The importance and impact of trade to everyone’s daily lives has never been more relevant than now. The 2022 International Trade Conference will focus on key topical themes including supply chain, trade digitization, sustainability/ESG, geopolitics, regulatory and compliance, and other key issues that enhance and impact the growth of trade and trade finance, and their role within the global economy.
The conference program is designed for bank and corporate executives, government officials and staff, and other practitioners and stakeholders involved in international trade and supply chain.
Choose which conference option works best for you! You can join us in-person in Houston, Texas or participate virtually. General Sessions will be live-streamed for our virtual attendees and recorded for on-demand viewing post-conference for all attendees. Register today.
05:30 – 06:30 PM
This joint networking event is open to attendees of both the 2022 International Trade Conference and the 2022 Regional Bank Conference.
07:30 – 08:30 AM
08:30 AM
Tod Burwell
President & CEO
BAFT
08:50 AM
Featured Speakers
Owen Herrnstadt
Director, Board of Directors
Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM)
Gabriel Esparza
Associate Administrator, Office of International Trade
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)
with
Tod Burwell
President & CEO
BAFT
09:25 AM
Small businesses are key components of supply chains globally yet accessing liquidity for those SMEs remains a challenge. This session will explore how governments, multilaterals, Fintechs and financial institutions can collaborate to increase trade and funding access for this critical segment.
Moderator
Daniel Pinho
Senior Vice President & Assistant Group Manager
PNC Financial Services Group
Panelists
Kaylee Karumanchi
Head of North American Supply Chain Finance and Receivables Finance Product
Bank of America
Jesse McDougall
Head of Export Finance, North America
UK Export Finance
Carson Strickland
Senior Vice President, Global Trade Finance
Regions Bank
10:05 AM
Blockchain was all set to be a panacea for all things, including much in trade. Recent events and media coverage have shown the emergence of other cloud based alternatives providing a increasing number of trade solutions. Which one will win? One? Neither? Or can both play their respective roles, and if so what will this look like? In a lively interactive session, this hot topic will be debated amongst 3 key parties: 2 industry specialists (one representing ‘blockchain solutions’ and another ‘the cloud’) and YOU, the audience.
Moderator
Brian Gordon
Senior Vice President & Manager, International Banking Group
Commerce Bank
Speaker
Alisa DeCaprio
Chief Economist
r3
Peter Hazou
Director, Business Development, Financial Services
Microsoft
10:30 – 10:50 AM
10:50 AM
What are the consequences and what can be done? Our esteemed speakers will cover the current challenging environment and improvement in sanctions screening via AI.
Moderator
Rajiv Desai
Senior Vice President, North America Operations and Sales
Pelican
Panelists
Ravi Amin
Trade Compliance Specialist, SME Maritime, Trade and Supply Chain
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Marcele Rask
Senior Sanctions Risk Manager
Danske Bank
Filip Verbeke
Founding Partner
Complidata
11:30 AM
Banks face an impending exodus of expertise essential to their trade business. How can banks retain this experience and niche skill from the next generation of trade financiers? Do banks need to solve yesterday’s problems in the same way, given the availability of new solutions? What does the next generation of trade financiers look like and do they exist? In this session, the panel will explore if and how banks can continue to attract and retain trade finance specialist expertise as they maximize the benefit of new technologies for trade.
Moderator
Mark Garfield
Head, Global Financial Institutions
Zions Bancorporation
Panelists
Ozgur Akdeniz
Head of North American Trade Sales and Client Management
Citi
Kimberly Burdette
Senior Vice President & Managing Director, International Financial Institutions
PNC Bank
Michael Hogan
Managing Director, UK
MonetaGo
12:10 PM
A leading group of ESG specialists from both Global and large regional Banks will debate the latest "Green Finance" trends and assess the opportunities and the risks.
Moderator
Scott Stevenson
Senior Vice President, Trade
BAFT
Panelists
Sivan Bender
Digital Innovation Director
Surecomp
Rebecca Harding
CEO
Coriolis Technology
Evan Matzen
Director, Sustainable Finance
PNC Capital Markets
12:50 – 01:45 PM
01:45 PM
This panel will talk cover the ongoing problem of fraud in trade finance and the opportunities currently available to address the risk: • Ongoing large frauds still impact the trade finance community; what are the typologies and why do they persist? • What is the impact of trade fraud on people and markets? Can reducing trade fraud help with the S in ESG and stimulate economic growth? • Are solutions to enable banks to share and compare risk information effective? • Can unique identifiers for legal entities and documents really gain critical mass? • Will change always be driven by regulators or can the industry innovate to solve the problem?
Speakers
Benjamin Arber
Managing Director, US and Canada
MonetaGo
Peter Mulroy
Secretary General
FCI
Michael Mulvey
President
FCIA Trade Credit & Political Risk (FCIA)
02:25 PM
The proliferation of 3rd Party Platforms has advanced trade and supply chain finance possibilities. But some institutions are locked out if back office technology can't operate in the evolving digitized landscape. This session will address the challenges to upgrades and possible solutions.
Presenter
JT Burke
Vice President, Business Development
China Systems
02:35 PM
Jammed container networks, oil capacity, Russia/Ukraine conflict have affected trade corridors and ultimately resulted in shortages of staple commodities. Our panelists will address issues within the supply chain in 2022 - are they likely to be replicated or will 2023 see an easing of these key issues? Using forecasts and indicator data, the panel will also provide their opinions as to where they believe the global economy is heading and what it means in general for firms involved in the supply chain.
