Past Winners - Canada 2019

As a member of CIBC Technology and Operations – Enterprise Payments group – John oversees payments solutions for retail, business and corporate and institutional customers. He also leads the specialized teams that support payment modernization initiatives in Canada.

John joined Enterprise Payments from the technology group at CIBC where he led the technology teams that supported CIBC’s Business Banking, Payments and Wealth Management businesses. John also acted as CIBC representative for technology to CIBC First Caribbean Bank. Prior to joining CIBC, John worked as aconsultant with CGI, as General Manager for the Commercial and Professional Division of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. He also worked in Retail, Business Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking at Australia and New Zealand Banking group.

Throughout his career in both consulting and banking John has focused on creating and executing successful strategies to drive business transformation and growth. John holds a Bachelor of Business from Charles Sturt University; is a graduate with a Master Certificate in Risk Management and Business Performance from Schulich School of Business at York University; a Certificate of Business Sustainability Management from University of Cambridge; and Certificate of Fintech innovation Future Commerce from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). John is the Chairman of CMI Mortgages Inc, Member of Board of Directors of INTRIA, Member of the Board of Directors Interac Canada. He is also a Senior Member of the Advisory Council of Payments Canada and Executive Council member of Canadian Bankers Association.

Elena has extensive experience in both the technology and financial industries, and has a deep passion for innovation. Elena is currently responsible for defining the product strategy for liquidity management and borderless payments solutions at nanopay Corporation. She previously spoke at WWW, IBM Insights,Payments Summit, Women in Payments and other events.

Elena is a senior influential leaderwith a deep passion for technology and innovation. With extensive experience in both the technology and financial industries, she currently serves as Director of Banking and Capital Markets Solutions at nanopay Corporation. In her role, she is responsible for defining the product strategy for liquidity management and borderless payments solutions. Elena is also focused on a digital economy vision that enables digital identity, central bank digital currencies (CBDC), and new ways to pay.

Prior to nanopay, Elena spent two years at TD bank leading a startup-like, Blockchain technology team. This included working with internal stakeholders and external companies on proof-of-concepts. She was one of the key participants in Project Jasper(Bank of Canada), focused on understanding how distributed ledger technology (DLT) could transform the wholesale payments system.

Elena’s career began at IBM where she spent 15 years. She led global virtual IBM teams on various projects, defining IT strategy, consulting on adoption of cloud and emerging technologies, and working closely with business and technology teams, and C-level executives. Elena worked on numerous enterprise architecture solutions across a broad range of technologies including: Machine Learning, Big Data, SOA,Cloud, Big Data, and Business Intelligence. Elena is a frequent speaker at conferences, has co-authored numerous technical articles and academic papers, and has several pending patent applications, as well as granted patents. She also serves as a senior advisor for the TreasuryManagement Association of Canada in Toronto.

With over 20 years experience in the telecom. Prepaid and financial industries, Grace is VP and General Manager of Now Prepay, the retailnetwork of Payment Source. In this role, she manages more than 30 staff handling new productdevelopment as well as the day to day operations of Sales, Customer Service, Fulfillment andProduct Operations Departments. Previously, at VendTek Systems, Grace was responsible fornew product development and building turnkey prepaid programs. She was a key part of thestart-up Go Prepaid and spent 8 years at Roadpost building and managing international cellularand Iridium Satellite phone rental programs. Speaking specialties include: Canadian prepaidindustry, connecting retail to online, and fraud prevention.

Grace exemplifies thecharacteristics that define this award. She is someone who always delivers what she commits to,regardless of her workload. She is able to inspire her team to follow her vision and achievemore together than they had considered possible. She communicates very clearly and effectively- without hyperbole or panic - and in doing so, helps those around her work better together andbe more productive. Grace is passionate about mentoring and passing her hard-won knowledgeand experience onto others. She is a tremendous example of a strong, capable and inspiringperson. And as it happens, she works in the Payments Industry, and in her own calm and low-key way, is extremely successful and influential.

Daniela is responsible for enterprise-wide low-value payments channels including mobile wallets, e-Transfers & bill pay applications. In addition, Daniela supports payments strategy & modernization initiatives. Having spent 10 years in the FinTech space prior to joining CIBC, Daniela is a passionate payments, retail sales and product leader with experience in driving change and delivering results. A finalist for the 2018 Women in Payments Rising Star Under 40 Award, Mentor with the #MovetheDial – Mentorship Program for CMICWMT, and member of the CIBC Technology & Operations Inclusion sub-committee, Daniela is an advocate for gender balance, diversity & work life balance. Daniela is a mom to three young daughters, who constantly keep her on her toes.

A payments industry veteran with over 25 years’ experience spanning business development, operations and finance, Ms. Denoncourt currently serves as Managing Director responsible for all aspects of the Canadian operation. Prior to this role, she held the position of VP Sales & Business Development where she achieved consistent growth through both traditional and strategic channels with a focus on driving innovation. Prior to joining Ingenico, Ms. Denoncourt spent 7 years in an executive role at Maxwell Technology where she secured strategic contracts and built the operational structure to support new business. During her tenure at Marleau Lemire Inc, she was part of the most innovativeresearch team of its kind, contributing to its #1 ranking in 1994.

Perfectly fluent in both English and French, Ms. Denoncourt holds an MBA from Concordia University and a BA from McGill University. In addition to serving in an advisory capacity on various industry boards, she is Chairof the ACT Canada board, Advisor for Women in Payments Canada as well as Chair of the Global Mentorship Council. She was recently acknowledged by Payments Source as a 2017 Honouree for Most Influential Women in Payments.

Rania Llewellyn is responsible for Scotiabank’s global payments vision and strategy. She oversees an enterprise-wide payments mandate, including technology infrastructure development, enhancing operational efficiencies, & key initiatives to drive growth & create a seamless customer experience.

With a global team of 450 employees, she’s also responsible for the execution of the Bank’s Cash Management, Treasury Services, Trade Finance, Digital & Mobile Channels & Correspondent Banking businesses.Rania has a keen understanding of the impact to the global business community and particularly the benefits to customers looking for a simplified & seamless way to send & receive payments globally & manage their deposits.

Joining Scotiabank in 1994, she’s held progressively senior roles in Commercial, Retail & Corporate Banking. She lives in Toronto with her husbandand two children, and holds a B.Com, MBA & honorary doctorate from Saint Mary’s University.