rewrite this title Meet the Judges: Finovate Awards Introduces 2026 Selection Committee – Finovate

The 2026 Finovate Awards are here! Celebrating the best and brightest in fintech and financial services, this year’s awards will crown more than 30 winners in fields such as payments, lending, alternative investing, financial inclusion, and more! Nominations are now open, so check out this year’s Finovate Awards categories and submit your nomination. Submit before April 24 and save $100 on the nomination fee.

This year’s competition will be judged by a team of experts from the banking, fintech, and financial services industries. “An award is only worth something if the people giving it know their stuff, and our amazing lineup of judges this year should be exciting for everyone involved,” Finovate VP of Strategy Greg Palmer said, “It’s great to see so much talent on the roster!”

Take a look for yourself at this year’s selection committee. Also joining this year’s judging team will be Finovate VPs Greg Palmer and Heather Stowell, along with Finovate Research Analysts Julie Muhn and David Penn.

Mary Wisniewski, Editor-at-Large, Cornerstone Advisors

Wisniewski is editor-at-large at Cornerstone Advisors where she helps shape content strategy and hosts Money Isn’t Everything, a biweekly podcast that explores early-stage fintech ideas. She also writes a monthly editor’s note, Finteching with Mary, on LinkedIn.

A frequent speaker at leading digital banking events, Wisniewski has covered fintech and digital banking for more than 12 years, with bylines in GonzoBanker, American Banker, Bankrate, the Associated Press, and more.

Kilian Thalhammer, Managing Director, Deutsche Bank AG

With more than 20 years in payments, fintech, e-commerce, and loyalty, Thalhammer is an expert in managing critical product, strategy and business development issues. After being Director Solutions for the Swiss Post, he joined RatePay (Otto Group) as CPO and was global CPO of PAYMILL (Rocket Internet) until 2014.

Kilian is now responsible for the business unit merchant solutions at Deutsche Bank. This covers Deutsche Bank’s global issuing and acceptance business and the business with fintech, platform & technology clients.

Noel Stave, Chief Technology Officer, RBC Clearing & Custody

Stave serves as Chief Technology Officer of RBC Clearing & Custody, where he has built a 25-year career spanning leadership roles across technology, finance, and operations—most recently as Chief Operating Officer before assuming his current position in 2021.

As CTO, Stave oversees technology product management, technology strategy, data management, engineering, fintech partnerships, service & support, technology training, and consulting for the firm.

Lisa Gold Schier, Advisor, Reading Cooperative Bank

Schier is a trusted C-Suite adviser specializing in fintech evaluation and go-to-market strategy within the banking and technology sectors. She brings deep expertise in assessing financial technology solutions and guiding their successful market entry and adoption by financial institutions. 

Schier is recognized for building and leading strategic partnerships from ideation through contract negotiation to financial institution adoption and ongoing business development. 

Glen Sarvady, Founder, 154 Advisors

Sarvady is a 25 year veteran of the payments and fintech industries. His firm 154 Advisors provides actionable insights, data-driven analysis and strategy formulation to help FIs navigate the rapidly evolving payments landscape.

Sarvady is a former Federal Reserve Bank examiner and part of the startup team that launched the University of Pennsylvania Student Federal Credit Union. He also managed Deluxe’s financial services check and payments programs for two years.

Carey Ransom, Managing Director, BankTech Ventures

Ransom is an SaaS entrepreneur, executive, investor, and advisor. He has started, grown, and/or led eight B2B and consumer SaaS companies during startup and growth phases.

He is currently the Managing Director of BankTech Ventures, a strategic investment fund focused on empowering disruptive technologies for community banks. Founded and funded by leaders in the community banking world and endorsed by the ICBA (Independent Community Bankers of America) and The Venture Center, the fund won Finovate’s 2020 Accelerator of the Year.

Jim Perry, Senior Strategist, Market Insights

As Senior Strategist at Market Insights, Perry helps financial institutions across the country make smarter decisions and unlock new paths to growth through custom research and data-driven strategy. A trusted advisor to banks and credit unions across the US, Perry brings clarity to complex challenges and a fresh perspective to conversations about growth, innovation, and relevance in a rapidly changing landscape.

Co-founder of the Fintech Book Club and named one of the “Top 100 Fintech Influencers” by Onalytics, Perry is a regular on the speaker circuit at industry events from local associations to global conferences.

Lohith Paripati, Director of Digital Product Management, American Express

Paripati is a seasoned product leader with over a decade of experience building and scaling fintech and commerce platforms. He currently leads AI-driven initiatives for Walmart Marketplace sellers, focusing on applying generative AI to payments and financial workflows to drive growth and efficiency at scale.

Paripati brings deep expertise in payments, monetization, and platform strategy, with a strong focus on aligning customer value with business outcomes. 

Tiffani Montez, Principal Analyst, EMARKETER

Montez is Principal Analyst leading the Analyst Access Program for Financial Services at EMARKETER formerly Insider Intelligence. She oversees the content across Banking, which provides actionable insights on advancements in how value is stored, managed, transferred, and spent, for an audience of top banks and neobanks. 