Moderator
David Cooperman
Managing Director, Business Consulting Financial Services
Ernest & Young
Panelists
Peter Bolstorff
Executive Vice President, Corporate Development
Association for Supply Chain Management
Zoran Kanlic
Head of Financial Supply Chain
BNY Mellon
Sayee Srinivasan
Chief Economist
American Bankers Association
03:15 PM
03:15 – 04:00 PM
Join smaller table discussions on the key conference themes – ESG, Trade Digitization, Regulatory and Compliance, Talent, Supply Chain – and engage with subject matter experts and speakers from today’s sessions.
04:00 – 06:00 PM
Select rooms are available to conduct bilateral meetings. Contact Matt Kaitz ([email protected]) for more details.
08:00 – 08:30 AM
08:30 AM
08:40 AM
Featured Speaker
Vishal Goradia
CEO
Vinmar
with
T.J. Raguso
Group Executive Vice President, International Banking, Foreign Exchange and Correspondent Banking
Zions Bancorporation
09:10 AM
An Economists’ futurist view(s) on Global Trade trends.
Speaker
Jesse Thompson
Senior Business Economist
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
09:40 AM
Banks are being instructed by regulators to improve their management of financial crime risks. Increased automation, digitization, and access to pooled data makes this easier to achieve as well as reducing cost in the medium/long term, so why are so many banks still lagging? The session will discuss the benefits that automation and digitization and the sharing of data can bring across the industry, and explore what the blockers are and ways in which this lag can be reversed.
Moderator
Deepa Sinha
Vice President, Payments and Financial Crime
BAFT
Panelists
Mike Barbary
Senior Vice President, Global Strategy
TradeSun
Ravi Amin
Trade Compliance
SME Maritime, Trade & Supply Chain
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Paul Warfield
Senior Vice President, International Banking & Managing Director, Global Advisory Solutions
Huntington National Bank
10:20 – 10:35 AM
10:35 AM
The session will focus on how digitization has impacted trade in a post-pandemic era, with special focus on: • Impact of Covid-19 on Trade Digitization • Will trade consortia be successful in Digitizing Trade? What has been the uptake? • Have trade blockchain solutions gone beyond POCs? • How has digitization impacted trade risk distribution? • How does trade finance benefit from progressive regulations like MLETR, Electronic PNs, ICC Digitial standard etc? What more needs to happen in this space?
Moderator
Michael Vrontamitis
Lead Industry Principal, Lending Business
Finastra
Panelist
Patrick DeVilbiss
Director & Senior Offering Manager, Trade and Supply Chain Solutions
CGI
Merlin Dowse
Executive Director, Trade and Working Capital Product Management
J.P. Morgan
Srinivasam Sriram
Founder & CEO
Skuchain
11:15 AM
Trade financing in Africa has been facing a very challenging landscape with the heightened compliance requirements and the unintended consequence of derisking, as well as the inceased efforts at enforcing ESG regulations. Now, it also faces added challenges including the China trade growth issues, COVID-19 pandemic related challenges, and the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war among others. We will try and examine how these challenges have affected growth of trade in the continent, and whether the must talked about opportunities still exists and/or how they can be harvested.
Speaker
Okechukwu Ihejirika
Head Trade Services
African Export –Import Bank (Afreximbank)
11:25 AM
Listen to the Global Trade Heads from both global and regional banks as they share their views on regional impacts to trade finance, product innovations roadmap, approach to FinTech engagements, trade market ecosystems, and mitigating fraud in trade.
Moderator
Scott Stevenson
Senior Vice President, Trade
BAFT
Panelists
James Binns
Global Head, Trade and Working Capital
Barclays
Arif Mir
Senior Vice President, International Trade Services
Wells Fargo
Anirudha Panse
Managing Director & Head of GTB Trade Finance Product Innovation
First Abu Dhabi Bank
12:30 PM
Scott Stevenson
Senior Vice President, Trade
BAFT
12:35 – 01:30 PM
Ben has been with Complidata first as Chief Product Officer and is now the CEO. His in-depth knowledge of trade finance and financial crime compliance has been invaluable in crafting and executing our product strategy. We are confident that Ben is the perfect fit for the CEO role. Before joining us, Ben worked for most of his career at HSBC in trade finance around the world. He left HSBC in 2021 having run trade services in North America and Financial Crime Compliance for commercial banking in the USA. Ben has since built and led several successful companies in the FinTech sector.
