Diana Biggs
Global Head of Innovation, HSBC Private Bank
Diana Biggs is Global Head of Innovation for HSBC Private Banking. In this role, she is responsible for fintech partnerships and pilots, championing new ways of working and digital skills, and exploring future trends to benefit both the business and its clients. Prior to this, she built an innovation team for HSBC’s Retail Bank from the ground up. In addition to her role at HSBC, she is a Head Tutor for University of Oxford Said Business School's Blockchain Strategy Programme and a Board Member of the WEF Digital Leaders of Europe. Previously, Diana worked across technology and financial services, with roles including Vice President of Growth and Partnerships for Uphold.com, Chief Strategy Officer of social enterprise Soko and Financial Services Engagement Lead with Oliver Wyman.
Gwen Cheni
Venture Partner, Fusion Fund
Gwen Cheni is currently a Venture Partner at Fusion Fund, an early stage venture fund in Palo Alto, and an Entrepreneur in Residence at Singularity University Ventures. Before venture, Gwen was the Assistant Portfolio Manager at a technology focused hedge fund in San Francisco. Gwen spent eighteen years as a public equities analyst and portfolio manager, and started her career as an Analyst at Goldman Sachs and an Associate at JPMorgan. She has been angel investing since 2012, and a frequent speaker and judge at startup pitch contests. Gwen received her B.A. from Yale University with a major in Economics and minor-equivalent in Computer Science Electrical Engineering, where she graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She received her M.B.A. in four concentrations from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business with Honors. She is a CFA charterholder.
Jean Donnelly
Executive Director, FinTech Sandbox
FinTech Sandbox is a non-profit founded to promote financial technology innovation globally by providing qualified FinTech entrepreneurs with free access to critical data and resources. Our six month virtual program accelerates product development to industry-leading data products, cutting-edge cloud services, and engagement with a diverse financial services community. We enable entrepreneurs to develop and test their applications faster, more cost-efficiently, and to higher quality standards. Jean Donnelly, as FinTech Sandbox Executive Director launched the program that has assisted over 185 FinTech startups in the US, UK and Canada in gaining access to premium data sets from over 40 data providers. Jean is focused on creating as create as many collisions within the FinTech ecosystem as possible and helping great startups build products needed for the next generation of financial services Jean is a recovering engineer who has spent time at GE Capital, Fidelity Investments, and EnerNOC, as well as a digital forensics startup. With over twenty years experience in leading technology, operations and process excellence in both financial services and clean tech, Jean received her undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and her MBA at University of Edinburgh. Through creation of the data vehicle to help startups build products, over 70% of the startups have had proof of concept engagements with institutions and collectively have raised over $550 million dollars. In addition to the creation of data access for startups, Jean has co-led the development of the FinTech ecosystem in Boston with the creation of Boston FinTech Week (entering its third year) which had over 70 free and open events in 2019 for fintech enthusiasts to increase their knowledge, share experiences, and move the industry forward with over 3,000 attendees. This has all been done through grass roots efforts and building the community.
Jenny Knott
Founder, FinTech Strategic Advisors
Jenny Knott is both a board level investment banker with over 30 years’ experience as well as a leading innovator in financial technologies. Jenny has extensive prudential board experience having served on Boards of Global Investment Banks, Financial Services Corporates and Charitable organisations for over 25 years, her roles ranging from Chairwoman to member of Board, Board Audit, Board Risk, RemCo and Technology Sub-Committees. Jenny is currently a Non Executive Director at Simplyhealth, the Finance Trustee for Ovarian Cancer Action, and Chairwoman of Equiida a global, senior executive leadership advisory firm founded on the science that greater inclusivity improves business performance. Jenny’s own company, FinTech Strategic Advisors, assists Clients with their FinTech investment strategies, undertakes due diligence on investees, as well as helping Clients select the right solutions to meet their needs. Jenny also supports start-ups achieve scale and commercial success.
Kenzy Goodwin
Sales Director, Finceler8
Kenzy Goodwin is a Sales Director at Finceler8 which is an establishment with a mission to accelerate the engagement of fintech firms within financial markets. Here she has succeeded in developing business strategies for fintechs as well as outsourced sales. Her passion is to help entrepreneurs grow and shape their companies. She held the post of Senior Equity Trader at BlackRock for twenty years where she traded pan-European markets for all equity investment products. During that time she was also viewed as an ambassador of the BlackRock culture and she managed several internal personal development programmes. She is a UCL Alumni.
Carole K. Crawford, CFA
Founder and Managing Partner, fincap360
Carole K. Crawford, CFA, is founder and Managing Partner of fincap360, developing venture portfolios for entrepreneurial family offices, often actively engaged with portfolio companies. Carole founded and chairs 100 Women in Finance’s 100WFinTech Global Visibility Initiative for senior women in fintech, a campaign to elevate the public profile of female fintech leaders and to enable stronger interconnectivity to the fintech ecosystem. Carole serves on CFA Institute's SGI Board of Regents and Capital Markets Policy Council, in addition to CFANY's Board of Directors. She founded and chairs CFANY's Fintech Thought Leadership Group, which focuses on discussion and participation across all career levels with programming that has attracted 1/2 of CFANY's members. Prior to fincap360, she built a successful wealth management practice at Morgan Stanley, in addition to leading branch-wide business development for alternative investments and SMAs for two of the largest offices of the firm. Through the years she has counseled the White House, Congress and other political leaders on issues related to financial services and entrepreneurship, called on by both sides of the aisle. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Michigan and completed the Certified Investment Management Analyst program at the Wharton School Aresty Institute of Executive Education. In 2018 she was a recipient of CFANY’s Volunteer of the Year Award.
