BIOs
John Noltensmeyer, Head of Privacy and Compliance Solutions, TokenEx
I am a privacy and data security professional with over 20 years of experience in information technology. At TokenEx, I have responsibility for product management as well as helping a global customer base meet their data security and privacy compliance obligations.
Prior to joining TokenEx, my career spanned both the financial services sector and federal government. While at BAE Systems, I worked as a Senior Principal Software Engineer architecting web applications for the United States Intelligence Community and as the technical lead for the IT Security Team at the International Trade Administration (ITA), United States Department of Commerce (USDOC). I also worked as an IT Security Analyst for Centre Solutions, a business unit of Zurich Financial Services, and as a Systems Planner for American Century Investments.
My qualifications include the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and multiple International Association of Privacy Professional (IAPP) certifications; as well as extensive knowledge of payment card industry security standards.
Dr Joshua Ellul, Chairman, MDIA and Director, Centre for DLT
Dr Joshua Ellul is the director of the Centre for Distributed Ledger Technologies and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Malta. He was instrumental in the setting up of a multidisciplinary Masters in Blockchain and DLT at the University of Malta. He is also Chairperson of the Malta Digital Innovation Authority which is responsible for aspects of technology regulation and providing guidance to stakeholders operating in the blockchain, DLT and smart contract sector.
Rebekah Duca, Chief Officer Compliance, MGA
Rebekah Duca is the Chief Officer Compliance at the MGA. She joined the Authority in 2011, as a Licensee Relationship Executive and then proceeded to occupy the positions of Systems and Financial Auditor, Authorisations Manager and Head of Regulatory Supervision and Compliance prior to being appointed Chief Officer Compliance. Currently, she is responsible for the supervisory aspect of all MGA licensees. Rebekah heads the Compliance team, the AML team, the Regulatory Supervision function, and the Land-Based team. She is also a member of the Supervisory Council, Commercial Communications Committee and the Fit & Proper Committee within the MGA.
Rebekah holds a Bachelor Degree in Science (Business and Computing) and a Master in Business Administration (e-business) from the University of Malta. She is also a Certified Information System Auditor (CISA) and has served as a member of the Board of the Malta Chapter of ISACA for six years where she is the current president.
Daniel Bilocca, KSi Malta
Experienced Risk and Compliance Professional with a demonstrated knowledge and expertise related to the Financial Services Industry. Prior joining KSi Malta Daniel has occupied a number of roles at HSBC Bank Malta, succeeding in roles within Contact Centre, Retail banking, Commercial Banking and for the last years has occupied senior roles related to Anti-Money Laundering, Compliance and Risk Management.
Joined KSi Malta as their Head of Risk & Compliance in April 2018. In addition to manning our Compliance division, his responsibilities also consist in formulating internal policies related to AML and Risk, consultant and advisor for external clients and setting up presentation on related subjects to be delivered to both internal and external stakeholders.
Since the implementation of enhanced supervision, our firm has assisted numerous leading market players in their respective sectors, with our tailor-made compliance and due diligence services. Having previously worked as a Relationship Manager for over
100 commercial relationships and having occupied a number of roles within the largest branches at HSBC, Daniel is very customer oriented and has established a number of multi-national relationships since joining the firm.
Joel Lange, Managing Director, Acuris Risk Intelligence
Joel Lange joins us from Dow Jones’s Risk & Compliance division where he led the business for over 4 years through a period of significant growth with a product portfolio focusing on Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Corruption and Sanctions Compliance. Mr Lange has over a decade of experience in the compliance and transaction operations industry holding senior sales, product and professional service roles at Dow Jones, Accuity and Broadridge. Mr Lange is a regular speaker on compliance topics at conferences around the world. Mr Lange holds a BA in International Relations from the University of Minnesota and a MSC in International Finance from the University of Westminster.
Andre Stivala, Compliance and Assurance Advisor, Kyte Global
Andre Stivala is a Compliance and Assurance Advisor here at Kyte, in the fields of InfoSec and CyberSec, PCI and ISO27001, Privacy and Data Protection, and more. As 1 of Privsec200 professionals who have made significant contributions to the privacy and security sectors, Andre’s passion for technology can be traced back to his pre-professional days. Whether in a robotics project with Tony Dyson or simply PC building, he has been on an ICT and tech path from the start. The reason? He likes finding gaps in tech that need security overhauls.
Outside of the office, he speaks three languages, rides motorcycles, plays the Digeridoo and if challenged, cannot be beaten at fantasy trivia.
