Education

• Marquette University Law School, Juris Doctor, Law Review
• University of Wisconsin, Bachelor of Business Administrator

Professional Activities

• Chair of Cornerstone CUL's Regulatory Engagement Committee and Member of its Grassroots Committee
• Member of NAFCU's Legislative Committee
• Member of American Bar Association, State Bar of Texas and State Bar of Wisconsin

Honors, Awards and Major Accomplishments

• 2016 to 2018 - Member of CFPB's Credit Union Advisory Council. Chair of the Card, Payment & Deposit Markets Subcommittee
• 2017 - Testified before U.S. House Financial Services Committee's Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee re: Examining the BSA/AML Regulatory Compliance Regime
• 2010 - Testified at hearing before Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth Duke re: HMDA
• 2009 to 2017 - Member of CUNA's Consumer Protection Subcommittee. Served as Vice Chair
• 2009 to 2012 - Chair of the American Bar Association Business Law Section Committee on Credit Unions
• 2005 to 2007 - Federal Reserve Board Consumer Advisory Council Member. Chair of Depository & Delivery Systems Committee

Paul Bate has more than 26 years of experience in the financial services industry. He started his banking career for Washington Mutual and spent over a decade in multiple retail and lending positions before beginning his compliance-focused career at Umpqua Bank in 2003.  While there he earned his CRCM. While the Compliance Manager for River City Bank in Sacramento, Paul attended and graduated from Pacific Coast Banking School. He then spent seven years as a Compliance Examiner with the FDICs Division of Consumer Protection before joining First Technology Federal Credit Union as the Vice President of Compliance in 2018. Paul’s mix of Retail, Lending, Compliance, and Regulatory experience has made him extremely skilled at designing and implementing Compliance Management Systems that aim to support operational business functions while maintaining the highest levels of compliance.

Additionally, Paul is the exceptionally proud father of two US Marines, having himself served for over eight years, leaving the Marine Corps as a 1^st Lieutenant in 1997.

Tony Diaz is currently the Vice President of Compliance at SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union. He joined SchoolsFirst in 2008, and oversees all aspects of the compliance function across the organization, which is currently at an approximate asset size of $28 billion.

Tony holds a law degree and attended Loyola Law School, as well as Kensington University. He completed his undergraduate degree at Chapman University where he majored in Political Science with an emphasis in Legal Studies. He also holds risk and compliance certifications from various entities, including CUNA. Tony also serves on CUNA’s Risk & Compliance Council.

Prior to joining SchoolsFirst, he spent ten years working in the legal field and, most recently, served as the head of compliance at a multi-state mortgage and consumer lending company. He resides in Orange with his wife and daughter.

Blending over 25 years of experience working with financial institutions and his passion to drive change, Tony helps leaders evolve in the way they think, strategize, and govern. To that end, Tony and Rochdale has led the change on defining business processes around governance, risk, and assurance disciplines to formalize how organizations make better decisions in pursuit of success.

Tony’s professional experience has ranged from operating large staff operations to governance and leadership consulting. Previously, Tony was Vice President of Member Relations at U.S. Central Federal Credit Union, as well as serving for almost ten years with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City managing Human Resources and Savings Bond operation on behalf of the U.S. Treasury.

Tony received a Bachelor of Science in Finance (Cum Laude), as well as his Master of Business Administration from Northwest Missouri State University. He is also a certified leadership development and organizational performance instructor with Developmental Dimensions International. In addition, Tony completed the Graduate School of Bank Operations & Technology program at Vanderbilt University.

View the latest from Tony here: https://www.rochdaleparagon.com/playing-to-win-shifting-your-perspective-on-risk/  University.

Kristin Fontenot is VP, Regulatory Liaison at Navy Federal Credit Union.  She has 25 years of experience in financial services and management consulting.  Throughout her career, she has managed large scale regulatory interactions, driven the strategy for ongoing supervision and exam matters and facilitated engagement between business units and federal regulators.  She has deep risk management expertise across lines of defense, including enterprise risk, operational risk, compliance, technology risk and information security. 

Anthony Huey, CSP®, is a highly-rated international speaker who offers session attendees pragmatic communications tools, tips and techniques they can use immediately. Anthony has presented more than 3,000 paid communications workshops, seminars and speeches in his career, and was named a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) by The National Speakers Association, an honor awarded to less than 12% of its speakers worldwide. 

Anthony’s 25-year career includes tenures as a news reporter and senior editor, crisis management specialist, media relations consultant and executive speech coach.  He owns Reputation Management, LLC, one of the nation’s leading communications training and crisis consulting companies.

