Featured Speakers
Thomas J. Curry, Comptroller of the Currency, OCC
Curry was sworn in as the 30th comptroller of the currency on April 9, 2012. Prior to becoming comptroller of the currency, he served as a director of the FDIC since January 2004, and as the chairman of the NeighborWorks® America Board of Directors.
Prior to joining the FDIC’s Board of Directors, Curry served five Massachusetts Governors as the Commonwealth’s commissioner of banks from 1990 to 1991 and from 1995 to 2003. He served as acting commissioner from February 1994 to June 1995. He previously served as first deputy commissioner and assistant general counsel within the Massachusetts Division of Banks.
Dick Evans, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc.
As chairman and CEO of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. Evans has guided the 143-year old Texas financial institution since 1997, successfully navigating the recent financial crisis and publicly declining TARP bailout funds. Under his leadership, Cullen/Frost has become a strong regional institution, increasing asset size to $19.5 billion and expanding into new lines of business and services that broaden and deepen customer relationships.
Evans is serving a two-year term as a member of the Federal Advisory Council to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C.
Sean Rowles, Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Architect, Citizens Financial Group
With 20 years professional experience, Rowles is known in the retail banking industry as an energetic and motivational business leader. Recognized as an extremely effective change agent, he challenges the status quo and identifies innovative customer oriented solutions to any opportunity.
In 2005 Rowles was recruited to join the Royal Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh. In his role as chief credit officer, U.K. Retail, he was accountable for annual bad debts in excess of $3 billion. He was recognized as a world class expert in retail banking when he was tapped in 2007 to lead a business transformation initiative across the U.K. Retail Bank, a business that delivers in excess of $7 billion in annual profits with a 16-million strong customer base. He returned to the U.S. in 2008 as the chief credit officer of Citizens Financial Group in order to help steer the business through the emerging economic and financial crisis.
Prior to joining the Royal Bank of Scotland, Rowles worked at Citibank in Australia, General Electric in Australasia and seven years at Washington Mutual in Seattle where he successfully held numerous executive positions. Most notably, he was the Retail Bank executive in charge of California across to Florida responsible for over 1,100 branches, a staff of over 12,000 and an annual profit in excess of $1.5 billion. During this tenure his franchise was internationally recognized and became the inaugural recipient of the JD Power Best Consumer Retail Bank award.
John E. Silvia, Ph. D., Managing Director and Chief Economist, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC
Silvia is a managing director and the chief economist for Wells Fargo. Based in Charlotte, N.C., he has held his position since he joined Wachovia in 2002 as the company’s chief economist.
Prior to his current position, John worked on Capitol Hill as senior economist for the U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee and chief economist for the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. Before that, he was chief economist of Kemper Funds and managing director of Scudder Kemper Investments, Inc. John was awarded a National Association of Business Economics (NABE) Fellow Certificate of Recognition in 2011 for outstanding contributions to the Business Economics Profession and Leadership Among Business Economists to the Nation. In 2010, he was recognized for the Best Overall Forecast, Best Inflation Forecast, and Best Personal Consumption Expenditures Forecast by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.