New York Banking Summit 2026: Navigating the next era of banking

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.

Daragh Murphy is the Founder and CEO of Imprint, which he launched in 2020 with the mission of building the best way to pay. Since then, he’s led the company through rapid growth, major commercial partnerships with brands like Booking.com, Rakuten, H-E-B, and Crate & Barrel, and multiple rounds of investment from some of the world’s leading venture firms. Originally from Ireland, Daragh built a broad career across law and consulting before starting Imprint. He began as a corporate lawyer at WilmerHale and later became a Junior Partner at McKinsey, working in the banking and media sectors.

Daragh holds law degrees from University College Dublin and Duke University.

Joseph M. Otting serves as Executive Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Flagstar Bank, N.A.  He was appointed Executive Chairman of the Board effective June 5, 2024.  He has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company since April 1, 2024.  In addition to chairing the Executive Committee, Mr. Otting also serves as a member of the Technology and Operations Committee.

Mr. Otting is an American businessman and government official. He served as the 31st United States Comptroller of the Currency from November 2017 to 2020.

Prior to becoming Comptroller of the Currency, Mr. Otting was an executive in the banking industry. He served as President of CIT Bank and Co-President of CIT Group from August 2015 to December 2015.

Mr. Otting previously was President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors of OneWest Bank, N.A. Prior to joining OneWest Bank, he served as Vice Chairman of U.S. Bancorp, where he managed the Commercial Banking Group and served on the Bancorp's executive management committee. He also served as a member of U.S. Bank's main subsidiary banks' Board of Directors.

From 1994 to 2001, Mr. Otting was with Union Bank of California, where he was Executive Vice President and Group Head of Commercial Banking. Before joining Union Bank, he was with Bank of America and held positions in branch management, preferred banking, and commercial lending.

Mr. Otting has played significant roles in charitable and community development organizations. He has served as a board member for the California Chamber of Commerce, the Killebrew-Thompson Memorial foundation, the Associated Oregon Industries, the Oregon Business Council, the Portland Business Alliance, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oregon. He was also a member of the Financial Services Roundtable, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and the Board and Executive Committee of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation.

Mr. Otting holds a bachelor of arts in management from the University of Northern Iowa and is a graduate of the School of Credit and Financial Management, which was held at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Peter joined CreditSights in 2009 and currently serves as Head of the U.S. Banks team. In his 15 years at CreditSights Peter has helped drive the team’s sector research across the large banks, brokers, regional banks, consumer lenders, and custody banks, developing deep expertise on fundamental trends, issuer-specific risks, and the evolving regulatory environment. Peter also has experience covering Canadian and Latin American banks. Prior to joining CreditSights, Peter held roles covering financial institutions credit at National Australia bank and Deutsche Bank. Peter became a CFA charterholder in 2015, and received his bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College.

Leading the Mastercard Economics Institute as chief economist, Michelle’s responsibilities include development and delivery of differentiated economic, financial, policy and market thought leadership for customers, Mastercard and public policy.

As part of one of the world’s largest and most dynamic technology companies in the payments space, sitting at the center of commerce for more than 50 years, the Mastercard Economics Institute helps businesses make sense of the macroeconomic climate and extract relevant information to address their needs. Michelle oversees a growing team of economists, data scientists, visual artists, and story tellers to develop public and proprietary economic reporting derived from Mastercard’s global network and proven external data sources.

Prior to joining Mastercard, Michelle was the Head of U.S. Economics at Bank of America (BofA) Global Research. At BofA, she was responsible for providing the firm’s U.S. economic forecasts, including the outlook for GDP, inflation, and Federal Reserve policy. Michelle’s research is focused on the health of the consumer, relying on a variety of high frequency data sources. Previously, she was senior U.S. economist at Barclays Capital and started her career on the U.S. economics team at Lehman Brothers.

Michelle earned a bachelor’s degree (magna cum laude) and a master’s degree, both in economics, at Boston University. In 2023, Michelle received a Visionary Award by the Council for Economic Education in 2023. Michelle was also named a Rising Star by the Women’s Forum for Economy and Society in 2012 and recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of 30 under 30 in finance in 2011.

Michelle is a member of the Council of Geoeconomic Advisors at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS). She is also part of the Economics Club of New York and a frequent commentator on news media outlets, including CNBC and Bloomberg TV, and is often cited in print and online media.

Clare Cusack is the President & CEO of the New York Bankers Association (NYBA), the premier trade association for the banking industry in New York State. She is the first woman to serve as the Association’s leader in its 131-year history, tasked with guiding New York’s banks through “one of the most challenging and transformative periods in banking history.”

As head of NYBA, Clare is proud to represent banks of every size, region, and charter across New York. Together as a unified industry, NYBA’s members employ nearly 200,000 New Yorkers, safeguard $2 trillion in deposits, and extend $70 billion in home and small business loans annually. NYBA members also support their communities through an estimated $200 million in community donations and 500,000 employee volunteer hours every year. From the smallest community banks through some of the largest financial institutions in the world- and everything in between- NYBA is there as a resource for members in supporting their ongoing service to their customers and communities.

Clare’s leadership and uncompromising advocacy on behalf of NYBA members have earned her multiple distinctions, including two-time recognition on City & State’s Power 100 list, designation in the same publication as a 2025 Economic Development Trailblazer, and selection as Chief Executive of the Year in 2024 by the NY Society of Association Executives. She was named an Economic Development Trailblazer by City & State magazine for 2025. Under her leadership, the New York Bankers Association was recognized as a 2025 Top Trade Association in New York State by City & State magazine. Clare was honored with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ 2025 Distinguished Alumnus Award, and was named to the Power Women of Manhattan 2025 list by Schneps Media.

Prior to her appointment, Clare served as General Counsel and COO for NYBA, overseeing the Association’s legal and operational matters, supporting each of NYBA’s divisions and areas including government relations, professional development, service provider partnerships, major industry events and legal and regulatory strategy. Before joining the NYBA team, Clare was an attorney with the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, focusing her practice within the securities litigation and regulatory investigation fields. She is a proud graduate of the State University of New York at Geneseo and Fordham University School of Law.

Clare serves on the Board of Directors of Pursuit (formerly the New York Business Development Corporation) a Small Business Administration and U.S. Treasury-certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). She is also Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Geneseo Foundation, a nonprofit foundation that supports her alma mater.

Jill Cetina is an executive professor of finance at Texas A&M University, associate director of the Commercial Banking Program as the Mays Business School and professor and North America director for the Certificate of Bank Treasury Risk Management (BTRM).  Prior to joining A&M, Jill was the associate managing director for US bank ratings at Moody’s Investors Service in NY.  Jill also was a vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas with leadership of six teams with responsibility for banking supervision, macro-financial analysis and monitoring financial conditions/monetary policy formulation.  Prior to her time at the Federal Reserve, Jill worked at the US Treasury Department for a decade as both an international economist restructuring other countries’ debt owed to the United States government and a financial economist in Treasury debt management.

Jill is a frequent speaker at in-person industry events including with Institute for International Finance, National Housing Finance Council, the Risk Management Association, American Bankers Association, Cleveland Fed financial stability conference, Conference of State Banking Supervisors, Moody’s Analytics Banking Summit, and Empyrean Asset Liability Management Solutions. She also speaks at industry webinars including for the SAS Institute, Risk.Net, Risk Management Association and BTRM.  In 2025, Jill testified at a House Financial Services sub-committee hearing on Treasury market fragility.