National Banking Symposium – 2026 Sector Outlook

Tom Michaud serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW), an investment bank specializing in the financial services sector. Since joining the firm in 1986 as a credit analyst trainee, he has spent 36 years developing the KBW franchise and leading many of its businesses. Tom co-led the firm’s rebuilding efforts following 9/11 and was instrumental in launching the firm’s IPO in 2006.

Tom was named CEO in October 2011, assuming direction of all business lines in the United States and Europe. Under his leadership, KBW has evolved into the premier investment bank to the financial services industry. The company is routinely recognized for its leadership in mergers & acquisitions, capital raising, and equity research. Tom maintains strong personal relationships with leading industry executives, policy makers, and institutional investors and has been instrumental in executing many of KBW’s largest transactions. More recently, Tom has become a leading authority on the digitalization of banking and the emergence of fintech.

In February 2013, Tom led the firm’s merger into Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE: SF). KBW is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Stifel and Tom serves as Senior Vice President and a member of Stifel’s Institutional Group Management Committee. Tom is a member of the Board of Directors of 9/11 Day, the nonprofit organization that established and leads the September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance, the nation’s largest annual day of charitable engagement. He also serves on the Board of the Foreign Policy Association of New York and the Board of Leaders of the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. Tom is a graduate of Middlebury College where he studied Economics and played baseball. Early in his career, Tom attended night school and earned an MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business.

Christopher D. Wolfe is a managing director in Fitch Ratings’ financial institutions group. His responsibilities include overseeing the coverage of ratings and analysis on U.S. banking institutions. He is also a member of Fitch’s corporate finance criteria committee.

Prior to joining Fitch in 1999, Christopher was a financial analyst with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He was responsible for collateral valuation and review, and acceptance of accountholders and counterparties with the bank’s credit and risk management department.

Christopher earned a B.S. in business administration from Alfred University in New York.

As the Executive Vice President, Mr. Lowery oversees the departments responsible for macroeconomic analysis, international financial regulation, financial technology, and specific policy areas such as debt transparency and analysis, and sustainable finance.

Over the previous eight years, Mr. Lowery helped build and was Managing Director of the Rock Creek Global Advisors consulting firm.

Mr. Lowery also served in the U.S. Government for 16 years and held positions at the National Security Council and a number of positions at the U.S. Treasury Department, including serving as the Assistant Secretary for International Affairs from 2005 to 2009 where he managed a 200-person team responsible for economic and financial diplomacy, monetary and banking issues, currency strategy, and trade and investment practices.

Mr. Lowery received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia (Phi Beta Kappa) and his MSc at the London School of Economics.

Nick is a Managing Director within CIBC’s Non-Bank Finance Group, one of CIBC’s specialized Financial Institutions

groups. The business unit focuses exclusively on partnering with middle market private credit firms who primarily serve

the private equity community. He is responsible for the origination and structuring of solutions that provide incremental

capital and service capabilities. This spans subscription lines, fund asset-based leverage, hybrid offerings, first-out or

split lien financing and related banking services.

Nick has spent his career almost exclusively focused on serving the needs of non-bank financial institutions, primarily by

providing creative capital solutions. Prior to CIBC, Nick covered the private credit space as part of Capital One’s Financial

Institutions Group, where he focused on underwriting subscription lines and asset-based loans for private credit

managers, as well as loan-form investing in middle market CLOs. He began his career at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey in

the Asset Securitization Group, where he covered private credit, among other asset classes.

Nick is passionate about his charitable causes and serves on the Chairmen’s Advisory Council of Big Shoulders Fund. Nick

earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BBA from the Goizueta

Business School at Emory University.

Brittani Ivey is the Executive Vice President of Real Estate Lending at Navy Federal Credit Union, where she oversees all aspects of Mortgage and Home Equity Lending. Her leadership drives product innovation and manages the organization’s $100 billion real estate loan portfolio, solidifying Navy Federal’s position as a leading mortgage lender and one of the largest VA loan providers in the nation. Brittani leads a team of over 4,000 employees responsible for loan originations, underwriting, and closing.

Previously, Brittani served as Chief Risk Officer, guiding enterprise-wide risk management frameworks and advising on regulatory matters. She began her Navy Federal career in the Office of General Counsel after working as an attorney at a global law firm in Washington, DC and in management consulting. A graduate of Princeton University and Columbia Law School, Brittani lives in Washington, DC and enjoys traveling, sports, and local events.