Erim Bilgin, Penetration Tester, Kyte Global
Erim Bilgin grew up in Istanbul fiddling too much with televisions and computers. Now, with a cybersecurity background in network & host infrastructures and specialising in RF protocols, Erim is currently hard at work hunting vulnerabilities in globally-respected client infrastructures, building automated tools to ease penetration testing workflow for everyone in the community, testing various RF equipment and modifying TV broadcast protocols for his own amusement.
Neil Smith, Head of Business Development, UK,EMEA & APAC, Forter
A result orientated, banking, payments, Fraud, loyalty and financial services professional, currently Head of Business Development, UK,EMEA & APAC at Forter Inc. This includes the positioning of Forters fraud solutions and services to Merchants, Acquirers, PSP, Issuers and other financial services partners. The platform and products allow for the fraud decisions, machine learning and AI to protect our clients plus extend this beyond conventional transactions into “Person data”. The role comprises of expertise in regulations changes including but not limited PSD2, SCA & 3DS.
Expertise during my time in the payments industry allows for strategic inputs into proximity commerce, HCE, tokenisation, NFC payments, 3DS 2.0, GDPR, PSD2 & EMV and fraud, risk and security. The creation of strategy in the mobile and payments space, monetising the eco system and driving ROI through cost reduction whilst maintaining a tight P&L balance sheet, ensures a cohesive network of retail banks and merchants. In addition, other areas of expertise and product knowledge would be in the VAS (Value Added Services) Chip & PIN and PCI DSS.
I have worked in a number of organizations where technology meets financial services and retail, and have held a variety of specialist, strategic, technical, commercial, consulting and leadership roles inclusive of Fraud, Risk and Compliance. Held senior positions in VISA, FDR, FIS and was also an Associate Member of a key business consultancy firm ‘The Business Performance Consultancy Group’ and ‘The International Investor’ among others.
A distinctive individual who masters negotiations, thought leadership and innovation across a range of product portfolios, whilst extending his business negotiations with key strategic partners across the global commercial industry and bankingenvironments.
A member of the IAFCI (International Association Financial Crime Investigations) and is CFCI qualified (Certified Financial Crime Investigator).
Diane Abela, Director of Security, GiG
Diane is the Director of Information Security at Gaming Innovation Group, responsible for the corporate and product security of the B2B gaming technology provider. Diane has managed information security, governance and risk initiatives across a variety of sectors, including Gaming, Technology, Property Management, Industrial Engineering and Logistics. She has a track record in adopting and adapting industry-known security frameworks, such as ISO 27001 and NIST CSX, applied to companies with international presence inside and outside of Europe.
Diane holds a Bachelor Degree in IT (Computer Information Systems and Artificial Intelligence) from the University of Malta and a Master of Science degree in IT Management and Organisational Change, from Lancaster University. She is also a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA).
Ken Gilmour, CEO, Knogin
Ken Gilmour has over 20 years of cyber security experience and was one of the first people in Europe to get certified in CPTS and CEH. Ken is the CEO of Knogin, Cyber Security company, and he helps consult businesses on their security needs at the C-suite level. In a world of data breaches and leaked personal data, Ken uses his expertise to develop stronger security and IT teams within organizations.
Short product overview
Through Behavioral Analysis and Automation Intelligence, CyberEasy gives you visibility across your network to Monitor, Manage and Remediate (in REAL TIME) when incidents occur. Stop the effects of Insider Threats, Phishing, Ransom and other anomalous behavior on your systems.
He has acted as co-chair and is a member of the scientific program committee on some international conferences and is a chief editor, editor and review editor of some Journals and Book Series. He has been awarded outstanding reviewer for Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance in the 2017 Emerald Literati Awards.
Jack P. Kruf, Director, Governance Connect
Following a Masters Degree at Wageningen University (cum laude) I am qualified as a Chartered Engineer in Forest Ecology as well as in Social Psychology. I held a number of project, city and chief executive management posts in the private and public sector. Former pianist (still a tiny part), decathlete (once), tennis player (Roger fan), forest steward (by heart) and chartered lifeguard (soul).
I am director of Governance Connect, a small consultancy and editorial firm related to strategy & design of public governance. With daughter Michelle Kruf I founded Q Dock, an initiative for creating and producing fine art prints for home and office.
Internationally involved in Public Risk Management Organisation (PRIMO Europe) as president in close alliance with the European Federation of Local Authority Chief Executives (UDITE).
