Bill Cheney / President & CEO, SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union

As President and CEO of SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union in Santa Ana, Calif., Bill works closely with the credit union’s Board of Directors and teammembers to lead one of the largest, most progressive credit unions in the nation, while strongly adhering to the timeless credit union value of maximizing service to the credit union’s Members on a not-for-profit basis.

SchoolsFirst FCU is the largest credit union in California and the fifth largest in the United States by asset size, with more than 750,000 Members, and over $13 billion in assets.

Before joining SchoolsFirst, Cheney was president and CEO of the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), the nation’s largest advocacy group for credit unions. As leader of the national trade group, Bill worked in Washington, D.C. and throughout the country to represent America’s credit unions and their more than 99 million members before the White House, Congress, federal government agencies, the press and the public.

Bill has played an active role in the credit union movement for more than 30 years, beginning in community-based and employee-based credit unions, then as a leader in the state league system, the national trade group, and now as the CEO of SchoolsFirst FCU.

Bill earned his BBA at The University of Texas at Austin. He completed the Advanced Leadership Institute at Harvard Business School and the CUES Director’s Leadership Institute at the London Business School.

Bill and his wife Crissy live in Santa Ana, California. They have two grown children – Catherine, a journalist living in Northern California and Will, a teacher living in New Hampshire.

Brett Christensen / Owner, CU Lending Advice, LLC

Brett is the owner of CU Lending Advice, LLC. As such, he consults and conducts training sessions on various lending topics to professionals that work in the credit union industry. His personal and entertaining speaking style have also made him a popular and sought out speaker in the credit union industry.

Prior to forming his own company, Brett worked as a lending consultant and trainer for Lending Solutions Consulting, Inc. of Elgin, IL. Prior to his job at Lending Solutions, Brett was the Chief Sales Officer of APPRO Systems, Inc. which purchased the Loan Link Lending Center, which Brett managed as the President for three years.

Prior to his work at Loan Link, Brett was the Vice President of Lending & Sales at Clark County Credit Union in Las Vegas, Nevada. He also worked for five years as a civil engineering officer in the United States Air Force.

He has earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the United States Air Force Academy in 1987, and a Master’s of Business Administration degree from the University of Phoenix in 1991.

Kirk Drake / Founder, Credit Union 2.0

Kirk Drake is a lifelong entrepreneur, author, and founder of Credit Union 2.0. He is a credit union and technology enthusiast who built nine successful businesses, notably the Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO) Ongoing Operations, CU Wallet – a mobile wallet venture, Resistance Wine Company, and several additional lifestyle e-commerce/mobile platforms.

Kirk harnessed the power of inbound marketing, generating over 500 blog articles, twelve books, created a lead scoring system, and developed a digital engagement strategy resulting in over 100 leads per month.

In 2016, Kirk harnessed his 25 years of industry experience to write Credit Union 2.0: A Guide to Helping Credit Unions Compete in the Digital Age. His second book – Financial – Artificial Intelligence for bankers will be published in 2019.

Kirk is a featured speaker with over 100 previous appearances at conferences, including The California Credit Union League, CU Leaders, PSCU Annual Conference, Cornerstone Credit Union League, and many more. He helps audiences understand the current state of credit unions, the imminent need to adapt into current digital technologies, and how to regain crucial market share in the banking industry.

When Kirk isn’t busy helping credit unions be relevant in today’s digital age, he loves spending time with his beautiful wife Kimberly and their three amazing kids. They are also starting a vineyard in their beautiful new hometown of Ashland, Oregon.

Bruce A. Pearson / Senior Partner, SW&M

Bruce Pearson is a senior partner at the law offices of Styskal, Wiese & Melchione, LLP (“SW&M”). SW&M has been involved in the financial institution movement since 1936 when its founding partners began practicing law. Bruce has over twenty-four years of experience representing the industry. He provides clients with results oriented, practical and strategic legal and business advice focusing upon corporate governance, insurance coverage, operations and regulatory matters. Bruce’s past credit union work experience provides the firm’s clients with a valuable “in the trenches” perspective.

Bruce received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Illinois where he majored in Russian, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated Cum Laude in 1985. While working for a credit union, he attended Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 1992. He is licensed to practice in the state of Arizona, California, New York, Oregon, Utah and Washington.

Bruce is a frequently requested speaker and teacher at credit union industry meetings and events; he is on the faculty of Western CUNA Management School and regularly trains senior management and volunteers on fiduciary duties and responsibilities, vendor contract negotiations and is a main speaker at SW&M’s annual legal update seminars.

