believes life and work is about making sense of the situations we find ourselves in and creating a way forward that makes things better in what we do each day.

With over 20 years of experience, Stephen has spent his entire career in learning and performance with a background in leadership roles in Technology and Operations working with some of the largest IT and Financial Services organisations in the world.

Sean Fenton

Doretta Gordon

Doretta Gordon brings applied thought to the challenges organizations face in adjusting their learning models to meet opportunities of a skills-driven workplace and the increasing pace of change within business environments.  Dr. Gordon marries thought and research from the learning and change disciplines to modernize learning approaches, marring learning experience with in the workflow performance.  Her Learning Performance Environment Design Model places intentionality around just-in-time self-service, human support roles and cadenced feedback loops to quickly iterate learning to match the pace of business.  

Dr. Gordon’s research background is in the areas of tacit and explicit knowledge sharing and applied learning design.  Currently, a Director of Learning Solutions and Employee Development within the HR&D Talent Management division at State Farm, she has applied her craft with multiple branches of the military, government research entities, public organizations and corporations. As former Director of R&D for the Training, Simulation, and Performance Improvement Department of Southwest Research Institute (a 501(c)3 applied research organization) she designed the Capture > Code > Share approach to moving dynamically between tacit and explicit knowledge within organizations.  

With over 20 years in the learning field, Doretta holds her Doctorate and Masters degrees in Human Performance Technology and Instructional Design from Florida State University and a bachelors in Psychology from the University of Maryland.  She is also a returned Peace Corps volunteer, having served in Mali, West Africa in the early 1990’s.

David Guralnick, PhD

Over the past 30 years, David Guralnick has led the design of innovative e-learning scenarios, courses, and simulations, including the first online learn-by-doing simulation training course for corporate use, as well as performance-support systems and authoring tools. His approach to his work synthesizes concepts from the fields of computer science, instructional design, and cognitive psychology. David is the current President and CEO of Kaleidoscope Learning, and serves an e-learning consultant to a variety of organizations, ranging from multinational and Fortune 500 companies to non-profits and universities. He is also the current president of the International E-Learning Association; a regular keynote speaker at international conferences; founder and chair of The Learning Ideas Conference; Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal on Advanced Corporate Learning; Chair of the International E-Learning Awards; and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University. His work has been featured in Wired magazine, Training magazine (as an Editor’s Choice), and the Wall Street Journal, and he is the recipient of numerous e-learning design awards.

KAMI HANSON, PHD

Karen Humphries

Karen Humphries is the learning executive supporting Consumer, Small Business and Wealth Management. Key responsibilities include delivering learning strategies and solutions to enable employees to perform effectively in their role. Prior to August, Karen led the Regulatory & Learning Services team. In this role, Karen oversaw regulatory learning for the firm and managed enterprise learning services related to governance, solutions development, preferred supplier management and learning systems administration.

Other assignments during her 24-year career at Bank of America include various learning positions supporting Global Technology & Operations, Staff Support, Legacy Asset Servicing (LAS), Home Loans Fulfillment and the Financial Centers; leading mortgage process activities for Strategic Assistance Agreement with China Construction Bank; leading associate readiness activities for large scale change initiatives including mergers, technology, and role transformations.

Karen resides in Charlotte, NC and is active in the community. Recently she’s been involved in committees focused on fundraising activities supporting St. Jude’s and Theatre Charlotte.

TRICIA INDERHEES, CPTM

JOY JOSEPH

Joy has extensive experience within the Financial Services Business which spans across several disciplines. During her career, she has held several roles in the industry including as a Financial Advisor, Sales Management, Compliance & Risk Management, and Professional Development. She has several years of experience as the Chief Learning officer and Chief Diversity Officer at a global level, and has led large scale, cross divisional, and global programs supporting the financial services business. In her last role as the President and Head of HR she focused on the recruitment and career counseling of experienced talent. Currently, she is the Director of Training at Liberty Mutual Investments. She is a sought after speaker, member of SHRM, Chair of Womens’ outreach at work (WOW) network, and a board member of Fin Training Innovations. Outside of work, she enjoys hot yoga, reading and spending time with her son.

JOHN LANZ

John Lanz is the VP of Training and Development for Lower.com, an online financial services company. Originally a department of one, John is now Manager to a team of 24 Training and Quality Assurance professionals. When not mortgaging, likely gardening.

Shawn Lewis

Shawn Lewis has 20+ years of diverse experience in learning technology, performance consulting, and curriculum development. She is the Chief Learning Officer for Wells Fargo. In her role, Shawn is responsible for driving measurable business impact by developing overall learning and talent strategies across the organization’s 260,000 employees.

She holds a bachelor of science degree in Public Health Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a master’s in Organizational Development from Pfeiffer University.

She is a member of several professional organizations, including the Association for Talent Development (ATD) and the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI). Shawn is also a member of the Wells Fargo Women’s Team Member Network and the African American Team Member Network. She is a proven learning leader and innovator with recognitions, including a Brandon Hall Excellence Award.

