Ann Kossachev / Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, NAFCU

Ann Kossachev was named Vice President of Regulatory Affairs in October 2021. In her role, Kossachev oversees NAFCU’s advocacy to federal agencies, including the National Credit Union Administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Kossachev joined NAFCU in June 2016 as a regulatory affairs counsel and was promoted to senior regulatory affairs counsel in June 2018. Since starting at NAFCU, Kossachev has led the association’s advocacy on housing finance issues as well as Federal Communications Commission rules implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Prior to joining NAFCU, Kossachev worked at a law firm focusing on complex commercial litigation. Kossachev is a graduate of the George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from Binghamton University.

Kossachev is a member of the Virginia State Bar, the Virginia Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. Kossachev is also a registered parliamentarian.

Sohini Chowdhury / Director of Economic Research, Moody’s Analytics

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.

Joette Colletts / Vice President of Risk Management, Allied Solutions

Joette leads the risk management department providing risk control services to financial institution policyholders. She leads the development and implementation of comprehensive loss control services to continually address emerging risks. Expertise in ERM (Enterprise Risk Management), Board of Director Risk Oversight, Employee Dishonesty (forensic auditing), Employment Practices Liability, Payment Systems and more.

EXPERIENCE AND CREDENTIALS
As a leader in the risk management solutions profession and a featured speaker at national and regional events, Joette has developed an impressive list of achievements and accreditations in the financial institution industry:

Graduate of the University of Pittsburgh: Accounting and Education BS degrees
Certifications and Licenses:

• Certified Risk Manager (CRM)
• Certified Insurance counselor (CIC)
• Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE)
• Certified Financial Crimes Investigator (CFCI)
• Certified Credit Union Executive (CCUE)
• Credit Union Enterprise Risk Management Expert (CUERME)
• Certified A.L.I.C.E. Active Shooter Instructor
• Property & Casualty Insurance License
• Life & Health Insurance License

Previous Work Experience:

• 32 years at CUNA Mutual Group providing risk management solutions to financial institutions
• Partnered with NCUA presenting risk management topics at NCUA workshops, regional meetings, webinars and videos.

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.

Karel Rocha / Principal Attorney, Prenovost, Normandin, Dawe, & Rocha 

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.
• Over the last 17 years, Mr. Rocha has successfully handled court and jury trials throughout the State of California in the fields of real estate, 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), bankruptcy law, escrow law, and real estate matters

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.

Barry A. Smith, Esq. / Shareholder, Buchalter

Barry A. Smith is a Shareholder and a senior member of the Firm’s Litigation Practice Group and Chairman of the Financial Institutions Practice Group. Mr. Smith focuses his practice on representing financial institutions and other business entities, both domestically and internationally. Mr. Smith has extensive experience in business and commercial litigation, creditors’ rights, real estate, loan workouts and restructuring, provisional remedies, receiverships, collections, and post-judgment enforcement. He also handles complex defense litigation including tort, contract law, and real estate.

Mr. Smith is a frequent speaker on creditor’s rights, enforcement of judgments, prejudgment remedies, workouts and turnarounds, wrongful termination, sexual harassment, business and banking fraud, arbitration, toxic waste, lender liability, legal ethics, probate estates and trusts, and collection strategy and tactics. He speaks at numerous seminars and conferences including the California Independent Bankers, Risk Management Association, Special Asset Managers Association, National Association of Chinese American Bankers, Western Bankers Association, Western Independent Bankers Association, the Los Angeles County Bar Associations, and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.

Buchalter is the largest law firm in the Country that specializes in the representation of Credit Unions.

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Greg Pesci / President & CEO of Spera, Inc. (dba MessagePay)

Greg Pesci is the founder, President, and CEO of Spera, Inc. (dba MessagePay). MessagePay is a fintech company that embeds payments into communication software to serve the needs of financial institutions.

Greg served at ProPay, Inc. for nearly ten years. His roles included General Counsel, and then President and COO. He was instrumental in leading the sale of ProPay to Total Systems (“TSYS”). Prior to joining ProPay, Greg served as SVP at Merrick Bank, where he was Associate General Counsel, and led Business Development for more than 6 years.

He holds a Master of Organizational Behavior from the Marriott School of Business, and a Juris Doctor degree, with honors, from the J. Rueben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University. He is a named inventor on a patent addressing encryption and secure payment transactions.

