Speakers and Panelists
James Bullard is the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. In that role, he is a participant on the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which meets regularly to set the direction of U.S. monetary policy. He also oversees the Federal Reserve’s Eighth District, including activities at the St. Louis headquarters and its branches in Little Rock, Arkansas, Louisville, Kentucky, and Memphis, Tennessee. A noted economist and policymaker, Bullard makes Fed transparency and dialogue a priority on the international and national stage as well as on Main Street. He serves on the board of directors of the St. Louis Regional Chamber and the board of directors of Concordance Academy of Leadership, and he is a past board chair of the United Way U.S.A. Bullard is co-editor of the Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, and a member of the Central Bank Research Association’s senior council. He is an honorary professor of economics at Washington University in St. Louis, where he also sits on the advisory council of the economics department and the advisory board of the Center for Dynamic Economics. A native of Forest Lake, Minnesota, Bullard received his doctorate in economics from Indiana University in Bloomington.
Michael A. Butler is the president and CEO of Radius Bank, Boston, Massachusetts. Since joining Radius Bank in March 2008, Mr. Butler has transformed the Bank into an innovative leader in the financial services industry, one focused on delivering superior customer service and leading-edge technology to its clients. Under his direction, the Bank has diversified their product offerings beyond consumer and business deposit accounts, by acquiring the equipment financing division of NewStar Financial, expanding the Bank’s for Government Guaranteed Lending footprint nationwide, and developing a Banking-as-a-Service (Baas) platform that allows fintechs to leverage Radius’ expertise and technology to power personal and business banking solutions. During his tenure, Radius has been named Best Online Bank by Bankrate, Best Checking Account by Nerdwallet, Best Business Checking account for Growing Business by Fundera, as well as finalist for best fintech partnership by both Tearsheet and Finovate. Prior to joining the Bank, Mike served as President, National Consumer Finance at KeyCorp in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a graduate of Providence College and the ABA's Stonier Graduate School of Banking. Mike serves as a member of the Financial Services Committee for the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, on the Board of Trustees for Thompson Island Outward Bound, and has been active with the Habitat for Humanity program. He was previously recognized as an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® New England Finalist.
Jill Castilla leads Citizens Bank of Edmond as its president and CEO. Castilla joined Citizens Bank of Edmond in 2009, where she transformed the struggling institution into one of the most innovative community banks in the nation. Most recently, Castilla created patent-pending technology with a full-service electronic banking facility. Her entrepreneurial spirit spills over into her community engagement as the founder of “Heard on Hurd,” a monthly street festival that revitalized downtown Edmond, creating more that $30 million in economic impact and more than $40 million in capital investment. In an effort to propel effectiveness of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Payroll Protection Program, Castilla partnered with billionaire investor Mark Cuban to create PPP.bank, a free resource for small businesses that was named a Finovate Best Fintech Partnership finalist in 2020. On the national stage, Castilla serves as civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army and on the board of the American Bankers Association, including the audit, venture investment and communications committees. She is a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council and past Chair of the Community Bankers Association of Oklahoma. Castilla is a six-time recipient of American Banker’s “Most Powerful Women in Banking – Women to Watch” and the team she leads at Citizens Bank of Edmond is a two-time recipient of the “Top Team in Banking.” Prior to her career in community banking, Castilla managed various departments at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and was an enlisted member in the U.S. Army and Oklahoma Army National Guard. Castilla holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of Oklahoma and a bachelor’s degree in finance from Hawaii Pacific University, where she is a Distinguished Alumna. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin's Graduate School of Banking and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania Executive Leadership Program.
David Coxon is the consummate Community Banker with over 45 years of banking experience in the Georgia banking market. David joined Georgia Primary Bank in February 2012 as President and Chief Executive Officer.
David serves on the Community Bankers and Credit Committees of the Georgia Bankers Association and is past chair of the credit committee. David is a lifetime member of the Risk Management Association having chaired their Community Bank Council and in 2010 was elected national chairman for the Risk Management Association.
David strongly supports community banking because it remains the closest to serving the character of its people and businesses. He believes banking is a people business never to be replaced by credit models and technology. David holds a BBA degree in accounting from Columbus State University and a master’s in Organizational Leadership and Management from Mercer University.
