Episodes

In this episode of the Finovate Podcast, host Greg Palmer interviews Joel Blake, OBE, founder and CEO of GFA Exchange, who will also be moderating a session FinovateEurope. Joel shares his eclectic journey into the fintech space, driven by a passion for democratizing access to finance and empowering businesses to grow regardless of their differences. He discusses his background, which spans grassroots work, policy development, entrepreneurship, and technology innovation. Joel highlights the crea...

In this episode of the Finovate Podcast, host Greg Palmer connects with Brent Biernat, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at COCC, a finalist in the Finovate Awards for Best Back Office Solution and Executive of the Year. Brent shares his journey of over 30 years with COCC, highlighting his passion for community banking and the company’s mission to support small businesses and consumers. COCC, a core and digital banking services provider for over 150 clients in the Northeast, oper...

Fintech in 2025: an end of year review, and a look forward to 2026. Detailed Summary: In this episode of the Finovate podcast, Greg is joined by Steven Ramirez of Beyond the Arc to reflect on the key trends and developments that shaped the FinTech landscape in 2025 while offering predictions for 2026. The conversation explores the evolving dynamics of fintech partnerships, the challenges posed by compliance and governance issues, and the erosion of consumer trust in the industry. From there, t...

Fintech, innovation, and the credit union landscape – a conversation with the Chairman of the NCUA. Detailed Summary: In this episode, Kyle Hauptman, Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), shares his insights on the evolving credit union landscape and the role of regulators in fostering innovation. Kyle reflects on his career journey from Wall Street bond trading to financial policy, emphasizing his commitment to ensuring credit unions remain competitive in a rapidly chan...

Rapid growth as a community bank – Five Star’s strategies for using fintech to expand their customer. Detailed Summary: This episode of the Finovate Podcast features DJ Kurtze, Executive Vice President and Bay Area President of Five Star Bank, discussing the community bank’s impressive growth trajectory and unique positioning in the competitive San Francisco market. Five Star Bank is a $4.6 billion community bank headquartered in Rancho Cordova with nine branches and two administrative offices...

Finovate Awards Winner InvestiFi on the changing investment landscape, consumer education, and bringing investment assets back to banks and CUs. Detailed Summary: In this episode of the Finovate Podcast, host Greg Palmer interviews Kian Sarrestheh, co-founder and CEO of InvestiFi the 2025 Finovate Awards winner in the Best Alternative Investment Solution category. InvestiFi provides a digital investment platform specifically designed for banks and credit unions, allowing their customers to inv...

The real threat of AI-enabled fraud might not be what you think – hear from an expert on what you need to be focusing on right now. Detailed Summary: In this episode of the Finovate podcast, host Greg Palmer interviews Christopher D’Aprile, Director of Business Development at PrivacyGuard, following his keynote presentation at FinovateFall. D’Aprile brings over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, having worked at major institutions including MBNA Bank, NASCAR, Allstate, ...

This episode of the Finovate Podcast features an interview with John Findlay, CEO of Lemonade LXP, one of the Best of Show winners from FinovateFall. The conversation explores how Lemonade has transformed from its original 2018 concept into a comprehensive all-in-one learning and knowledge platform specifically designed for financial institutions. Findlay discusses the critical gap in traditional learning management systems, which typically focus on compliance training rather than equipping fron...

FinovateFall Best of Show winner Krida’s AI layer is transforming the lending process and deepening relationships to make the process easier for everyone. Detailed Summary: Krida, cofounders by Shivangi Khanna and Sophie Jewsbury join Greg on this episode to talk about their assistive AI tools for commercial loan officers in relationship banking and localized community banking. Krida focuses on streamlining the commercial lending process through workflow automation. The platform they demoed in...

FinovateFall Best of Show winner Eko Investments is bringing investment opportunities to early-stage investors, growing individual wealth and helping FIs of all sizes retain their customers. Detailed Summary: Mart Vos, CEO of Eko Investments, joins Greg to talk about his company’s role as a leading digital investment provider for credit unions and banks. Eko’s mission stems from Mart’s personal experience when he moved from the Netherlands to the US and discovered that traditional banks only o...

FinovateFall Best of Show winner Vertice AI: Using AI to help smaller FI’s punch above their weight. Detailed Summary: In this episode, Greg catches up with Mitch Rutledge, CEO and co-founder of Vertice AI, who won Best of Show at FinovateFall. Mitch starts out by discussing his company’s mission to empower community financial institutions through AI-powered solutions. Vertice serves as an AI-driven growth engine that transforms institutional data into actionable insights, enabling smaller com...

FinovateFall Best of Show winner LendAPI on the future of lending (spoiler: it’s gonna be a lot faster) Detailed Summary: In this episode of the Finovate podcast, host Greg interviews Tim Li, CEO and Co-Founder of LendAPI, a recent Best of Show winner at FinovateFall. LendAPI is described as a “super orchestration platform” that allows users to build various financial products through an intuitive browser interface. The platform features a product studio where FI’s can create everything from p...

