July 12, 2023
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Speaker Biographies
Raphael W. Bostic is president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. From 2012 to 2017, Bostic was the Judith and John Bedrosian Chair in Governance and the Public Enterprise at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California (USC). He was director of USC's master of real estate development degree program and was the founding director of the Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast. Bostic also served USC's Lusk Center for Real Estate as the interim associate director from 2007 to 2009 and as the interim director from 2015 to 2016. From 2016 to 2017, he was the chair of the center's Governance, Management, and Policy Process Department. From 2009 to 2012, Bostic was the assistant secretary for policy development and research at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Bostic worked at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 1995 to 2001, first as an economist and then a senior. He served as special assistant to HUD's assistant secretary of policy development and research in 1999. He was also a professional lecturer at American University in 1998. He graduated from Harvard University in 1987 with a combined major in economics and psychology. He earned his doctorate in economics from Stanford University in 1995.
Dondi Black has extensive experience leading strategic planning, development, and commercialization across the financial services sector, with a focus on payment technologies, fraud, and risk innovations. As chief product officer at TSYS Issuer Solutions, a Global Payments company, she leads global product strategy and commercialization as well as strategic partnerships. In this capacity, Black is focused on ensuring that all participants in the payments ecosystem have access to the services and technologies needed to enable access to payment technologies and fuel growth through service expansion into new areas and segments. Her outlook on the financial services market reflects her passion for inclusion and her recognition that financial technology can fill existing needs and lift entire communities.
Felipe Chacon is an economist at Block Inc., where he tracks consumer spending, small businesses, the evolution of payments, and the broader economy in the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Prior to his time at Block, Chacon worked as an economist at Zillow and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Chris Colson, director of innovation for Federal Reserve Financial Services, has more than 25 years in the payments and financial services industry. Previously, Colson served as head of innovation at Aflac, located in Columbus, Georgia, where he implemented a successful innovation program, defined product and market strategies, developed and worked with start-ups and partners to create joint products, and helped to manage a venture capital investment fund. He gained additional experience leading global innovation programs at companies such as TSYS, Equifax, Bank One, and Bank of America. Colson is a distinguished product innovation manager and holds two patents, founded a start-up, and serves as an adviser to three others. He is a graduate of Georgia Tech's Flashpoint program—an incubator for start-ups—and teaches a graduate-level class at the University of North Georgia called Entrepreneurship in Large Corporates. He has been a featured speaker for research firms such as Gartner, a presenter for pymnts.com at Harvard University, and a presenter at Finovate in San Jose, London, and Singapore. He has been a guest lecturer at York University in York, England, and has written about topics including identity and mobile wallets. In his spare time, Chris can be found on the lacrosse field coaching men's lacrosse at West Forsyth High School and serving as a board member for BMore Learning.
Kate Danella is head of Regions Consumer Banking Group, which is comprised of the Retail Bank, Mortgage, and Indirect Lending and Partnerships. These business lines include branch bankers and retail leadership, mortgage sales, indirect auto lending, consumer indirect lending partnerships, consumer deposit and loan product management, and consumer strategy. She is a member of the company's executive leadership team. Regions, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is a regional bank that operates throughout the South, Midwest, and Texas. Danella most recently served as chief strategy and client experience officer. Previously, she headed strategic planning and consumer bank products and origination partnerships. Prior to that, Danella led private wealth management. She joined Regions in July 2015 as the wealth strategy and effectiveness executive. Before joining Regions, Danella served for 13 years as vice president for Capital Group Companies, a global wealth management organization managing more than $1.7 trillion in assets, in various leadership roles in sales, strategy, client services and marketing. Danella earned a bachelor's degree in economics and English from Vanderbilt. She also holds a master's of philosophy in European studies from the University of Cambridge and a master's in business administration from Harvard Business School. She serves on the board for the Virginia Samford Theatre, the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, and Jones Valley Teaching Farms, as well as on the board of overseers for the Culverhouse School of Business. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Greater Birmingham.
Timothy Flacke is executive director of Commonwealth (formerly D2D Fund), a mission-driven organization that builds solutions to help people become financially secure. Flacke helped launch D2D in 2001 and has served on the organization's board of directors since that time, drawing on 25 years' experience in the nonprofit and private sectors helping working people to build savings. Under his leadership, D2D grew from a start-up social venture into Commonwealth, a nationally recognized innovation incubator that partners with leading financial service firms and receives support from the world's most respected philanthropic foundations. He speaks widely and comments in the media about the need for broader financial security and the role of fintech and innovation in addressing this need. Before Commonwealth, Flacke worked as an independent consultant, author, and grant writer in the field of financial empowerment and asset development. He holds a master's degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Boston College.
Mark Gould is the chief payments executive for Federal Reserve Financial Services, responsible for the Federal Reserve's full portfolio of cash, retail, and wholesale payment services across the United States. Gould's career at the Federal Reserve began 30 years ago in the Retail Payments Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. From February 2014 through February 2021, he served as the chief operating officer and first vice president of the San Francisco Fed. In this position, he led the Federal Reserve System's Cash Product Office, which oversees the processing, quality, and distribution of US currency domestically and internationally. During his career, Gould has provided executive leadership to a range of Bank functions at the intersection of payments, technology, strategy, and operations. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Pacific Lutheran University and a master of science degree in applied economics from Seattle University. A native of the state of Washington, Mark serves as a vice chair on the Board of Regents of Pacific Lutheran University. He resides in Lafayette, California, with his wife, Lisa.
Scarlett L. Heinbuch is a payments risk expert in the Payments Forum at the Atlanta Fed. Her research focuses on cash use, access, and preservation with a focus on payments diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has worked in the financial services field for more than 20 years in various roles with several Fortune 500 companies, including Capital One and Wells Fargo. In her previous role in the Payments Studies Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, she focused on payments policies and consumer payments behaviors. Heinbuch is an internationally known consultant in women's financial health, social norms for women in retirement planning, and economic empowerment. Scarlett holds a PhD in public policy and administration from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and a master's degree in public health from VCU's school of medicine.
Megan Houck is a senior business analyst in the Atlanta Fed's Regional Economic Information Network. In this role, she supports the vice president and regional executive in building the network of contacts that provide anecdotal insights to supplement economic data analyses. Houck assists in aggregating and synthesizing these insights for reporting to Bank colleagues, along with communications planning to share Sixth District status updates with the public. In 2021 she joined the Special Committee on Payments Inclusion, a cross-divisional project with external partners developing recommendations that strengthen access to banking for the underserved. Houck joined the Atlanta Fed in 2008 as a management associate in the Facilities Department. From 2010 to 2018, she received increasing responsibilities in the Event Management Department, overseeing the administration of subsidy benefits like the public transit program and managing the contract for cafeteria and catering services. A Georgia native, Houck earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Georgia and a master's degree in applied economics from Georgia Southern University. She serves on the board of the Atlanta Economics Club and the Atlanta chapter of the National Association of Business Economics. She resides in Atlanta with her husband and two children, Avery and Tucker.
Venus R. Lockett is a pathfinder, connector, and convener in the greater Atlanta area and beyond, advocating for knowledge and asset-based strategies that foster economic success. In her work, she promotes and supports a culture of cross-sector collaboration to help achieve the goal that all residents in Georgia communities and beyond become financially capable and have opportunities to build assets that support financial well-being and security for themselves and generations to come. Currently with the City of Atlanta and working in the mayor's Office of Innovation and Performance, Lockett serves as the program manager for the Bank On Atlanta program for the city, where she manages a coalition of members. Lockett volunteers as the lead adviser for launching a Bank On program for the State of Georgia. In addition, she serves as the state director for the Money Smart Georgia Campaign (formerly Money Smart Week Georgia), a financial education campaign she initiated in 2012. Lockett cochairs the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's Youth Connections Collaborative, focusing on banking access, financial education, and workforce development for youth. In addition, she sits on advisory councils and boards, including the Georgia Technology Authority's Digital Connectivity Advisory Council, the National Collaborative for Digital Equity, LiftFund Georgia, and On the Rise Financial Center Advisory Boards.
Courtney K. Robinson is a financial services policy expert and attorney based in Washington, DC. She is the global head of financial inclusion and policy development at Block Inc., where she works on issues critical to historically underserved communities and financial services policy development, particularly related to equal access to the economy and global financial system. Prior to her work at Block, she served as senior counsel for the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, where she was responsible for legislative and regulatory matters that affected financial institutions and consumer credit. She also previously served as the policy counsel for the Center for Responsible Lending and as a legal analyst for Freddie Mac. In addition to her work at Block, Robinson serves on advisory boards for the District of Columbia Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the Association for Enterprise Opportunity, and the George Mason University Center for Retail Transformation.
