The CEMC Innovation Summit will feature keynote speakers, breakout sessions, fireside chats, and presentations where you’ll learn from industry innovators and peers who will discuss personal experiences and their approach to shaping the future of financial services. You’ll hear from keynotes whose innovation within their industries have set the standard of digitalization and continue to shape the future.
Gervais is a high performance psychologist working in the trenches of high-stakes environments with some of the best in the world, training the mindset skills and practices essential to pursuing and revealing one’s potential. He is the co-founder of Compete to Create, a digital platform business helping people become their best through mindset training. His clients include world record holders, Olympians, internationally acclaimed artists and musicians, MVPs from every major sport and Fortune 100 CEOs.
Jonathan Andrew is the Chief Executive of the Commercial Finance Division of Siemens Financial Services worldwide, with presences in 14 countries across the globe and over 1,800 employees. Previously Jonathan was Chief Executive for the Commercial Finance Division of Siemens Financial Services for Europe and Asia Pacific, following his role as Chief Executive for Siemens Financial Services operations in the UK, France, Spain and Italy. He joined Siemens in 2002, following four years as Chief Financial Officer International, Gateway Inc., prior to which he held various leadership roles in GE Capital. In October 2014, Jonathan Andrew’s contribution to the industry was recognised by the Leasing Foundation’s Award for European CEO of the Year. In 2016 he was appointed Patron of the Leasing Foundation. Jonathan was made Leasing Life’s Industry Ambassador of the Year 2017. Amongst his many interests Jonathan lists flying, sailing and skiing.
Pablos Holman is a futurist, inventor, and notorious hacker. He helped create the world's smallest PC; 3D printers at Makerbot; & spaceships with Jeff Bezos. Currently, Pablos is working for Nathan Myhrvold & Bill Gates at the Intellectual Ventures Laboratory inventing solutions to the world's biggest problems.
Pablos is one of the most sought after speakers with an incredible ability to explain complex technology to any audience. He has informed and entertained audiences at world-renowned technology summits including the World Economic Forum at Davos. His TEDtalk has over 10 million views.
Named one of the “50 Big Data Twitter Influencers” by SAP, Paul has served as a consultant for 60 Minutes and multiple universities and has been named an expert on big data by publications such as Big Data Republic, Technopedia, and Analytics Week. Paul also leads IBM’s World Wide Competitive Database and Big Data teams. An award-winning writer, he has published more than 19 books and over 350 articles on data. An expert in harnessing the power of big data, Paul brings real-world experience from his at time managing over 1,400 professionals to help you build influence and affect change in your company.
Paul also is a seated board member of Queen’s University Business School’s Masters of Management Analytics (MMA) program.
Charles Anderson is the Executive Director of the CEMC. He also is the CEO of Currency, where he has developed the leading technology platform to help make equipment financing simple and easy. Charles is an industry thought leader in online equipment financing who has helped hundreds of organizations move from theory to practice both from within the industry and as an external advisor. Charles was involved in mortgage banking and specialty finance at the nation’s largest mortgage banks and graduated from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
Before entering the equipment financing industry, Charles started his own mortgage banking firm and attended Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
Jim Toffey has over 30 years’ experience in Fintech building and operating electronic marketplaces around the world. He founded Tradeweb Markets in 1997, a joint venture with four global banks, and served as Chief Executive Officer through 2008, growing Tradeweb from a start-up to a global exchange platform spanning 18 different asset classes. Mr. Toffey received an M.B.A. from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration and a B.A. from Dartmouth College. After leaving Tradeweb Markets, he served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Warburg Pincus, LLC and went on to found Benchmark Solutions, where he served as Chief Executive Officer. Toffey also served as the President of Fixed Income, Equity and Retail Wealth Management at Thomson Financial, Inc. after Thomson’s acquisition of Tradeweb.
Srinivasan Bharadwaj [‘Srini] is the CTO for the RAGE AI Products at Genpact. In this capacity, Srini is responsible for creating and maintaining various products developed using the RAGE AI Platform. At Rage, Srini has been responsible for pioneering various products and solutions to business problems, addressing them in a holistic manner rather than a niche manner. As one of the founders of Rage, Srini has been an integral part of the Rage journey; vision to development to patenting various components and platform. Prior to Rage, Srini has had a rich tenure at eCredit in various capacities and most recently, VP, Professional Services, responsible for implementing eCredit products worldwide.
