Conference Speaker and Moderator Biographies

Opening Remarks

Speaker Name	Speaker Title	Speaker Company	Speaker Bio
Roanna Kim	President, CASLA	RBC Capital Markets	Roanna Kim is a Managing Director & Head of Prime Brokerage at RBC Capital Markets. She has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry working through the Securities Finance value chain, with positions as an Agent Lending trader and relationship manager, and as Principle Borrower for a Broker Dealer. After a career break, Roanna was a 2018 recipient of the VersaFi Return to Bay Street (RTBS) Award and leads Diversity & Inclusion initiatives as part of the Global Leadership team of Women in Securities Finance. Roanna is also the Co-Lead for the Women in Securities Finance Toronto Chapter.

Keynote Speaker

Speaker Name	Speaker Title	Speaker Company	Speaker Bio
David McWilliams	Economist, Broadcaster, Bestselling Author		David McWilliams is ranked among the most influential economists in the world. Consistently accurate in his forecasts, he was the only economist in Ireland who accurately forecast a strong UK Brexit vote, the Trump victory, and the 2008 global crash. With the objective to make economics easily digestible — and even fun — McWilliams draws on his unique sense of humour when he speaks on trends in growth, currencies, financial markets, and geopolitics.

Session 1: Association Update – Securities Finance Associations in Conversation

Moderator Name	Moderator Title	Moderator Company	Moderator Bio
Mary Jane Schuessler	Managing Director, Equity Finance	BMO Capital Markets	Mary Jane is a Managing Director, Equity Finance in the Global Equity Finance group at BMO Capital Markets. In this position she supports BMO’s Prime Brokerage platform covering Hedge Funds, Pension Plans and the broker dealer community while collaborating internally to improve the product offering. Mary Jane has over 20 years of experience in the securities finance industry and was previously Desk Head and Director of Securities Finance at RBC Investor & Treasury services in Canada. In her previous role Mary Jane also spent two years working on the lending desk at RBC I&TS’ Australia office in Sydney.
Panelist Name	Panelist Title	Panelist Company	Panelist Bio
Ina Budh-Raja	CEO	ISLA	Ina Budh-Raja joined ISLA in December 2025 as Chief Executive Officer responsible for the development of ISLA’s growth strategy and overseeing its core activities to help build a more transparent, efficient, resilient and reputationally robust foundation for the market. Prior to ISLA, Ina spent 7 years at BNY, across a number of roles including Global Head of Securities Finance Regulatory Strategy, Public Policy & Industry Affairs, where she was responsible for leading the business’ efforts to identify new opportunities in a changing regulatory environment. Prior to BNY, Ina held both commercial and legal roles across the industry over 20 years, including as managing counsel for securities finance at State Street and Deutsche Bank, covering the agency lending, principal lending, equity finance and money markets desks. Ina is a qualified lawyer with an active practicing certificate (Law Society of England & Wales) and is also a member of the Bank of England Money Markets and Securities Lending Committees and is Co-Chair of the Bank of England UK Money Markets Code Sub-Committee. Ina was a Director on the ISLA Board from 2019-2022 and was subsequently appointed as Chair of the Board of ISLA from 2022-2025, during which time the organisation grew significantly, with Ina playing a considerable role in the establishment of ISLA’s affiliate, ISLA Americas. She also championed the launch of ISLA’s future talent initiative, ISLA Connects. As well as being ISLA’s first female Chair and CEO, Ina is co-lead of the London chapter of Women in Securities Finance.
Francis Garritt	CEO	ISLA Americas	Fran Garritt CEO and President, ISLA Americas. Fran joined ISLA Americas in 2024 as Chief Executive and Head of Business, leading advocacy efforts with policymakers and regulators while collaborating with the board and ISLA EMEA on the Association’s objectives to ensure the needs and requirements of member firms across the Americas are met. Prior to joining ISLA Americas, Fran spent 22 years at the Risk Management Association (RMA), with the last 16 focused on Capital Markets Risk and Securities Lending. His role encompassed securities lending, regulatory outreach, and various risk management functions, including funding, traded market risk, liquidity, counterparty risk, collateral management, model risk, and country risk. Fran completed the University of Pennsylvania’s RMA/Wharton Advanced Risk Management Program as well as receiving his Master of Business Administration in Finance in addition to International Business from Philadelphia University, and has a Bachelor of Science in Economics from The Pennsylvania State University.
Daniel Austin	Head of U.S. Markets Policy and Regulation	Alternative Investment Management Association	Daniel joined AIMA in October 2021 as Director of U.S. Policy and Regulation and now serves as Head of U.S. Markets Policy and Regulation. In this role, he leads and manages the strategy and execution of AIMA’s U.S. regulatory and policy work and advocacy, with an emphasis on markets-related items. Prior to joining AIMA, Daniel served as Counsel then Senior Counsel of Delta Strategy Group, a Washington, D.C.-based regulatory consulting and government affairs firm, where he provided regulatory and legislative consultation and guidance to a diverse set of market participants, including hedge funds, principal trading firms and financial technology companies. He previously worked in the Office of the General Counsel at the U.S. Congressional Budget Office. Daniel graduated magna cum laude from the University of Mississippi School of Law and holds a B.A. in journalism from the University of Mississippi. He is a member of the Virginia State Bar.

