Finovate Podcast

Finovate showcases cutting-edge banking and financial technology through a global conference series featuring short-form demos and insightful expert takeaways. The Finovate Podcast, hosted by Greg Palmer, carries those conversations and ideas forward, with a concise, interview-based format based on Finovate’s signature 7-minute demos. Guests include leading fintech innovators, bankers, analysts, and more sharing their thoughts and predictions on the future of financial technology.

Finovate Podcast is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 299 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Finovate Podcast, a business show with 299 episodes published.

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  Finovate Podcast

  FinovateFall panelist Ning Duong shares her priorities and insights as a fintech-forward CU leader

  Aug 12, 202616 min

  In this episode of the Finovate podcast, host Greg welcomes back listeners after a summer break and introduces Ning Duong, President and CEO of Financial Center First Credit Union in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ning shares her impressive 25-year journey in financial services, which began unexpectedly when she took a job at a mega bank to pay for nursing school tuition. What started as a temporary position evolved into a passionate career dedicated to helping people with their financial needs. Now leading Financial Center's 60,000 members, Ning brings her people-process-technology leadership philosophy to guide the credit union's strategic direction. Six months into her tenure, Ning discusses her priorities and approach to technology implementation at Financial Center. She emphasizes the importance of enhancing member experience through strategic use of existing technology, particularly focusing on consumer and mortgage lending journeys. The credit union has made significant strides in improving loan turnaround times and communication processes, recognizing that members compare their banking experiences to world-class services like Amazon. Ning highlights the successful implementation of "Ella," an internal chatbot that leverages AI to help team members quickly access policies and procedures, ultimately enabling them to serve members more efficiently. However, she maintains a balanced perspective on AI adoption, advocating for human judgment in critical areas like recruiting, where she personally reviews applications for key positions like the CIO role. The conversation concludes with valuable insights for fintech companies looking to partner with credit unions. Ning stresses the importance of understanding each credit union's unique strategy and member base before approaching executives with sales pitches. She emphasizes that credit unions need strategic partners, not just vendors, and warns against generic presentations that don't align with the institution's specific goals. Following a recent robust board planning session, Financial Center has established clear strategic pillars, identified their target member profile, and defined key performance indicators for the next three years, with technology recognized as an essential enabler rather than a standalone priority. More info: Financial Center First Credit Union: https://www.fcfcu.com/ ; https://www.linkedin.com/company/financial-center/ Ning Duong: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ning-duong-cude-icude-cce-0a19449b/ Greg Palmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbpalmer/ Finovate: https://www.finovate.com ; https://www.linkedin.com/company/finovate-conference-series/ FinovateFall: https://informaconnect.com/finovatefall/ #Finovate #FinovateFall #fintech #financialinstitutions #creditunions #AI #modernization #technology #strategy #fintechstrategy #CU #digitaladoption #podcast #fintechpodcast #financialservices #innovation #digitraltransformation #fintech #finserv

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  Finovate Podcast

  Finovate’s own Heather Stowell talks about IMPACT Funders and Founders Forum – a new initiative coming from Finovate this fall in New York.

  Jul 2, 202614 min

  In this episode of the Finovate podcast, host Greg Palmer sits down with Finovate colleague Heather Stowell to discuss an exciting new initiative launching in New York this year. Heather, who has been instrumental in selecting and preparing demoing companies for the Finovate stage for over a decade, shares details about IMPACT Funders and Founders — a dedicated forum running alongside FinovateFall on September 11th. This new program represents an evolution of successful investor-startup initiatives that Finovate has been testing over the past few years, now expanding into its own standalone event designed to connect early-stage fintech companies with investors including VCs, angels, and private equity firms. The IMPACT forum will feature pre-arranged one-on-one meetings between startups and investors, carefully customized to align with investor portfolio focuses and startup funding needs. Beyond capital raising, the program emphasizes building long-term relationships and facilitating knowledge exchange, with investors sharing insights on pitch decks, scaling strategies, and hiring practices, while startups gain valuable feedback and industry connections. The day will also include curated startup pitch sessions featuring eight hand-selected companies, dedicated content stages with speakers from both the investor and entrepreneur communities, and opportunities for participants to network, creating synergy between the Impact audience and traditional Finovate attendees. Looking ahead, Heather envisions IMPACT filling a critical gap in the market as a fintech-specific investor-startup event, leveraging Finovate's extensive network of past demoing companies and interested investors. The program has already attracted participation from notable organizations including Experian Ventures, Fidelity Investments, and Summit Partners, with success stories ranging from brand-new startups to Finovate alumni returning to raise their next funding rounds. Future plans include expanding mentorship opportunities, enhancing one-on-one experiences, and continuing to serve as a vital resource for the fintech startup ecosystem — all while maintaining the personal relationship-building that has become a hallmark of successful venture capital partnerships. More info: IMPACT Funders and Founders: https://informaconnect.com/impact-funders-founders-forum/ Heather Stowell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherstowell/ Greg Palmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbpalmer/ Finovate: https://www.finovate.com ; https://www.linkedin.com/company/finovate-conference-series/ FinovateFall: https://informaconnect.com/finovatefall/ #Finovate #FinovateFall #IMPACT #Banking #banks #creditunions #VC #founders #startup #investment #innovation #startup #capital #podcast #fintechpodcast #financialservices #digitraltransformation #fintech #finserv #modernization