Oz Akdeniz is the North America Trade Sales Head at Citibank overseeing a team of Trade and Supply Chain professionals who work with Citi’s Institutional Client Group (ICG). Throughout his career Oz has been passionate about delivering innovative solutions to Multi-National Clients who operate in complexities of international corporate banking. Oz is frequently a speaker and participant at various industry forums in the capacity of guest speaker / panel member on the digitization of payments and trade. Oz is closely involved with the Bankers Association of Finance & Trade (BAFT) in the USA. He was selected in the Future Leaders program in 2018, and subsequently became a Future Leader Mentor in 2019 and is now out he planning committee for the 2020 North American BAFT Annual Meeting. Oz has also been a mentor for the 30% Club supporting aspiring Women in Leadership in NY since 2017. Previously Oz worked at ANZ Banking Group and Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Ravi Amin is a trade compliance subject matter expert within the Maritime, Trade & Supply Chain division of S&P Global Market Intelligence. Ravi is responsible for providing expertise, knowledge and valuable insight to customers, helping them to reduce global supply chain risk, and provide transparency in the Maritime and Trade sector through incorporating in-depth risk and compliance procedures. Ravi has more than 7 years' industry experience in relation to trade finance compliance, covering global sanctions compliance, regional export control regulation including dual-use and military goods and vessel compliance covering sanctions and behavioural analytics to name a few. He has provided comprehensive trade compliance knowledge to multiple clients including trade finance banks and freight forwarders across North America, the Middle East, Northern Africa and Europe. Ravi has a background working in trade finance compliance, where he previously was pivotal in the innovation and building of risk monitoring products fit for multiple industries, including the financial and transport industries. He has also written several whitepapers; examples include: the impact of expansive sanctions on financial institutions in relation to trade finance compliance, the expectations of parties within the global supply chain following extensive amendments to goods classifications and, analysing whether the trade finance and global supply chain industries are equipped to manage sanctions screening for complex military and dual-use goods technologies.
Mike Barbary is a commercial technology attorney specializing in contracts, IP, and data licensing. Mike has built his career supporting technology companies' efforts to deliver solutions to market, drive adoption, and build revenue across client organizations while maintaining the highest standards of trust and partnership. As a front office executive, Mike is responsible for building long-term relationships with customers, negotiating enterprise software deals leveraging AI, machine learning, and other emerging technologies. Mike is passionate about helping industry stakeholders digitally transform their global trade businesses, harnessing the power of data, automation, and machine learning to unlock operational efficiency and reduce regulatory risk.
An experienced and innovative solution leader and entrepreneur, Sivan is responsible for driving the digital innovation of Surecomp’s trade finance solutions. With a vast knowledge of how to apply technology to business challenges using artificial intelligence and machine learning, Sivan is passionate about working at the intersection of disruptive transformation, strategy, innovation and research. Most currently he is focused on bringing added value to banks and corporates by enabling Surecomp’s RIVO solution with duplicate invoice financing detection and trade-based ESG scoring. With a proven track record of leading financial enterprise architecture and solutions, and his own digital transformation startup, Sivan brings a unique skillset and limitless problem solving to helping the banks around the globe optimize their trade finance business.
As an Executive Vice President, Peter oversees ASCM corporate development, innovation, and business intelligence functions helping support ASCM’s greater vision of making the world better through supply chain. ASCM is a global pacesetter for supply chain transformation, talent development and supply chain innovation. As the largest association for supply chain globally, ASCM members and worldwide alliances fuel innovation and inspire accountability for resilient, dynamic and sustainable operations. ASCM is built on the foundation of world-class APICS education, certification and career development resources. ASCM’s recognized, award-winning educational programs, thought leadership content, innovative standards and diverse community of professionals drive a truly better world through supply chain. Bolstorff, the author of Supply Chain Excellence: A Handbook for Dramatic Improvement Using the SCOR Model, has more than 25 years of experience in supply chain and operations management. Prior to joining ASCM, he was the founding principal of SCE Limited, a consulting firm focused on providing supply chain program management and SCOR-based education to supply chain executives and their global teams. He also held supply chain and operations management leadership roles at Pragmatek Consulting Group, Imation and 3M and has been a lifelong volunteer within the community.
J.T. Burke started a career in trade finance in 1997 with LaSalle Bank in Chicago, IL. Today he leads business development activities for China Systems throughout the Americas. In between those stops he has worked with both Financial Institutions and Trade Finance automation vendors to help banks and corporates leverage technology to improve operations and working capital metrics. China Systems is currently working with some of the world's largest banks to deploy applications capable of managing the emerging digitized trade ecosystem. Another focus is to utilize ESG throughout the supply chain to incentivise supplier performance. Rounding out these initiatives is adding to China System's product portfolio to bring the benefits of digitization to all banks.
Tod Burwell is the President and Chief Executive Officer of BAFT. Prior to being promoted to CEO, he served as the Senior Vice President of Trade Products with oversight of all trade-related initiatives including the Global Trade Industry Council, Trade Committees, and other strategic initiatives of the organization. Mr. Burwell has over 25 years of trade, supply chain and cash management experience as a banking practitioner, as well as serving as a consultant to global corporations and suppliers of strategically integrated trade solutions. Prior to joining BAFT, Mr. Burwell was a Managing Director at JPMorgan Chase and held senior global management roles responsible for trade operations, launching the logistics business and managing global product sales for trade finance and logistics management.
David is an advisor to banks and Managing Director in EY’s Financial Services Organization based in Chicago. At EY he leads their Trade Finance and Working Capital Finance practice in North America as well as EY’s Trade Automation Platform solution. David is has over 30 years of experience in the banking industry, primarily in Transaction Banking, including developing new innovative growth strategies, achieving revenue growth, improving efficiencies, deploying leading-edge technology and leading large-scale global transformation programs. He recently led EY’s Trade Finance and Working Capital Finance practice in North America. Previously he held global executive roles in at Citibank and ABN AMRO/LaSalle Bank as well as consulting firms advising the sector. He has served as a Director of bank subsidiaries focused on Trade and was a Founder / Director of the Trade Information Network, an industry consortium designed to improve small to medium-sized enterprise access to funding.