Vladimir Shishkaryov, Intergiro
Vladimir studied at Belarusian State University in Minsk and started his career at the university lab working as a young scientist. Since then, he has worked as a software engineer for a few years, and more recently started as a system administrator and later as DevOps engineer.
After joining Intergiro, he was promoted to DevOps lead taking wider responsibility for DevOps processes, product release cycles and infrastructure building.
In his role, Vladimir maintains distributed and highly-loaded banking systems focusing on the security and privacy of customers’ data. He has recently been preparing the Google Cloud environment for Intergiro’s PCI DSS certification.
Vladimir’s main expertise is in system administration, DBA, cloud architecture and deployment management and he has experience working with container-based systems on various cloud providers (like AWS, Google Cloud, Digital Ocean and etc.) and bare machines setups (private datacenters), working mainly on the stack of Docker container, Kubernetes.
His current focus is on the reliability and security aspects of systems based on Cloud technologies, Virtualization & Containerization and Container orchestration tools.
Outside of work, Vladimir enjoys cycling, reading and playing video games.
Intergiro is building the financial toolkit for digital businesses to thrive. For more information visit intergiro.com
Lennart Koopmans, CEO, Magnius
Lennart started his first business at the age of 22. His first project, right after graduating in Technical Business Administration, was to establish a new business unit within a company. It was during that time that Lennart got infected with the entrepreneurial disease. After this first project, he founded multiple companies: an internet marketing agency, an online fashion company, an IT consultancy practice and Magnius in 2015.
Why Magnius? ‘When I had my fashion company I used a PSP to handle all my payments,’ Lennart begins. ‘On the hand super convenient, on the other hand one big black box. I had for example no idea why a payment was declined and my PSP did not answer my questions about specific payments.’ As a merchant, you can probably imagine how frustrating this was.
After Lennart sold this ecommerce company, he realised he could do something about the payment troubles he experienced as a merchant. ‘This is how Magnius was born. I wanted to create a product that makes the payment industry more efficient and also gives merchants insights and control about their payments.’
Since there are too many merchants in the world to help each and everyone individually, Magnius is also available (and suitable!) for PSPs, MSPs and even banks. ‘This way,’ Lennart explains, ‘we enable as many merchants as possible to offer easy and secure payment options to their customers.’
‘The thing is, there are continuously new techniques and new regulations introduced in our industry. For a non-specialized company, it is almost impossible to stay up to date about all of this. Let alone to attune your payment platform to it. But if you do not continuously update your products and services, your platform will become redundant. We keep track of trends, new techniques and regulations. We are the first ones to implement them. This way, our clients are assured of a topnotch payment platform. We call it an IPP: the Intelligent Payment Platform.’
You can book Lennart as a (keynote) speaker about the payment industry. On stage, or in a expert panel, he will share his thoughts on how to make the payment industry more comprehensible and accessible. Lennart is also the father of two beautiful daughters (4 and 0). This year, he and his family will move to a new-build home in Oegstgeest, a place close to the sea and lots of nature around.
Dr Simon Grima Ph.D, the Head of the Department of Insurance
Dr. Simon Grima, is the Head of the Department of Insurance, in charge of the Bachelor of Commerce in Insurance, the Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) and Master’s degrees in Insurance and Risk Management and a Senior lecturer at the University of Malta. He set up the Insurance Department in 2015 and started and coordinates the MA and MSc Insurance and Risk Management degrees. He served as the President of the Malta Association of Risk Management (MARM) between 2013 and 2015, and President of the Malta Association of Compliance Officers (MACO) between 2016 and 2018. Moreover, he is among the first Certified Risk Management Professional (FERMA), is the chairman of the Scientific Education Committee of the Public Risk Management Organization (PRIMO) and a member of the curriculum development team of Professional Risk Managers’ International Association (PRMIA) in 2014. His research focus and consultancy is on Governance, Regulations and Internal Controls (i.e. Risk Management, Internal Audit and Compliance) and has over 30 years of experience varied between Financial Services and with public entities in academia, Internal Controls, Investments and IT. He acts as an Independent Director for Financial Services Firms, sits on Risk, Compliance, Procurement, Investment and Audit Committees and carries out duties as a Compliance Officer, Internal Auditor and Risk Manager.
He has acted as co-chair and is a member of the scientific program committee on some international conferences and is a chief editor, editor and review editor of some Journals and Book Series. He has been awarded outstanding reviewer for Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance in the 2017 Emerald Literati Awards.