Nick Mitchell / Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Logix Federal Credit Union

Nick Mitchell is the Senior Vice President, General Counsel at Logix Federal Credit Union, a $9 billion financial institution serving over 230,000 members headquartered in Southern California. In addition to managing the company’s legal affairs, Nick oversees the Regulatory Compliance, Special Assets, Credit Administration & Support, Human Resources, Talent Acquisition, Talent Development, Policies and Procedures, and HR Management Systems departments.

Nick pursued his formal education almost entirely while working full time, completing his Bachelor of Science in Business and Management at Woodbury University, and his Juris Doctorate at Southwestern Law School.

Nick has managed teams in legal affairs, sales, learning and development, talent acquisition, service quality, member loyalty, and project management. As a proponent of continuing education, Nick also completed his NAFCU Certified Compliance Officer designation and Management and Leadership Accreditation, his Association for Talent Development Certified Professional in Learning and Performance credential, and his Satmetrix Certified Net Promoter designation. Nick also serves as the Secretary of Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital Foundation’s Board of Directors, and he is a member of the Board of Advisors for the Woodbury University School of Business.

David Shekhter / President, Total Collectr

David is an experienced and well-known entrepreneur with over 15 years experience co-founding a number of successful companies in the e-commerce Fintech, and Cannabis industries. David is currently the President of Total Collectr; a leading AI start-up that is positioned to disrupt the way collections are performed. David has been the Managing Partner of Voltage Pay since 2006, a leading e-commerce brokerage providing merchants with payment solutions, and managing a portfolio that has exceeded billions of dollars in processing volume. David was previously the co-founder of Cannmart Inc; the first distribution-only Licensed Producer in Canada as well as co-founder of Famous Brandz Inc.; a leading CPG company, focusing on licensed branded products in partnerships with Snoop Dogg, Paramount Pictures, Guns and Roses, and other high profile brands. Famous Brandz was acquired and merged with High Tide Inc. (HITI Nasdaq) in 2018 and helped form what is currently the leading retailer and accessory cannabis company in Canada and 1st retailer listed on the Nasdaq. David is a Director of North Spring Capital Partners; a mid-size venture firm providing capital to start-up technology, health care, and manufacturing companies, and also the Executive Chairman of Algae-C, an emerging biotech company.

G. A. “Jay” Mossman, III / Founder & CEO, AKUVO

Jay started his career as a software developer with Mellon Bank. He continued his banking career at RebublicBank in Dallas and BankOne in technology but eventually migrated to the business side of banking, with a focus in wealth management. Jay was recruited by Safeguard Scientifics in the early 90’s to become CEO of Premier Systems, which was one of Safeguard’s largest fintech investments. When Jay was brought in by Safeguard, Premier had just been written up in the Wallstreet Journal as the largest software failure in banking history. It had a negative cash flow of $1mm per month on $4mm in revenue, no referenceable customers and $50mm of outstanding lawsuits. Within 18 months Jay led the turnaround of the company to be cash positive and eventually grew revenue 9 times within 5 years, eventually selling the company to Sungard.

After years of working for banks and being CEO of a software company, Jay started his own company in the late 90’s. The beginnings were an incubator which Jay incubated 6 separate companies. In October of 2000 Jay founded what would become Akcelerant which when sold to Temenos in 2015 had over 600 credit unions as customers and a 70% share of credit unions over $1b running his collection or origination software.

In February 2020 Jay launched a new company that is focused on delivering AI driven solutions for the credit union industry. This time Jay is sharing the success with credit unions as his new venture is a CUSO.

Jay has been received many awards over his career, such as, Inc. Magazine Turnaround of the Year, and he has received citations from both the house and senate of Pennsylvania for his technology contributions and leadership.

Jay is an active technology investor having ownership in over a dozen companies. He recently has been involved in impact investing, helping those that normally would not receive funding to start a venture due to their background or income status.

Jay has been married for 41 years, has two children and 6 grandchildren.

Katie Barnes / Vice President of Sales & Strategic Partnerships, AKUVO

Katie Barnes currently serves as Vice President of Sales and Strategic Partnerships at AKUVO, a collections and credit risk company providing technology and consulting services to financial institutions. Katie began her career in software sales at Akcelerant Software and became Vice President of Business Development when the company was acquired by Temenos in 2015. After four years in that role, she opted to broaden her experience, as Chief of Staff and Head of Enablement, where she impacted nearly every department within the fast-moving, international organization. Using what she learned, Katie returned to her small-business roots at AKUVO in 2020, wearing many hats and rapidly impacting the success and growth the company has experienced to date.

