SOLD OUT: “Bank Innovation vs. Fintech”

John received his MBA from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he helped launch and now teaches for the last 6 years a course for the Belk College of Business, titled “Design Thinking: Bringing Innovation to Life, Idea to Implementation”.   John also works with the McColl School of Business at Queens University as an active Adjunct Professor within the Marketing department.  John is currently in the process of pursuing his Doctorate in Business at UNCC, focusing on the impact Artificial Intelligence has and will have on the current and future workforce. John is also the new Innovation Design Director for Grant Thornton.  His team of innovation designers are accountable for establishing, executing, and continuously improving the lifecycle of innovation activities.  They are tasked with helping the business recast challenges as opportunities, and ideate, design, prototype, measure, select, and deliver innovation initiatives.  John brings with him a passion for driving an innovative culture.  Carrying into the firm a proven, collaborative, and client-first focused approach.  Prior to joining Grant Thornton, John spent 16 years at Bank of America across multiple lines of business and functions.  John was the Global Fraud Executive responsible for Strategy, Analytics, Innovation and Operations; he also started up and led the Product Design & Transformation space within the Consumer Bank.  Prior to joining Bank of America in 2001, John worked in a variety of industries for such companies as Cellular One, AT&T Wireless, Nextel, Cadmus Direct Marketing Agency, and Quaero Consulting, focusing on a variety of functions from Product Development and Design, Operations, Data Analytics, Sales and Marketing to Management Information Systems. A native of Queens, NY and a graduate of East Carolina University with a degree in Marketing and IT, John went to work after college for the New York Yankees minor-league system, where he served as the director of operations, based out of Greensboro, N.C.  (Greensboro Bats minor-league affiliate).  John worked within the Yankees minor-league system from 1994 to 1997. John lives in Harrisburg, N.C. with his wife Lisa, and their three children, Claudia, Joseph, and Vincent.  He coaches youth sports (baseball, football and basketball) and is an active Executive Coach (Volunteer) for local college students.  John is also the Chairman for IntersectionsCharlotte and Advisor for IntersectionsUNCC, a new Faith based Christian Fellowship that brings together current and future business leaders along with church leaders. www.IntersectionsCharlotte.com

With more than 10 years of experience in the financial services industry, Stefan McVeigh leads business development strategy for Ally Invest. Stefan joined Ally through its acquisition of online broker TradeKing where he was responsible for business growth programming and execution. Post-acquisition, he played a lead role in the brand transition to Ally Invest and continues to champion new marketing and data-testing standards at Ally. Stefan holds a B.A in Economics & Business from Lafayette College and currently holds his series 4, 7, 63 and 24 licenses. When he’s not vetting new investment opportunities, he can be found outside playing hide and seek with his two young sons.

Laurin Titus leads Bank of America’s Consumer Marketing team for Brand, Deposits & Digital Banking, accountable for bringing the brand to life with Consumers and driving growth in customer adoption of our core banking products and services. Titus has over 20 years of senior leadership experience within financial services, with an emphasis on leading customer-centric Marketing transformation and high-performing product and marketing teams. Key positions at Bank of America have included leading the teams focused on Financial Center & Contact Center channel targeted marketing and Online & Mobile Banking Products. Within the Insurance Services division, Titus held a number of key roles including Direct Marketing Executive and Sales Process Executive for the Small Business and Preferred client segments. Prior to joining Bank of America in 2002, she served as Marketing Director within Marsh & McLennan’s Affinity Group division. Titus led the marketing team for the health care program for AARP, one of the nation’s largest affinity groups, serving more than half of Americans over age 50. A native of North Carolina, Titus graduated cum laude from Wake Forest University before earning a Master of Science degree in Business from Johns Hopkins University. Laurin lives in Davidson, NC with her husband and two sons. Laurin enjoys running, traveling, and spending time outdoors with her family. She is active within the community, serving on the boards for Cannon School and Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art.

Kelli Messer is a Vice President and Senior Counsel in Charlotte, NC on the eCommerce legal team.  She joined the Legal Department at Wells Fargo in March 2016. Her responsibilities include ESIGN and electronic document delivery, Online and Mobile banking, digital product and channel marketing reviews, eLending initiatives, Virtual Channel project support, and WFVC Issue Management Resolution. Before joining Wells Fargo, Kelli was with Bank of America and primarily responsible for supporting the Marketing team for several different lines of business including Automated Banking, Deposits, Small Business Deposits, Merchant Services, and home lending products.  Prior to that, Kelli was with law firms handling complex litigation matters across the country, including matters related to the mortgage crisis. She received her B.A. from University of South Florida and her J.D. from Wake Forest University. 

Zach Anderson leads digital and creative services for Zen & Art and is responsible for building customized solutions for his clients. Collectively, Zen & Art, and their partners have delivered cutting edge solutions across the Banking, Financial Services, Hospitality, and Software industries.  Zach’s digital/creative experience comes from his previous roles at Robert Half’s “The Creative Group” and building out the digital/creative services division within Meridian Technologies.