Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Thaya Brook Knight is associate director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute.

Jody Adams is a James Beard Award winning chef and visionary behind two of Massachusetts’ most well-known restaurants: Rialto, in Harvard Square, and TRADE, in Boston’s Seaport District. �Known as much for her humility, warmth and unshakeable work ethic as for her culinary skills, Adams has chartered an illustrious and adventurous career that has seen her competing on BRAVO’s�Top Chef Masters (Season Two), leading culinary-focused bike tours in Italy and raising millions of dollars for causes dear to her heart: most notably Partners in Health, Share Our Strength, which named her with their Humanitarian of the Year Award in 2010, and The Greater Boston Food Bank.After graduating with a degree in Anthropology from Brown University, Adams launched her career working as a line cook at Seasons restaurant in the famed Bostonian Hotel under Chef Lydia Shire in 1983. Three years later, she helped open Hamersley’s Bistro with Gordon Hamersley as his Sous Chef, and in 1990, she became Executive Chef of Michela’s in Cambridge. While at Michela’s, Adams developed a reputation for carefully researched regional menus that combined New England ingredients with Italian culinary traditions and was named with a prestigious “Best New Chef” award byFood & Wine Magazine. She and partners opened Rialto in 1994; just four months after the opening,The Boston Globe�awarded Rialto four-stars. In 1997, Adams received the James Beard Foundation award for The Perrier-Jouet Best Chef Award: Northeast. ��Adams translated recipes from Rialto into�In the Hands of a Chef: Cooking with Jody Adams of Rialto Restaurant�(Harper Collins Publishers; January 2002), a book she co-wrote with her husband, Ken Rivard.A testament to her unwavering dedication, in 2004, ten years after its opening,�Gourmet Magazinenamed Rialto one of the “world’s best hotel restaurants.” In January of 2007, Adams became the sole owner of the restaurant and focused the menu on regional Italian cuisine.�The Boston Globe�awarded Rialto four stars once again and�Esquire Magazine�named Rialto one of the best restaurants in the country in 2007. Most recently, Rialto was awarded a four-star rating from�Mobile Travel Guides.Adams is a chef who is equally inspired by and versatile in cooking with New England and international ingredients. She sources locally as much as possible and prioritizes this to such a great degree that she even launched a Guerilla Grilling Program, now five years old, where her restaurant staff visits local farms and artisans in the region to build relationships and awareness. A globetrotter by nature, she travels throughout the world frequently researching flavor combinations that then lead to her signature bold creations.Since 2011, Adams and her husband Ken have hosted the successful blog,�THE GARUM FACTORY, a colorful narrative and recipe collection written for the home cook. When not cooking or writing, Adams can likely be found cycling, an enormous passion of hers. She has biked in the 192-mile Pan Mass Challenge the past four years raising over $250,000 with her team for The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Anita Santos�is currently serving as vice president of marketing for Tyco Security Products, a global billion dollar business unit, where she is in charge of all product management and marketing strategy for video security, access control, location based security and intrusion security. She leads a global team of over 50 marketing professionals worldwide responsible for security product pricing, new product development, positioning strategies and channel management. Prior to joining Tyco, Santos worked for 10 years at Thermo Fisher Scientific, where she held director-level positions in services, marketing, R&D and business development for several businesses. In addition to her vice president role, Santos is passionate about supporting startup organizations. She is an SEC accredited investor and owner of Ascend Investments LLC, an angel investment firm. She is an advisory member of Astia Angels, an organization providing women start-ups with access to capital. Santos earned a B.S. in business administration in marketing and finance from Merrimack College, and an M.B.A. from Suffolk University.

Grainne�specializes in effectively delivering large transformation programs at top tier banks. She is currently focusing on helping banks transform by leveraging new technology, collaborating on shared services and, most especially, by more effective use of human capital and expert talent with the banks.��Grainne plays a leadership role for PwC’s financial services blockchain efforts. In this role, she works with FinTech companies as well as financial services providers to help harness the power of the blockchain eco-system to drive competitive advantage as well as to promote efficiency in the financial system.She has over 20 years of experience in implementing regulatory change, managing people, and providing strategic direction across divisions at firms such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.�Grainne has designed and managed large-scale implementations through the entire lifecycle, from design through build, test, and adoption/conversion.An expert at running multidisciplinary teams, Grainne helps large programs deliver what the business needs for transformation, with particular focus on managing the risk and costs involved.Grainne is passionate about leadership and development of women in the industry and is a board member of the New York Women’s foundation.

David Gibbons is a senior adviser with Alvarez & Marsal Financial Industry Advisory Services in Chicago. He formerly held several senior-level positions at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Paul Sztorc discovered Bitcoin in 2011, while he was a graduate student at Case Western Reserve University. After graduating, worked as a researcher in the Yale Economics Department. In his spare time he invented "Truthcoin" which went on to become Bitcoin Hivemind. Roger Ver described it as "possibly the most important invention since Bitcoin itself", and persuaded Paul to work on Bitcoin full time. In March 2016, Paul joined Bloq full time as VP of Economics.

Paul Schaus is the president, chief executive and founder of CCG Catalyst.

Boyd Nash-Stacey is a senior economist at BBVA Compass.

Thomas P. Vartanian is the executive director of the Financial Technology & Cybersecurity Center and the author of the new book "200 Years of American Financial Panics: Crashes, Recessions, Depressions, and the Technology That Will Change It All."