Steve Castagna / Chief Operating Officer, AKUVO

Steve Castagna is the Chief Operating Officer at AKUVO, a rapidly growing technology and consulting company focused on collections and credit risk. Steve has worked in financial services technology for 20+ years, establishing his career at Akcelerant Software in the early 2000s and then spending five years owning Professional Services at Temenos, an international core banking and financial software company. As a hands-on AKUVO executive, Steve is focused on using his extensive experience to create a sound infrastructure for quality products and services, while at the same time building a strong culture of collaboration, respect, loyalty and fun with his employees, customers, and business partners.  

Mike Schatzman / CEO, Technology Systems Solutions

I have been working at or for credit unions since 1988. I have been writing Symitar PowerOns since 1994. Today I am the CEO of Technology Systems Solutions (TSS). I founded TSS, in 2001, with the goal to help credit unions realize the power of their Symitar System. I combine my experience with the technical aspects of the Symitar Episys system and my knowledge of the business and functional aspects of running a credit union. I grew my knowledge of the collections process and Symitar’s Collections package in 2008 because of growing number of credit unions that needed a more robust offering in those difficult times. I have used PowerOns to help collections professionals create tools to track collections processes such as; bankruptcies, repossessions, outsourced accounts, and legal processes. I have helped collection managers create reports to track productivity and results. I have helped collections executives create reports to analyze collections portfolios to recognize trends and anticipate future needs.

Daniel Hernandez / Regional Remarketing Director, South Bay Remarketing Services

Over 13 years’ experience in Credit Union collections, managing staff of 12 collectors for a 2 billion Credit Union.

7+ years in automotive remarketing, as a Regional Remarketing Director for South Bay Auto Auction and South Bay Remarketing Services.

Dave Norton / Chief Revenue Officer, Eltropy

Dave Norton, Chief Revenue Officer at Eltropy, is a seasoned revenue and GTM leader based out of Highland, UT in the heart of Silicon Slopes. He was recruited to join Eltropy to help build a scalable and high performing go to market organization. Dave is passionate about building talented and high performing teams, where he has been fortunate to play a key role in building 4 unicorn organizations over his career. Each of these firms have played a transformational role in their respective industries, which include financial services, insurance, property management, and asset protection.

Mr. Norton has mastered what it takes to build a winning culture in multiple organizations in various industries. Dave has achieved success by hiring and developing exceptional talent, creating efficient and proven processes and methodologies, implementing world class systems, and driving a culture of excellence through key performance metrics. Dave loves to celebrate his team’s greatness because winning can be difficult, but it quickly becomes contagious when celebrated in the right way.

Dave has decades of experience selling SaaS platforms, big data analytics, AI and BI, data aggregation, and data platforms. In his work experience while at Xactware, a Verisk entity, Norton & his team achieved 13X revenue growth and increased market share from 30% to 85%. While at MX, a unicorn fintech, Dave played a key role in building an exceptional team who doubled the revenue during his tenure and continues to have great success. There he led the implementation of world class systems and processes proven to drive hyper growth. Most recently with LiveView Technologies, Mr. Norton built a high performing organization where he hired 100 new team members in less than 12 months, and drove his team to exceed triple digit revenue growth.

Jenn Quinn / Customer Success Manager, Eltropy

Jenn Quinn has been working with banks and credit unions for more than 15 years building relationships of trust and solving existing pain points. She believes in providing quality leadership for the design and execution of product implementations. Her areas of expertise include the financial services industry, servicing and the mortgage industry.

Jenn joined Eltropy, a SaaS organization, as a customer success manager to build relationships with Credit Unions utilizing the Eltropy platform which includes secure and compliant Text, Video, Audio, Secure Chat and Social Messaging channels.

Jenn is passionate about partnering with clients to understand their expectations and providing the best customer experience. This includes overseeing client onboarding, providing analytics and incorporating feedback into Eltropy.

Teamwork, dependability and positive attitude are why clients both internally and externally enjoy working with her. Jenn believes a collaborative journey throughout the relationship.

Eltropy integrates with IT systems including Symitar, MeridianLink and Corelation.