His past client work includes a wide variety of advertising, public relations and communications initiatives for hundreds of trade associations, municipalities and companies, including Nike, Victoria’s Secret, Eli Lilly, Nationwide Insurance, The Kroger Company, Procter & Gamble, and many more.

Anthony holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from The Ohio State University.

Jonathan (Jared) Ihrig is Chief Compliance Officer & Counsel for the Credit Union National Association, managing a staff of thirteen compliance attorneys, paralegals and staff who focus on providing compliance information to leagues and credit unions. He also provides assistance to CUNA’s lobbyists and Advocacy team members in assessing the impact of federal legislation and regulation on credit union operations.  Jared previously served CUNA as Senior Director of Advocacy and Counsel, Associate General Counsel, as well as Senior Assistant General Counsel, and has been with CUNA since 2011.

Jared has worked within the credit union compliance, advocacy and legal system for over 25 years.  Prior to joining CUNA, he served as regulatory & compliance counsel for Blalack & Williams, P.C., a law firm representing credit unions across the state of Texas, as Senior Compliance Officer for Security Service Federal Credit Union in Texas and as partner at a regional law firm in Dallas, focused on the mortgage banking industry.  Ihrig, also a Certified Public Accountant, began his career with Ernst & Young, LLP, and subsequently served as Director of Compliance and Assistant General Counsel for American Airlines Federal Credit Union in Texas. 

Ihrig earned his law degree from Oklahoma City University and his bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University, and is admitted to practice law before the Federal District Court, Northern District of Texas, the United States 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States.  Ihrig is based in CUNA’s Washington, D.C. office, and lives in Leesburg, VA with his wife Brenda, and two children, Megan and Alex. 

With a passion for all aspects of litigation, Natalia is a powerhouse when involved in pretrial motion practices, consumer finance matters, contract disputes, insurance law, intellectual property and technology matters, and torts. Natalia’s consumer financial practice consists primarily of assisting installment lending, finance and other companies defend their interests in alleged violations of state and federal consumer credit protection laws, including various provisions of the Wisconsin Consumer Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Truth in Lending Act, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Natalia also advises businesses on legal issues that arise with the Internet of Things (IoT), helping companies continue to connect the world.

Brian G. Lauer is a partner with the law firm of Messick Lauer & Smith P.C. and General Counsel to NACUSO, where he concentrates his practice on assisting credit unions, primarily through CUSOs, in finding effective ways to work collaboratively with other credit unions and third-party service providers to serve their members with non-traditional products and services.  Brian also assists credit unions and CUSOs navigate the sea of regulations affecting nearly every aspect of their day-to-day operations.  Brian has also assisted countless CUSOs with the development of strategic visions, goals and plans to generate growth organically and through acquisition.  Brian has literally written the book on CUSOs.  It’s called “CUSOs: How Credit Unions and Entrepreneurs Can Get Started (And Win) with Credit Union Service Organizations.”  

Richard is an academically trained futurist and chief executive of Vision Foresight Strategy LLC (VFS), a foresight and strategic analysis firm based in Honolulu.  He has conducted foresight and strategy work on projects for organizations such as U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, the European Commission, the UK government, the Canadian government, the Singaporean government, NASA, and PepsiCo.  Richard is the author of 4 Steps to the Future: A Quick and Clean Guide to Creating Foresight and his contributions were featured in the books Thinking about the Future: Guidelines for Strategic Foresight (2006), A Careful Revolution (2019), Rethinking Asia 7: The Future of Work (2020), and Strategic Latency Unleashed: A SOF Perspective (2020).  He has been published in the Journal of Futures Studies, the journal Futures, International Journal of System of Systems Engineering, World Future Review, and Small Wars Journal.  Richard is a member of the GeoTech Center Action Council at the Atlantic Council.  He holds a PhD in Political Science from the futures studies program at the University of Hawai'i.  His dissertation research focused on developing a conceptual framework for designing future governance systems.  

Mark Nelson is a Senior HR Advisor with Archbright. His experiences as a labor and employment attorney, HR consultant, and college instructor, and living and working in Colorado, California, Germany, and DC, inform his perspective on HR. He has a J.D. from the University of Iowa, an M.A. in English Literary Research from the University of Lancaster (in the UK), and a B.A. in Humanities from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Kim is dedicated to her clients and to helping them resolve their disputes in the manner that best serves their interests. She puts herself in her clients' shoes, stays there throughout the matter, and feels personally responsible for obtaining the best possible result for her clients, whether that's an early settlement or a lengthy and complex trial. When developing a litigation strategy, Kim focuses on her client’s core objectives. Her first question is always, "What is your ultimate goal with this relationship?"  From there, she works with her client to develop a litigation strategy designed to achieve that objective.
  
