EMEA

ADVISORY BOARD

Our Advisory Board brings together prominent female trailblazers in the EMEA payments and fintech industry. This talented group of women provides guidance and input to the Women in Payments EMEA Symposium program and ensures the experience includes best-in-class keynote speakers, panelists and break-out session leaders.

TERESA CONNORS

TERESA CONNORS

Client Director

Payment Matters

TERESA CONNORS

An inspiring payments expert with strong customer focus, commercial and delivery credentials. Global experience with deep understanding of market complexity, drivers and participants. As Managing Director at Payment Matters, Teresa helps customers to deepen client insight to steer strategy, enhance propositions and build compelling Thought Leadership programmes. Teresa is a highly regarded industry spokesperson, the primary author of the market leading World Payments Report and a strong advocate of diversity.

BEATRICE CORNACCHIA

BEATRICE CORNACCHIA

Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa

Mastercard

BEATRICE CORNACCHIA

Beatrice Cornacchia is the creative force leading the company’s brand strategy across the region’s markets. After starting her journey with the company in 1991, Cornacchia went on to head strategic sales functions and numerous marketing teams in a succession of key roles including Head of Consumer Marketing, Europe; Head of Issuer and Merchant Marketing, Europe; and Head of Marketing, Italy and Greece. In 2022, she was listed among Arabian Business’ ‘50 Inspiring Female Business Leaders’ in the region and Campaign Middle East’s ‘Marketing Game Changers’.

RONEL DAVID

RONEL DAVID

Cross Regional European Sales Lead – Insurance Vertical

FIS

RONEL DAVID

Ronel is a business and sales leader with 20 years multinational experience in banking and fintech with P/L responsibility currently at FIS. She has led strategic change initiatives and expanded business operational capability in different regions including defining & executing growth strategy, championing innovation and expansion into new territories. Outcomes focused with strong cross-functional collaboration to achieve business goals. Inclusion & diversity champion as FIS Empower Global Steering Committee member responsible for Partnership Development.

SUSANA DELGADO

SUSANA DELGADO

Managing Director, Global Head of Consumer & SME Payments Strategy

SWIFT

SUSANA DELGADO

Susana is Managing Director, Global Head of Consumer & SME Payments Strategy at Swift. In her role, she defines long-term strategies for Swift to support its banking community in delivering instant and frictionless payments. In her 20 years of professional experience, she has worked for financial institutions such as Santander, Citi and McKinsey. She has also worked for Amazon, and at Wolters Kluwer, where she drove global digital transformation programs.

KATE FRANKISH

KATE FRANKISH

Director, Strategy and Standards

Pay.UK

KATE FRANKISH

Through diverse roles in Marketing, product development, and technology and payments over the past 20 years, the common thread for Kate is the delivery of great customer journeys and solutions. She has a strong focus on innovation, driven by consumer demand and global market movements. Kate now leads the Strategy and Standards team in Pay.UK with the purpose of driving innovation in the payments ecosystem, enabling a vibrant UK economy.

VIVI GALANI

VIVI GALANI

Vice President & General Manager, Network Partnerships Business Development EMEA

American Express

VIVI GALANI

Vivi is the VP General Manager for Global Network Partnerships EMEA at American Express. Since joining AXP in 2005, she’s worked in sales enablement and business development at four management levels and two business units.

She sits on the Executive Women EMEA Committee, and holds an MSc in Finance from London Business School, MBA from Purdue University, MSc in Information Systems from LSE and is an Electronics Engineer.

RUFAIDA HAMILTON

RUFAIDA HAMILTON

Head of Payments

Standard Bank Limited

RUFAIDA HAMILTON

Rufaida is the Head of Payments for South Africa at Standard Bank Limited of South Africa. She has 22 years of extensive experience in financial services and payments, traversing the investment, corporate and retail banking segments in South Africa. She has a great passion for mentorship and capacity building in payments expertise and skills, particularly women in payments, and in emerging economies.
ALISON LIVESEY

ALISON LIVESEY

Global Head of FIG Sales Strategy & Business Development, Managing Director

JP Morgan Payments

ALISON LIVESEY

Alison is a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan and the Global Head of Market Management, the Head of Business Transformation and Strategic Execution in Europe, Middle East and Africa; and the Western European Country Head within the Payments business in the Corporate and Investment Bank.

Alison has also worked in a variety of different roles across the Payments business and Compliance in New York, Frankfurt and London.

VAANATHI MOHANAKRISHNAN

VAANATHI MOHANAKRISHNAN

Business Head

MENA, M2P Fintech

VAANATHI MOHANAKRISHNAN

A banking and payments professional with over 17 years of extensive experience across the Middle East and Africa, Vaanathi is the business head for the MENA region at M2P Fintech. She has worked across verticals from product conceptualization to growth and P&L management.

She has worked expansively with fintech’s across the region and is committed to the cause of women entrepreneurship and leadership as well as inclusion and diversity.

GEMA MONTOYA

GEMA MONTOYA

Advisor and Investor

iPiD

GEMA MONTOYA

Gema has a wealth of experience across the financial services industry globally, particularly in the payments and securities space. She has worked at leading companies in the financial services sector such as Banco Santander, SWIFT, and on top leading FinTech providers of payment and technology solutions like Deposit Solutions and Icon Solutions.  And she has been appointed as Int’l Business Development Director at Worldline’s, leading provider of payment and technology solutions.

GABRIELA NGUYEN-GROZA

GABRIELA NGUYEN-GROZA

Founder & Managing Partner

Amrop

GABRIELA NGUYEN-GROZA

Gabriela has 14 years of experience on the local and international market. Prior to founding Amrop Luxembourg, she started the local office of another leading executive search international network in Luxembourg.

She commands an extensive national, regional and international experience and Board and C-Level network, and is a trusted advisor for Boards, Chairs, CEOs and their executive teams, working across a range of leadership topics in Finance and Digital.

NICOLE OLBE

NICOLE OLBE

Managing Director of Payment Partnerships

Barclaycard Payments

NICOLE OLBE

Nicole is the Managing Director of Payment Partnerships for Barclaycard Payments and is focused on delivering integrated payments solutions by connecting payment capabilities to the software used by clients and prospects.

With 20 years’ experience in the payments ecosystem, Nicole has a reputation for driving results and strategy, galvanizing teams, embracing change, and delivering strong business performance. She is passionate about developing female talent and actively contributes to D&I initiatives.

GILDA PENDER

GILDA PENDER

Chief Administrative Officer

Elavon

GILDA PENDER

Gilda is the COO of Elavon Europe. She has over thirty years of experience in the Financial Services sector across Operations, IT transformation and change delivery, in the UK, Ireland and the US.

As an accomplished woman leader, Gilda is a vocal advocate for psychological safety, emerging diverse talent, employee engagement and wellbeing.

EMANUELA SACCAROLA

EMANUELA SACCAROLA

Global Co-Head of Cross-border Payments & Receivables

Citi

EMANUELA SACCAROLA

Emanuela is the Global Co-Head of Cross-border Payments & Receivables at Citibank. She is responsible for the management of a very broad and competitively differentiated suite of cross border payments solutions into over 200 countries. She is accountable for the business strategy and execution, P&L, and product development function in partnership with Citi Markets and Securities Services.