Christina Thakor-Rankin, Principal Consultant, 1710 Gaming
Christina has over 25 years’ experience working in the betting and gambling industry with a career spanning both land and online gaming, across all aspects of gaming operations, regulatory compliance and money laundering.
Previously holding senior roles with some of world’s leading brands such as William Hill and Virgin managing multiple teams and functions across a range of channels and products and currently Principal Consultant at 1710 Gaming Ltd working with start-ups, investors, established operators, regulators, law enforcement and industry groups across the world, advising on all aspects of betting, gaming and gambling strategy, operations and compliance including as a practicing Compliance Officer and MLRO.
She is a committee member of the National Council on Problem Gambling, advisor to the All India Gaming Federation and Co-Founder of the All-In Diversity Project as well as being a regular contributor to industry publications and events.
Simon Otten, Key Account Manager Digital Content, CRIF Buergel
Simon Otten is Head of KAM Digital Content at CRIFBUERGEL GmbH in Germany. He was instrumental in setting up a new department and a micro service based platform for offering a range of compliance & fraud related tools and services. Combining tools and services for solving compliance or fraud challenges is his passion and motivates him to wake up every morning. Several customer within the igaming industrie trust his experience and knowledge.
Alex Dreyfus, CEO Chiliz & Socios.com
Alex is a serial web entrepreneur with more than 22 years experience in the digital space, building and developing tech businesses. In the late 1990s, he pioneered Webcity, the web-based interactive tourism guide, before completing a buyout with retail giant Carrefour, and later merging with a competitor service and selling to Yelp. After co-founding Winamax (the largest French online poker room) and Chilipoker in 2006, the underpinning technology platform was sold to Bally Technologies (now Scientific Games). In 2012, he formed Mediarex Sports & Entertainment, and in 2013 acquired the Global Poker Index (live Poker’s leading ranking authority) as well as The Hendon Mob (the largest live poker database in the world). As part of the Mediarex group, Chiliz was formed in 2018, when the official whitepaper was published, outlining a vision to create the $CHZ cryptocurrency and a blockchain-based fan engagement and rewards platform for sports fans. By mid 2018, $66 million had been raised through private placement and Socios.com, the world’s first fan voting and rewards platform for football and sports clubs, was born shortly afterwards. Socios.com has now grown to include 9 official partners: Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, West Ham United, OG, AS Roma, Atlético de Madrid, Galatasaray, Club Atlético Independiente, FC Barcelona and UFC, with a view to expand further into other sporting and entertainment verticals as well as other markets. Chiliz.net, the world’s first crypto exchange for sports and entertainment, went live in Q2 with Juventus Fan Tokens being the first to be listed. This marked the beginning of a new tradeable class of digital asset, where price is defined by market demand arising from factors such as fan sentiment, match results, tournament victories as well as transfer window activity.
Rasmus Kjaergaard, CEO, Mindway AI
Rasmus Kjaergaard is the Company Executive Officer at Mindway AI. At Mindway AI we combine neuroscience and AI in our solutions for identifying, preventing and intervening in at-risk and problem gambling. Mindway AI is a spin-out of Aarhus University in Denmark with 10+ years of research in neuroscience, neuroimaging and problem gambling, converting research results into responsible gambling solutions. Prior to joining Mindway AI as CEO, Rasmus held the position as VP Sales at another it-company in Aarhus, Denmark focusing on digital identities and digital signatures, and growing this business to a five-fold size. Rasmus has 20 years of experience from various sales and relationship positions in the IT industry, and he holds a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (Sales and Marketing Management).
He has acted as co-chair and is a member of the scientific program committee on some international conferences and is a chief editor, editor and review editor of some Journals and Book Series. He has been awarded outstanding reviewer for Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance in the 2017 Emerald Literati Awards.
Rebecca Emily Dalli Gonzi, architect, project co-ordinator and lecturer
Rebecca Emily Dalli Gonzi PhD (Glasg), MSc (Edin), B.E. & A. (Melit) (Hons), A. & C.E., A.L.C.M. (Lond), is an architect, project co-ordinator and lecturer. She is a registered and certified civil engineer by the Chamber of Architects, Malta. She has worked in the private and public sector, both in Malta and in Scotland. She is a resident academic at the University of Malta lecturing project management in the Department of Construction and Property Management and within the Department of Insurance, lecturing on Geopolitical and Environmental Risk and Business continuity Management. During her residency in Scotland she was appointed as project team member at the Scottish Executive government. Her work contributed towards her PhD studies. During the final stages of analysis she was appointed as consultant to the local Maltese government for a period of six months. She was prize winner of a scholarship in Scotland and awarded a scholarship through EU funds. She has founded The DALI Model, which is a tool used for decision-making and preparedness during processes of rapid organisational change. Her book titled ‘Change and continuity management in the public sector’ reinforces the idea that decisions for good governance should always strive to bring country performance to the forefront, through an eight themed approach. Her current research focuses on 4 areas: engineering; decision-making models for organizational management, strategic project management and process improvement. Rebecca has been a reviewer of journals and has chaired conferences. She continues to publish and has won the Best Conference Paper Award in April 2018.
