Justin Bigham is a seasoned finance and business leader with over 30 years of experience guiding organizations through transformation, growth, and strategic change. As Chief Financial Officer at Pathfinder Bank, he leads a diverse portfolio of functions including finance, treasury, FP&A, investor relations, investment services, product management, human resources, and project management. Justin plays a key role as a strategic advisor to the CEO and Board, helping drive long-term value and operational excellence for the organization.

Throughout his career, Justin has embraced complex transitions, from restructuring teams and rebuilding culture, to repositioning organizations for performance and scale. Prior to Pathfinder, he served as Chief Financial Officer and later Chief Community Banking Officer at Five Star Bank, where he oversaw several lines of business and over 300 employees. He has also held senior leadership roles at First Niagara and M&T Bank, and began his career in public accounting at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Justin is a CPA and a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and the Columbia Business School Executive Leadership Program. He is passionate about developing people, creating connections across generations, and leading with authenticity. Outside of work, he stays active by playing competitive soccer, a lifelong passion that’s been a constant since childhood. He also spent over a decade coaching his kids’ soccer teams from youth through high school and is proud that both have become accomplished players in their own right. When not on the field, he occasionally trades humility for hope on the golf course and enjoys exploring local craft beer and live music. Justin has also served on several nonprofit boards, always seeking to build up others in both professional and personal communities.

Alex Cannon leads global strategy for Risk and Finance Solutions within Moody's Banking Business Unit. His background includes divisional CFO roles at regional and community banks, with expertise in corporate finance, corporate development, M&A accounting, risk modeling, financial reporting, and credit loss quantification. Alex is an active CPA in the state of Georgia, and holds BBAs in Finance and Real Estate, as well as a Masters in Accounting from Georgia State University.

Graham Hixon joined Stifel in 2018 and covers depositories. Previously, he worked in Mergers & Acquisitions at Regions Financial. Earlier in his career, Graham worked at J.P. Morgan in Diversified Industries and the United States Senate covering economic policy. He received a BA from The University of Alabama in Political Science and an MBA from Georgetown University.

As Managing Director in PwC’s Financial Markets and Real Estate practice, Aaron is responsible for Investor Survey, and the firm’s real estate market intelligence. Investor Survey is widely recognized as an authoritative source that provides insight into the current investment criteria used by major equity investors of institutional-grade commercial real estate.

With a deep understanding of markets throughout the country, he provides a unique perspective on market dynamics across asset types and investment strategies, providing clients with tailored data and analytics to ultimately guide decision-making solutions.

Prior to joining PwC, he spent nearly 10 years at Colliers where, as Director of Research, U.S. Capital Markets, he built all research capabilities within the Capital Markets platform. These included best-in-class research reports, weekly insight posts, thought leadership, and contributions to numerous panels, media outlets, and industry events.

Prior to that, he spent 11 years with Property & Portfolio Research (PPR), later CoStar Portfolio Strategy, where he was responsible for the leadership, direction, and performance of a team of economists who monitored property markets across the United States. Aaron also advised institutional clients, including lenders, REITs, and investment managers along with government agencies on their commercial real estate investment strategies across property sectors.

Chris has more than 35 years’ experience tracking US and global economies, financial markets, central banks, and fiscal policy, as well as six years’ experience as a money manager, giving him a unique ability to distill economic events into information useful to investors.

Chris writes daily economic and market updates, weekly economic commentaries, and regular economic forecasts. He is a frequent and popular speaker at national conferences and forums. He is a member of SIFMA’s Economic Committee and the American Bankers Association’s Economic Advisory Committee to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, where he has served as Chairman.

Chris has been quoted in Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and many other publications around the world. He is a regular on Bloomberg TV, CNBC, and Fox Business Channel, and on BBC World Service radio and American Public Media’s “Marketplace.” Chris has been recognized multiple times by Bloomberg as the most accurate forecaster of Treasury note yields.

Chris is a graduate of New York University.

With over 25 years of experience in the finance and risk management software industry, I am the CEO of Empyrean Solutions, a company that provides premier balance sheet modeling solutions for financial institutions. My mission is to help our clients optimize their performance, manage their risks, and comply with regulatory requirements, using our integrated platform that covers ALM, Stress Testing, FTP, Liquidity, Budgeting, Profitability, and CECL.

Shawn Main serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Business Architect at Vantage Bank, where he leads the Shared Services division. In this role, Shawn ensures strategic alignment between business and technology to enhance customer experiences and drive operational efficiency. His team is responsible for developing innovative applications and solutions, leveraging data analytics, overseeing member partnerships, and conducting ongoing outreach to customers—providing technical guidance, sharing insights on banking solutions, and identifying opportunities to enhance service offerings.

