Ann Petros / Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, NAFCU

Ann Petros was named Vice President of Regulatory Affairs in October 2021. In her role, Petros oversees NAFCU’s advocacy to federal agencies, including the National Credit Union Administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Petros 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, Petros 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, Petros worked at a law firm focusing on complex commercial litigation. Petros 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.

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

World Renown A-list Celebrity Actor, Author, Producer

Chazz Palminteri 

Bronx-born and raised Chazz Palminteri was a natural choice to continue the Italianate torch in film. In the tradition set forth in the 1970s by such icons as director Martin Scorsese and actors Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, John Cazale and Joe Pesci, Palminteri has brought grit, muscle and an evocative realism to the sidewalks of his New York neighborhood, violent as they are and were.

Chazz was born Calogero Lorenzo Palminteri in 1952 in the Bronx, New York, the son of Rose, a homemaker, and Lorenzo Palminteri, a bus driver. He grew up in a tough area of the Bronx, giving him the life lessons that would later prove very useful to his career. He graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School and started out pursuing his craft in 1973 studying at the Actor’s Studio. He appeared off-Broadway in the early 1980s while paying his dues as a bouncer and doorman in nightclubs, among other jobs.

In 1986 he headed west and found that his ethnic qualifications was well-suited for getting tough-talker parts. Slick attorneys, unflinching hoods and hard-nosed cops were all part of his ethnic streetwise persona in such TV shows as Wiseguy (1987), Matlock (1986) and Hill Street Blues (1981). In films he started off playing a 1930s-style gangster in Sylvester Stallone’s Oscar (1991). Although his roles were sharp, well-acted and with a distinct edge to them, there was nothing in them to show that he was capable of stronger leading parts.

In 1988 he wrote for himself a play entitled “A Bronx Tale,” a powerful one-man stage commentary in which he depicted his bruising childhood in great detail, which included witnessing gangland slayings. Palminteri brought each and every character to life (18 in all) in this autobiographical piece — his friends, enemies, even his own family. He showcased for years in both Los Angeles and New York, finally sparking the interest of his film idol, Robert De Niro. DeNiro, wanting to direct for the first time, saw the potential of this project and brought both it and the actor/writer to the screen. Palminteri played one of the flashier roles, Sonny, a gangster, in the movie version. An unknown film commodity at the time, Chazz had stubbornly refused to sell his stage property (the offers went into the seven figures) unless he was part of the package as both actor and screenwriter. DeNiro, who became his mentor, backed him up all the way, and the rest is history. A Bronx Tale (1993), which featured his actress/producer/wife Gianna Palminteri, earned strong reviews.

At age 41 Palminteri had become an “overnight” star. Other important projects quickly fell his way. He received a well-deserved Oscar nomination the following year for his portrayal of a Runyonesque hit man in Woody Allen’s hilarious jazz-era comedy Bullets Over Broadway (1994). He was on the right side of the law in both The Perez Family (1995), his first romantic lead, and then the classic crimer The Usual Suspects (1995). He played the ill-fated brute in Diabolique (1996) and wrote a second screenplay, Faithful (1996), in which he again plays a hit man, terrorizing both Cher and Ryan O’Neal.

Though Palminteri was invariably drawn into a rather tight-fitting, often violent typecast, it has been a secure and flashy one that continues to run strong into the millennium. Surprisingly, the one obvious show he missed out on was HBO’s The Sopranos (1999). True to form his trademark flesh-lipped snarl was spotted in gritty urban settings playing a “Hell’s Kitchen” cop in One Eyed King (2001) starring actor/producer Armand Assante; a pool hustler and mentor in Poolhall Junkies (2002); a mob boss in In the Fix (2005); a dirty cop in Running Scared (2006); the titular scam artist as Yonkers Joe (2008); a karaoke-loving Italian psychiatrist in Once More with Feeling (2009); and an abusive husband and father in Mighty Fine (2012).