Her practice emphasizes a wide range of litigation, including business litigation, consumer law defense, real estate litigation, employment law and commercial collection. Kim is an advocate for her clients and provides them with strong representation to protect their interests and help them achieve their goals as efficiently as possible. 
  
In addition to helping people resolve disputes, Kim loves litigation because she enjoys learning about all types of businesses, from music distribution to manufacturing to lending to utilities to ski areas. She likes to unpack the mess, put a strategy to it, and resolve the conflict so that her clients can get back to doing what they do best. 

Kim is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyer honorary society whose membership is limited to less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers. Fellowship in the LCA is highly selective and by invitation only.

Ryan McInerny, is a former examiner with the Office of The Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). At OCC Ryan served on committees for compliance, BSA, and commercial credit and oversaw complex examinations spanning a variety of risk areas and business lines. Ryan brings strong business sense to his banking expertise having received his master’s degree in business Analytics from UVA's Darden School of Business. At RiskScout Ryan researches and informs strategic priorities for product development.

Jill Meznarich is Chief Audit Officer for SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Tustin, CA. Jill joined SchoolsFirst in 2006 when the Credit Union’s asset size was just $6.6 billion and has seen tremendous growth and change in her tenure as the Credit Union is now just over $27 billion. Prior to joining SchoolsFirst, Jill served as President of Planites Credit Union and subsequently President of Champaign County Schools Employee’s Credit Union, both in Illinois.

Jill’s responsibilities include developing, managing and implementing the Credit Union's overall audit program. Jill works closely with the Supervisory Committee to ensure adequate control of assets and oversight of adherence to policy and procedures.  With 70 branches and back-office operations, Jill works in tandem with both the internal audit team as well as external auditors to facilitate the safe, efficient and effective functioning of operations. One of Jill’s primary roles is being the point-of-contact for the Regulators, specifically the NCUA Office of National Examinations and Supervision (ONES) and the CFPB, both assuming supervision of SchoolsFirst in 2014 when the Credit Union passed $10 billion in assets.

With over 25 years in the credit union movement, Jill brings much expertise to the various committees she serves on. Since 2019, Jill has served on the Audit Committee of the California Credit Union League and she just completed seven years of service on the Board of Directors for the Association of Credit Union Internal Auditors (ACUIA).  Jill has a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Illinois and holds professional designations of Certified Credit Union Internal Auditor (CCUIA) and Certified Credit Union Supervisory Committee Member (CCUSC). 

Jeff Olejnik is responsible for the leadership, growth, and development of Wipfli’s cybersecurity services practice. He is a highly experienced IT security services professional with more than 20 years in the industry. Jeff helps clients manage risk through effective information security, business continuity planning, and program management. He is a seasoned entrepreneur with proven experience in building successful companies in the IT services industry.

Jeff is a frequent speaker and author on risk management-related topics including cybersecurity, incident response, and business continuity planning. As an active participant in various associations and within the community, he is frequently interviewed for his insight on how companies can improve their cybersecurity and business continuity preparedness. 

Kristen Olsen is a Sales Engineer with Quantivate, a leader in the Governance, Risk and Compliance space for financial institutions of all sizes. She has held multiple positions in the financial sector, including roles with Salesforce, ADP and Symetra. She holds a degree in Business Administration from Gonzaga University. 

Jeff utilizes his passion for credit unions, combined with his breadth of experience and analytical expertise, to lead a variety of credit union, corporate credit union and CUSO engagements.  Jeff works with boards and management teams on ERM, risk appetite, strategic planning and other related projects. 

Jeff leverages his 20 years’ experience in the financial services arena for the good of client organizations. Prior to Rochdale, Jeff worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, and was part of the Bank's Management Development Program. Jeff began his career at the Federal Reserve as an analyst in Retail Payments (ACH and Check Processing), before transitioning to the Human Resources department where he led the Bank’s college recruiting program, orchestrated district-wide software implementations, and coordinated several other District and System-level initiatives. Jeff transferred to the Savings Bond department, where he managed staff and operations responsible for originating, printing, and servicing U.S. Savings Bonds. Jeff also managed the Information Technology administrative team, including coordination of the division’s COSO/Enterprise Risk Management activities, all IT department budgets, and assisted in the planning and coordination of a move to a new District headquarters building.

Jeff received a Bachelor of Science degree in both Management and Marketing, as well as a Master of Business Administration degree, from Northwest Missouri State University.

Outside of work, Jeff stays busy with his family, including his wife, three daughters and a dog.  He is also on the board of a local charity dedicated to providing assistance and hope to those affected by cancer. 