FinovateFall Best of Show winner Casap on the biggest opportunity you’re missing to prove to your customers that you’re on their side. Detailed Summary: In this Finovate podcast episode, Greg interviews Shanthi Shanmugam, co-founder and CEO of Casap, a Best of Show winner at FinovateFall 2025. Shanthi explains that Casap was founded after she and her co-founder discovered that negative dispute experiences were the primary non-life-event reason customers left financial institutions. Casap addre...

AI is revolutionizing lending – are you ready? Detailed Summary: In this episode of the Finovate podcast, host Greg Palmer interviews Greg Sullins, head of the U.S. Banking Center of Excellence for Newgen Software. Sullins, with 35 years of banking experience, discusses how Newgen supports financial institutions in their digital banking transformation. The conversation primarily focuses on how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing lending processes, with Sullins explaining that lending is...

Stablecoins, relationships, and licenses – inside the Flutterwave success story Detailed Summary: In this Finovate podcast, host Greg Palmer interviews Bridgit Antwi, Head of Strategy and Planning at Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments company. Founded in 2016 by Olubenga “GB” Agbola, Flutterwave was created to solve the significant friction in facilitating financial transactions across Africa’s complex landscape of 54 countries, 40+ currencies, and numerous payment systems. The company has...

The pitfalls of payments platforms that are “good enough” Detailed Summary: In this Finovate Podcast episode, host Greg Palmer interviews Rouzbeh Rotabi, Chief Revenue Officer at Qolo, about payment infrastructure modernization. Rotabi, with over 20 years of experience in fintech and payments, explains that banks face three main challenges: financial pressures to increase commercial deposits (especially following recent bank runs), infrastructure limitations of legacy systems, and the need to ...

Your new go-to-market(ing) strategy – balancing compliance and speed with agentic AI Detailed Summary: In this Finovate Podcast episode, Greg interviews Asaf Baciu, President and Co-Founder of Persado, an agentic AI platform that optimizes both marketing performance and regulatory compliance for financial institutions. Assaf explains how banks and fintechs currently face a significant challenge with disjointed marketing and compliance teams, resulting in inefficient content approval processes ...

Fighting crime through collaboration – lessons from a retired DEA Special Agent. Detailed Summary: In this Finovate podcast episode, host Greg Palmer interviews David Tyree, a retired DEA special agent now serving as a senior advisor with Valid8 Financial. Tyree shares his extensive career journey from joining the DEA in 1998 to working in various locations including New Mexico, Oregon, Europe, West Africa, and Wyoming. Early in his career, he discovered the effectiveness of targeting criminal...

Supporting the gig economy and ethical AI – two massive components you can’t afford to ignore. Detailed Summary: In this episode of the Finovate podcast, host interviews Tamara Laine, founder of MPWR, who shares her unique journey from professional ballerina and choreographer to documentary filmmaker, investigative journalist, and finally tech entrepreneur. Laine discusses how her extensive experience as a gig worker—spanning over half her career—revealed significant financial barriers despite...

The importance of human-centered innovation – one banker’s thoughts on building the right kind of innovative community. Detailed Summary: In this Finovate podcast, Greg Palmer interviews Catherine Lynch, who leads digital experience and human-centered design at Citizens, a super-regional bank with approximately 1,000 branches primarily in the Northeast and $220 billion in assets. With over 20 years in banking and previous experience at Accenture and tech startups, Lynch has built her career ar...

Driving innovation forward – lessons from a fintech founder turned community banker. Detailed Summary: In this episode, Christian Ruppe, Chief Innovation Officer of Colony Bank, joins Greg to discuss his journey from fintech entrepreneur to banker. Colony Bank is a $3.3 billion community bank headquartered in Fitzgerald, Georgia, with a footprint primarily in South Georgia and offices in surrounding areas. As the largest community bank in Georgia, Colony serves both consumers and businesses, p...

Bringing a rewarding investment experience into FI’s with FinovateSpring Best of Show winner Bits of Stock. Detailed Summary: In this episode of the Finovate Podcast, host Greg interviews Arash Asady, CEO and co-founder of Bits of Stock, a Best of Show winner at FinovateSpring 2025. Arash introduces Bits of Stock as an embedded digital wealth and financial benefits platform that empowers financial institutions to bundle banking with fractional stock and crypto investing. The company helps bank...

I swear, it wasn’t me! – connecting with FinovateSpring Best of Show winner Herd Security on their anti-deepfake fraud prevention solution. Detailed Summary: In this episode of the Finovate podcast, host Greg Palmer interviews Brandon Min, founder and CEO of Herd Security, a Best of Show winner at FinovateSpring 2025. Brandon explains that Herd Security focuses on helping organizations build “herd immunity” against generative AI cyber attacks, particularly deepfakes. Unlike competitors who foc...

Next-gen customer service – connecting with FinovateSpring Best of Show winner Penny Finance on attracting, retaining, and serving members of the digital generation Detailed Summary: In this Finovate podcast episode, host Greg interviews Crissi Cole, founder and CEO of Penny Finance, a Best of Show winner at FinovateSpring in San Diego. Cole, a former Goldman Sachs financial advisor, created Penny Finance in 2020 to provide personalized financial planning for everyday Americans. After building...