Session 2: Market Infrastructure – Canadian Financial Market Infrastructure 2.0

Moderator Name	Moderator Title	Moderator Company	Panelist Bio
Steve Everett	Chief Commercial Officer CDS and Head of Post Trade Innovation	TMX	Steve Everett is a senior market-infrastructure executive and builder with over 18 years of experience designing, commercialising, and scaling post-trade and collateral solutions across global capital markets. He is known for turning complex market structure challenges into commercially viable, client-led infrastructure at scale. Steve currently serves as Chief Commercial Officer at CDS, TMX Group’s central securities depository, where he owns commercial strategy, product growth, and revenue outcomes across core post-trade services. He also leads TMX’s Post-Trade Innovation mandate, focused on evolving Canada’s financial market infrastructure to support greater collateral efficiency, automation, and resilience across funding and settlement markets. The principal architect of both South Africa & Canada’s Triparty Collateral Services, Steve has led its design, market adoption, and expansion in partnership with Clearstream, delivering one of the most advanced domestic triparty models globally. His work spans collateral management, repo and funding markets, CCP and custodian connectivity, and the practical integration of digital asset and shared-ledger technologies into regulated FMI environments. Steve operates at the intersection of market structure, technology, and client economics. He works closely with buy-side and sell-side institutions, global custodians, CCPs, technology providers, and regulators to deliver infrastructure that is not only innovative, but operationally robust, scalable, and revenue-generating. His focus is on building market solutions that work in production today while laying the foundations for the next generation of digital and hybrid market models.
Panelist Name	Panelist Title	Panelist Company	Panelist Bio
Barnaby Nelson	CEO	The ValueExchange	Since 2018, Barney has been CEO and founder of the ValueExchange – a global market research house that specialises in helping to make the case for meaningful transformation in the world’s capital markets. Working with an international team of experts, Barney’s attention is focused on delivering actionable, statistical insights on key market dynamics in post-trade processing. With an emphasis on digitisation, clearing, settlements and asset servicing innovation, the ValueExchange aims to empower changemakers and to help them make the case for their own transformation.
Doug Clark		TMX
Elie Elkhal	Managing Director, Commercial Services, CCP Clearing	TMX Group	Elie Elkhal, Managing Director, Commercial Services, CCP Clearing at CDCC, specializes in fixed income for the repo market and Montreal Exchange product clearing. Joining TMX in 2005, he has led innovative initiatives like SGC Notes and is currently leading the Repo 2.0 initiative. He actively participates in the Bank of Canada’s Corra Advisory Group and CIMPA subgroups. His background includes over 20 years in risk management and derivative product development. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Polytechnique Montreal and a master’s degree in financial engineering from HEC Montreal.
Philippe Muller	Senior Director, Market Engagement and Pension	Bank of Canada	Philippe Muller has been a Senior Director of the Bank’s Financial Markets Department, now called the Markets and Banking Department, since August 2018. Mr. Muller is responsible for industry initiatives, the Bank’s Montréal and Toronto Offices and the Bank’s pension fund. Previously, he was responsible for the domestic front office operations and IT applications. Mr. Muller joined the Bank in 1997 and has held various positions within the monetary policy, financial stability and funds-management functions, progressing from analyst roles to his current position as Senior Director of FMD. He has developed expertise in the areas of monetary policy implementation, financial system soundness and efficiency, debt and treasury management, foreign exchange reserves management, and risk (treasury and credit) management. He holds a Master of Science degree in finance from HEC Montréal.