Bart is a Partner for IBM’s Blockchain team. For the last 4 years, Bart has been conducting advisory services and practical implementations of Blockchain solutions in the Financial services domain, including formulating business case & roadmap, designing business and technical architecture and building POC’s and production Blockchains. Previously, he was a Sr Director for Capgemini’s Financial Services Business Unit focused on large scale Business and IT Transformations for the Financial Services Industry.
Mr. Gary Amos serves as Head of Americas for the Commercial Finance Business Unit and Senior Vice President at Siemens Financial Services, Inc. (SFS). In this role, Mr. Amos is responsible for the P&L of an organization that includes SFS’s captive healthcare and industrial asset finance businesses, as well as the third-party vendor finance platform for the Americas. A member of the SFS Commercial Finance Global Leadership Team, he also evaluates additional country growth opportunities outside the U.S. that fall within the Americas Region. Mr. Amos joined SFS in 2007 as vice president and national sales manager, tasked with setting strategic direction for SFS’ Industrial Leasing platform on a direct basis. His team structured single investor leases and loans to industrial companies, with special emphasis on marine, rail, air, food/beverage and chemical/pharmaceutical products. The team’s portfolio included leases, loans, synthetic and 1031 LKE transactions ranging from $2MM to $50MM. A 20-year veteran of the leasing and finance industry, he has broad experience in the industrial, healthcare and technology sectors with a focus on providing structured large-ticket financing solutions and supporting vendor business platforms with funding alternatives. Prior to joining Siemens, he served as vice president of business development at GE Commercial Finance, where he managed a national accounts team and developed strategic initiatives focused on medical and technology sectors. Previous to that, he was national accounts manager at De Lage Landen, overseeing its key accounts in the technology sector and coordinating relationships with Japanese counterparts within parent bank. He is an active member of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) and is part of the steering committees for the ELFA's Healthcare Finance Summit and the Captive Lessors Forum. Mr. Amos holds a B.S in Economics & Business from Penn State University.
Matthew Perkins is a Senior Managing Director at Guggenheim Securities, LLC. Prior to joining Guggenheim in July 2008, Mr. Perkins was a Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of ABS and RMBS Banking at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., where he had worked for 15 years. Since 1993, Mr. Perkins has served as lead or co-lead manager on more than 375 term ABS and RMBS securitizations, with an aggregate issuance amount in excess of $155 billion. Mr. Perkins holds a degree in Finance and Economics from Babson College, where he completed a four-year program in three years with High Distinction.
Brett is the co-founder and chief executive officer at Cohealo, a technology and services company that enables hospital systems to track medical equipment utilization and share assets between facilities. On average, a ten-facility health system will own $1B worth of medical equipment with industry estimates placing utilization of that equipment at an anemic 42%. Featured in Forbes, Fast Company, and the Wall Street Journal, Cohealo has been recognized as the first solution of its type to bring the sharing economy to healthcare. Brett has been instrumental in scaling Cohealo from two moving trucks, to a venture-backed SaaS company growing by 6X in annual revenues year-over-year. Before founding Cohealo, Brett managed a $1B territory for the Burlington Coat Factory, encompassing 100 stores across five states, and as an operations executive at Bloomingdale’s, where he supervised over 180 store personnel. Brett received his BS at Eastern Michigan University and his MBA from the University of Miami.
Maciej Kranz brings 30 years of networking industry experience to his position as Vice President, Corporate Strategic Innovation Group at Cisco. He leads the group focused on incubating new businesses, accelerating internal innovation, and driving co-innovation with customers and partners through a global network of Cisco Innovation Centers. Prior to this role, Kranz was General Manager of the Connected Industries Group at Cisco, a business unit focused on the Internet of Things (IoT). He built a $250M business from the ground up in 18 months and relentlessly evangelized the IoT opportunity across Cisco and the market, making IoT one of Cisco’s major priorities. In his New York Times Best Selling book, Building the Internet of Things, and its companion Project Workbook, Kranz offers practical advice to business decision makers on how and why to implement IoT today. He formed a thought-leadership forum and newsletter to exchange industry insights on IoT developments. Kranz is also a faculty member of Singularity University, focusing on IoT and corporate innovations.
As a corporate executive, Scott’s primary focus is on FleetEvaluator—the resource many equipment dealers leverage as their primary valuation tool. He manages Sandhills’ in-house data science team, which uses its massive store of data to mathematically extrapolate and project accurate valuations. He lends industry experience and user insights to the complex science of equipment valuations to constantly improve FleetEvaluator’s scope and utility. On a day-to-day basis, you are most likely to find Scott working with large dealerships and financial institutions to integrate FleetEvaluator into their business systems. Scott has been with Sandhills Publishing for nearly 18 years. In that time, he has worked closely with hundreds of heavy used equipment dealers—hands-on experience that has provided a well-rounded education in how successful (and unsuccessful) dealerships operate. While there are many factors that contribute to the long-term success of a dealership, at the end of the day, it boils down to making good decisions, especially good equipment purchasing decisions in the used market.
Mike Armstrong is President of ZestFinance, a financial technology company that uses machine learning and data science to help companies make more accurate financial decisions. Previously, he served as Chief Marketing Officer for the company. For more than 16 years, Mike has led business strategy, customer acquisition, credit risk, and operations for financial services companies. Mike began his career as a U.S. Army Ranger. After the military, he spent eight years at Capital One, where he held various roles, including General Manager of Customer Segments. Mike graduated from Duke University with a degree in economics.
Ben manages Clocktower Technology Ventures and is responsible for all of Clocktower Group’s private market activities. Ben was previously Director, Investment Associate Program for Bridgewater Associates, where he worked with the firm’s CIOs on strategic priorities, talent development and research. Ben began his career as a VC and private equity investor with Wasserstein Perella. Ben also co-founded Artivest fka Resonance Funds, an online issuer of actively-managed exchange traded vehicles, as well as Waterfall Mobile. Ben holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA in philosophy from Yale University. Ben lives in Bel Air with his wife and two young children.
Robert is a serial entrepreneur and investor, having founded and led several high growth companies in the B2B arena. Prior to KWIPPED, Robert founded and sold GlobalTestSupply.com, a world-class provider of test and measurement equipment that ranked #800 on the INC 5000 fastest growing companies list. Prior to that, he was the founding employee and Vice President of Sales for MFG.com, the leading online manufacturing marketplace and a portfolio company of Jeff Bezos's Bezos Expeditions. Robert started his career at EDS (now Siemens), is co-owner of the Greater Wilmington Business Journal, is an active angel investor via IMAF Cape Fear in Wilmington, NC and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Jason Jones is an entrepreneur and investor. He has invested in over 200 technology companies over the past 20 years and he has launched numerous new businesses. He is currently the Co-Founder and CEO of the Cardinal Rose Group, a fintech holding company. In that capacity he serves as Co-Chairman of LendItFintech, one of the world’s largest fintech events companies; Chairman of PitchIt, a global fintech startup competition; and Co-Chairman of BlockFin, the largest blockchain event focused on financial services. Jason is also an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at ConsenSys, an Ethereum-based venture incubator, where he advises and helps to build blockchain companies. Jason has also founded/co-founded two investment companies: Lending Robot/NSR Invest, the largest marketplace lending robo-advisor; and HighStep Capital, a L/S Equity and Pre-IPO Fund. He was also an advisor on the founding team of AlphaClone, a hedge fund replication ETF and robo-advisor. Earlier in his career, Jason worked as a portfolio manager/analyst at J. Goldman & Co., Goldman Sachs, Cambridge Associates, and Fidelity Investments. Jason holds an MBA from the Johnson School at Cornell University where he was a Park Leadership Fellow and a BS from Babson College. He is originally from the Boston area and he currently resides in the NYC area.
Keith Letourneau focuses his practice on maritime and energy transactions and litigation matters. Keith’s government contract experience includes shipyard bid protests, labor standards disputes, and appeals of contracting officers’ final decisions before boards of contract, as well as solicitation and bid reviews and evaluations. He has also defended document-intensive shipyard and oil rig repair contract disputes. He is co-chair of the Firm’s Blockchain Working Group. He has published recent articles about the industry, specifically as it relates to maritime matters, and presented on Blockchain issues at the Firm’s Litigation Department CLE program in Philadelphia in November 2017. Keith served as a trial attorney for both the U.S. Coast Guard’s Procurement Law Division and the Admiralty Section of the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division. He is a retired commander of the U.S. Coast Guard. His military service included assignments as a deck watch officer aboard a medium-endurance cutter that engaged in drug law enforcement efforts in the Caribbean Basin and as commanding officer of a Coast Guard patrol boat stationed along the southeast Texas coast. Keith is a member of the Order of the Coif, an honorary academic society that recognizes law students, teachers, judges, and lawyers for their scholarly or professional achievements.
Wayne is currently a member of Cisco Capital’s senior executive team serving as Managing Director of Global Capital Markets. He oversees a department responsible for $30Bn of indirect annual originations through Cisco Capital’s financial services ecosystem, as well as, developing and innovating financial-Technology(Fintech) business models.
Wayne’s previous roles at Cisco Capital were Chief Financial Officer, Chief Risk Officer, and Director of Venture Financing. Prior to joining Cisco, Wayne held roles as staff consultant at Akzo Noble; Vice President/Region Sales Development at Pitney Bowes; and a brief career with United States Navy.
Outside of work, Wayne serves on the advisory board of Ozone International, LLC, Deutsche Bank Client Advisory Board, and CEMC Steering Committee. He also maintains involvement in organizations such as Atlanta Community Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, and Autism Speaks.
Wayne holds a bachelor's degree from University of Missouri and a master's degree in Business Administration from Keller Graduate School of Management.
Patricia M. Voorhees, a director at The Alta Group, has over 25 years of experience in commercial finance. Her expertise focuses on forming captive financing companies, establishing vendor finance programs, and facilitating mergers and acquisitions within the commercial finance industry. Clients also benefit from her experience in business development, strategic pricing, business ethics, sales and marketing. After launching her career at IBM, Voorhees was an executive at GE Capital from 1996 to 2011, where she served in several key roles. In her initial position as vice president for business development, Patricia was responsible for establishing more than a dozen new vendor and captive finance programs. She then became managing director of business development for M&As, managing more than 14 acquisition originations. Later she was the company’s general manager of Office Imaging Finance, leading a small-ticket leasing business with $5.5 billion in assets and 450 employees. She also was GE Capital’s strategic pricing leader during the U.S. financial crisis.
Justin cut his teeth in the technology business starting with a helpdesk job at Barclay’s Bank in the mid-90s, helping to install Windows 95 on PCs and training staff on how to use a mouse for the first time. Over the past 20+ years, he’s worked on Product teams at Overture/Yahoo, Spotrunner, SNAP, Instantly, SSI and now at Currency. He also owns and operates an organic Black Angus cattle ranch and is an FAA licensed drone pilot.
Tommy Davidson’s exceptional range – from stand-up comedy and acting to versatile music accomplishments – have earned him a reputation as an extraordinary performer. Best known as one of the stars of the hit television show In Living Color, his visibility has allowed him to become a household name known for his innovative talent. Currently Tommy is touring across the country on his comedy tour and has also joined forces with Sommore, Bill Bellamy, and Tony Rock for the Standing Ovation Tour. Recently Tommy was a celebrity guest on Food Network’s successful competition cooking show Chopped for their special series Tournament of the Stars where he wore his old chef hat to win $50,000 to his charity.
Peters has produced Grammy award-winning albums for numerous artists. He has appeared in various capacities on the works of countless, diverse artists over the years, running a mind-boggling gamut that includes a list of famed artists in the likes of Earth, Wind & Fire, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Lionel Richie, The Jacksons, Diana Ross, Quincy Jones, Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, Mary J. Blige, Four Play, Phyllis Hyman, Marvin Gaye, Tina Turner, Deniece Williams, Harvey Mason and The Emotions. In the Music Industry, Peters has served as an executive for various companies. He has co-founded independent record labels and music production/publishing companies. At present, he continues to work on projects in jazz, pop, gospel as well as classical.