Diane Ellis is the director of the Division of Insurance and Research at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The division is responsible for maintaining the adequacy of the Deposit Insurance Fund and an effective and fair risk-based premium system. It also leads the FDIC’s efforts to assess economic and financial sector risks to the banking industry; directs policy-oriented research, both in-house and through the FDIC’s Center for Financial Research; conducts analysis for FDIC rulemakings; and manages the collection and publication of bank financial information and statistics, including the Quarterly Banking Profile. The division disseminates research and analysis through a variety of channels, including published and online reports, as well as conferences and roundtables. Ellis started her FDIC career as a bank examiner in the Orange County, Calif., field office, where she examined numerous troubled banks and thrifts during a severe recession. She then joined the Division of Insurance in Washington, D.C. where she analyzed emerging risks to the banking and thrift industries, with particular emphasis on the consumer sector and credit conditions. Ellis has also served as Deputy to the Vice Chairman, Special Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer, Associate Director for Financial Risk Management, and Deputy Director for Financial Risk Management and Research. She currently serves on the executive council of the International Association of Deposit Insurers. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Texas Christian University, Ft. Worth, Texas, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Kevin Hagler was appointed Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance effective July 1, 2013. As Commissioner, Kevin has regulatory oversight of 129 banks, 48 credit unions, and over 18,000 mortgage and money service business entities.
Prior to his appointment as Commissioner, Kevin served as Deputy Commissioner for Supervision since August 1, 2008, where he was directly responsible for supervision of depository financial institutions (state-chartered banks and trust companies; state-chartered credit unions; and, bank holding companies and foreign banking organizations conducting business in Georgia).
Kevin began his career with the Department as an Assistant Financial Examiner in 1997. He progressed through the examiner ranks and became a Supervisory Examiner in 2002 in District 1. In 2003, Kevin was appointed to the position of District Director in District 1, where he assumed field regulatory and supervisory responsibilities for the financial institutions in the District.
Prior to joining the Department, Kevin started his career by working for Altus Bank before taking a position with The Bank of Mobile. In 1994, he moved to Atlanta to work for Trust Company Bank (SunTrust Bank) in the Factoring Division, and later worked in Retail Banking.
Kevin currently serves as Chairman of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. He also serves on the Regulatory Committee, and the Fintech Steering Group. He is a graduate of Auburn University with a degree in Finance and is a Certified Examination Manager.
Kenneth Kelly serves as Chairman and CEO of First Independence Bank, a minority depository institution, based in Detroit, Michigan. He is a respected leader in the banking community, currently serving as Chairman of the National Bankers Association. In 2018, he was named to the Federal Reserve Bank’s Seventh District Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council (CDIAC). Kenneth was also selected to become a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman’s Advisory Committee on Community Banking which is charged with providing advice and recommendations to the FDIC on a broad range of community banking policy and regulatory matters. In October 2020, he is expected to be seated on the American Bankers Association Board of Directors. Kenneth has testified as an expert witness before the U.S. Congressional House Financial Services subcommittee on consumer protection and financial institutions and has provided input to the full committee of the House Financial Services during its COVID19 listening session. Also, Kenneth provided input and advice to the Secretary of Treasury and White House Staff during COVID19 on the state of minority banks.
Kenneth’s leadership in various organizations has culminated in him being selected as the chairperson of the Auburn University Engineering Alumni Council. In this role, Kenneth works with a successful group of alumni including many CEO’s to assist the dean of the college with research and development, fundraising, academic achievement and overall guidance to the college to become the best student-centered program in America. In 2019, the dedication of the new Brown Kopel Engineering Student Achievement Center included the naming of the Kenneth Kelly Engineering Academic Excellence Program Reception Area.
Prior to banking, Kenneth enjoyed a 27 year career as an electric utility business leader in numerous roles within Southern Company. His last role entailed negotiating acquisitions of large renewable solar projects valued at $3.4 billion in partnership value. In 2018, Kenneth was inducted as the 137th Distinguished Auburn Engineer. On February 22nd, 2020 he was inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame.
Kenneth grew up in Eufaula, Alabama and received an electrical engineering degree from Auburn University and completed the executive MBA program at the University of Alabama.