Session 3: REPO/Mandatory Clearing – The North American Repo Evolution: Navigating Canada’s Framework and the U.S. Clearing Mandate

Moderator Name	Moderator Title	Moderator Company	Moderator Bio
Shane Parks	Director, Securities Finance Business Development	Bank of New York	Shane Parks is a Director of Securities Finance Business Development at BNY. Shane joined the bank in July 2023 after nearly 7 years of experience at Morgan Stanley in various roles within their Securities Finance division, including strategy, sales, and trading. His expertise are in financing structures, balance sheet management, resource optimization, and strategic client engagement. In his current role at BNY, Shane is responsible for the North American business development effort, with a focus on engaging new clients and complementing the bank’s existing program – which serves over 400 institutional clients, including public institutions, 40′ act funds, insurance clients, and corporations. Shane is also responsible for managing the securities finance relationships between BNY and the community of borrowers. Shane’s mission is to deliver securities finance solutions while enabling organizations to partner on strategic priorities.
Panelist Name	Panelist Title	Panelist Company	Panelist Bio
Danny Auger	Advisor, Markets Committees & Initiatives	Bank of Canada	Danny is an advisor at the Bank of Canada; previously he was Principal Trader for 15 years on their money market desk overseeing repo market operations and Canadian funding markets. He is actively involved in several industry working groups, including co-chairing roles in the Collateral Infrastructure and Market Practices Advisory Group (CIMPA) and provides expertise to the CORRA Advisory Group (CAG). Prior to joining the Bank, Danny spent 12 years in the private sector in senior trading roles across North America and Europe, starting on the floor at the Chicago Board Options Exchange and later moving to London to trade various financial products at TD Securities and then on to run the Delta One desk at a large U.S. broker-dealer. Danny holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Finance from DePaul University in Chicago.
Ryan Singh	Director, Collateral Management & Funding	Scotiabank	Ryan Singh is a Director on the Collateral Management & Funding team for GBM in Canada at Scotiabank. Ryan joined the Scotiabank Repo desk in 2024 and has been active in the Canadian Repo market for over a decade. He started his career in 2006 at RBC Dexia and has experience across the firm’s trade lifecycle from the securities cage, operations, financial engineering and sales and trading.
Travis Keltner	Global Head of Secured Financing	State Street	Travis Keltner is a senior vice president and the global head of Secured Financing at State Street. Travis provides oversight of all principal bank and client fixed income secured financing activities, primarily related to cleared and guaranteed repo programs as well as fund financing facilities. Responsibilities include business strategy and execution, managing client partnerships, trading and commercialization of global solutions. Travis previously played a leadership role in State Street’s corporate treasury liquidity risk and balance sheet strategy team, overseeing collateral management strategies and implementing post-crisis regulatory liquidity requirements. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in economics and minor degrees in history and finance from Boston College.
Cherry Li	Director and Head of Canada Repo	BMO Capital Markets	Cherry brings deep expertise in Canadian-dollar fixed income markets through her current role managing CAD fixed income collateral financing at BMO. Prior to joining the repo desk, she held a range of positions across the firm, including in Treasury and Balance Sheet Management, and Money Markets sales.
Kowshika Thiruparanathan	Director	Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan	Kowshika is a Director in the Balance Sheet and Exposure Management team at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, where she is responsible for managing secured financing activities. She has over 15 years of experience in capital markets, with a focus on funding, liquidity, and front-end rates. Prior to her current role, she held positions in collateral management and counterparty risk, developing deep expertise in collateralized funding strategies. Kowshika holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Toronto and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.