Rajiv Desai is SVP at Pelican with primary focus on sales, support & account management. He has in-depth experience in several industries that he acquired over last 30 years. He has held several Sr. positions with increasing responsibilities and successful results with revenue increase, client satisfaction and on time and within budget deliveries. He has worked with several global corporations and banks in N. America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Australia. He has broad experience in both Physical and Financial supply chain with primary focus in payments and compliance area. He is well versed in various payment messaging formats and technology. Additionally, He blends both technology and pragmatic business experience to address key areas of focus for banks and corporate.
Alisa DiCaprio is the Chief Economist at blockchain technology firm, r3, based in New York City. In this role she oversees r3’s research and market intelligence functions. This includes providing economic analysis on developments in blockchain, digital assets, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), trade and payments as well as contributing to r3 interactions with the public sector. She has experience in both public and private sectors on trade, export promotion, labor issues, and designing and implementing development projects. She has worked in Cambodia, Chile, Finland, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, and the US. Her work on global digital economy issues include chairing committees at the World Trade Board, ICC, BAFT, the US Department of Commerce Trade Finance Advisory Council, and the American Chamber of Commerce of Japan.
Gabriel Esparza has been selected to serve as Associate Administrator for the Office of International Trade at the U.S. Small Business Administration. In this role, Mr. Esparza will be responsible for leading Export Loan Programs; the State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) and assisting small businesses in trade. Previously, Mr. Esparza served as a public official in the City of Los Angeles, appointed by the Mayor to the Board of Civil Service Commissioners, and as Vice President of Global Business Development in the Commercial Payments division at American Express. A seasoned executive with over 25 years of experience leading businesses, spanning both large corporations and nimble startups, Mr. Esparza has also spent the past five years as an investor, advisor, and operator in a variety of entrepreneurial ventures. In addition, Mr. Esparza played an integral role at RapidSOS, a government tech platform that provides a data-driven way for people to communicate with 911.
Mark Garfield’s current role is Head of Global Financial Institutions at Zions Bancorporation responsible for foreign bank relationship development. He joined Zions Bancorporation in 2005. He has over 30 years of banking experience with 25 years in international banking management covering trade finance, trade services, foreign exchange, correspondent banking and product development. Throughout his career he has worked closely with corporate and commercial entities in the Midwest and Western U.S. providing banking support for cross-border trade. Mr. Garfield currently serves as a Director of BAFT and Chair of the Utah District Export Council. He served on the DEC National Advisory Board and Board of the World Trade Center, Utah.
Brian Gordon started his banking career at National Bank of Commerce in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1989 while attending the University of Nebraska. In 2000 he joined Wells Fargo (via acquisition) where he focused his calling in the 7 states surrounding Missouri as a business development officer for the Wells Fargo HSBC Trade Bank. He then joined Sovereign Bank in the Mid-Atlantic & New England markets to build from scratch a structured trade finance group. Before returning to the Midwest to join Commerce Bank, he was with HSBC in New York City as an international business development officer covering CT, NJ, NY, PA, MD, VA, and Washington DC.
Dr. Rebecca Harding is an independent economist specialising in trade and trade finance and CEO of Coriolis Technologies, providing data as a service to the trade and trade finance space. She is the co-author of the acclaimed “The Weaponization of Trade: the Great Unbalancing of Policy and Economics" and “Gaming Trade: Win-Win Strategies for the Digital Era.” She frequently appears on Ian King Live, Sky News, BBC World and BBC Radio 5 live, Newsnight and Radio 4 and is cited in the Broadsheet press, including recent articles in the Financial Times, Telegraph and CityAM, and citations in the Telegraph, the Times and the New Scotsman. She is a regular guest anchor on CNBC’s Squawk Box. She has written 11 books and over 200 academic articles and public policy reports. Rebecca is a member of the World Trade Board and is well-known in the trade and trade finance sector for her work on global trade. She is a strategic adviser to the Council of the Society of Professional Economists and until February 2017 was the Chief Economist of the British Bankers’ Association. Her senior roles in business and academic institutions include Founder and CEO of Delta Economics, CEO of Equant Analytics, Senior Fellow at London Business School, Global CEO of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Head of Corporate Research at Deloitte, Chief Economist at the Work Foundation, Senior Lecturer at the Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex, and Reader in Economics at the University of Brighton. She is currently a Fellow at Offenburg Institute for Trade and Innovation. She was a Specialist Advisor to the Treasury Select Committee and Chief Economic Advisor to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Entrepreneurship.
Peter Hazou is Director of Business Development at Microsoft in the Financial Services Industry team and is responsible for client Corporate Banking and Trade Finance solutions and modernization worldwide. Prior to Microsoft, Peter was a Transaction Banking industry banker for 30+ years in the EMEA region. He was the Regional Head for GTB at HSBC for EMEA as well as the Regional Head for GTS at Citigroup for CEEMEA. He also headed Market Management for Treasury Services at BNY Mellon in London and was Head of Strategy for GTB at UniCredit in Milan. His background is in Product Management for Payments at Chase Manhattan Bank. He began his career in New York as a credit officer in correspondent banking at Manufacturers Hanover Trust.