Rhoshunda Kelly is the Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Banking and Consumer Finance. She has over 20 years of experience as a regulator. She began her career as a field examiner before serving as the Director of Bank Supervision. Kelly was appointed Deputy Commissioner in 2014. As Deputy Commissioner, she was responsible for the banking, mortgage, consumer finance, administration, legal and information technology divisions. In this capacity, she also ensured effective coordination between the state and federal regulators and fostered engagement with regulated industries. Governor Tate Reeves appointed Kelly Commissioner March 22, 2021.
As Commissioner, Kelly ensures effective agency operations and adequate supervision of state-chartered assets and nonbank financial service providers. The Department supervises over $140 billion in state-chartered banking assets and licenses over 10,000 consumer finance and mortgage entities.
Kelly received her undergraduate degree in business from Mississippi State University. She is a graduate of the School of Banking at Louisiana State University and an honor graduate of the American Bankers Association Graduate Trust School. Kelly is a Certified Public Manager and a Certified Examinations Manager.
She was named a 2019 Leader in Finance by Mississippi Business Journal. Kelly is active in the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS), serving on the Board of Directors. She is also a member of the Mississippi State University Finance and Economics Advisory Board.
Elena Loutskina is a professor of business administration and the Peter M. Grant II Bicentennial Foundation Chair in Business Administration at the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (UVA). Her research is centered on financial intermediation. She originally started her work by exploring the impact of securitization on management of financial and nonfinancial companies. Over time, her research interest expanded to exploring more dimensions of commercial banks strategic management. Her papers have addressed topics in consumer finance, mortgage markets, small business lending and regulation of financial intermediaries. In 2019, Loutskina received the UVA Alumni Association Distinguished Professor Award. Her work has been published in the Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies and the Journal of Financial Economics. She is currently the co-editor of the Journal of Financial Intermediation. She has served as a visiting scholar with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and as fellow of the Wharton Financial Institutions Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Loutskina received her Ph.D. in finance from Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. She received her Bachelor of Science in mathematical economics and her Master of Science in applied math in economics from Belarus State University, Minsk, Belarus.
Alden McDonald, Jr. is president and CEO of Liberty Bank and Trust Company, one of the top African American-owned financial institutions in the United States. McDonald oversees an expanding network of financial institutions serving urban communities and provides leadership in community development to a diverse customer base throughout America. He is recognized as a passionate advocate and dynamic catalyst in providing avenues for economic growth, home ownership, wealth building and leadership development in the African American community. McDonald has gained a national reputation as a creative, insightful, yet practical problem solver who has developed mortgage and banking products that enhance the opportunities for the financially underserved, as well as the upwardly mobile populations of America's cities. A graduate of the Louisiana State University’s School of Banking and Columbia University's Commercial Banking Management Program, McDonald has celebrated more than 50 years in banking. Under his stewardship, Liberty has grown from an initial asset base of $2 million to more than $700 million in assets. Over the past 10 years, Liberty has closed over $1 billion in loans. Liberty now operates financial institutions in nine states and 11 major urban areas.
Amiyatosh Purnanandam is the Michael Stark Professor of Finance and the chair of the finance program at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. His research covers a wide range of topics in banking, corporate finance, and credit risk. His recent research work covers topics related to measurement and detection of risk in banks, bank-bailouts, and consumer credit. His research has been published in leading finance and economics journals such as Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, Review of Finance, and Journal of Monetary Economics. He currently serves as an Editor of the Review of Finance and has also served on the editorial board of several other academic journals. Purnanandam received his Ph.D. from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
John W. Ryan is the president and CEO of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, the national association representing state banking supervisors and the leading advocate for advancing the state banking system. Before being named CSBS president and CEO in August 2011, Ryan was CSBS's executive vice president, a position he had held since October 2003. He first joined CSBS in 1997 as an assistant vice president for legislative affairs. Prior to joining CSBS, Ryan worked at Newmyer Associates, a public affairs consulting firm, where he led the company's financial services consulting practice. Previous to his work at Newmyer Associates, Ryan spent four years as a professional staff member to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs. Ryan received a bachelor's degree in political science and economics from the University of California-Berkeley.