Session 4: Equity Focused Panel – ‘Hot Takes’ Spur Conversation on the Future of Equity Lending

Moderator Name	Moderator Title	Moderator Company	Moderator Bio
Stefano Incardona	Associate, Equity Finance	RBC Capital Markets	Stefano is an Associate on the Equity Finance desk within the Central Funding Group at RBC Capital Markets. With over 11 years in financial services, he brings experience across Securities Lending operations and trading. He is also a co-chair of RFuture, an RBC Capital Markets employee resource group focused on emerging talent and leadership development.
Panelist Name	Panelist Title	Panelist Company	Panelist Bio
Alexa Lemstra	Director, Account Management	EquiLend	Alexa Lemstra is a Director in EquiLend’s North America Account Management team and leads the Toronto office. Over more than 20 years with the firm, she has helped build and grow EquiLend’s presence in Canada, working with clients across trading, operations, and technology to drive automation, efficiency, and growth in securities finance. Her experience spans trading, post-trade, and market data.
Nicholas Murphy	Associate Director	National Bank Financial	Nick Murphy is an Associate Director on the Global Securities Finance desk at National Bank Financial. He began his career in 2019 at BMO, holding various roles within risk management before transitioning into securities lending trading in 2023. Nick joined National Bank Financial in 2025, where he supports Global Securities Finance through a combination of trading and quantitative software development. He holds an undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Statistics from McMaster University, as well as a Master’s degree in Financial Mathematics from McMaster University.
Mitch Bisnett	Assistant Vice President	State Street	Mitch Bisnett is an AVP on the Securities Finance desk at State Street B&T covering North American Equities and Fixed Income. Mitch joined State Street in 2022, previously holding various positions at Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan in a middle office capacity.

Session 5: Operations Leaders – Leaders in Operations Spotlight: Navigating the Quick Pace of Industry Change