Shawn is based in Charlotte, North Carolina. She loves to read and travel (anywhere warm).

Dan Miller

Dan Miller joined GP Strategies in 1988 and is responsible for our financial client solutions globally. His most recent experiences include working in London as head of GP operations in Europe, and as the executive leader for our largest global MLS contract in the financial services industry. Prior to this, he led the expansion of GP Strategies in Asia, including the establishment of our operations in China and India. Mr. Miller holds a BS in Human Resource Management from The New School University, a Master of Business Management from Anderson University, and Executive Certificates in International Management from Thunderbird University.

MATT PETRILLA

Matt Petrilla is a Leadership Performance Consultant in Vanguard’s Talent Management department, where he coaches leaders across the enterprise on a broad range of managerial and performance-related topics.

Matt’s prior role was as Divisional Manager in Vanguard University, where he led a team of Instructional Designers and Multimedia Developers responsible for creating innovative learning solutions for Vanguard’s global workforce.

Prior to moving into a formal leadership role in 2012, Matt served as a Senior Corporate Trainer in HR, facilitating professional development, feedback & coaching, business- related, and leadership development courses to managers and individual contributors alike.

Matt is a member of Vanguard’s select Adjunct Faculty pool, a Vanguard Certified Master Coach, and holds his Series 6, 7, and 63 financial licenses.

SANDY REZENDES

Jonathan Schultz

Jonathan Schultz has a background in strategy consulting with expertise in enterprise- wide transformations, working for top companies such as the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and McKinsey. Prior to co-founding Cormentum, Jonathan led the digital, process, and culture transformation of the Consumer Banking, Risk, and Legal organizations for a Fortune 500 Financial Services firm. Jonathan also served as a coach and advisor to four members of the company’s Executive Committee. Jonathan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Marketing from Augustana College and an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

Kamaria Scott

Kamaria is the Head of Curriculum Strategy and Instructional Design for FIS Global, the world's largest provider of financial technology solutions. She develops, implements, and communicates the learning strategy for global leadership programs and in support of talent management strategic priorities. Her team develops customized competency-based curriculum and leverages technology to create impactful learning experiences.

Prior to joining FIS, Kamaria owned a consulting services firm aimed at improving leaders' capabilities to achieve outcomes impacted by employee engagement.

Kamaria holds a M.S. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the University of Central Florida and an Ed.S in Adult Education/Human Resource Development from Florida State University. She has spent the last 15 years marrying strategy, theory and practice into meaningful and impactful ways to help organizations develop highly skilled employees and cultures that enable them to do their best work.

Emily Sheetz

Emily Sheetz is a learning professional with more than a decade of experience designing and developing innovative learning solutions for clients such as American Red Cross, Nielsen, Sanofi, and Moet Hennessy. At Independence Blue Cross, she is a learning consultant for the Operations Academy Training Team where she spends most of her time triaging projects, aligning to business strategy, leading digital learning, and interfacing between our business area clients and the design team. Emily is also the host of a popular L&D podcast called The L&D Forecast.

Johannah Simon

Johannah Simon is Managing Director of Risk and Regulatory Training & Business Integration Learning at Charles Schwab. In her role, she supports risk awareness training and enterprise transformation projects that help employees better understand and manage risk across three lines of defense.

Johannah was formally Head of Compliance Training and Executive Development at Discover Financial Services. At Discover, Johannah was instrumental in building a centralized team within L&D, that improved learner engagement through behavior-based modules, reduced overall seat-time, and increased regulatory rigor through traceability tracking.

Johannah has held a variety of leadership positions at Zurich North America in HR, Claims, Operations and Regulatory Affairs. Her experience in regulated industries also includes roles in Environmental Audit and Insurance Cost Recovery at Arthur Andersen LLP and as a Regulatory Environmental Consultant at K+ Consulting. Johannah is currently pursuing her MS in Organizational Leadership at the University of Denver has a JD from the University of Richmond. Johannah is a certified Business Analyst (GWCBA) and holds several professional designations, including CPCU, AIT, AIS and a LEAN Yellow Belt.

SOWMYA SUDHINDRANATH

Sowmya is a 19-year veteran in the talent development industry. Passionate about leading the creation of engaging and innovative learning solutions, Sowmya has a deep understanding of both the human and technology aspects of solution development that are essential for success and scale. Known for curating engaging experiences using learning technologies in DEI, onboarding, reskilling, compliance and career development. She has the innate ability to engage in both business and technology conversations and thus align teams towards prioritized initiatives to support growth.

Sowmya understands the requirements of a fast-paced environment and is known for on-time execution, highest quality control, and excellent communication to move a team successfully to project completion. Her experience crosses many geographies and industries, and her programs have received multiple awards from the Chief Learning Officer and industry standard Brandon Hall Organizations. She has led several successful learning programs for large global clients.

KATHY TAGUE

Curtis Twombly

Curtis is a proven performance consultant and a senior learning leader with over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry. Since 1996, Curtis has enabled Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., Wachovia Securities and Wells Fargo to achieve results through educating their workforce, implementing change initiatives and driving performance improvement initiatives.

