Future Branches Boston 2025
June 23 - 24, 2025
The Westin Copley Place, Boston, MA
Day Two: June 28th 2023
7:00 am - 8:00 am Continental Breakfast & Registration In The Innovation Hub
Join your fellow women in branches to network and chat about the future of finance
8:15 am - 8:20 am
Welcome Remarks
Elizabeth Robillard -
Portfolio Director,
Worldwide Business Research
8:20 am - 8:40 am
Keynote: Driving Engagement and Winning Loyalty with Customers Under 40
Kim Dee -
Executive Vice President, Head of Retail Branch Network,
Citizens Bank
8:40 am - 9:00 am
Keynote: Effectively Providing Best in Class Service for Small Business Clients in Branch
Keri Wise -
Head of Retail Sales,
United Community Bank
As banks and credit unions turn to focusing on deposit growth in 2023, one area that has a lot of potential is attracting and retaining local small businesses to bank with you. Small businesses have special needs and absolutely require local branches, thus, your branch remains an important sell for this particular type of customer. While this seems like an easy win for your business, not every financial institution is prepared to provide great service to small businesses. Join this keynote with Keri Wise from United Community Bank as she tells us the work her and her team have done in order to properly train frontline staff to nurture small business relationships. Expect to hear about:
- Nurturing relationships you might have built when working on PPP loans and seeing what you can provide going forward
- Small business banking customers prefer a designated account manager- how do you train this person?
- Thinking about the continuing needs of small business clients given what they’ve been through during the pandemic and what perks you might be able to provide them
- Reaching out to local businesses & being more of a pillar in the community to attract small businesses to you
- Making your branches a place where small businesses can host meetings or community events
9:00 am - 9:40 am
Panel Discussion: Employee Engagement for the Long Haul: The Best of Coaching, Development & Career Pathing
Heiwote Tadesse -
EVP-Member Relations,
Associated Credit Union
Brandon Kramer -
Employee Experience Strategy Manager,,
Fifth Third
Chris Severin -
Vice President of Retail,
STCU
Diandra Murga -
AVP, Retail Banking Regional Manager,
Bethpage Federal Credit Union
The employees in your branches represent the best possible opportunity your branches have to remain relevant. They have the power to provide better customer experiences, keep things running efficiently and facilitate growth. If you are doing one thing in branch, it should be focusing intensely on training and development for your current staff. Your staff needs to know customers, they need to know their finances and be ready to help with anything you may need. It’s a completely personalized approach to banking and can be possible with the right employee and the right technology. How are banks finding, hiring, training and career pathing stellar employees like this and training them with the right tech to anchor their branch strategy? Join this panel to hear more about:
- Surveying your current employees to find out what attracts them to working at your institution
- Realigning your company values where needed to stay attractive to employees
- Starting a new employee off with strong onboarding that prompts a feeling of belonging
- Setting up employees with coaches and mentors that help career path employees
- Incenting employees where necessary to keep them on the path you’ve laid out
9:40 am - 10:10 am
Donut Delights Networking Break In The Innovation Hub
10:10 am - 10:30 am
Keynote: The Best Approaches to Competing with Online Lenders
Stephanie McClendon -
EVP, Chief of Community Banking,
First Federal Bank
Can your bank get in front of this customer with relevant & timely offers before they make it to a competitor like Lending Tree or Rocket Loans? Join this keynote to hear how banks are using their advantages to bring in these newly curious loan seekers, like:
- Highlighting your lower rates and greater flexibility
- Touting greater security & the strength and renown of your brand compared to fintechs
- Being able to provide large loan amounts if needed
- Possessing a better understanding of your community so you can create a more long lasting relationship
10:30 am - 10:50 am
Keynote: Solving Incorrect “Spam Call Labeling” and Tackling Spam Blocking Challenges for Today's Businesses
Mark Flanagan -
VP of Enterprise Sales,
Caller ID Reputation
10:50 am - 11:30 am
Fireside Chat: Ensuring That Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are Pillars of Your Workplace Culture
Tapiwa Mutumhe MIS, MBA -
Senior DEI Officer, Employees & Suppliers,
Freddie Mac
With banks and credit unions struggling to find younger and more digitally saavy employees to work both in their branches and at headquarters, it becomes imperative for them to focus on their own internal culture in order to hire this talent. One huge area that Gen Z and Millennials are finding issues with when it comes to their potential employers (both within banking and outside of it) is around the diversity of the company and how equitable it is to work there. And even if the company is diverse, only strong inclusion initiatives and mentorship from senior staff will help with retention. How are you ramping up your DEI efforts to the meet the needs of these potential employees? Join this panel to hear from several DEI experts surrounding:
- Ensuring diversity, equity and inclusion related initiatives are at the forefront of your business
- Understanding the cultural changes that must take place to become more inclusive
- Creating a safe environment where all voices are welcome, heard and respected
- Strengthening leadership accountability and overcoming the internal barriers to change
- Communicating your efforts effectively to your customers and external stakeholders
11:10 am - 11:50 am
Panel: Deepening Your Community Involvement to Strengthen Consumer Trust in Your Organization
Andrea Pruna -
Chief Growth Officer,
NECU
Darrin Mink -
Vice President, Virtual Delivery & Membership Development,
Patelco Credit Union
- Realizing the benefits of community outreach & leadership
- Deciding on the community outreach you should be taking advantage of at the organizational level
- Figuring out what opportunities to engage in at the branch level
- Training your branch employees & managers to bring in new business through this kind of outreach
- Understanding how your community outreach helps your institution to be viewed as a trusted partner and ally for small businesses and local organizations
11:50 am - 12:20 pm
Mid Day Mingle Morning Networking Break In The Innovation Hub
12:20 pm - 12:50 pm
Keynote: Targeting unbanked and underbanked via digitalization
Agata Ruta -
Chief Operations Officer,
The Belize Bank Limited
Agata Ruta and her team at the Belize Bank are pioneering digital payments in the region, introducing the first and most robust digital wallet in the Caribbean. With their mobile first strategy they tailor products and services to help people and reduce cash in circulation. They launched Their digital wallet a year and a half ago and have already seen spectacular success. This product complemented other services and created a lot of synergies, bringing a completely new segment of the market. They were the first ones who developed a concept of simplified onboarding, where legislation in the country was not there. They worked together with the Central Bank to present the concept and launch simplified onboarding in Belize completely changing the landscape of digital payments. Join this keynote, presented by Agata as she explains the concept that won Second Place at the Accenture Innovation in Banking Awards to hear how this concept helped improve the lives of local customers in Belize.
12:50 pm - 1:10 pm
Keynote: Your Customer Acquisition Framework: From Foundation To Execution
Chip Griffith -
SVP, Retail Sales and Operations,
OneAZ Credit Union
Kristen Renee -
SVP of Revenue Optimization,
OneAZ Credit Union
· Engaging customers where they are on the path to finding your products
· Quickly demonstrating value to the customer through useful, personalized content
· Determining where to spend your marketing dollars and acquiring customers at a reasonable cost for your organization
· Evaluating the right distribution channels and best Omni channel strategy
· Ensuring you have the right customer data in place to drive ROI and engagement
1:10 pm - 2:20 pm
Lunch For All Attendees In the Innovation Hub
General Session
2:10 pm - 2:30 pm Case Study: How to Integrate Culture in Data Analysis Ken Tingle - VP, Customer Sales & Service Manager, Cambridge Trust Company
General Session
2:30 pm - 3:10 pm Panel REMIX: Seeking Out Fintech Partnerships to Give Your Customers the Best of Both Worlds Heather Wood - Assistant Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, AmeriCU Credit Union Monique Robertson-Gunter - Chief Retail Officer, Head of Delivery Channels, Investments and Membership Development, Wellby Financial Breana Wolfert - AVP, Branch Operations Project Management, American Heritage Credit Union- Understanding the banks need to move at warp speed to deliver innovative products while fintechs are searching for strong backing and scale of business
- Looking for partnerships with fintechs that need your scale who can deliver this innovation at less cost
- Delivering amazing solutions quickly (weekly, monthly) as opposed to yearly
- Evaluating different potential fintechs and thinking about what they can bring to the table that you don’t have
- Securing partnerships across your ecosystem and reevaluating as necessary
Monique Robertson-Gunter
Chief Retail Officer, Head of Delivery Channels, Investments and Membership DevelopmentWellby Financial
General Session
3:10 pm - 3:30 pm Panel: Convenience On Your Customer’s Terms: Winning Loyalty By Focusing on Ease and Efficiency At Every Turn Kristen Mecca - VP, e-Services, Launch Federal Credit Union- Determining how convenience has been redefined and what is means to be ‘convenient’ from a holistic perspective
- Examining new conveniences that emerged during the pandemic—are they sustainable?
- Learning what customers expect today around convenience and how to provide value with every interaction
- Rethinking omnichannel capabilities from fulfillment to delivery through a customer lens
- Discussing the technology it will take to get you there and what might be on the horizon
- Staying agile to adapt to constantly changing customer preferences
C-Level Boardroom
2:10 pm - 3:10 pm C-Level Boardroom Rick Kapur - Chief Retail Officer,, Chevron Federal Credit UnionC-Level Boardroom
Meant to facilitate networking between our C-Level attendees, this boardroom will be led by several c-level attendees of the event – they will cover high level topics like the following:
· Your 5 Year Outlook: What Will Matter to Consumers from Now til 2028
· Things Banks or Credit Unions Should Do When they Approach 1 Billion in Assets