Moderator Name	Moderator Title	Moderator Company	Moderator Bio
Robert Zekraus	Global Head of Business Development, Global Securities Lending	GLMX Technologies, LLC	Robert “Bob” Zekraus joined GLMX in June 2024 as Global Head of Business Development for Global Securities Lending. In January 2025, he expanded his role to include Head of North America Sales. GLMX is a global financial technology firm offering electronic trading solutions for repurchase agreements, securities lending, money market instruments, and total return swaps. Based in New York, Bob brings over 25 years of capital markets experience, specializing in collateralized financing products, including equity finance, securities lending, repo, and prime brokerage. Throughout his career, Bob has held senior positions in both New York and London. At Scotiabank, he served on the Board of Directors of Scotia Capital (USA) Inc. and led Prime Services Client Capital Management and Funding. At Barclays, he was Head of U.S. Securities Lending Financing Sales and Co-Head of Secured Funding. Prior to joining GLMX, Bob served as COO and Head of Americas at a global fintech company focused on post-trade services.
Panelist Name	Panelist Title	Panelist Company	Panelist Bio
Kerry Phippen	Managing Director, Market Service Trading Operations	RBC Investor Services	Kerry Phippen, MBA – Managing Director of Market Service Trading Operations, RBC Investor Services. In her current role, Kerry oversees Securities Finance, Foreign Exchange, Treasury, Cash Control, and Payment Operations. An expert in transformation and digitization, Kerry drives operational excellence, risk mitigation, process optimization and client value delivery while leading AI and agile digitization initiatives across Market Services. With over 20 years of experience in financial services, Kerry’s expertise spans strategic program delivery, change management, operational design, and client service. Prior to her current role, Kerry served as Director of Treasury Market Services Middle Office and Global Head of Securities Finance Operations at RBC. She also held leadership positions at BNY Mellon and CIBC Mellon. Kerry holds an MBA from Edinburgh Business School and a Strategic Planning and Project Leadership certificate from Queen’s University Smith School of Business.
Olivia Zhou	Senior Manager, Securities Lending and Collateral Management	Wealthsimple	Olivia Zhou, MBA, is Senior Manager of Securities Lending Ops at Wealthsimple. With 10+ years spanning asset management, investment banking, and Canadian pension funds, her passion for innovation led her to fintech, where she helps launch products that democratise finance, including bringing the FPL platform to fruition. She believes great operations are the foundation of great business. Beyond her role, Olivia is dedicated to developing the next generation of finance professionals through mentorship, student engagement, and speaking on fintech innovation, including a recent keynote at the University of Toronto.
Christopher Galli	Executive Director – Americas Head of Trading Services Operations	JPMorgan	Christopher serves as the Americas Head of Trading Services Operations at JPMorganChase Bank N.A., where he leads operational support across the western hemisphere for new business initiatives, product integration, operability model development, systemic infrastructure design, and technology advancement. In addition to his role at JPMorganChase, Christopher chairs the ISLA Americas Operations and Technology Committee and actively participates in numerous industry working groups. His focus spans market evolution, regulatory and legal frameworks, emerging technology, interoperability, corporate actions, and their implications for securities finance and collateral services. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from James Madison University.
Nelson Dugre-Sasseville	Senior Director, Settlement Process	National Bank of Canada	Nelson initially joined National Bank in 1999, where he progressed through operations and project teams. In 2011, he accepted the position of Director of Product Development at the Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation, a member of the TMX Group, to implement the fixed income clearing service. In 2015, Nelson returned to National Bank in his current role as Senior Director in the Transaction Settlement Process sector. A graduate of the University of Sherbrooke, Nelson has more than 25 years of experience in the industry.

Session 6: AI Use Cases – From Hype to Workflow: Real AI Use Cases in the Securities Finance Market

Moderator Name	Moderator Title	Moderator Company	Moderator Bio
Nick Delikaris	Chief Product Officer	EquiLend	Nick Delikaris is the Chief Product Officer at EquiLend, leading the firm’s global product strategy, innovation and delivery across its full product suite. With over 20 years of experience across capital markets, fintech and digital assets, Nick has held senior leadership positions at State Street, Coinbase and Goldman Sachs. He is also the founder and chair of the ISLA Americas’ FinTech and Innovation Committee and serves on the boards of several technology companies. Nick holds dual degrees in Computer Science and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Panelist Name	Panelist Title	Panelist Company	Panelist Bio
Charles Engle	Executive Director – Product Innovation	J.P. Morgan	Charles leads Product Innovation for J.P. Morgan’s Collateral Services. With over 15 years of experience across collateral services, enterprise / firm-wide collateral strategy and innovation, and management consulting, Charles is focused on transforming the future of the collateral ecosystem providing unique solutions across collateral data & analytics, optimization, and mobilization.
Sivaskanthan Jegatheswaran	Associate Director	National Bank	Sivaskanthan Jegatheswaran is an Associate Director in the Global Securities Finance group at National Bank. With over 10 years at National Bank and a background in Computer Engineering, he has worked on both the technology and business sides of the organization. He uses AI daily for productivity and development and is working on solutions that bridge business needs and technology innovation. His practical experience offers a real-world perspective on how AI can create value in financial services.
Nathaniel Lindsay	Vice President, Head of Electronic Trading, Agency Securities Lending	State Street	Nathaniel is the Head of Electronic Trading for Agency Securities Lending at State Street, one of the world’s largest securities finance providers with over $5 trillion of lendable assets. As Head of Electronic Trading, Nathaniel is responsible for shaping and executing the vision and strategic direction for electronic trading, quantitative pricing and inventory optimization, automated strategies, and digital innovation within Agency Securities Lending – including distributed ledger technology use cases and the implementation of generative and predictive AI. He is a member of the International Securities Lending Association’s FinTech and Innovation Committee (FIC) and EMEA Digital Steering Group. Nathaniel earned a B.S. in Finance with a minor in Computer Science from Roger Williams University.