Other millennium filming includes starring presences in Body Armour (2007), The Dukes (2007), the title conman as Yonkers Joe (2008), Once More with Feeling (2009) and Mighty Fine (2012), as well as prime supports in Running Scared (2006), A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006), Push (2006), Jolene (2008), Once Upon a Time in Queens (2013), Legend (2015), Vault (2019), Clover (2020). TV crime continues to occupy his time as well, clocking in such series’ credits as Kojak (2005), Rizzoli & Isles (2010) and Godfather of Harlem (2019). Occasionally he will lighten up — as in his recurring role as Shorty on the popular sitcom Modern Family (2009).

Sohini Chowdhury / Director & Senior Economist, Moody’s Analytics

Sohini Chowdhury is a Director and Senior Economist with Moody’s Analytics. She specializes in applying macroeconomic forecasts, scenarios, and models in different industries such as banking, insurance, government, and asset management. These applications include stress testing such as CCAR/DFAST and ORSA, impairment accounting such as CECL/IFRS9, and asset allocation. She also works on incorporating climate scenarios and ESG metrics in underwriting and portfolio management. 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 global industry conferences, roundtables and client meetings on topics such as the global and regional macroeconomic outlook and risks, and industry best practices for managing credit and market risks, portfolio modeling and meeting regulatory mandates. 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. She is a GARP® certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM) and has been working at Moody’s Analytics since 2011.

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.

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.

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

Currently serves as Regional Remarketing Director for South Bay Remarketing Services. With over 25 years in Credit Union Collections and Automotive Remarketing.

Daniel has managed collection teams for Credit Unions, and 3rd party collection agencies. He currently oversees the internal remarketing process from A to Z for SBRS clients nationwide. Along with managing the day to day operations, Daniel spearheads the Talent Acquisition/, Talent Development for our Recovery Team.

Chris Harline / Director of Solution Services, Eltropy

Chris Harline is the Director of Solution Services with Eltropy. He has spent 10+ years in Software sales as an Account Executive and Solution Consultant with companies like Domo, Qualtrics, and Goldman Sachs. He has been in the Credit Union space for a short time but has experience in banking, business analytics, as well as data security. His diverse experience allows him to bring new ideas and perspectives on daily challenges within the Credit Union space.

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.

Matt Rehnelt / Business Development Manager, DCM Services

Spending a majority of his career working within the financial services and healthcare industries, Matt has worked with DCMS since 2010. Matt works hand-in-hand with organizations to create and enhance their estate recovery process. Matt graduated from Metropolitan State University with his Bachelors in Business Administration.

Chris Stanley / Director of Business Development, DCM Services

Joining our organization in 2004, Chris has held numerous roles within DCM Services in both operations and business development. Chris has spent the last several years in our business development department focusing on strategic client management in financial services as well as new business growth. With Chris’ strong operational background and experience, he is able to identify process and growth opportunities both internally and externally in order to customize solutions and improve results for his clients. Chris holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Minnesota Duluth in Secondary Education.

Kris Frantzen / Product Manager, Temenos

Kris has spent nearly 25 years in the software and service space, focusing on loan and account origination and collection solutions for banks and credit unions.  Starting as a business analyst for a mortgage origination technology providers, his  career has included a variety of roles and responsibilities across product leadership with Metavante and FIS.  This included the management of roll-out of a complete end-to-end consumer loan origination system.

In his role as a Product Manager with Temenos, Kris is responsible for Product Strategy for the Temenos North American Collections and Origination solutions.  He also manages relationships with strategic accounts and the team of Product Evangelists that drive product demonstrations, deliver request for proposal responses, and provide thought leadership content for industry articles, webinars, and conferences.  The insight gathered from prospects, clients, the Temenos teams, and his experience in the industry are key components for Kris’s input on the strategic direction of the Temenos solutions.

Chris Otey / Co-Founder & Chief Revenue Officer, CU 2.0

Chris is the Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer at CU 2.0, the Chairman of the Board at South Bay Credit Union and a Business Development Executive at Strategic Resource Management. In his role with CU 2.0 Chris is looking to create partnerships between FinTech providers and Credit Unions to allow them to compete and thrive in a constantly changing digital environment. Chris has been on the Board of Directors at South Bay Credit Union since 2007 and became the Chairman in 2017. In his role with SRM, Chris provides credit unions with Data Analytics Strategy reports and facilitates Board Strategic Planning session for SRM clients nationwide.