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  Finovate Podcast

  FinovateSpring Best of Show Winner Zengines on shining a light into the black box that is data lineage

  Jun 17, 202618 min

  In this episode of the Finovate podcast, host Greg Palmer sits down with Caitlyn Truong, CEO and co-founder of Zengines, one of the Best of Show winners from FinovateSpring 2026. Caitlyn shares her journey from software and hardware engineering in the telecom space to consulting in financial services, where she and her co-founders identified a critical gap in data management for legacy systems. The conversation explores how Zengines addresses the challenge of understanding and managing legacy core banking applications written in older programming languages like COBOL, RPG, and PL1. With 92 of the top 100 banks running COBOL mainframe cores and over 50% of credit unions and regional banks using RPG cores, the need for comprehensive data lineage and code intelligence has never been more pressing. The discussion delves into Zengines' unique approach to solving the "black box" problem of legacy applications through contextual code intelligence. Unlike traditional data lineage tools that simply track data pathways, Zengines provides deep context and explainability by ingesting entire code bases and revealing not just what happens to data, but why and how it happens. This capability enables business analysts, data analysts, compliance teams, and technical staff to get answers in seconds rather than waiting days, weeks, or months for subject matter experts. The solution addresses three critical use cases: meeting regulatory compliance requirements, de-risking modernization and transformation initiatives, and ensuring data is AI-ready with the necessary trust and traceability. Caitlyn reflects on the positive reception at Finovate, noting how the Sherlock Holmes-themed presentation effectively communicated the concept of "shining a light into the black box." She emphasizes the immediate impact on end users, who experience dramatically faster response times and comprehensive self-service access to application information. For first-time Finovate participants, Caitlyn recommends maximizing the seven-minute demo by focusing on capturing interest and planting hooks that drive meaningful booth conversations with targeted prospects who share the same pain points. The episode concludes with insights into how Zengines' solution creates ripple effects that ultimately improve the customer experience at financial institutions. More info: Zengines: https://www.zengines.ai/ ; https://www.linkedin.com/company/zengines/ Caitlyn Truong: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlyntruong/ Greg Palmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbpalmer/ Finovate: https://www.finovate.com ; https://www.linkedin.com/company/finovate-conference-series/ FinovateSpring: https://informaconnect.com/finovatespring/ #Finovate #FinovateSpring #Banking #banks #creditunions #data #datalineage #corebanking #communitybanks #legacybanking #datamanagement #digitaladoption #podcast #fintechpodcast #financialservices #innovation #digitraltransformation #fintech #finserv #modernization

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  Finovate Podcast

  Don’t break while you build: FinovateSpring Best of Show winner Cobalt on the complex world of FI system dependencies

  Jun 3, 202616 minS0

  <p>In this episode of the Finovate podcast, host Greg speaks with Oren Buskila, CEO and co-founder of Cobalt, a FinovateSpring 2026 Best of Show winner. Cobalt has developed enterprise architectural intelligence specifically designed for financial institutions, addressing a critical challenge in modern banking: the lack of understanding of complex system dependencies.</p><p></p><p>Banks operate on enormously intricate systems comprising their own code and dozens of third-party vendor applications, yet most institutions don't fully comprehend how these systems interconnect and depend on one another. This knowledge gap leads to significant problems, including development slowness—with banks spending 70% of th...

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  Finovate Podcast

  FinovateSpring Best of Show winner Finalytics.AI on data and personalization in community FI’s and beyond.

  May 27, 202619 minS0

  <p>In this episode of the Finovate Podcast, host Greg Palmer sits down with Craig McLaughlin (CEO) and Baron Conway (Chief Strategy Officer) of Finalytics.AI to discuss their impressive achievement of winning Best of Show at FinovateSpring for two consecutive years (2025 and 2026).</p><p></p><p>The conversation explores how Finalytics.AI is revolutionizing digital banking by solving a critical challenge faced by community financial institutions: delivering personalized, high-touch experiences through digital channels while leveraging the wealth of customer data these institutions possess. Craig shares the company's origin story, explaining how they recognized that existing third-party platforms weren't adequately...

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