Shawn has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, including 18 years at Vantage Bank. Throughout his tenure at Vantage Bank, he has held several key leadership positions, each enhancing his expertise in banking operations, technology integration, and risk management. Before stepping into his current role, he served as Bank Cashier & Deposit Operations Manager, overseeing bank operations, compliance, and customer service channels. As Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Shawn played a critical role in shaping the bank’s long-term IT strategy, optimizing infrastructure, and driving the adoption of modern technology solutions to support business growth.

Shawn is a graduate of The University of Texas at San Antonio, where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems, graduating Magna Cum Laude. His strong background in technology and financial services, combined with his leadership in aligning IT resources with business objectives, makes him a key driver of Vantage Bank’s continued innovation and customer-centric approach.

A dedicated leader with a passion for problem-solving and forward thinking, Shawn is committed to ensuring that Vantage Bank remains at the forefront of digital banking solutions while maintaining the personal, relationship-driven service that defines the institution.

Larry has been a trusted partner to community financial institutions for over two decades in both an advisory and a transactional capacity. He holds a BS degree from Cornell University in Applied Economics & Finance, as well as an MBA in Finance from Stony Brook University. He started his career in banking & capital markets and has been managing the financial needs for financial institutions ever since. He is a firm believer in taking a disciplined, balance sheet approach to investment portfolio management while minimizing all of the distractions that find their way into the process.

Eri Panoti leads Chatham's Financial Institutions Hedge Accounting team, advising clients on hedge accounting policy and application for both balance sheet risk management strategies, as well as customer hedging needs. She brings more than a decade of experience in banking and accounting to help financial institutions determine the best accounting impact of their hedging activity. Prior to joining Chatham, Eri was manager of accounting policy on derivatives and hedging at KeyBank in Cleveland, Ohio, and held audit positions at Deloitte, also based in Cleveland. She earned her Master of Business Administration with accounting concentration, as well as her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Baldwin Wallace University. Eri is a licensed CPA, a Chartered Global Management Accountant, and a member of the American Institute of CPAs.

Nicolas serves as the Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer of Kennebec Savings Bank, a $1.8 billion community bank headquartered in Augusta, Maine. With more than 15 years of banking experience, he oversees the Bank’s financial strategy, accounting operations, asset/liability management, budgeting and regulatory reporting.

Nicolas plays a key role in guiding the Bank’s long‑term financial strength while supporting its commitment to being a responsible, customer-focused community institution. He works closely with the executive team and Board on strategic initiatives that strengthen the Bank’s ability to serve as a primary financial partner and positively contribute to the communities it serves.

Nicolas is a graduate of the University of Maine and the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking.

Nathan Stovall is the director of the financial institutions research team for S&P Global Market Intelligence, which is responsible for data-driven news and research focused on banks, insurers and fintechs. Nathan has more than 20 years of experience covering the financial institutions sector, with a focus on U.S. banks.

He is the author of the banking blog, Street Talk, and host of the podcast by the same name. He publishes quarterly outlooks for the U.S. banking industry as well as a separate outlook focused exclusively on U.S. community banks.

During his tenure, he has regularly covered and participated on the conference circuit as a speaker and moderator of panels and webinars focused on major issues facing banks. He has been quoted in a number of trade publications and the national press, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Economist and has appeared on CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Fox Business News and NPR's Planet Money.

Nathan holds a Bachelor of Arts degrees from Washington & Lee University, where he majored in business journalism.

Joe Sass is an experienced ALM and Fixed Income Risk professional, with 25+ years of experience in helping solve the balance sheet management challenges of financial institutions.

He currently serves as the Global Head of FIS’ Balance Sheet Management business.

It is his role to position the business unit's strategic and operational plans to help customers meet current and future challenges in balance sheet management, including Asset Liability Management/IRRBB, Liquidity Risk Mgmt., Stress Testing and Capital Adequacy (ICAAP), scenario analysis and what-if, FTP, profitability, credit loss and allowance modelling (IFRS9 ECL), hedge accounting and regulatory reporting.

In prior roles at FIS/SunGard, Joe served as the Managing Director for Risk and Performance-North America, Director of Product Strategy-North America, and head of the US Professional Services group, responsible for all North and South American balance sheet management implementations.

Before joining SunGard, Joe worked as the Interest Rate Risk Manager at Provident Bank, in the Washington D.C.-Baltimore corridor.

Preceding Provident, he worked in the Treasury and ALM departments of USF&G, a property and casualty and life insurer in Baltimore, Maryland.

Jon Sundberg is a Director on Chatham's Financial Institutions team, helping clients install, grow, and optimize balance sheet hedging and customer hedging programs.

Prior to joining Chatham, Jon served community bank clients for over 10 years. He developed and launched a community bank investment portfolio management service at PFM Asset Management. He also served as Vice President of Institutional Sales at Janney Montgomery Scott. In these roles he developed targeted strategies to meet clients’ performance goals.

Jon graduated from Tulane University with a bachelor’s degree in finance and legal studies in business.