Comerica X Tech Titans Happy Hour

Description

Join us for a Happy Hour including drinks, apps, and networking with a panel discussion about Digital Transformation! Register today! 
 

Megan Crespi

Executive Vice President, Chief Enterprise Technology & Operations Services Officer
Comerica Bank
Megan D. Crespi, Executive Vice President, is Chief Enterprise Technology & Operations Services Officer for Comerica Bank. She is a member of Comerica’s Management Executive Committee.
In this role, Crespi oversees the bank’s enterprise payments, lending & trade services, real estate & security, technology, and cybersecurity units. She leads the company’s digital transformation strategy, and business continuity operations related to the ongoing pandemic and return to office.
In March 2020, Crespi joined Comerica from Ally Financial where she served as Chief Technology Officer since 2018, driving the firm's technology strategy, enterprise architecture and infrastructure operations teams. She started with Ally in 2009, leading technology for Consumer Credit, digital vehicle remarketing platform, and Dealer Online Services. In 2014, she was promoted to Chief Information Officer for the Auto Finance & Insurance businesses.
Crespi began her career in consulting at PwC, later with MicroStrategy, before moving to General Motors in 2000 where she held various roles, ultimately serving as executive technology lead for Global Service & Parts Operations until 2009, when Crespi joined GMAC (now Ally Financial).
This past year, she served on the board for Citizens Research Council of Michigan that provides factual, unbiased, independent information on significant issues concerning state and local government organization and finance. Founded in 1916, Comerica is the Council’s longest running sponsor with support dating back over 100 years.
Crespi is also a member of Michigan Council Women in Technology Foundation (MCWT) that strives to inspire and grow women in technology. Among her community work includes supporting the American Cancer Society. She will serve as the 2022 Chair for ResearcHERS: Women Fighting Cancer of Michigan campaign. ResearcHERS raises funding to support women-led cancer research. Crespi she has already surpassed her fundraising goal by more than 35 percent.
Additionally, Crespi contributes to Comerica’s Financial Education Brigade to deliver financial empowerment training. She also serves on various ministries at Our Lady of Good Council Catholic Church in Plymouth.
Crespi earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with a focus in Organizational Studies from the University of Michigan and a Master’s degree in Information Systems Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

 

Bruce Mitchell

Executive Vice President, Chief Information Officer
Comerica Bank
Bruce Mitchel is a transformational Chief Information Officer with global experience leading large technology organizations to deliver business impact. Bruce is currently focused on leveraging Agile at scale to lead his business areas through deep platform transformation and deliver innovative digital and data driven customer experiences. Bruce is also leading strategic initiatives across enterprise technology to simplify processes, optimize cost structures, modernize program delivery, and build a world class technology team.

Bruce joined Comerica in November 2020 as the enterprise Chief Information Officer. Prior to Comerica Bank, Bruce held technology leadership roles in Canada, UK, China, and India.
 

 
Juan Rodriguez

Executive Vice President, Chief Information Security Officer
Comerica Bank
Juan is responsible for all enterprise-wide information security policy, strategy, architecture, operations, and capability enhancements of the bank. 
Juan most recently has been with Royal Bank of Scotland Group for 10 years, where he serves as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for NatWest Markets, leading the development of NatWest Markets Global Cyber Security strategy and for establishing, implementing, monitoring, and enforcing information security standards and policies globally. Juan has been focused on strategic risk management frameworks, including risk rating methodologies, threat assessments, and key management governance and reporting. In addition to having experience in Financial Services, Juan also has experience working in Healthcare, Insurance, and Government industries with extensive international experience. 
Juan has a M.S and B.A. in Computer Science from Sacred Heart University. 

 

 

Alan Kinny

Senior Vice President, Digital CIO
Comerica Bank
Alan currently serves as the Digital CIO for Comerica Bank and is responsible for planning, directing, and executing the digital technology strategy for Comerica. Alan is tasked with building a high-performing digital organization from the ground-up by recruiting, developing, and retaining top digital talent. One of Alan’s key priorities is to implement new ways of working which put the customers at the center and create a platform-based ecosystem to lead Comerica towards an increasingly digital future.
Previously, Alan was with US Bank as the SVP for Customer Experience Engineering, where he directed best-in-class digital customer experiences across the bank’s suite of digital products, core customer journeys, and retail business lines for major customer-facing platforms. He was also instrumental in the launch of mobile apps and the banks’ first virtual assistants, winning multiple accolades, including #1 App in Mobile Banking, #1 ranked Virtual Assistant, and #1 Mobile Check Deposit Experience.
Prior to moving into U.S. Markets, Alan led multiple teams for a Global Technology Services organization implementing platforms and products for financial institutions in UK and Europe. Alan holds an MBA from Warwick Business School, UK and a Bachelor of Computer Engineering from Mumbai University, India.
 
 

 

Steven Christopher

 
Senior Vice President, Chief Business Information Officer
Comerica Bank
As SVP and Chief Business Information Officer at Comerica, Steven Christopher oversees Commercial Retail, and Wealth business technology and transformation initiatives. With his global experience, Steven is recognized as modernizing financial institutions through technology.
 
Before joining Comerica in December 2020 as the Domain CIO for the Commercial Bank, Steven served over 20 years leading large technology organizations in the financial services industry. Most recently, he led technology transformation initiatives for 10 years across the Consumer Bank division of U.S. Bank.
 
