Agenda

Join us for a fireside chat with Gary Gensler moderated by Haoxiang Zhu

Haoxiang Zhu, Gordon Y Billard Professor of Management and Finance and Associate Professor of Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management, most recently served as the director of the Division of Trading and Markets at the Securities and Exchange Commission from December 2021 to December 2024. During his tenure, the SEC undertook several significant initiatives to modernize the regulation of U.S. securities markets, including expanded central clearing for Treasury repurchase and cash transactions, shortening the securities settlement cycle to one day, and comprehensively revising rules that govern the market-wide mechanics of stock trading and execution quality disclosure.

Professor Gensler has had a distinguished career in the public sector, on Wall Street, and at MIT. He most recently served as Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the Biden Administration where he led oversight of the $120 trillion U.S. capital markets. Immediately before joining the SEC, Gensler was Professor of the Practice of Global Economics and Management, co-director of MIT’s FinTech@CSAIL, and senior advisor to the MIT Media Lab Digital Currency Initiative. He won the MIT Sloan Outstanding Teacher Award based upon student nominations for the 2018–19 academic year.

Prior to first joining MIT in 2018, he served as Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where he led the Obama Administration’s reform of the $400 trillion swaps market after the 2008 global financial crisis. Previously, he was Senior Advisor to U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes, helping to draft the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002); served as Assistant Secretary and then Undersecretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance during the Clinton Administration; and co-authored The Great Mutual Fund Trap, a book on personal finance. From 2017–2019, he served as Chairman of the Maryland Financial Consumer Protection Commission.

We are thrilled to welcome him back as a Professor of the Practice in the Global Economics and Management Group at Sloan, and as co-director of the FinTechAI@CSAIL initiative within MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, alongside fellow MIT Sloan Professor Andrew W. Lo.

Retail banking leaders will discuss industry outlook under current macro conditions, evolving consumer expectations of personalization and digital first banking, embedded finance and fintech partnerships, new banking charters, and M&A trends.

Panelists:
- Mathew Little, Head of Strategic and Fintech Partnerships (Citibank)
- Andrew Dresner, Managing Director Corporate Strategy (Fifth Third Bank)
- Prat Vallabhaneni, Partner, M&A and Fintech Co-Lead (White & Case)
- Moderator: Ido Segev, Senior Partner (McKinsey)

Policy and payments leaders will discuss the state of open banking and A2A payments in the US, including customer benefits, new B2B use cases, embedded finance, and real-time payment infrastructure — and their vision for 2030.

Panelists:
- Dave Glaser, CEO (Dwolla)
- John Pitts, Head of Policy (Plaid)
- Reena Verma, VP Strategy (The Clearing House)
- Moderator: Ron Shevlin, Chief Research Officer (Cornerstone Advisors)

AI leaders will discuss building trusted financial services products powered by AI. Learn how they leverage their organizations’ investments in quality data to ship innovative AI products, their vision for AI in fintech and payments, and how they put responsible AI practices first.

Panelists:
- Aparna Sinha, SVP and Head of AI Product (Capital One)
- Sam Hamilton, SVP and Head of Data and AI (Visa)
- Moderator: Roger Zhu, Partner, (Bain)

Digital asset and tokenization leaders will discuss payment and settlement challenges today and the future of markets infrastructure.

Panelists:
- Nadine Chakar, Global Head of Digital Assets (DTCC)
- Bob Bench, CEO (Radius); Former MIT Decentralized Currency Initiative and Boston Fed Project Hamilton

Cross border payment and policy experts will examine the geopolitical dynamics shaping stablecoin regulation, private sector participation, and their vision for a robust global payment system in the years ahead.

Panelists:
- Tim Massad, Research Fellow (Harvard Kennedy School), Former CFTC Chairman
- Andrew Galluci, Senior Director of Regulatory Strategy (Circle)
- Josh Lipsky, Senior Director GeoEconomics Center (The Atlantic Council)
- Moderator: Neha Narula, Director (MIT Digital Currency Initiative)

Watch our 8 early-stage fintech startup finalists pitch and tackle Q&A from top VC judges, competing to win from a $20K prize pool in non-dilutive funding!

Industry leaders will examine how AI-driven personalization and data analytics are revolutionizing wealth management, from reshaping advisory services and distribution channels to transforming traditional business models.

Panelists:
- Venu Palaparthi, COO (Drivewealth)
- Felix Lin, CEO (Arta Finance)
- Dan Egan, VP of Behavioral Finance & Investing (Betterment)
- Zhi Xu Martinez, Head of Offer and Product Strategy, Institutional Advice (Vanguard)
- Lisa Huang, Head of AI Investment Management and Planning (Fidelity)
- Moderator: Johnathan Parker, Robert C. Merton Professor of Finance and Co-Director MIT Golub Center for Finance and Policy (MIT)

Credit and fairness experts discuss progress and next steps in expanding financial inclusion while maintaining model performance - focusing on consumer-permissioned data, model monitoring for both fairness and accuracy, and implementing improved software and AI tools to streamline risk assessment.

Panelists:
- Maik Taro Wehmeyer, CEO (Taktile)
- Kareem Saleh, CEO (FairPlay)
- Collin Galster, COO (Nova Credit)
- Moderator: TBA

Hear 10 minute deep dives from industry experts on topics like AI Agents and more

Speakers:
- Abdul Abdirahman (FPrime Capital)
- TBA

Judges will share the final startup competition winners and provide feedback

Join Vestigo Ventures in Kendall Square for a community organized networking event after the official MIT Fintech Conference concludes.

Availability is limited, register here: https://lu.ma/pkm6338e