National Experts To Address Financial Access Forum Oct. 25-26 at the St. Louis Fed

ST. LOUIS - National experts in alternative financial access solutions and strategies will gather at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Oct. 25-26, 2012, to discuss current and future innovations to better serve unbanked and underbanked Americans.

The St. Louis Fed, along with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Center for Financial Services Innovation, are co-sponsoring the two-day program, "Promising Pathways to Wealth-Building Financial Services." The program is also part of the Household Financial Stability research initiative of the St. Louis Fed's Community Development department, led by senior advisor Ray Boshara.

The focus of the conference is to help communities and businesses learn how they can improve access to wealth-building financial services for underbanked consumers. Such access is crucial to building healthy household balance sheets, but unbanked and underbanked consumers currently face numerous hurdles, including being faced by a bewildering and daunting variety of financial-services providers, products and distribution channels.

Participants will hear from some of the nation’s leading experts, industry representatives and on-the-ground providers of financial services focused on unbanked, underbanked and unhappily banked consumers. The potential benefit of new, non-traditional distribution channels, such as mobile banking and other technological innovations, will be discussed. To facilitate discussion and share practical advice, a series of roundtables will also be offered.

Keynote speakers will include Melissa Koide, deputy assistant secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury and Cliff Rosenthal, assistant director, Office of Financial Empowerment, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Additional guest speakers and plenary session and roundtable participants will include Jeanne Hogarth, manager, Consumer Research Section, Consumer and Community Affairs, Federal Reserve Board of Governors; Bob Jones, president and CEO, Old National Bank, Evansville, Ind.; Tina Lentz, program administrator, Bank On Louisville; Cathie Mahon, CEO, National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions (formerly assistant commissioner and executive director, New York City Department of Consumer Affairs — Office of Financial Empowerment); Brandee McHale, chief operating officer, Citi Foundation, and John Metz, senior director, MoneyCenters and Financial Services Operations, Walmart Stores, Inc. (View the full guest speaker list at the end of this article.)

The conference kicks off Oct. 25 at 8 a.m. with breakfast and a welcome address from Julie Stackhouse, senior vice president of the St. Louis Fed's Banking Supervision & Regulation division. For more information about the conference, or to register, see the Financial Access Forum site.

Financial Access Forum Guest Speaker List

• George Barany, director of financial education, Consumer Federation of America, America Saves
• Ray Boshara, senior advisor, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
• Robert Boyle, CEO, Justine Petersen
• Terri Bradford, payments system research specialist, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
• Marianne Crowe, vice president, Payment Strategies Group, and liaison, Consumer Payments Research Center, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
• Tammy Edwards, vice president and community affairs officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
• Keith Ernst, associate director for consumer research and examination support, Depositor and Consumer Protection, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
• Vikki Frank, founding executive director, Credit Builders Alliance
• Heidi Goldberg, program director, Early Childhood and Family Economic Success, National League of Cities
• Sarah Gordon, vice president, Advisory Services and Nonprofit Investments, Center for Financial Services Innovation
• Michal Grinstein-Weiss, associate direcctor, Center for Social Development, Washington University in St. Louis
• Mae Watson Grote, founder and executive director, The Financial Clinic
• Jonathan Harrison, founding CEO, Emerge
• Patricia Hasson, president and executive director,  Clarifi
• Jeanne Hogarth, manager, Consumer Research Section, Consumer and Community Affairs, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System
• Bob Jones, president and CEO, Old National Bank, Evansville, Ind.
• Tina Lentz, program administrator, Bank on Louisville
• Cathie Mahon, CEO, National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions;
  formerly assistant commissioner and executive director, New York City Department of Consumer Affairs — Office of Financial Empowerment
• Nick Maynard, director of innovation, Doorways to Dreams (D2D) Fund
• David Marzahl, president and CEO, Center for Economic Progress; Board of Managers, National Community Tax Coalition
• Brandee McHale, chief operating officer, Citi Foundation
• John Metz, senior director, MoneyCenters and Financial Services Operations, Walmart Stores, Inc.
• Haydeé Moreno, vice president and director, Micro Branch, A Division of Self-Help Federal Credit Union
• Rourke O’Brien, senior policy advisor, Office of Consumer Policy, U.S. Department of the Treasury
• Louisa Quittman, director, Financial Education, Office of Consumer Policy, U.S. Department of the Treasury
• Ida Rademacher, chief program officer, CFED
• Julie Riddle, program administrator, Bank On Kansas City
• Michael Rochelle, project director, Financial Capability & Asset Building, Center for Social Development, Washington University in St. Louis
• Yvonne Sparks, community development officer, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
• Jennifer Tescher, president and CEO, Center for Financial Services Innovation
• John Thompson, president, Advent Financial
• Lillian “Beadsie” Woo, senior associate, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Paul Woodruff, community development manager, St. Louis Community Credit Union