 

 

 

Nate Bennett III

Chief Diversity Officer and Senior Vice President, Head of Talent Acquisition
Comerica Bank
Nate Bennett III is responsible for leading the company’s Diversity & Inclusion office. This office has been established to drive key diversity initiatives throughout the bank. Additionally, Mr. Bennett’s other responsibilities include leading all talent acquisition activities for Comerica Bank.
Mr. Bennett joined Comerica in 2009 as the Vice President, Texas Market Staffing Manager. He was named Senior Vice President, Talent Acquisition in 2010. In mid-2016, he was named the Chief Diversity Officer and Senior Vice President, Head of Talent Acquisition.
Before joining Comerica, he worked for several Fortune 500 companies in various roles in Talent Acquisition all in two major industries: Consumer Retail and Financial Services. Prior to joining Comerica Bank, he led Talent Acquisition Services for a 17,000-employee division at Bank of America. His 20+ years of experience in Human Resources Talent Acquisition covers the areas from executive recruitment through global recruitment where he spent time in Seoul, Korea leading various recruitment efforts for Walmart Stores.
Mr. Bennett holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Rice University.
Among his professional and community affiliations, he serves as a member of the National Diversity Council Board of Directors, board member of Mi Escuelita Pre-Schools, an advisory board member for Student African American Brotherhood (SAAB) an advisory board member of the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For.
At Rice University, Mr. Bennett was a four-year varsity letterman in football where he went on to earn All Southwest Conference 1^st Team Honors. Additionally, he also serves as the founder and President of the Junior Broncos Organization which is a 501(c)(3) dedicated to young student athletes.
 

Amy Betty

Executive Client Partner, Financial Services
Publicis Sapient
Amy is a digital business transformation leader with a passion for unlocking business value through thoughtful customer experiences and high-performing, multi-disciplined teams. In her role as Executive Client Partner, Amy guides Financial Services clients through the oftentimes ambiguous and complex realities of digital transformation and is accountable to clients in helping achieve their objectives through strong digital strategy and execution.
In addition to her client responsibilities, Amy is the business lead for Publicis Sapient’s Minneapolis office, a member of the Women in Leadership program, as well as a faculty member of The Accelerator, a transformation leadership program for aspiring Publicis Sapient leaders.
Amy has a BA in Biology from St. Olaf College and an MBA from The Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. She enjoys travel, reading, cooking, Peloton-ing and spending time at her two sons’ basketball, football, baseball, and golfing events.
 

 

Rajaram Ramaswamy

Vice President, Head of Cloud Business for Financial Services and Regional Banking CoE
Infosys
Raj is an entrepreneurial full-stack digital leader with 25 years of industry experience and a proven track-record in leveraging technology, Cloud, and digital transformation to deliver business value. He is focused on driving business agility, new business models, enhancing customer experience, and innovation for banking clients. Raj is an alumnus of Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Education and Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata and is an avid blogger on key emerging technology and banking trends.

 
 

Scott Schindler

Adjunct Professor
Collin College
Scott Schindler is a 26-year IT and IT Security veteran with more than 70 technical certifications.
He built a cyber security nonprofit in 2018 to help drive cybersecurity education and employment
opportunities, which led to the development of a full cybersecurity event company in 2019, ICI Events.
He was the CISO Director for Tracepoint, a SMB, nonprofit, and local government cybersecurity
provider and also served as the CISO for LifeLong Medical.
Scott’s mission is to drive cyber hygiene and resiliency practices for organizations that do not
have the resources to staff full-time enterprise-level cybersecurity leadership.
Scott is a former professional soccer player and US Army interrogator. He owns, and performs for, Munchies Comedy.
 

 

Omar Choucair  

Chief Financial Officer
Trintech
Omar Choucair is the Chief Financial Officer of Trintech and has over 25 years of experience leading both the financial and administrative organizations for public and private software/services companies. Choucair managed several companies who experienced significant revenue and cash flow growth through both organic and acquired enterprises. Additionally, he has completed numerous M&A transactions, exit events, transformational system implementations, and managed public and private equity/debt financings.
Trintech is an enterprise SaaS software company providing cloud-based applications to over 3,500 customers to streamline the financial close process inside the Office of the CFO. Prior to joining Trintech, Choucair was the CFO of Multiview, a Warburg Pincus-backed B2B software platform providing marketing software services to over 17,000 B2B customers in North America. Choucair also served as the CFO of DGFastchannel/Sizmek (NASDAQ: SZMK), a B2B software platform delivering mission-critical media content. Additionally, Choucair served as the VP Finance for AMFM, Inc (NASDAQ:AMFM), one of the largest U.S. radio holding companies which was ultimately acquired by Clear Channel Communications.
Choucair began his career as a CPA at KPMG, where he managed publicly-traded large multi-national services and technology company audits over a period of ten years.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Paul Bendel

Paul Bendel, Interim Executive Director
Tech Titans: The Technology Association of North Texas
 
Prior to being named Interim Executive Director in 2022, Paul was the Senior Vice President of Programs. Paul manages the Events Team which produces the Annual Awards Gala, the Annual Golf Tournament, the monthly Tech Industry Luncheons and the events of the Tech Titans eight special interest forums. He also works with the board of directors to manage policy and programs, the Talent Team/STEM Initiative to encourage high school students to take STEM-related classes and the Innovation Team that produces the annual Grand Challenge and the annual Innovation Showcase. He is a 40-year veteran of the chamber of commerce. and trade association profession.
In addition to working in Richardson, Paul has served in numerous chamber executive roles in Tyler, Kilgore, Lewisville, Irving.
Prior to his career in chamber management, Paul was a news reporter and play-by-play announcer for several East Texas radio stations. Paul has completed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Organization Management, the Basic Industrial Development Course and has earned the Certified Chamber Executive designation from the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives.