Judges

Ashlyn’s expertise lies in building partnerships between fintech startups and Fortune 100 companies, helping to drive innovation and growth for both parties. Her ability to identify opportunities for collaboration and drive meaningful relationships has made her a valuable asset to her organisations.

She graduated from Princeton University with a degree in anthropology and entrepreneurship. Since then, she has spent five years working in large financial services institutions across life insurance and banking.

Outside of her corporate work, Ashlyn is deeply involved in the fintech community. She serves as a mentor for both Queen City Fintech and Holt Xchange, helping to guide and support early-stage startups. Additionally, she is the community manager for Women in Banking, Finance and Fintech, where she helps to foster connections and promote diversity and inclusion in the industry.

David is an insurtech community leader, public speaker, and insurtech adviser. He has been featured and recognised in insurance media including Carrier Management, Digital Insurance, IIR, AM Best TV, and Insurance Journal. David is the co-founder of InsurTech NY, an accelerator and global hub for the insurtech community. David also serves as a strategic adviser to high-growth insurtechs to help them go from concept to scale.

Previously, David has served as director of innovation for the Silicon Valley Insurance Accelerator (SVIA) and has led product at Zero, a behavioural safety-focused insurtech acquired by EverestRe. He holds a JD from the Mitchell Hamline School of Law and business and industrial engineering degrees from Lehigh University.

Elizabeth Thomas is the programme director at the Mass Fintech Hub. Elizabeth works with a team of more than 30 executive leaders in Massachusetts fintech and financial services to create a hub that supports the acceleration of the Massachusetts fintech ecosystem. In 2022, Elizabeth led the team to deliver impactful programming for a community of over 1000 fintech enthusiasts.  

Elizabeth’s previous experience was in international economic development working for the Australian and UK federal agencies. Elizabeth has supported countless companies by facilitating their growth and international expansion journey.

Lisa served as the chairman of the board at ISITC North America from 2019 through 2021. Presently, she holds the officer position of immediate past chair. Lisa was responsible for the strategic direction and growth of the independent non-profit financial services organization.

Since 2021, Lisa has been the chairman of the finance committee for Accredited Standards Committee, X9 Inc. In 2022 Lisa was elected to the board of directors for Boston Women in Finance.

Lisa is the director of strategic engagements at Securrency. Prior to this, Lisa worked at InvestCloud (formerly Fiserv and Tegra118) for 11 years, most recently, as director of account management, responsible for North American client relationships for institutional services and solutions.

Nick Chandi is a co-chair of the BC Tech CEO Scale C-Council, a non-profit that helps tech companies to grow in British Columbia, and a regular contributor to the Forbes Finance Council. Chandi is also the chief executive officer and co-founder of ForwardAI, as well as a serial entrepreneur. Prior to ForwardAI, he built and exited multiple successful businesses during his two decades in accounting technology and finance

Patricia (Pat) is the vice president – payment processing for YoungWilliams, a company dedicated to providing government agencies with the tools and technologies needed to modernise their services.   

Pat’s career spans multiple disciplines and includes experience in government health and human services delivery, banking, technology, business operations, marketing, and sales. Previous positions and duties include senior vice president, where she led an initiative to create industry-specific payment solutions with a focus on the public sector. She also served as managing director at one of the nation’s largest financial institutions. There, she was responsible for public sector business development, financial services solution development across multiple industries and international cash management solutions. 

She is a long-time member of the board of directors of the Electronic Funds Transfer Association (EFTA) and served as chair from 2015 – 2020.  She is an active podcaster and conference presenter. Additionally, Pat participated in an executive education symposium: Women and Power: Leadership in a New World facilitated by the Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government. The program focused on effective leadership strategies that include, but are not limited to, the skills necessary to analyse political and strategic management issues, understand women in the workplace, negotiation, coalition-building, communication capabilities, and how to build a diverse network of women leaders. This group convenes annually to continue the educational process augmented by shared experiences of the symposium participants. 

Penny is a seasoned business, political, and communications leader. She has worked extensively in the public and private sectors, advising Fortune 500 companies and political candidates and operating venture-backed companies and mission-driven organisations.

Currently, Penny is CEO of the Financial Technology Association (FTA), a Washington, DC-based trade association representing some of the leading global fintech companies.  Before joining FTA, Penny led the public affairs practice group at Invariant, a leading bipartisan government relations and strategic communications firm.

Additionally, her prior roles include chief strategy officer at 1776, a Washington, DC-based tech incubator, senior adviser to US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and communications director for Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell.

In 2013, Penny co-founded and chaired an angel investment group, K Street Capital, and currently serves on the board of Black Girl Ventures, an organisation dedicated to providing support and capital to Black and Brown female-identifying founders.

Lee holds a BA with a double major in journalism and political science from Baylor University.

Sokhiba Mukhitdinova is investment principal at InsurTech NY, a venture capital fund in New York, US.

Since joining in 2022, Sokhiba’s mission is to invest in early-stage startups, backing diverse founders driving innovation in the insurance space operating in the US, UK and Europe.

Founded in 2019, InsurTech NY supports the insurance innovation community in New York and beyond through bringing together carriers, brokers, investors, and InsurTech startups.

InsurTech NY’s mission is to help support the insurance industry, take advantage of the latest digital technology to improve efficiencies and increase revenue, and be ready for the inevitable digitally transformed insurance industry.

In addition to her VC investment career, Sokhiba is certified angel investor mainly investing in early-stage fintech and climate-tech startups, she is a member of UK Business Angel Association and several angel syndicates in UK, Spain and Portugal.

Sokhiba also has strong expertise in investment banking and risk management, having worked in leading financial institutions and the City of London for over 15 years.

Sujata brings 17 years of experience and expertise in financial services and technology, across asset management, investment management, digital banking and innovation at multinational banks and startups. Sujata led teams across the UK and US in investment, strategy, product, sales, digital and innovation at HSBC and fintech startups to modernise technology and enhance revenue. As founder and chief executive officer she launched future of work marketplace You’ve Got This. She has an MBA from the London Business School and an Innovative Technology Leader certificate from Stanford. She was awarded the TIE London Intrapreneur of the Year Award in 2018 and finalist at the Women in Investment Awards in 2019 and the Women in Finance Awards 2019.

Sujata is an advisory board member and judge for the Money2020 Rise Up Leadership program. She is an active investor in fintech and has chaired and participated in industry round tables on AI in financial services and U.K. India Tech. Sujata has spoken at international conferences on entrepreneurship, innovation strategy, remote leadership, future of work, digital banking, finances and fintech including Money20/20, Finimize, Pay360, PayExpo, London & Partners Business Growth Program, Oxford University, Women in Climate Tech, Smart Energy GB and Facebook She Means Business.