Tabitha Allen
President/CEO, First Flight Federal Credit Union
Tabitha Allen is the President and Chief Executive Officer of First Flight Federal Credit Union, which is a full-service financial institution with more than 19,000 members. Headquartered in Cary, NC, First Flight has six branch locations across eastern & central NC. Tabitha is focused on building on First Flight’s long legacy to improve the financial well– being of the credit union’s Members and to become the financial institution of choice in each of the communities they serve.
Tabitha was previously the Executive Vice President of the organization. During her 18-year tenure with the credit union, Tabitha has led executive management teams, strategic planning, asset/liability management, liquidity and capital management, financial analysis, marketing, communications, and retail branch operations. Prior to her leadership roles at First Flight, Tabitha has also held program management roles in Real Estate and with United States Marine Corps Community Services.
Mark Cox
President and CEO, Innovative Business Solutions
Mark Cox is the President and CEO of Innovative Business Solutions, LLC, a Commercial Loan CUSO located in Columbia, SC. Mark joined IBS in late 2013 after 35 years in commercial banking where he served in roles on both the credit side and as a commercial lender and an agricultural lender and after over 45 years in the financial services industry has extensive knowledge in commercial & industrial lending and commercial real estate lending. Mark is a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking of the South at LSU, the Wachovia Credit Administration School and the RMA Commercial Lending School at East Carolina University.
Greg DeVore
CEO & Co-founder, ScreenSteps
Greg DeVore is the co-founder and CEO of ScreenSteps, a company dedicated to helping teams change the way they transfer organizational knowledge. With a background in training and e-learning solutions for companies like GE and Siemens, Greg helps streamline employee training, boost employee confidence, and reduce supervisor burnout. Greg holds a degree from Berklee College of Music and lives in McLean, Virginia, with his wife and four boys.
Jorge Esteban
Vice President, Southeast Region, Community Financial Institutions, Visa
Jorge Esteban has been Vice President, Head of Community Southeast since 2021. In this role, Jorge leads client engagement teams across more than 1,000 community bank and credit union customers in the region’s seven states and is responsible for portfolio performance within the segment.
He previously led commercial issuing relationships across North America, where he directed strategic initiatives related to third-party sponsorship and program management, B2B payments optimization, industry verticals specialization, Banking as a Service / Open Banking, and core business development expansion, among others. Jorge joined the Visa in 2017.
Prior to Visa, Jorge worked at American Express in several roles, including leading strategic issuing relationships in the healthcare payments industry, and marquee acquiring relationships in the telecommunications industry.
He previously worked as an entrepreneur in India and Nepal and began his career at the U.S. Trade and Developent Agency, providing early-stage financing to infrastructure projects in Latin America. Jorge received an MBA from NYU-Stern School of Business and a BA in economics from The George Washington University. He is based in Miami.
Jesse Fruge
Vice President of Product Management, Algebrik AI
Jesse worked in the credit union space for nine years as a Consumer Loan Officer and Branch Manager. During that time, he funded over $100 million worth of new loan dollars. Since 2022, he has been involved in Product Management in Digital Loan Origination and Decisioning.
Glenn Grau
Executive Vice President, PWCampbell
As Senior Vice President of Sales and a member of PWCampbell’s Planning Committee, Glenn is charged with leading the business development team for the company and assisting clients through the re-imagination of their retail branch network. He also helps guide them through the construction process, from program and design development into post construction, ensuring quality and client satisfaction every step of the way.
Glenn spent over 10 years in key management roles for Dollar Bank where he was responsible for twelve branch locations, managed 100 employees and oversaw assets of $2 billion. This experience, combined with his extensive knowledge in the design-build arena, makes him an authority on branching. Working with hundreds of banks and credit unions to optimize their retail branch network and operations space over the past two decades has enabled him to speak to the latest branching trends, methods to revitalize branch networks for peak performance and profitability, and optimum space planning for operational efficiency and future growth. Glenn has a distinctive knack for blending his diverse understanding of banking, construction, and marketing to provide effective solutions for clients of every size.
Steve Koinm
CISO, VP of Professional Services, Co-Founder, Pure IT
Steve serves as Pure IT’s internal CISO and as a virtual CISO or CIO to many clients. He leads the Pure IT Professional Services group and is active in providing assessments and roadmaps for our clients in People, Process, Technology, and Business Management. He holds CISSP, CCSK, and several other certifications. He is an invaluable resource to credit unions because of his extensive knowledge of the industry, Business Operations, IT, and Security. Steve is an advisor to credit union Boards who must provide a credible challenge to their technology teams and a regular speaker at national security and credit union industry conferences. After working as an enterprise architect, guiding IT architecture for large systems in finance, telecom, healthcare, oil, and gas, Steve raised $20m in funding to create a successful MSP. When this MSP was acquired by Sungard, Steve went to work for Oracle, where he taught companies the value of big data and business intelligence. He then discovered what made the CU industry so great, dropped everything, dove in, and co-founded Pure IT Credit Union Services.
Anna Krogh
Senior Vice President, Business Development, Dovenmuehle Mortgage, Inc.
Anna Krogh joined Dovenmuehle in 2022 and is the company’s Senior Vice President of Business Development. In this role, her responsibilities include growing Dovenmuehle’s client list by sourcing new prospects and fostering and developing long-term relationships and clients. She has more than a decade of experience in the financial services space and joined Dovenmuehle from Associated Bank, where she served as the Senior Vice President, Sales Team Leader, following a promotion from Vice President, Treasury Management Officer. In addition to Anna’s prior experience in treasury and cash management sales at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan Chase, she began her career in loss mitigation at Bank of America.
Paul Marston
Chief Operating Officer, HR Performance Solutions
Paul Marston, SHRM-CP, serves as Chief Operating Officer of HR Performance Solutions, LLC, an HR SaaS company. For the past 7 years he has consulted with organizations to align best practices and talent management trends with best-in-class software solutions. Paul oversees the introduction of forward-looking functionality to the HRPS suite of products. In addition to managing operations, Paul has spoken at a number of Lunch and Learn events, SHRM chapter speaking engagements, virtual national webinars, Cross State Credit Union League Leadership Conference, and The Michigan Credit Union League’s HR&R summer event.
Brian McKay
President/CEO, Spero Financial
Brian began his career with Spero Financial (formerly SC Telco Federal Credit Union), Greenville, South Carolina in 2004. Since 2007, he has been a part of the executive leadership team, holding positions such as COO, EVP, and in April of 2020, was officially named President and CEO. The first six of his over 25 years in banking were spent at First Citizens Bank in Columbia, SC where he held many different positions.
In addition to his role as President/CEO of Spero Financial, he is actively involved in the community as:
- Board of Trustees at Anderson University
- Chair of the Finance Committee for Anderson University Board of Trust
- Executive Officer/Board Member of the Carolinas Credit Union League
- Finance Committee Member for Rocky Creek Church
- Vice Chairman of the Langston Charter Middle School Board of Directors
- Varsity Girls Soccer Coach for Greenville Technical Charter High School
- Member of the Advisory Council for Homes of Hope
- Member of Greenville Rotary
Jared Monce
Architect, Financial Market Leader, Design Collaborative
Jared is a project manager/architect at Design Collaborative (DC) and serves as the firm’s leader in the financial market. Since joining the DC team, Jared has designed a robust network of financial branches and operations centers across the eastern half of the country. His keen understanding of the industry enables him to uncover a client’s needs and goals and to deliver functional, customized solutions. Jared’s designs are always carefully crafted with the client’s needs and vision first, ensuring that every detail and decision is carried out throughout the project and each phase along the way. Jared is constantly learning and growing his knowledge of the financial industry to position DC for delivering successful outcomes.
Bill Nagle
AngleUp Consulting
Bill has been working in financial services for over 40 years, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Professional Development for the Cooperative Credit Union Association, leading their education initiatives, including managing conferences, seminars, schools, webinars and their Peer Network program. He also created and delivered original content on a variety of topics including leadership, management and compliance. Previously, Bill spent 20 years working in community banking in and around the Boston area. Currently, Bill provides learning opportunities for all levels of credit union professionals, from front-line employees through management and executives and volunteer directors.
Bill is a certified DiSC facilitator, an instructor for the Carolinas Credit Union Association’s Leadership Development Institute, the lead instructor for the Montana’s Credit Unions’ Take the Lead program, and an instructor for the Southeast Regional Credit Union Management School (SRCUS). He is a graduate of the Massachusetts School of Financial Studies, the New England College of Finance and holds a B.S.B.A. as well as a graduate certificate in Organizational Communication from Northeastern University.
Dave Richter
Vice President, Performance Trust
Dave joined Performance Trust in 2015, bringing a wealth of experience to the firm. He began his career in the securities industry in 1996, specializing in the fixed-income markets. His analytical focus has allowed him to teach portfolio managers representing some of the larger investment portfolios in the country. Prior to joining the firm, Dave spent nine years at Fixed-Income Capital Partners, where he partnered with many of the firm’s depository institution customers to implement specifically tailored investment strategies in order to increase shareholder value.
Dave graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and received his MBA. He is Series 7 and 63 registered.
Jake Robinson
President/CEO, Champion Credit Union
Jake Robinson studied at Western Carolina University and served four years as a men’s basketball student-athlete. He graduated from Western Carolina in 2010 with a degree in Finance and Accounting.
Jake joined Champion Credit Union following graduation and during his tenure has held various leadership positions including the completion of the Southeast CUNA Management School held at the University of Georgia. In January 2015, the Champion Credit Union Board of Directors named Jake its sixth President/CEO and since that appointment he has led the organization to significant asset growth, four new branch locations, and seven consecutive years being named one of the Best Employers in North Carolina by Best Companies Group.
Jake also participates as a guest instructor for the Southeast Management School and keynote speaker for various events.
Kristin Roche
Director, Program Management, QCash Financial
Kristin joined QCash Financial in September 2022 as the Director of Client Success and Lending Operations. Kristin has over 17 years of credit union lending experience with a primary focus on underwriting and consumer lending program management. Prior to joining QCash, Kristin was the VP of Consumer Lending at Family Trust Federal Credit Union in South Carolina. Kristin felt compelled to join QCash after attending a webinar conducted by QCash on keeping credit union members out of payday lending and prides herself on furthering the credit union movement by assisting credit unions with improving the financial wellbeing of their communities.