Rakele Cini, Independent Consultant
Dr. Rakele Cini is an Independent Consultant. A lawyer by profession, Dr. Cini has acquired over twelve years of experience within several areas including the prevention of money laundering and funding of terrorism, risk management, conflict checks, compliance and lectures regularly on various legal topics.
Mark Anthony Camilleri, Head of Sales and Executive Director, Western Union Business Solutions
With over 19 years’ experience within the payments industry, Mark Anthony Camilleri started his career with Travelex in 2001 before the company was bought out by Western Union Business Solutions in 2011. His journey in Payments Industry started in Operations position to later becoming a CRM manager and now he is the Head of Sales and Executive Director at Western Union Business Solutions Malta. Throughout his professional career, Mark Anthony Camilleri gained knowledge and skills to handle a wide variety of clients ranging from VSE/ SMEs to Corporate Banks. Handling circa 1000 clients on the books while also managing his team members have contributed to both, personal and professional growth.
Erika Federis, Legal Counsel, Wirex
Erika Federis is a lawyer at Wirex, a digital payments company that seeks to drive mass adoption of cryptocurrencies via the seamless integration of the use of fiat and crypto on its platform. Prior to joining Wirex as Legal Counsel, Erika has been an avid follower of the blockchain and crypto arena and has published articles on numerous topics surrounding the space, including ICOs and hype creation, stablecoins and e-money, and the use of blockchain technology in the payments industry.
Alex Beavan, Head of Fraud, Western Union
Alex Beavan is currently the Head of Fraud Investigation for Western Union Business Solutions. Previously he was in Law Enforcement for 30yrs and served in the Counter Terrorism Command and Special Branch in the UK. He was also attached to the Ministry of Defense. He specialized in the counter terrorism, counter intelligence and terrorism/ serious organized crime financial investigation. He has been involved in many of the most high-profile terrorism investigations in the last 25yrs including a number as the lead financial investigator receiving a number of awards. He has also presented across the globe on fraud to businesses, financial institutions, law enforcement, and intelligence groups. He is a subject matter expert on Business Email Compromise.
Mark Fenech, IT Auditor
With 25 years of experience in the IT and Financial Services industry, Mark Fenech leads the IT Audit Team of a bank listed as an OSII (Other Systemically Important Institution). He is a Member of the Business Continuity Institute (United Kingdom) and also a regular speaker on a variety of topics, and will be delighted if you connect with him on social media or drop him a message on mark@itaudit.me to discuss or make suggestions on this topic.
Christopher Cutajar, Senior Security Engineer, Elastic
Christopher Cutajar is a Senior Security Engineer at Elastic. He forms part of a team of security professionals from around the globe who supports the company different units with both technical and governance security expertise. Prior to Elastic, Christopher spent a number of years within the payment industry where amongst other roles, he served the role of Group Information Security Manager at RS2 Software PLC., responsible for the group information security operations, payment application security and governance. Christopher is also a security freelancer and researcher. Christopher comes from a technical background graduated in Computing Science from the University of Malta, he pursued and obtained a MSc in Information Security from Royal Holloway, University of London. He is also a Certified Information Security Professional (CISSP). His main areas of interest include application security, threat hunting, security testing and digital forensics.
Viktoria Soltez, Founder, PSP Angels
I am the founder of the payment consulting firm, PSP Angels, which helps online businesses optimising their payment flows and costs by finding the best payment and banking solutions. (pspangels.com). I also run my finance and tax consulting firm in Cyprus for over 12 years now. (viktoriasoltesz.com)
I have extensive experience with high risk industries, and used to work as a Chief Financial Officer with various Fintech & E-commerce companies.
I used to lecture at the University of West London and I am a regular speaker at blockchain, fintech and investment conferences.
I am also a member of the Directors Chambers (directorschambers.com)
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