Her unique blend of experience as a practitioner, analyst, and vendor solution provider gives her the foundation to be able to provide thought leadership to clients through all lenses of the financial services ecosystem.

William Mills III, Chief Executive Officer, William Mills Agency

Mills joined the firm in 1983 and founded their public relations services in 1989 which now accounts for more than 90% of their billings. He serves as lead consultant for the agency’s clients and has personally advised more than 500 C-level executives on marketing strategy, business development, mergers and acquisitions, company branding and public relations.

Mills’ other responsibilities include agency financial management, client consulting and leading business development and marketing services for the agency.

Eric McCabe, Head of Embedded Finance, Citizens

McCabe serves as Head of Embedded Finance at Citizens. In this capacity he guides the bank’s effort to embed Citizens financial products in third-party platforms used by Citizens customers, and to enable platforms, brands, and fintechs to provide financial services to their customers, backed by Citizens.

Prior to joining Citizens, McCabe held roles in Embedded Payments, Fintech Strategy, Product and Operations at SVB and Citi. 

Suraj Manjunath, Executive Director, Investment Banking Technology, JP Morgan

Manjunath is a senior product leader shaping the future of investment banking through AI-driven innovation. He is experienced in leading large, cross-functional teams to drive strategic change and unlock growth, efficiency, and competitive advantage across the global investment banking ecosystem.

Manjunath specializes in applying artificial intelligence, automation, and data-led insight to reimagine how financial institutions operate, make decisions, and deliver value. 

Luther Liang, SVP, Head of Product, Grasshopper Bank

Liang leads the strategy and execution behind fintech products that empower small businesses, consumers, commercial enterprises, and fintech (Banking-as-a-Service) partners.

Grasshopper’s product roadmap to delivered the bank a premium exit at ~2.5x tangible book value $369M acquisition by Enova International in December 2025 that significantly outperformed the 1.5x industry median.

Sam Kilmer, Managing Director, Cornerstone Advisors

Kilmer leads Cornerstone Advisors’ fintech advisory practice working with industry providers, fintechs, and investors. He also leads selective strategy engagements with banks and credit unions. Sam’s prior experience includes leadership at two financial tech firms and two midsize banks including digital banking, marketing, analytics, implementations, partnerships, and strategy.

Kilmer is a nationally sought-after speaker, industry research author, host of Fintech Hustle podcast, and a contributor to GonzoBanker and the industry press.

Bruno Jivan, Head of Innovation and Research, Novobanco

Jivan is Director of Innovation & Research at novobanco. He has broad and diversified experience across the financial sector, including credit analysis, risk, project finance, M&A, product, marketing, transformation and innovation.

In his current role, he focuses on fostering innovation culture and mindset, strengthening connections with the fintech ecosystem, and leading the large‑scale adoption of AI across the organization to deliver practical, customer‑centric impact.

Nicolai Farcas, Chief Technology Officer, Consumer, Small & Business Banking Digital, Wells Fargo Bank

Farcas is a senior executive leader with over 25 years of experience driving enterprise strategy, transformation, and execution across global financial services organizations. He specializes in Consumer and Small Business Banking, including the Move Money portfolio, enterprise PMO leadership, and large-scale business and technology transformation initiatives.

During his tenure at Wells Fargo, Nicolai has held senior leadership roles including Global C-Suite Executive, Chief Technology Officer, and Head of the Project Management Office (PMO). 

Sam Das, Managing Director, TruStage Ventures

Das is Managing Director of TruStage Ventures, the venture capital arm of TruStage. Since joining, Das has focused on sourcing, investing and advising early-stage fintech and insurtech startups. He is also the Vice President of Corporate Development at TruStage, evaluating and executing a broad range of strategic transactions for the organization. Das joined TruStage in 2017.

Prior to joining TruStage, Das was the founder and CEO of a fintech startup and served as an investment banker at firms including Houlihan Lokey and Fox-Pitt, Kelton. 

Sushma Daggubati, Manager of Product Management, Mastercard

Since 2016, and over her eight years at Mastercard, Daggubati has consistently progressed to more challenging positions every two years from release management to software engineering, leading to her current position, denoting an exceptional ability to transition from pure technical roles to more commercial ones.

She has also contributed to the industry by developing several patents which have been cited by some of the world’s largest and most prestigious firms including Shopify, Walmart, and Worldpay.

Soner Canko, Founder, SC Management Advisory

Canko graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences at Istanbul University, where he also earned his Master’s and PhD degrees. He began his career in multinational corporations, holding various roles at Procter & Gamble, Citibank, Hewlett-Packard (HP), and First Data.

Recognized for his work in financial technologies, Canko currently serves as a management consultant and independent board member. He is also actively involved in the following platforms: Turkish Enterprise Institutions, FinTech Istanbul, Blockchain Türkiye.

Tanya Andreasyan, Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, FinTech Futures

Andreasyan is MD and Editor-in-Chief of FinTech Futures, the definitive source of intelligence for the global fintech sector. An experienced journalist and a long-term resident of the fintech ecosystem, she has extensive understanding and knowledge of the industry and its participants.

With in-depth coverage of fintech issues on a worldwide scale, FinTech Futures is a leading resource for technology buyers, sellers, developers, integrators and other specialists across the sector.

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