Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Kate Davidson is a reporter in American Banker's Washington bureau, where she covers the Treasury Department, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. She previously wrote about community banks in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Before joining American Banker, Kate covered the House Financial Services Committee and Senate Banking Committee for Congressional Quarterly. She began her career in New Hampshire, where she covered the 2008 presidential primaries and business news for the Concord Monitor in Concord, N.H.

Marc Hochstein was the editor-in-chief of American Banker from July 2014 to September 2017. He joined the publication in 1998 as a reporter covering mortgages and steadily added responsibility over the years. At one time or another he oversaw American Banker's coverage of consumer finance, payments and community banking; the vibrant opinion blog BankThink; the wildly popular Morning Scan newsletter; and the reinvigoration of SourceMedia's mortgage publications. Marc was responsible for some of the earliest serious coverage of bitcoin anywhere and chaired SourceMedia's successful Blockchains + Digital Currencies conferences from 2014-2017.

Katherine Kane has edited commentary and other special projects at American Banker for several years and now edits the Dodd-Frank Reform Watch blog.

Ms. Phelps joined the firm in 2000 and specializes in the card issuing practice area and leads the loyalty support strategic initiative for the firm. She has been engaged by financial institutions, major US brands and payment processors in various tactical, operational and strategic roles. Her areas of expertise include strategic planning, outsourcing, credit card operations management, negotiations and card issuing partnerships. Sarah has leveraged her expertise to identify market opportunities and to formulate strategies for growth and optimization of capital return. Recent engagements include leading business case development, partner selection, negotiations and implementation planning processes for outsourcing arrangements for financial institutions in the United States and Canada and for card issuing partnership for major U.S. brands. She has also provided assistance to credit card issuers in conversion organization and execution, interim operational management and portfolio value preservation strategies. Recent clients include Merrill Lynch, Aetna, Smithsonian Institution, and Wachovia. Through recent experiences Ms. Phelps has been able to develop insight into two areas of change in the payments market: health care and loyalty programs. Based upon her work with a major health care payer, she co-authored an article that was published in the American Banker regarding the regulatory hurdles between health care and financial services. In addition, her industry observations relative to the state of outsourcing and the increasing importance of customer loyalty programs are quoted in other industry publications. Previously, Sarah was with Dow, Lohnes & Albertson, PLLC, a Washington, D.C. based law firm, where she was involved with companies through various stages of capitalization including seed capital funding, secured and unsecured debt financings, and initial public offerings. Her experiences include completion of stock and asset transactions, tender offers, joint ventures, corporate restructurings and leveraged buy-outs. Ms. Phelps’ industry insights have been published in the American Banker and Transaction World. She received her M.B.A. in finance from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and her B.A. from Washington College.

Andrew Pyper is Senior Director of Loyalty and Credit Marketing at Saks Fifth Avenue. In this role, Andrew leads a team with responsibility for the Saks’ loyalty program SAKSFIRST, marketing and acquisition of the Saks Fifth Avenue World Elite MasterCard® and Saks Private Label Credit Card, the Saks Fifth Avenue Gift Card program and new customer acquisition efforts. Throughout these various responsibilities, Andrew’s team is focused on leveraging different payment types to drive customer loyalty and differentiate Saks Fifth Avenue in the competitive luxury retail market. Prior to joining Saks, Andrew spent seven years at American Express in the Establishment Services division in a variety of roles. Most recently, he was Director of Client Development in the Strategic Relationship Group leading a team of Client Managers responsible for the American Express relationship with major supermarket and drug store retailers in the US. Andrew holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies from Trinity College in Hartford, CT.