Johnny was voted Best Close-Up Magician at the Magic Castle™ in Hollywood by the Academy of Magical Arts two years in a row. He is the only magician to have received both the International Brotherhood of Magicians’ Gold Cups Award of Excellence and the Society of American Magicians’ Gold Medal Award of Honor. Johnny was also the first close-up magician to be given magic's highest honor at the triennial International Federation of Magic Societies’ convention.
Dress Code: California Casual
Experience a round of golf at one of the world’s most prestigious luxury resorts. Enjoy the spectacular Scottish links-style course overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Breakfast, Lunch, Drinks are all included.
Please meet by the front desk of the Ritz-Carlton by 7:30am
Rejuvenate and refresh your mind and body with a calming and meditative yoga experience by the sea.
End the class with a refreshing smoothie.
Location: Gazebo
Start your morning embracing the natural surroundings of the Southern California coast. Take advantage of the beautiful oceanside terrane as you conclude your 2018 Innovation Summit experience.
Location: Laguna Niguel, Badlands Park’s scenic hiking trail
Location: Pacific Promenade Lawn
Location: Pacific Promenade
Location: Pacific Promenade
Scott Lubischer will discuss how big data is leveraged to mitigate valuation risks for accurate asset valuations.
Location: Pacific Promenade
Location: Pacific Promenade Foyer
Pablos Holman will share his experiences and futuristic projects to understand how innovation applied to science can resolve the world’s biggest issues.
Location: Pacific Promenade
Capital Markets Update:
Location: Pacific Promenade
Tables by Themes with Experts Leading Discussions On:
Location: Pacific Promenade Lawn
Technology is leaving no industry undisturbed. Experts in AI and Machine Learning will discuss how they’re leveraging technological advancements to shake up their industries and those of their customers.
Location: Pacific Promenade
Location: Pacific Promenade Foyer
Charles Anderson will sit down with Jason Jones to discuss everything trending in fintech and blockchain.
Location: Pacific Promenade
What models are emerging and how might they shape the future of how we acquire, use and finance equipment.
Location: Pacific Promenade
Location: Pacific Promenade Foyer
Music by Grammy Award Winning artist Jerry Peters on piano
Location: Terrace Salon Balcony
We will conclude the Innovation Summit with a Gala dinner Sponsored by Currency with special guest Tommy Davidson.
Location: Terrace Salon Ballroom
Location: Pacific Promenade Foyer
Location: Pacific Promenade
Michael Gervais will give us some insight on how training the mindset to high-stakes environment can lead to great performance and success.
Location: Pacific Promenade
Jonathan Andrew will share his experiences leading teams across 16 countries around the globe while innovating and challenging the status quo on the international stage.
Location: Pacific Promenade
Location: Pacific Promenade Foyer
Location: Pacific Promenade
Location: Pacific Promenade
Location: Pacific Promenade
Location: Pacific Promenade
Enjoy entertainment by Grammy award-winning artist Jerry Peters and Band with performance by World Champion Magician Johnny Ace Palmer
Location: Pacific Promenade Lawn
Location: Pacific Promenade Lawn
This retreat will also include plenty of unique opportunities organized for CEMC Innovation Summit participants. CEMC Summit participants are encouraged to enjoy the Monarch Beach golf club, private beach excursions, hiking and yoga retreats.
In addition to the activities enjoyed along the coast of Laguna Beach, there will be sunset cocktail hours, live entertainment, and the opportunity to network with extraordinary attendees over fireside chats. We look forward to seeing you in Laguna Beach this June!
Attendance is limited to the senior executive leadership. Executives must hold the position of President, CEO, Managing Director, COO; or be part of the senior leadership team and/or manage a significant organization in the finance ecosystem.
The Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel is a surfside retreat, surrounded by panoramic views of the pacific and the shores of salt creek beach. The Ritz is a premier luxury resort on the California coast, an ideal destination for those looking for a lively approach to luxury.