On July 13, 2022, the U.S. Senate confirmed Owen E. Herrnstadt to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Mr. Herrnstadt was sworn in on July 15, 2022. Owen Herrnstadt served as the Chief of Staff to the International President and Director of Trade and Globalization, at the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. As Chief of Staff, he assisted in running one of the largest manufacturing and transportation unions in the world. As Director of Trade and Globalization, he developed policy for international trade, economic investment, international labor standards, and human rights matters. Owen Herrnstadt has taught employment and labor law as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s National Law Center and international employment and labor law at American University’s Washington College of Law. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former member of the U.S. Export-Import Bank Federal Advisory Committee, U.S. State Department Federal Advisory Committee on International Economics, Co-Chair of the State Department’s Stakeholder Advisory Board on OECD Guidelines, Independent Mexico Labor Expert Board and the Industry Trade Advisory Committee 1 (Aerospace). Herrnstadt has also served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Baltimore Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. He has made numerous presentations on labor and employment law, international employment and labor law, corporate social responsibility, trade, manufacturing policy, human rights, and industrial relations in the U.S. and abroad.
Michael Hogan is the Managing Director of the UK for MonetaGo. Hogan is in charge of leading MonetaGo’s drive to fight fraud in finance through engagement with clients and the trade finance ecosystems across the UK and into Europe. He is passionate about rebuilding Trade’s reputation as a real force for good. Michael has over 30 years experience in international financial services and banking, 20 of which spent working in Asia. Prior to joining MonetaGo, Hogan was GM and MD for MUFG’s Transaction Banking business in EMEA.
Zoran Kanlic is Head of Financial Supply Chain for Corporate Trade, Treasury Services at BNY Mellon, where he is responsible for leading a suite of open account products designed to enable BNY Mellon’s corporate clients to improve their working capital goals and optimize their account receivables and payables processing. Zoran joined BNY Mellon from JP Morgan Chase where he led their global Supply Chain Finance product team. Prior to JP Morgan Chase, Zoran spent 15 years at Deutsche Bank as Product Management Head of Supply Chain Finance and pioneered their Financial Supply Chain business into a global suite of products.
Kaylee Karumanchi is a product manager for Global Trade and Supply Chain Finance at Bank of America based in Chicago, IL. In her role, she is responsible for Supply Chain Finance and Receivables Financing Product in North America and new product development initiatives. Prior to joining BofA, Kaylee served in a variety of roles within corporate treasury at a Fortune 100 manufacturing company, including managing their multi-billion dollar global Supply Chain Finance program. Kaylee has her MBA from Northwestern University.
Evan Matzen is the Director of Sustainable Finance at PNC Capital Markets, where he is responsible for PNC’s ESG advisory services for the Debt Capital Markets’ Sustainable Finance products as well as supporting the growth of Sustainable Finance products throughout the bank. Evan joined PNC through the BBVA USA acquisition, where he was the Director of Sustainability and ESG Risk Management, responsible for the creation of retail and commercial financial products and services that supported BBVA’s €100 billion Climate Action and Inclusive Growth ambitions. Prior to this role, he was Director of Corporate Citizenship for BBVA USA, where he managed the community giving, employee giving and employee volunteerism programs, the BBVA Foundation and Charity and the Community Advisory Board, as well as BBVA’s social impact programs including the Center for Financial Education, Momentum, and Diversity & Inclusion programs.
Michael Mulvey earned an undergraduate degree in Political Science at Lehman College of the City University of New York and a law degree from Pace University School of Law. He served as a criminal prosecutor in New York City from 1991 to 1997 and as an insurance defense attorney from 1997 to 1999. In 1999, he joined a leading international insurance organization where he progressed through the ranks of its fidelity bond/crime insurance claims and underwriting departments to the position of product manager for financial institution bonds. In 2015, Mr. Mulvey was appointed Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of FCIA with responsibility for all legal matters, and for managing the claims and recoveries (salvage) functions and regulatory and compliance matters. In 2022, Mr. Mulvey was promoted to president of the FCIA Trade Credit & Political Risk Division of Great American Insurance Company. He is admitted to practice law in New York and Connecticut.
Daniel Pinho was appointed the Vice President of Operations and Business Management at BAFT on July 31, 2023. Daniel previously was the SVP & AGM at PNC's Trade Finance group. He has over 20 years of experience in structured trade financing programs. Prior to joining PNC, Daniel was a Manager at UPS Capital Business Credit where he supervised the Export Credit Agency Operations group. He also served as the Director of Trade Finance at a consulting firm in Brazil. Pinho also previously served on BAFT's North American Council and co-chaired the Structured Trade and Export Finance Committee. He is a member of the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting and is chair of the board of Ten Thousand Villages in Pittsburgh, a fair trade nonprofit organization.
Sayee Srinivasan is Chief Economist for the American Bankers Association. He joined ABA in June 2020 and heads a team responsible for quantitative economic analysis of banking and the broader financial services sector. In addition to providing insights from research to inform policy and advocacy efforts, the team engages extensively with ABA members on issues related to economic trends and their impact on the financial system. Prior to the ABA, Srinivasan was at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)’s, where he served in multiple positions, from Chief Economist to Deputy Director responsible for quantitative risk oversight of the derivatives clearing system. He also directed Commission efforts related to lessons learned from the pandemic’s impact on the financial system and represented the CFTC in ongoing efforts to reform interest rate benchmarks. In the midst of all this, he participated in numerous work streams of the US Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), and the Financial Stability Board (FSB), including co-chairing the FSB’s impact assessment of the G-20 reform efforts related to the derivatives markets.