Daniela Parker is the Chief Risk Officer for TwinStar Credit Union. In her position, she manages the Credit Union efforts in the areas of Enterprise Risk Management, Information Security, Compliance, Business Continuity Planning, Safety & Security and Vendor Management.

After beginning her financial career with US Bank, Parker joined the credit union movement as a Branch Manager for TwinStar Credit Union. After being promoted to, and serving as a Division Manager, she assisted the Credit Union in the formation of a centralized Branch Operations Department and was appointed AVP of Branch Operations. In 2014, Parker joined the credit union’s ERM department and has helped to drive the growth and success of that area ever since.

Parker earned her Master of Science Degree in Business Continuity, Risk, and Security from Boston University. She holds CUNA’s Union Enterprise Risk Management Expert Certification, is a Certified Business Continuity Professional (DRI) and a RIMS Certified Risk Management Professional.

TwinStar Credit Union was founded in 1938 as Thurston County Teacher’s Credit Union and currently has 21 branches across the Pacific Northwest serving over 130,000 members. 

Elisabeth Philippe is senior manager of Corporate Social Responsibility and Media Relations at the United Nations Federal Credit Union (UNFCU), headquartered in New York City. She manages CSR communications strategy and builds relationships with United Nations partners in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Liz also oversees ESG content and CSR reporting to the UN Global Compact.

As a program manager for the UNFCU Global Sustainability Program, Liz is passionate about directing the United in Sustainability Network. It serves as an incubator of ideas, best practices, and industry advocacy on sustainability for credit unions. Liz also sits on the Advisory Council of the UNFCU Foundation. Its mission is to sustain paths out of poverty for marginalized women and youth through education, healthcare, and livelihoods training.

Prior to joining UNFCU in 2002, Liz facilitated the Speakers’ Bureau at MasterCard International. She began her career in Public Affairs at Citibank N.A in the Press Information Department.

A native New Yorker, Liz graduated with a BA degree in history from Fordham University. She enjoys engaging youth on sustainability as the head of her parish Green Team and leading UNFCU’s Multicultural Book Club.

Voted one of the Top 15 Business Growth Experts to watch by Currency Fair, a Top Sales Expert To Follow by LinkedIn, and Top 41 Motivational Speakers, and Top 50 Sales Speaker. Meridith Elliott Powell is an award-winning author, keynote speaker and business strategist. With a background in corporate leadership and sales, her career expands over several industries including retail, healthcare and finance.  Meridith worked her way up from entry-level to earn her position in the C-Suite. She is a Master Certified Strategist, Executive Coach and Certified Speaking Professional, a designation held by less than twelve percent of professional speakers.  In addition, Meridith is an invitation-only author for LinkedIn, having published more than eight courses on their prestigious education networks.

She has a cutting-edge message, rooted in real-life examples and real-world knowledge. She is the author of five books, including her latest “Cut Through The Excuses – Send Sales Through The Roof” and “Who Comes Next? Leadership Succession Made Easy,” the complete guide to developing next level leaders.

Meridith is regularly featured in publications such as Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., Investment News, and American Banker among others. High energy and highly interactive, Meridith helps leaders and business owners learn the new rules of success today, and the strategies they need to turn uncertainty to competitive advantage.

 In her highly engaging keynote-speaking sessions, Meridith shows her audiences how to attract more business, retain top talent, and leap into position to win in this new economy. No walking on coals, no breaking boards, just real-life strategies you can put into place first thing Monday morning.

 “How she can transform from the stage is amazing; I have hired her multiple times!”
Trish Springfield, SVP, Southern Bank

Rachel Pross is the Chief Operations Officer of Maps Credit Union.  She provides strategic leadership for the Operations division of Maps, which encompasses regulatory compliance, security, audit, enterprise risk management, governmental affairs, accounting, finance, IT, information security, and an operational subsidiary.  She also directly oversees Maps’ transparent and robust cannabis banking program-- the largest in the State of Oregon-- which has been operational since 2014.  Pross holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Grand Canyon University’s Colangelo College of Business and is a High Honors graduate from Western CUNA Management School.  She holds expert certifications in regulatory compliance, E.R.M., and vendor management.  Pross has contributed to HuffPost Money and The Hill and is a recognized expert speaker on compliance, fraud, and cannabis banking topics.  In 2019, she testified to Congress twice on behalf of CUNA in support of the SAFE Banking Act.  Outside of credit unions, Rachel is a professional violinist with the Corvallis-OSU Symphony Orchestra and an avid hiker.  