Previously, Chris was the Chief Revenue Officer at CU Wallet. Chris was with CU Wallet since its inception and was responsible for all revenue generated for the CUSO. In his role with CU Wallet, Chris worked to unite the Credit Union Industry behind a credit union led, credit union driven mobile wallet solution. He worked with Credit Unions, Merchants, other CUSO’s, State Leagues and Associations to create the credit union specific mobile payments ecosystem.

Chris spent eighteen years working in all facets of the Credit Union Division within Fiserv including XP Systems, Summit Information Systems, and LynxGate Solutions. Chris has sold, trained and installed core processing, EFT services, Wire Services, Internet Banking, Bill Pay, Mobile Solutions and Accounting Systems. Chris currently is on the CUNA Payments Subcommittee.

Mr. Otey earned a BA in Communications from California State University, Northridge. He lives in Redondo Beach, CA.

Kari Bergh / VP of Partner Strategy, Coconut Software

Kari Bergh is Vice President of Partner Strategy with Coconut Software. Coconut Software makes it effortless for customers to connect with their financial institution. Its appointment scheduling, video banking, and lobby management software is used by leading credit unions across North America.

Kari specializes in helping fintechs and financial institutions create mutually beneficial partnerships that grow efficiencies and profitability. Her sales, architecture, and project management background instilled a love for identifying opportunities and making connections.

She previously held roles as Vice President of Strategic Partnerships for Digital Onboarding and Vice President of Channel Partner Relations for Alogent Corporation.

Gordon Flammer / CEO & President, Datava

As Founder, President, and CEO of Datava, Gordon Flammer brings twenty years of thought-leadership, strategic vision, and tactical know-how architecting database management software, improving productivity, enhancing operations, winning market share, and increasing revenue within financial services.

Gordon has worked with financial institutions for the past 21 years. Originally, as VP of IT at a consulting firm, Gordon would assist banks and credit unions with identifying technology and implementing it in areas of CRM, Member Satisfaction, Problem Resolution, Referral Management, and Employee Incentive and Sales Tracking. During that time, he worked with over 100 financial institutions, from one branch credit unions to US Bank and Wells Fargo.

Gordon started Datava in 2016 after being convinced there wasn’t a good solution that provided the configurability, end-user experience and integrations necessary for successful deployments to his clients. He spent the next four years building and validating an end-to-end platform, and started a CUSO in early 2020. Since that time, Datava has doubled in size each year, currently has clients with assets ranging from $150M to $32B. Datava provides its clients with an affordable, highly configurable CRM solution, coupled with analytics and dashboarding across the institution. Their solution has resulted in reducing member-churn, increasing cross-sell, doubling loan applications, reducing application-to-close time, and many other vital wins for its clients.

Oussama Hamouti / Enterprise Account Executive, January Technologies

Oussama recently joined January Technologies, a digital collections agency focused on helping credit unions and financial institutions recover on unsecured consumer debt in a more empathetic, efficient, and compliant manner. After spending most of his early career as an entrepreneur, his most recent experience has been centered around driving digital transformation in highly regulated industries. At January, their mission is to enhance the member experience with a digital self-service portal, changing the way members deal with financial hardship while maintaining a healthy relationship with lenders.

Ray Wachauf / President & CEO, TerraStrat

• PMP-PgMP
• Two decades of focused, commercial construction experience(BBL), nearly half spent in the financial services market – Ray is known in the industry for providing seasoned and poised leadership. Deep understanding of GIS and metrics for the banking industry.
• Served in a segment leadership capacity for JP Morgan Chase & Huntington National Bank) – providing him industry insight to the value proposition and unique drivers and strategy of senior bank leadership.
• Director of Strategy and Business Development for One Source Security and Sound servicing the financial industry in a similar capacity. At One Source Ray increased billable work from $11-$16.4 MM. We are replicating this platform with improvement to service existing relationships.