Lissele Pratt, a young entrepreneur and fintech trailblazer, co-founded and scaled Capitalixe into a seven-figure consultancy in less than 3 years. Acclaimed on Forbes 30 Under 30 and Tech Round Under 29 lists, she’s a UK Fintech Awards Rising Star and a force on the Women in Fintech Powerlist.
An official member of the Forbes Business Council, Lissele is a prolific contributor to multiple prestigious publications and a sought-after guest in podcasts, also hosting her own “Success Secrets” series.
Lissele is a celebrated speaker, mentor to women in fintech, and an influential figure for diversity and inclusion within the industry.
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Professor Karen Elliott is Chair of Practice in Finance and FinTech at Birmingham University Business School and Co-Director of the FinTech MSc. She has been named as ‘Standout #35 Women in FinTech Powerlist’ in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Karen co-leads FinTrust, Agency, UKFin Network+, INFINITY, and Trustworthy AI projects (£12m EPSRC/UKRI/Research England), optimising trustworthy AI, ethical AI, and inclusion. An Advisory Board member to Incuto, We are Group and Saible, championing access to fair and affordable finance.
Plus, the Prime Minister’s Champions Group for Dementia, CDR.net, IEEE Planet Positive and an Ambassador for the Digital Poverty Alliance. Karen creates a fusion between academic/practical ethical/governance considerations at the individual/societal level.
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Nicole Casperson is a journalist, podcast host, and the founder of Fintech Is Femme, leading the charge to create an equitable and diverse industry. With over 60,000 industry professionals subscribing to her podcast and newsletter, Nicole is a trusted source of news, insights, and analysis.
Before Fintech Is Femme, Nicole was a finance reporter, covering different B2B niches, from housing and mortgages to auto finance and financial advice. In 2022, Nicole was named a Top Inspiring Female in Fintech by the group NYC Fintech Women. She’s also a finalist for Fintech Nexus Industry Awards as a 2023 DEI Trailblazer.
Nicole has been named a Top Influencer in Financial Twitter by ETFtrends.com and featured in the LA Times and Nasdaq Trade Talks. She often speaks at events including Money 20/20, Empire Startups, Fintech Nexus, Fintech Meet Up, and Future Proof Festival.
Nicole is also a regular contributor to Forbes.com, writing about topics that intersect gender equity, finance, and technology.
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Aditi Subbarao is the Global Financial Services Lead at Instabase, an ex-banker turned fintech evangelist advising leading organisations on the adoption and applications of AI.
With over 16 years of varied experience across Banking (Foreign Exchange, Derivatives, Payments, Transaction Banking) and Tech (Loan Origination, Intelligent Automation, Deep Learning, ML / AI, Generative AI) – Aditi leverages her experience and industry knowledge to bring insights and thought leadership to those on their transformation journeys – both professionally and personally.
A charismatic and engaging public speaker, Aditi has presented across many stages and panels – bringing forth her passion for the vast opportunity for the world to benefit from the use of technology, and increasing the voice and presence of women and minorities in the fintech space.
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Chantal has worked in fintech and tech PR for almost a decade. Her experience spans a wide range of clients from open banking businesses, BNPL providers, global money companies, credit cards and loans, and much more.
She was most recently at Wise looking after UK PR both pre and post listing, before leading their corporate communications function.
Chantal is passionate about diversity in the fintech industry, and the importance it has in creating better products and services for people.
She launched The Heard (the very website you’re on) in 2022, which subsequently won AltFi’s “Diversity and Inclusion Champion of the Year” in 2023.
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Carol Hamilton is Chief Product Officer for Provenir, a global leader in AI-powered risk decisioning software. Carol is responsible for shaping the company’s global strategy, overseeing product direction and proposition development.
She plays a pivotal role in identifying new growth opportunities and driving the success of Provenir’s products in the market to help lenders make smarter decisions across identity, fraud and credit.
Since joining Provenir in 2021, Hamilton has served as Senior Vice President, Global Solutions and Chief Commercial Office of Provenir AI. Prior to joining, she held senior leadership roles at GBG, SAS and BAE Systems leading regional teams responsible for creating long-term strategy, driving growth, and seeking new areas for expansion.
Carol earned a master’s degree in mathematics at the University of Bath and completed the Executive Leadership Program at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
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Katja is the Fintech Manager at EY, focusing on startup and scaleup growth. She runs the EY FinTech growth programme, a 6-weeks dedicated course to provide FinTech startups with the right resources, tools and connections to scale and grow.
Prior to EY, Katja ran the Tech Nation Fintech programme for three years where she also developed expertise in leading teams as a scrum master and product owner.
Outside of her day job, Katja is also an advisor for early-stage fintech and a mentor at Level39 where she advises on strategy, market entry and growth.
Katja has built her career around supporting early-stage companies, including with operational strategy, building successful teams, forming partnerships and fundraising. She is a passionate advocate for diversity in fintech and frequently participates in activities encouraging women and girls into tech.
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Sarah Häger is the CCO at Enable Banking where she is evangelising Open Banking, Open Finance and Financial APIs to further accelerate innovation in the financial industry.
She has previously worked at Nordea bank, across several countries (Europe-wide) with the main mission to provide value for corporate customers.
She has spent the last 7 years taking the Open Banking vision from just a powerpoint to the multi- award winning solution of today. She is passionate about innovation, technology and to create commercial opportunities out of regulation.
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Perpetua Gitungo (Pesh) is the money laundering reporting officer (MLRO) and compliance director at Wise.
Pesh joined Wise in 2017 and comes with a wealth of fincrime experience gained through the management of financial crime in both small and listed companies (payments, banking, CFD/FX and gambling industries).
Pesh is a strong champion for diversity and inclusion in the fintech industry and is a mentor for the Girls Network and her local community.
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Lucy has a decade of experience in storytelling, from working in London’s newsrooms to spearheading content campaigns to raise awareness about the merits of impact investing.
She previously managed the content output for CIRCA5000, a sustainable investing platform that launched a suite of Article 9 ETFs on the London Stock Exchange in June 2023.
Lucy is passionate about using content to create clarity about financial matters for consumers and retail investors.
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Aysun is Chief People Officer for OpenPayd. An experienced people and talent professional with particular interest in talent acquisition and development.
Aysun has a strong proven track record in delivering a diverse range of human resources functions that support management and staff in achieving organisational goals.
Aysun has been with OpenPayd for over six years and has been in her role as Chief People Officer for four years. Prior to her role at OpenPayd, she was head of HR at technology companies such as TechToPay and Smart Gaming Group.
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As CEO, Iana Dimitrova sets the strategic direction and vision, and leads the executive team at OpenPayd.
She has extensive experience in the fintech and payments industries and holds a master’s degree in European Economics law and ICT Law from the University of Strasbourg and an Executive MBA from the London Business School.
Iana has been with OpenPayd for over six years and prior to her role, was Head of Legal Affairs, Digital Wallets & Managing Director at fintech Paysafe Bulgaria. Iana is a champion of thought leadership, speaking at various fintech events including Money 20/20, Web Summit and European Blockchain Convention.
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