Scott Stevenson is the Senior Vice President of Trade at BAFT. Stevenson leads the association’s trade-focused policy, practices, and education initiatives, and supports its trade-related councils and committees. Prior to joining BAFT, Stevenson was a senior advisor for AF Capital Partners, which provided expertise in emerging market structured and project finance for development banking institutions. For two years, he consulted development banks and export credit agencies following a 17-year career at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and World Bank Group in various trade and investment project leadership roles. Before joining the IFC, Stevenson was the regional head of financial institutions at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Colgate University, and his MBA from York University.
Carson Strickland has over 20 years of experience in Trade Finance assisting Corporate Clients involved in international trade with developing financing and risk mitigation solutions to grow their business. Carson started his career with Regions bank in 1999. His background includes experience in International Banking operations as well as Relationship Management with focuses in Trade Services, Export Lending, Structured Trade Finance, Supply Chain Finance, and Foreign Exchange.
Filip is involved since more than 20 years in selling, deploying and optimizing AML and Fraud detection systems, as a co-founder of Norkom till 2011 and subsequently with SAS Institute, the leading analytical software vendor provider. Filip launched his own ventures in 2016 with CompliServe, a specialised system integrator and packaged solutions provider focusing solely on deploying Financial Crimes solutions, and in 2018 with Complidata, applying A.I. techniques to increase efficiencies and effectiveness in AML processes and Trade Finance. Filip has been involved in more than 100 AML/KYC projects in Europe and beyond, and in major remediations programs as well as in regulatory and operational advisory.
Ravi Amin is a trade compliance subject matter expert within the Maritime, Trade & Supply Chain division of S&P Global Market Intelligence. Ravi is responsible for providing expertise, knowledge and valuable insight to customers, helping them to reduce global supply chain risk, and provide transparency in the Maritime and Trade sector through incorporating in-depth risk and compliance procedures. Ravi has more than 7 years' industry experience in relation to trade finance compliance, covering global sanctions compliance, regional export control regulation including dual-use and military goods and vessel compliance covering sanctions and behavioural analytics to name a few. He has provided comprehensive trade compliance knowledge to multiple clients including trade finance banks and freight forwarders across North America, the Middle East, Northern Africa and Europe. Ravi has a background working in trade finance compliance, where he previously was pivotal in the innovation and building of risk monitoring products fit for multiple industries, including the financial and transport industries. He has also written several whitepapers; examples include: the impact of expansive sanctions on financial institutions in relation to trade finance compliance, the expectations of parties within the global supply chain following extensive amendments to goods classifications and, analysing whether the trade finance and global supply chain industries are equipped to manage sanctions screening for complex military and dual-use goods technologies.
Mike Barbary is a commercial technology attorney specializing in contracts, IP, and data licensing. Mike has built his career supporting technology companies' efforts to deliver solutions to market, drive adoption, and build revenue across client organizations while maintaining the highest standards of trust and partnership. As a front office executive, Mike is responsible for building long-term relationships with customers, negotiating enterprise software deals leveraging AI, machine learning, and other emerging technologies. Mike is passionate about helping industry stakeholders digitally transform their global trade businesses, harnessing the power of data, automation, and machine learning to unlock operational efficiency and reduce regulatory risk.
James Binns is the Global Head of Trade and Working Capital for Barclays Bank, which serves Corporate, NBFI and FI clients globally with teams located in UK, Europe, Americas, Asia and the Middle East. Prior to joining Barclays, James spent 4.5 years at Deutsche Bank where he headed Working Capital Advisory and Trade Finance for EMEA and latterly Global Cross Product Solutions. This followed 20 years at HSBC where James was based across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, USA and UK in a number of senior Corporate Banking and Trade Finance roles.
Patrick DeVilbiss is a subject matter expert in trade finance and oversees product management of CGI Trade360, a SaaS-based end-to-end trade finance platform utilized by global financial institutions to deliver trade services. He has supported the development of large-scale platforms delivered to top 10 global financial institutions in the trade finance space. Previously he worked for the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade, where he helped to position the transaction banking industry for long-term growth and success by developing best practices and delivering education and training to member institutions.
Merlin Dowse is an Executive Director and a Global Product Manager within the Core Product team. In this capacity, Merlin leads a global team responsible for the management of digital solutions and innovation available to the clients of J.P. Morgan across the globe. Merlin previously held the position of Global Product Manager for the Portfolio Management Group within Global Trade at J.P. Morgan. In this role he led the digitization efforts of both the internal and external processes supporting the distribution of all trade finance assets. Prior to this, while based in London, he was managing the EMEA Trade product set for the Corporate client segment, where he worked on various initiatives such as the Bank Payment Obligation, SWIFT for Corporates whilst also helping expand J.P. Morgan’s global footprint. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Merlin worked in various capacities in the Trade Services department at Rabobank in the Netherlands. Merlin has been involved in numerous industry-wide initiatives and was recently appointed as Vice-Chair to the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) Banking Commission and he is also the Sponsor of the Commercialisation Working Group under the auspices of the ICC Digital Standards Initiative (DSI).
Vishal Goradia is CEO of the Vinmar Group. He also serves on the boards of Lion Copolymer Holdings, BluePallet, the Junior State of America Foundation, and Indrani’s Light Foundation. Mr. Goradia joined the Vinmar Group in 2009. His previous roles have included risk management, logistics, plastics and chemicals marketing and distribution, private equity, and project development. Prior to his appointment as CEO, he was Senior Vice President of Vinmar.