Session 7: Tokenization & Digital Assets – Chain Reaction: Exploring Tokenization/Digitization’s Role in the Securities Finance Ecosystem

Moderator Name	Moderator Title	Moderator Company	Moderator Bio
Claire Van Wyk-Allan	Director, Business Development	TD Securities	Claire Van Wyk-Allan, CAIA, is Director, Business Development at TD Securities on the Prime Brokerage team. She joined TD having previously served as Managing Director, Head of Canada & Investor Engagement, Americas at AIMA, where she played a leadership role in strengthening global investor connectivity, including co-creating the AIMA Global Investor Board and leading the flagship AIMA Global Investor Forum. With over 18 years of experience in alternative investments, Claire has held senior roles across business development, strategy and investor engagement, including at RBC Global Asset Management and Arrow Capital Management. She is a CAIA Charterholder and a graduate of the University of Western Ontario Bachelor of Management and Organizational Studies program, specialising in Finance.
Panelist Name	Panelist Title	Panelist Company	Panelist Bio
Robert Cousart	Director	BlackRock	Robert L. Cousart is a Director and the Americas Head of Product and Platform within BlackRock’s Cash Management Business. The Product and Platform team drive business strategy, innovation and commercialization of the Cash platform to help to unlock new growth opportunities through product evolution. Prior to joining BlackRock’s Cash Management Business in 2015, Robert was a member of BlackRock’s Global Fund Services team where he was responsible for fund administration and NAV oversight of BlackRock’s U.S. Retail Mutual Funds. Robert began his career at State Street Bank in 2002. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.
Fabrice Tomenko	Head of Digital Trust and Strategic Partnerships	Clearstream International SA	Fabrice Tomenko is Head of Digital Trust & Strategic Partnerships. Results driven with more than 20 years of experience in the Post-Trade industry, Fabrice is now leading Digital Innovation and Strategic partnerships within Collateral, Lending and Liquidity Solutions at Clearstream. He has been spearheading partnerships in collateral management with major market infrastructures, such as ASX, B3, Strate, and most recently, TMX in the context of CCMS. He was also a member of the Collateral Harmonization Task Force put in place by the European Central Bank. Prior joining Clearstream, Fabrice was Head of Global Collateral Management Client Services Representatives and Operations Teams at The Bank of New York Mellon in Brussels.
Cale Newhouse	Senior Director	BNY	Cale Newhouse is a Product Manager & Senior Director in the BNY Global Collateral platform within the Markets division. Prior to this role, Cale worked in the Liquidity & Financing platform covering institutional deposit pricing and money market fund distribution. Cale’s experience also includes liquidity management in a corporate treasury function at Goldman Sachs.
William Babcock	Director	Cantor Fitzgerald	William Babcock is a Director on the Structured Products Banking team at Cantor Fitzgerald, with a primary focus on residential, consumer and digital credit. Throughout his banking career Mr. Babcock has covered asset classes including Consumer Unsecured, Oil & Gas, Agency CMBS, Student Loans, Tax Liens, Structured Repo, RTL, Non-QM, Home Equity Investments, PACE and more. Mr. Babcock graduated Magna Cum Laude from Elon University, with a BSBA in Finance and a BS in Accounting.

Closing Remarks

Speaker Name	Speaker Title	Speaker Company	Speaker Bio
Mathilda Yared	Vice President, CASLA	National Bank of Canada	Mathilda Yared is a Managing Director on the Global Securities Finance desk at National Bank Financial, responsible for co-leading the Securities Borrowing & Lending team. She started her career at National Bank of Canada in 2007 and has held various positions within the firm in Montreal, New York and Toronto. Mathilda holds a Bachelor of Mathematics degree from McGill University, and a Masters in Economics degree from the University of Montreal. She received the 2021 Women in Capital Market’s Executive Leadership award, and is an active member of Women in Securities Finance.