Art Sookazian / President of National Credit Union Collections Alliance (NCUCA)

Art Sookazian serves as the Vice President of Special Services and Risk Management for Los Angeles Federal Credit Union (LAFCU). In addition, he is the President of the National Credit Union Collections Alliance (NCUCA). The NCUCA is a nationwide collections organization for credit unions providing networking, best practices, and educational services. He oversees collections, recoveries, litigation, repossessions, and remarketing at LAFCU. He has twenty years of experience in collections at both captive finance and credit union industries. Art has worked at some of the leading captive finance companies including Toyota Financial Services, Lexus Financial Services, and Isuzu Motors Acceptance Corp. Prior to his time at Los Angeles Federal Credit Union, Art served as the Vice President of Collections at Xceed Financial Credit Union. Art has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from The University of Virginia. In 2016, Art was awarded the CU Times Trailblazer 40 Below award for his success overseeing collections programs at credit unions while forming the NCUCA.

Alana Anaya, Esq. / Anaya Law Group

Alana B. Anaya, Esq. is the principal/owner of Anaya Law Group located in Westlake Village, California. Ms. Anaya has proudly been representing Credit Unions throughout California since 1998 for all of their collection, real estate and contractual needs. The firm’s focus areas are collection, real estate and bankruptcy matters on behalf of creditors. The firm also provides business and legal guidance to its Credit Union clients.

Alana Anaya, Esq. and her associates at the firm have extensive knowledge and experience in all aspects of collection and post judgment remedies. They also have ample experience in business, real estate and bankruptcy litigation.

Ms. Anaya has given numerous presentations at educational seminars focusing in on collections and bankruptcy. She has prepared written educational materials on the topic of collection, bankruptcy, lending and real estate that have been utilized by educational seminar groups.

Her firm has also established important legal precedents in our legal system benefitting Credit Unions and creditor’s rights. Aside from the legal practice, Anaya Law Firm believes in giving back to the community and is a founding member and participant of a growing non-profit organization that provides ongoing educational training and mentoring to at-risk children in low socio-economic areas of Los Angeles.

Thomas J. Prenovost, Jr. / Managing Principal Attorney

Education:

• Loyola Law School (Los Angeles), Juris Doctor Degree, 1977
• University of California, Los Angeles, Graduate Studies in Architecture and Urban Planning, 1973-1974
• California State University, Long Beach, Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science/Public Administration, “Cum Laude”, 1972

Practice Areas:

• Automobile Law & Dealership
• Banking Law/ Commercial Litigation
• Creditor’s Bankruptcy Law
• Civil Litigation
• Commercial Litigation
• Corporate Law
• Credit Unions
• Financial Institutions
• Real Estate Law

Admitted To Practice In:

• United States Supreme Court
• California Supreme Court
• All California Courts of Appeal
• All Federal, State and Bankruptcy Courts in California

Professional Profile:

• Managing Principal of Prenovost, Normandin, Bergh, & Dawe (1984-Present)
• Director – California Credit Union Collectors Council – Orange County Chapter (2012-2017)
• Director – California Domestic Water Company (2015 – present)
• Top 100 Irish Attorney in U.S.A. (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
• Planning Commissioner for the City of Brea (1998-2013)
• Parks & Recreation Commissioner, City of Brea (1996-1998)
• Served on the Board of Governors for Loyola Law School (1995)
• Served on the Board of the St. Vincent de Paul Society (1996)
• Associate Professor at Chapman University (1977-1983)
• Founder (2000) and President (2010-2012) of the Celtic Bar Association of Orange County
• Speaker on various topics, including “Current Legal Issues” and “Update on Legal Lending Issues” at California Bankers and Lenders Conference
• Brea-Olinda High School Football Booster President (1994-1999)
• Member of American Bar Association, Orange County Bar Association, Debt Collection, Bankruptcy and Real Estate Sections, Community Bankers of California, California Bankers Association, American Financial Services Association, Mortgage Bankers Association of America, and Trial Lawyers Association of America
• Member of the California Association of REALTORS® (“C.A.R.”) Attorney Referral Panel (2006 to present)
• Expert Witness
• California Licensed Real Estate Broker
• Judge Pro-Tem, Orange County Superior Court (1983-1988)

Karel Rocha

Education:

• University of San Diego, California, Juris Doctor, 2000
• University of California, San Diego, CA., Bachelor of Arts Degree, Sociology with a minor in Spanish Literature, 1997

Practice Areas:

• Civil Litigation
• Banking Law/ Commercial Litigation
• Collection
• Bankruptcy
• Real Estate Law
• Title Insurance Defense
• Mortgage Banking Law
• Escrow Defense