Scott is a former member of the Pulaski Technical College Board of Trustees (now UA-PTC) and currently serves on the University of Arkansas-Little Rock’s board of visitors.
Alisha Sears is a senior analyst in the policy development group with the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS). Sears provides analytical and operational support to the regulatory committee, the legislative committee and the state supervisory processes committee, as well as taskforces, and interagency groups that contribute to the CSBS policy development process. She has also been integral in planning and managing several projects associated with the Community Banking Research Conference. Prior to joining CSBS in the spring of 2018, Sears was with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). She has also held positions with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), law firms and an investment advisory firm. Sears received her Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland and her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan. She is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association and the American Bankers Association Banking Law Committee, as well as Women in Housing and Finance.
George Shoukry is a senior financial economist with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) Center for Financial Research in the Division of Insurance and Research. He is interested in the design of regulations, including deposit insurance pricing, and in how banks change their behavior in response to regulatory shocks. More broadly, he is interested in empirical and theoretical aspects of design and has done research in the area of mechanism design. In addition, he is interested in the use of machine learning methods in economics, and he has worked on the development of models that use machine learning tools to monitor and forecast banks' health. He joined the FDIC in June 2014 after receiving his Ph.D. and his Master of Science in economics from the University of Texas at Austin. He received his Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, and his Master of Science in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia.
Michael Stevens is the senior executive vice president at the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS). He is responsible for leading the organization's public policy, financial supervision, federal coordination, communications, industry relations and professional development functions. Stevens also serves as the principal deputy to the state banking member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council. Prior to his appointment in September 2011, he served as the senior vice president for regulatory policy, representing the state banking system in the development of policy in the areas of financial stability, prudential supervision and consumer protection. He joined CSBS in 1999 to work in all facets of CSBS's professional development division. Stevens is a frequent instructor and speaker on banking policy, examinations and financial analysis. He serves on the faculty of the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado and at Texas Tech University's School of Banking. He began his regulatory career as a bank examiner for the Iowa Division of Banking, where he served 11 years.
Laura Lee (Laurie) Stewart is the president and CEO of Seattle-based Sound Community Bank, where she has celebrated more than 30 years at the helm. In that time, she led the conversion of the organization from a $38 million credit union to a commercial bank that grew to be more than $718 million in assets. She maintains a long history in community banking and participation in industry affairs. Stewart currently serves as the chair of the American Bankers Association, representing the nation’s $18.6 trillion banking industry and the employment of more than two million workers. She is also holds a position on the board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Seattle Branch. Previously, Stewart served as chair of the board of directors of the Washington Bankers Association (WBA), where she helped create the WBA’s Executive Development Program. In addition, she was one of 14 bankers selected to serve on the inaugural Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s Advisory Board in 2009, and in 2012, she was named to the Community Bank Advisory Council of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In 2019, she was named Community Banker of the Year by American Banker and received an Executive Excellence award from Seattle Business Magazine. American Banker also named her as one of its Most Powerful Women in Banking in 2011, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019. Stewart serves as chair of the board of directors for the National Arthritis Foundation and she is a member of the board of directors of various local, community and charitable organizations such as the Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle, Washington.
Carl White is the senior vice president of the Supervision, Credit, Community Development and Learning Innovation division at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. White has more than 35 years of experience in the Supervision Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He is currently senior vice president of the Supervision, Credit and Learning Innovation Division. He has served in various other roles within Safety and Soundness, beginning his career as an examiner. Mr. White has served as lead instructor and course developer on numerous Fed System training courses, including an international assignment in Brazil. In addition, he served as the central point of contact for the District’s largest state member bank before and during the financial crisis. He and his team were nominated for the District’s President’s Award for Innovation as a result of efforts to implement and enhance off-site loan review and examination processes. Mr. White holds a bachelor’s degree with a major in finance from St. Louis University.
Chiwon Yom is a senior economist at the Center for Financial Research with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Her research interests include bank performance and risk measurement, new bank formation and entrepreneurship, and relationship lending and credit availability. In addition to research, she has worked on deposit insurance pricing and early warning models, participated in the Basel Committee Research Task Force, and reviewed credit risk, market risk and stress-testing models on bank examinations. She received her doctorate from the University of California at Irvine and her Bachelor of Science from the University of California at Berkeley.