Okechukwu Ihejirika works as a Senior Manager, Trade Services at African Export-Import Bank, which is a Banking company with an estimated 213 employees; and founded in 1993., their management level is Manager. Okechukwu graduated from American InterContinental University in 2010 and is currently based in Cairo, Egypt.
Anirudha Panse (Ani) is the MD & Head of GTB Trade Finance Product Innovation (TPI) at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). The TPI team is responsible for launching innovative, and digitized Trade products and solutions globally for FAB across the traditional trade products and open account solutions. Ani’s maintains oversight on the team responsible for structuring and commercializing the complex trade solutions in the trade and commodity finance domain. Risk Management forms a critical part of Ani’s domain wherein the Trade Risk Distribution as well as the Trade Business Risk functions form part of Ani’s responsibilities. During this career, Ani has successfully launched several innovating and complex solutions in the Supply Chain Finance (SCF) / Receivables Finance / Inventory Financing space and commercialized them into multi-million $ businesses. Ani was part of the founding team that launched industry wide initiatives like UAE Trade Connect, a blockchain based AI/ML driven solution for reducing frauds in Trade, and in the past has represented his bank in national FATF assessments with Central Banks and also through Steering Groups related to SCF with No 10 Downing Street, and the NHS.
T.J. Raguso has served as Group Executive Vice President of International Banking, Foreign Exchange and Correspondent Banking since 2015, having previously served as Manager of International Banking, at its Texas subsidiary, Amegy Bank, since 2005. Zions Bancorporation is one of the nation's premier financial services companies, with total assets exceeding $85 billion. T.J. joined Amegy Bank in 1998 and has 29 years of experience in trade finance, letters of credit, EXIM Bank lending, commercial lending, foreign exchange and international correspondent banking. His activities focus on the unique banking needs of importers, exporters and companies involved in global trade.
Deepa Sinha is the new Vice President of Payments and Financial Crime at BAFT, and will work to advance the goals of the payments and cash management industry through standardization, defining best practices and developing usable industry data. She will also be responsible for formulating policy recommendations and educating industry stakeholders including practitioners, regulators, policymakers and the broader business community. Prior to joining BAFT, Sinha accumulated more than 25 years of treasury and cash management experience at both corporations and banks. She formerly served as Treasurer at Caliburn International, now Acuity International, where she oversaw cash forecasting, working capital and debt management, and implemented policies and banking technology to support all core treasury functions. As the Associate Vice President of Banking Operations and Relationships at the Carlyle Group, she developed the cash management, FX and banking platforms, and built and managed the infrastructure for multicurrency cash management across 5,000+ bank accounts at more than 100 global banks. She also served on both the JPMorgan Chase Treasury and Wells Fargo Treasury Advisory Councils.
Sriram is a passionate entrepreneur looking to bring efficiencies to Trade Finance. He is the Founder & CEO of Skuchain. He has previously built a company selling risk management solutions to wall street firms, founded an ecommerce startup during the dot-com heyday and played Entrepreneur-In-Residence with a small silicon valley fund. He has been a qualified Captain of ocean going merchant ships, enjoys hackathons and has done the Executive Program at Stanford GSB.
Scott Stevenson is the Senior Vice President of Trade at BAFT. Stevenson leads the association’s trade-focused policy, practices, and education initiatives, and supports its trade-related councils and committees. Prior to joining BAFT, Stevenson was a senior advisor for AF Capital Partners, which provided expertise in emerging market structured and project finance for development banking institutions. For two years, he consulted development banks and export credit agencies following a 17-year career at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and World Bank Group in various trade and investment project leadership roles. Before joining the IFC, Stevenson was the regional head of financial institutions at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Colgate University, and his MBA from York University.
Jesse Thompson serves as senior business economist at the Houston Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Thompson, who joined the Bank in 2010, performs research and analysis on issues affecting the Houston and Gulf Coast economy. In particular, he studies issues surrounding area hydrocarbon industries. He also collects information for the Dallas Fed’s Beige Book summary of current economic conditions. He is author of the monthly Energy Indicators, the Houston Economic Indicators, and contributes to the quarterly publication Southwest Economy.
Michael Vrontamitis is the Lead Industry Principal for Finastra’s Lending Business Unit, which covers Cash Management, Trade and Working Capital Management, Retail and Corporate Lending. He also advises several start-ups, including Kountable Inc, and is a member of the World Trade Board. A renowned industry thought leader, he is particularly passionate about the intersection between sustainability, technology and finance and the impact digitalization can have in narrowing the trade finance gap and enabling sustainable supply chains. Prior to Finastra, Michael spent 25 years with Standard Chartered, spanning both wholesale and retail clients, as well as investor relations, working in Hong Kong, London and Singapore. He was the Global Head of Trade Finance Product, and most recently responsible for the bank’s trade finance business with European and American headquartered companies. He also looked after sales, product, distribution, service and implementation in Europe and the Americas.
Paul Warfield’s current role is to expand and grow product offerings within global trade products and global treasury services. He joined Huntington National Bank in June of 2021 and has more than 30 years of international banking experience working with trade services, trade finance, foreign exchange, and correspondent banking. Throughout his career he has been focused on looking for innovative solutions and technology enhancements that provide regional banks with competitive solutions. He is an active member with BAFT working on various committees and is past co-chair of the Regional Bank Council and past Board Member.