Admitted To Practice In:

• All United States District and State Courts in California

Professional Profile:

• Mr. Rocha is a Member of State Bar of California, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Orange County Bar Association, and the Hispanic Bar Association of Orange County.
• Mr. Rocha became a Principal at Prenovost, Normandin, Bergh & Dawe in January 2015 and represents credit unions, escrow companies, banks and financial institutions in all manner of civil litigation, including consumer finance and real estate matters, and compliance.
• Over the last sixteen years, Mr. Rocha has successfully handled court and jury trials throughout the State of California in the fields of real estate, consumer finance contract enforcement, auto dealer and auto finance defense, contractual disputes and personal injury on behalf of individuals and corporate clients.
• He has also been a panelist speaker at various seminars throughout the State relating to consumer finance litigation and compliance (FDCPA, TCPA, Rosenthal Act, Rees-Levering Act, CFPB), bankruptcy law, escrow law, and real estate matters.

Sohini Chowdhury / Director of Economic Research

Sohini Chowdhury is a Director and Senior Economist with Moody’s Analytics, specializing in macroeconomic modeling and forecasting, scenario design, and market risk research, with a special focus on stress-testing and CECL applications. Previously, she led the global team responsible for the Moody’s Analytics market risk forecasts and modeling services while managing custom scenarios projects for major financial institutions worldwide.

An experienced speaker, Sohini often presents at client meetings and industry conferences on macroeconomic models, scenarios and CECL solutions. Sohini holds a PhD and a master’s degree in economics from Purdue University, and a master’s degree in applied statistics from West Chester University in Pennsylvania. Before joining Moody’s Analytics in 2011, she taught economics at the University of Cincinnati.

Detective Michael Gomez with Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD)

Detective Gomez has been employed with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for 17 years. For over the last 11 years, he has been a part of the Financial Crimes section which investigates Frauds, Forgeries and Identity Theft. Detective Gomez is also a member of the Electronic Crime Task Force of the Secret Service.

Detective Gomez is trained in Virtual Crypto Currency investigations, network intrusion response, cellular and Wi-Fi analysis, Social Media investigations, Synthetic Identities and Detection of Counterfeit documents. Detective Gomez teaches at the LVMPD police academy as well as instructs various public groups on ways to avoid becoming a victim of Financial Crimes.

Sergeant Roger Palmer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD)

Sergeant Palmer has been employed with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for 20 years. For the last 3 years, he has been assigned to the Financial Crimes section. He has worked a variety of investigative assignments covering person and property crimes, including conducting numerous covert and overt investigations. He is currently a member of a Financial Crimes Task Force.

With a large tourism industry based around gambling, there is a constant issue of monetary based financial crimes. Nevada continues to be in the top states for financial crimes and identity theft, which has resulted in a wide range of financial investigation types. LVMPD’s Financial Crimes Section averages over 25 new cases every day, which provides a wide knowledge base of current trends affecting the financial industry.

Gregory Allen / Founder & CEO of Pairity

Gregory Allen is the Founder and CEO of, Pairity, and well versed in the mathematics of machine learning and artificial intelligence. He grew up in Westchester, NY and studied applied mathematics at MIT and the University of Maryland. In 2008, as a student, he sold his first technology in the form of high frequency trading algorithms, which are still in use to this day, and began a career developing intellectual property in the field of algorithmic modeling for the financial and health care industries. Three years ago, he began researching his current endeavor of developing artificial intelligence powered software as it applies to the consumer debt industry. From designing usable technology to composing music, Greg, brings and unprecedented level of passion to every challenge he faces and is leading Pairity to innovate across an entire industry.

Steven Epling / Director of Credit Services for OCCU

Steven Epling is the Director of Credit Services for OCCU in Eugene, OR. Steven grew up in the mountains of SW Washington where he is still the Owner of Go River! LLC which owns and manages a recreational camping and day use area on the Washougal River. Steven has been in the collections industry for 15 years and in CU management for 9 years. He has been a collections management consultant, financial counselor and formal educator. He’s developed elementary school curriculum as well as multiple collections training and incentive programs. Leadership and education are his greatest passions.

Abhishek Goel / Founder, Chief Data Scientist and CEO of Dasceq

Abhishek is agile data science and strategy leader with over 15 years of experience in developing and implementing innovative solutions across customer lifecycle.

He is the CEO and Founder and Chief Data Scientist for Dasceq.com. Dasceq is Transforming Collection with Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Big Data. Dasceq is a Thought Leader on how to lead data and AI centric collection.