Lali Shaffer is a payments risk expert in the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Her focus includes technological innovation, network and settlement systems, policy, and regulation. As part of the Payments Forum, she manages a cross-functional team of experts focused on payments inclusion initiatives for the Atlanta Fed's economic mobility and resilience strategic priority. She also writes and hosts webcasts and podcasts for the Atlanta Fed and represents the Bank to national and global audiences. Prior to joining the Research Division, Shaffer was a lead financial specialist in the Supervision and Regulation Division, where she was responsible for analyzing trends and emerging risks in the banking industry and the economy. Shaffer also held a leadership role on Supervision and Regulation Division's Risk Council, which is responsible for early identification and mitigation of risks to financial institutions. Prior to joining the Fed, Shaffer was an assistant vice president in the Treasury Group of the Federal Home Loan Bank. She actively managed the balance sheet and focused on liquidity and risk management and was responsible for negotiating real-time derivative and fixed-income transactions in capital markets. Shaffer holds a degree in finance from the University of Alabama and an MBA from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Mia Sowell currently serves as a senior community affairs specialist at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in Washington, DC. In this role, she assists in directing and coordinating projects and strategic initiatives related to emerging community development and economic inclusion opportunities. In particular, Sowell leads the FDIC's national efforts in promoting affordable insured transaction and savings accounts, including its #GetBanked initiative, which was recognized with a 2021 Chairman's Excellence Team Award for its contributions to the mission, vision, and values of the FDIC. Prior to joining the FDIC, Sowell served as the acting program manager for the Bank Enterprise Award Program and Small Dollar Loan Program at the US Department of Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, and she was a senior internal auditor at NeighborWorks America, a national not-for-profit organization that creates opportunities for people to live in affordable homes, improve their lives, and strengthen their communities. Sowell has 20 years of experience working with federal programs assisting low-and moderate-income communities. Sowell holds an MBA from George Washington University and a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley. A native of Los Angeles, she enjoys engaging in community projects and serving others.
Jessica J. Washington is assistant vice president and director of payments research and outreach with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. In this role, Washington collaborates with industry participants including financial institutions, fintechs, regulators, law enforcement, the legal community, and others in the Federal Reserve System. She regularly convenes and speaks to payments industry stakeholders to discuss trends in payments, inclusion initiatives, and the mitigation of payments risks. Washington shares her research through blog posts, papers, presentations, and industry forums. In addition, she serves as deputy chair of the Special Committee on Payments Inclusion, sits on the Board of ePay Resources, and is on the Florida State Alumni Association board of directors. She has previously served as deputy chair of the Diversity Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, adviser to NACHA's Payments Risk Accreditation Oversight Panel, board member of the Payments Institute Board of Regents, adviser to Accredited ACH Certification Board, and member of FS-ISAC's Payments Risk and Fraud Group. Prior to joining the Federal Reserve, Washington served as senior vice president for PaymentsFirst, a not-for-profit trade association, where she provided member services including education and consulting. She earned her bachelor's degree in English from Florida State University (FSU) in 2004, majoring in creative writing and minoring in childhood development. She is a lifetime member of the FSU Alumni Association, a ProfessioNole Mentor, and a volunteer for the Girl Scouts of America. Washington received Accredited ACH Professional Certification in 2007, Six Sigma Green Belt in 2017, and Prosci Change Management Certification in 2019.Princeton Williams joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's outreach team in 2018. He oversees a variety of outreach efforts, particularly in the areas of the Bank's economic education program, employee ambassador program, and the Monetary Museum. From 2006 to 2018, he led the Dallas Fed's outreach programs, including its economic education and museum programs. Williams served as the chair of the Texas Jump$tart Coalition's board. In Georgia and Texas, Williams served as a member of the committees that developed statewide standards for economics and personal finance courses. Before joining the Dallas Fed, he taught high school economics for 13 years. In 2004, while completing his master's degree, Williams completed a graduate internship at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Williams graduated from the Georgia Education Policy Fellowship Program in 2020. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Southern Methodist University, teacher certification from Texas A & M Commerce, and a master's degree in economics from the University of Texas at Arlington.