Jim Stickley has stolen credit cards, hacked Social Security numbers, robbed banks, and created fake ATMs. He has broken into armed government facilities and has stolen from teenagers. He is an identity thief, but he is no criminal. Fortunately for all victims involved, Stickley is a cybersecurity expert with over 20 years in the industry who was hired to perform these attacks by corporations testing their security, news agencies investigating security concerns, and other media outlets interested in knowing just how easy it is to commit identity theft. His job is to find security flaws before the real criminals and warn people and organizations about what they can do to protect themselves.
 
Stickley is a published author and has been featured in numerous magazines and newspapers including Time Magazine, Business Week, Fortune Magazine and New York Times. He has also been showcased on numerous television shows including NBC's "Nightly News", CNN's "NewsNight", CNBC's "The Big Idea", Anderson Cooper's "Anderson" and is a frequent guest on NBC's "Today Show.” You can also see Stickley almost any night of the week as the featured cybersecurity expert for LifeLock infomercials.

Simone Suri has been the Chief Legal and Risk Officer for Members Cooperative Credit Union since 2010.  In addition to being a member of the credit union’s executive team, she is responsible for handling all legal matters, ensuring compliance with applicable laws and regulations, enterprise risk management, and leading the credit union’s financial health solutions department.  Prior to joining MCCU, Simone worked for the Minnesota Credit Union Network as General Counsel and Vice President of Human Resources.   In this capacity, she provided compliance support to approximately 150 credit unions in the state and corporate legal support to the league, its credit union-oriented for-profit businesses and foundation.  She also worked with the World Council of Credit Unions to strengthen communication, information sharing and advancement between credit unions abroad and in the local region.  Before joining the Minnesota Credit Union Network, Simone was in private practice representing a variety of financial institutions.

Simone’s background includes a Bachelor’s degree from the College of Saint Catherine in Saint Paul, Minnesota, an international diploma from Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  In addition to her formal educational background, she obtained a compliance certification in the Bank Secrecy Act.  

Mr. Twomey has spent more than 25 years in the regulatory compliance field, conducting and overseeing Compliance Program Assessments, audits and consultations within the financial services industry on a national level. He leads Crowe’s Credit Union practice and is responsible for service delivery to both the Regulatory Compliance and Bank Secrecy Act clients throughout the country. He is one of the firm’s Fair Lending specialists, and in that role oversees the firm’s Fair Lending audits, consulting engagements, and the utilization of Crowe FLARE –our platform used for data and regression analysis. Mr. Twomey also oversees compliance reviews of traditional lending, operations and deposit regulations.

Professional and IndustryExperience

Mr. Twomey’s responsibilities include working directly with clients to assess adequacy of a compliance and Fair Lending programs, overseeing compliance and BSA reviews, correspondence with the regulators on behalf of the client, frequent speaking roles at conferences and webinars, and presentation to audit and supervisory committees.

Education andCertifications

• Bachelor of Arts, History -University of Notre Dame | Notre Dame, Indiana
• Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM)

Special Agent David Tyree is the Resident Agent in Charge for the DEA in the State of Wyoming.  David was hired by the DEA in September of 1998.  He has been assigned to the Albuquerque, New Mexico Portland, Oregon, Lisbon, Portugal Country Office where he served as the Assistant Country Attaché to the US Ambassador in Portugal and Cape Verde, Africa.  In June of 2016, David returned to the United States, assigned to the Cheyenne Resident Office. In 2017, David was promoted to Resident Agent in Charge of Wyoming. 

David has extensive experience in poly-drug investigations, long-term undercover operations, drug interdiction and is a certified in Federal Court as an expert in money laundering. David instructs money laundering detecting and prevention investigative and techniques for the DEA and for the United States Department of Justice’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Unit.  David has provided anti-money laundering training to several financial institutions across the United States and to law enforcement in Africa and the Middle East. 

David is an Oregon native with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Oregon.  He has been married for 25 years and is the proud father of three beautiful children.  

Education

• Credit Union Compliance Expert (CUCE)
• Credit Union Enterprise Risk Management Expert (CUERME)
• Bank Secrecy Act Compliance Specialist (BSACS)
• Certified Credit Union Internal Auditor (CCUIA)
• Studied Financial Institutions Management at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, Wisconsin

Professional Activities

• Wisconsin Credit Union League Government Affairs Committee
• Eastern Shores Chapter of Credit Unions Board Member
• Past Board Member Brown County Chapter of Credit Unions
• Past Board Member March of Dimes, Green Bay WI
• Past Treasurer of campground association

Honors, Awards and Major Accomplishments

• Implemented enterprise risk management program at our credit union
• Over 40 years of credit union industry experience and over 30 years of compliance experience
• Mother of two lovely daughters who blessed me with four adorable grandchildren