Abhishek has successfully bootstrapped analytics practices and multiplied revenue for multiple business units as part of Big 4, global financial services and fintech companies. He has created and improved analytical solutions for employers and clients that have saved or improved profit by more than $2 Billion+. He has experience working and providing consulting and strategy services to C-Level executives of global financial institutions as CiitBank, Elevate, Think Finance, US Bank, Synchrony etc. He has build high frequency fraud models for Trillions of $$ worth of transaction, managed a book of $7bn+ credit card portfolio and build bust out models impacting more than $50bn of portfolio. He has in-depth industry knowledge of Compliance and Risk and third party dataset and worked with multiple vendors in the area including all prime and non prime bureaus, social media data to name a few.

Abhishek is passionate to give back through teaching how to learn and apply data science. He is adjunct professor and advisor teaching data science concepts and applications to various professional, corporates and graduate programs as Springboard.com, SMU and UTD. He is regular speaker at local and national data science conference. He has been guest speaker in multiple local Data Science and Data Visualizations Forums, Graph Connect – 2017, Tech Titans, Dataversity Keynote Speaker etc.

Ian Frame / Field Sales – Auto Finance at CARFAX

Ian Frame is a licensed attorney with more than a decade of experience in the automotive industry. Ian has established himself as a highly successful consultant at CARFAX, advising some of the largest credit unions and captive finance arms in the nation on proprietary CARFAX solutions designed to assist lenders throughout the auto loan lifecycle. In a recent collaboration with major lenders and insurance companies, Ian utilized machine learning to help develop fraud indicators that integrate with loan origination platforms and feed directly into lender scorecards. Ian retains an impressive cache of knowledge on key topics in the auto lending space, including: machine learning, collateral fraud, big data and more.

James McCarthy / Chief Risk Office at ConServe

As a nationally recognized expert on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regulation, Jim is a leader in navigating the consumer financial risk environment. In fact, he was the key architect in establishing the CFPB’s complaint process via their company portal. While consulting with ConServe over the past year, Jim was so impressed with the company’s commitment to compliance and regulation adherence that it was a natural progression for him to join the organization on a more permanent basis. In his new role as Chief Risk Officer, he brings proficiency and knowledge of the intelligent business application of complex consumer financial rules and regulations and has broad experience in Research, Markets and Regulations (RMR).

As the previous owner of his own consulting consumer financial company, Jim has profound understanding of compliance management systems. He has extensive professional experience in the consumer financial environment, is a graduate of Minnesota State University and has earned professional certifications from George Washington University and the Wisconsin Bankers Association Graduate Banking School. As a devoted father of 3, he currently divides his time between his home in California and his new opportunity in New York.

Nathan Anderson / Sales Director at Interactions LLC

Nathan Anderson is Sales Director for Interactions, the largest stand alone AI company in the world focused on leveraging a blend of artificial intelligence and machine learning, with the human touch, to elevate the communication process. Nathan joined Interactions in 2018 and is focused on educating and connecting companies in the credit and collections industry to Interactions’ World Class Solutions.

Before Interactions, Nathan spent the last two decades in the credit and collections industry starting as a collector back in 1995 and most recently as Director of Operations for Account Control Technology. Thru his career, Nathan has consistently utilized technology and process innovation to drive efficiency and create real market differentiators. Nathan’s experience spans across credit card, auto, mortgage, utilities, and student loan verticals to name a few.

Rozanne Andersen / Vice President & Chief Compliance Officer at Ontario Systems

Rozanne Andersen, J.D., serves as Ontario Systems VP and Chief Compliance Officer. She leads the company’s compliance products, services, and consulting initiatives. Her 28+ years of experience includes roles as general counsel, chief lobbyist, executive vice president and CEO of ACA International. As a frequent presenter and consultant on CFPB-related compliance topics, Rozanne is recognized nationally for her advocacy work on behalf of the credit and collection industry resulting in landmark FDCPA, FCRA, and HIPAA reforms.

Mike Cantrell / President at Solutions by Text

Mike Cantrell serves as President for Solutions by Text (SBT). Mike currently oversees all domestic and international communication product offerings including: consulting, text message services, smart URL strategies, text pay implementation and numerous strategic business partnerships. Mike and his team have been consulted the banking/consumer finance, utilities, auto finance, insurance and governmental industries since 2010.

Prior to joining SBT in 2009, Mike served for eighteen years as National Director of Customer Acquisition for Bally Total Fitness Corporation, with responsibilities including strategic partnerships and member conversion.

Mr. Cantrell holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Baylor University. Mike has been married for 25+ years and has 4 kids including triplets!