I plan to attend in-person, can I also participate in the virtual conference of this event?
Yes, those registering to attend the in-person event will be registered as a full conference attendee. This will include access to both the in-person and the virtual components of the conference. Virtual attendees will only be able to attend the virtual component of the conference.
What should I expect if I attended in-person versus attending virtually?
For those attending in-person, you will have full conference access. That means you are able to attend and join both the virtual program and also the live in-person program from November 3 – 4, 2022. In addition, the in-person component includes:
For virtual only attendees, you will have access to:
What if I cannot attend the sessions live? Am I able to watch later?
All sessions during the virtual conference will be recorded and available on-demand to all registered attendees via the conference platform. You can access the recordings until December 5, 2022.
What if my institution or company doesn’t allow me to access the platform?
The main platform for the virtual sessions is Cvent Attendee Hub. For an optimal conference experience, it is best to ask your IT/VPN team to whitelist the following domains and IP addresses below:
For Attendee Hub
Will I be able to ask questions?
Yes, you can certainly ask questions using the Q&A feature via the dialog box during each session.
Will I be able to speak with the other attendees? Will other attendees be able to see me?
You can connect with attendees before, during and after the event. Simply click the ‘Attendees’ icon, and you can search, message, exchange contact details and even arrange meeting times with fellow attendees.
When and how can I access the virtual conference?
A few days before the conference, you will receive an invite link to the Cvent platform. Please log in with your first and last name, and the email address you used to register for the conference. Once you’ve logged in, you will receive a verification code via email. Once you enter this code you will have access to the conference.
What if I don’t receive the link?
Contact [email protected] and a member of the BAFT events team can assist you.
Can I share this link and verification code with others?
Just like an in-person meeting, registrations cannot be shared. The registration link and code provide a single sign-on secure experience for the user.
Will session materials (handouts or PPTs) be made available? How long will content be available?
Session materials (if provided by the speaker) will be available via the virtual platform. Sessions will also be recorded and available to view on-demand. Access to the platform, which includes access to view sessions on-demand, connect with attendees and access materials will be available on the platform through December 5, 2022.
Do I have to watch the conference from the same device used to register? Our training manager typically handles all the sign-ups but will not be the one participating.
You can access the platform on any device but in order to login, you will need the email address you used to register as well as an access code that will be shared with you the day of the event. Make sure the person in charge of registering provides individual emails so each attendee can sign in individually.
Does this have a single login where a group can attend together, or is it intended as an individual attendance?
The conference is intended only for individuals. Each registration is just for a single person, and the content cannot be exported out of the platform for a shared experience. In addition, only the person registered will be part of the attendee directory and have access to connect with other fellow attendees.
The 2022 BAFT International Trade Conference, specifically designed for international trade practitioners, is focused on the key issues that enhance the growth and impact of trade finance on the economy. Network and learn from industry thought leaders, clients, and peers at this premier conference for trade finance professionals.
Platinum Sponsor – 1 More Available (Surecomp)
Gold Sponsor – SOLD OUT (CGI, China Systems, Fifth Third Bank, Pelican)
Silver Sponsor – SOLD OUT (BNP Paribas, Newgen, Santander Bank)
Wednesday Opening Welcome Reception – 1 Available
Sponsor provides welcome remarks at the Wednesday Opening Welcome Reception
Thursday Evening Reception – 1 Available
Thursday Networking Lunch – 1 Available
Thursday/Friday Networking Breakfast – 2 Available
Morning Networking Breaks – 2 Available
Conference Wi-Fi – 1 Available
Conference Notepads – 1 Available
Bi-Lateral Meeting Rooms – 6 Available
Table-Top Display – 3 More Available (Cibar)
Conference Bags – 1 Available
Conference Lanyards – 1 Available
The 2022 International Trade Conference, co-hosted by Zions Bancorporation, will be held November 2 – 4 at the Amegy Tower in Houston, Texas. The conference venue is within walking distance of Uptown Houston, The Galleria Mall, and numerous hotels and restaurants.
Amegy Bank Headquarters
1717 West Loop South
Houston, Texas, 77027
United States
There is not an official block of rooms being held for this event. Hotel reservations are the responsibility of attendees and should be made directly with the hotel. Below is a list of hotels that are in close proximity to the Amegy Tower.
Drury Inn & Suites Houston Near the Galleria
1615 West Loop S.
Houston, TX 77027
+1 (713) 963-0700
Houston Marriott West Loop by The Galleria
1750 West Loop S.
Houston, TX 77027
+1 (713) 960-0111
La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Houston Galleria Area
1625 West Loop S.
Houston, TX 77027
+1 (713) 355-3440
The Post Oak Hotel
1600 West Loop S.
Houston, TX 77027
+1 (844) 386-1600
The St. Regis Houston Hotel
1919 Briar Oaks Lane
Houston, TX 77027
+1 (713) 840-7600
“I really enjoyed the virtual aspect of the conference, and in particular the social and networking opportunities it provided.”
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
“The sessions were informative and the variety of content available was useful to my position. ”
Singapore
“Had useful discussions with both speakers and participants about practical trade issues. ”
London, United Kingdom
Interested in sponsoring the 2022 International Trade Conference? We can tailor your sponsorship package to meet your goals.
To discuss your sponsorship options, please contact:
Matthew Kaitz
Director, Business Development
[email protected]
+1 (703) 200-9071
© 2024 BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance and Trade)