While working for Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., he directly supported the transformation of Schwab's workforce from a transactional service provider to an advice driven consultative selling organization. While at Wells Fargo, he led the skill development and change management efforts necessary to establish an integrated wealth model and to install a team-based contact management system. While at Wachovia Securities, which is now Wells Fargo Advisors, Curtis has been involved with the skill development, change management and performance improvements for initiatives that include two large scale mergers, transition of transactional based advice to an advisory-based model and the implementation of a corporate university. After growing up and starting his career in Phoenix, Arizona, Curtis currently lives in St. Louis, MO. Along with his partner Susan and children, Lauren and Christopher, he spends his non- working hours enjoying the outdoors, cooking, movies and hanging out with friends. Curtis is also involved in consulting a local public school district, leading a Boy Scout troop and advising 6th graders at his church.

KACIE WALTERS

Kacie joined Northern Trust in 2015 and is the Global Leader for Professional Development and the Regional Learning & Development Leader for North America. She has 20 years’ experience in the fields of Learning, Organizational Development and Knowledge Management. Kacie manages a global team and is responsible for leading a global corporate university, along with driving re-skilling and upskilling strategies for the enterprise, managing global onboarding efforts and aligning professional education, certifications and career development programs to provide internal development opportunities.

Prior to coming to Northern Trust, Kacie spent her career leading Learning & Development, Knowledge Management and Communication teams for Forsythe Technology, Hewitt Associates and General Growth Properties. Most notably, she built several knowledge management functions from the ground up, led many technology change management efforts and managed the creation of sales, business and management training programs.

Kacie has a BA in Political Science from Indiana University and MA in Communication from University of Illinois. She is a certified PROSCI Change Management Practitioner and an Organizational Development Consultant (ODCP). She serves on the Client Advisory Board for Kaplan Professional and the Learning & Development Board for the Money Management Institute.

Kacie writes a weekly blog called, Corporate Safari, focused on self-management and people management topics, and has published several articles in Training Industry Magazine on Mentoring and Knowledge Management. She speaks on the topic of development at multiple Talent Management events every year. She is passionate about ensuring people have the skills, tools and desired culture they need to work effectively and collaboratively and stay engaged.

Karen Wilson

Karen Wilson is Senior Vice President and Executive for The Academy, an award-winning training and development organization with over 40,000 participants each year. In this role, she is responsible for creating an –end-to-end learning experience for Consumer Lending employees. Karen joined Bank of America in 1985. She was most recently the Performance Enablement Executive for Consumer Lending. In this role, she had responsibility for multiple planning and integration topics including business planning and integration management, process improvements, communications, readiness initiatives and the deployment of the mortgage originations platform.

During her 35-year career, she has held various leadership positions of increasing responsibility in consumer banking including Business Integration for Home Loans Sales, Mid-Atlantic divisional sales support, Mid-Atlantic consumer marketing management, sales process design, reward and recognition delivery management, and channel development management. She assumed her current assignment in 2017.

Karen proudly serves on the Boards of the Greater Richmond YMCA, Virginia Commonwealth University Grace E Harris Leadership Institute, Bon Secours St Frances Medical Facility and the University of Richmond Customer Experience Program. Additionally, she is the Executive Sponsor for the LEAD for Women Employee Network in Richmond, and also serves as the Mid- East Regional Chair for LEAD.

Karen earned her Bachelor of Science degree from George Mason University where she majored in Accounting. She is a Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt. Karen resides in Richmond, Virginia with her husband and two children.

Mike Wynn

Mike Wynn is a Senior Vice President and Innovations Design Manager for The Academy. In this role, he is responsible for delivering innovations to increase synergies and reduce inconsistencies between individual learning programs offered by The Academy. He is also responsible for solving common learning challenges and creating a holistic, high-tech and high- touch employee learning experience to foster career growth and development. Mike joined Bank of America in 2005. During his 16-year career he held several roles within the Consumer channel which include Financial Center Manager, Market Training Leader, Consumer

Market Manager and Associate Readiness Manager. As a Readiness Manager, he had responsibility for driving employee readiness, client satisfaction and sales performance for all Financial Centers in South Carolina.

As a part of his current responsibilities, he manages a team behind the scenes to bring innovative solutions to the Bank. One of those solutions includes the use of virtual reality, which is designed to increase employee engagement and learning retention using state of the art technology. His team also specializes in interactive learning solution design to help improve the overall learning experience by combining dynamic graphics and audio to deliver memorable content. He resides in Waxhaw, North Carolina.

Rommie Zats

Rommie Zats has worked for a number of top organizations, including Medline, Walgreens, and Google, where he held strategy and operations roles leading and transforming global teams. Prior to co-founding Cormentum, Rommie was a Vice President and Corporate Officer at a Fortune 500 Financial Services firm where he oversaw the digital, process, and culture transformation for the Credit Card Portfolio, Technology organization, Global Payments Network, Human Resources, and Finance organization. Rommie holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial & Systems Engineering from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and obtained his Executive MBA at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.