Fintech5

Laurent Nizri is the founder and CEO of Altéir Consulting, created just after he helped launch Zebank in 1999, the first big internet bank in Europe.  For the last 15 years, Alteir and Laurent  have worked on projects and advised organizations of all sizes across the payment & digital finance industry. He is a recognized digital/mobile payments, digital/mobile banking, digital/mobile commerce & Fintech expert with a focus on strategy, business development, & innovation.  He also founded the Paris FinTech Forum, one of the fastest growing conferences over the past few years.

Ask Céline anything on any topic and you'll get one damn passionate answer.  That's what we in the fintech industry love so much about this serial entrepreneur.  I've lost count of the number of companies she has founded but I do know each of them was based on a real life issue she was facing while disrupting the financial services industry.

And you can just call her Céline.  Kinda like Bono or Madonna.  She is one of the fintech rockstars after all.

Faisal and I first met in Istanbul at a payments conference in 2014.  We immediately hit it off thanks to our love of innovation, everything payments, and the impact technology on the banking industry.  One thing I really appreciate about Faisal is the vast amount of content he is able to produce.   He is active across social networks, whether it be Quora, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. or his participation with one of my favorite podcasts Around the Coin.  I consistently look to Faisal as a information resource when it comes to financial services.

Roberta Profeta goes by Robbie to her friends.  This pretty much includes everybody involved in the London FinTech scene.  Talk to just about anyone in Canary Wharf and they'll have a story about Robbie.  She is an active mentor and also a strong voice for women in tech.

She also recommended The Machine Stops as a great read.  My copy of the book is on order.

Roberta Profeta goes by Robbie to her friends.  This pretty much includes everybody involved in the London FinTech scene.  Talk to just about anyone in Canary Wharf and they'll have a story about Robbie.  She is an active mentor and also a strong voice for women in tech.

She also recommended The Machine Stops as a great read.  My copy of the book is on order.

I love it when a company founder consistently blogs. Brad Feld, the tech founder legend, has been doing this for decades.  Likewise, so has Ben Milne.  Reading someones thoughts and insights, especially around creating, pivoting, and running a FinTech company is better than any reality show on TV.

Ben founded Dwolla way back in December of 2009.  That's the equivalent of 50 years in FinTech time.  He is a sought after speaker on the FI circuit and a respected thought leader in the space.

His wife Jami is also a talented powerhouse.  She is an accomplished photographer who is well know for her work in Des Moines' art scene.

There's a lot of "click-bait" when it comes to FinTech and media.  This is expected when an industry is all the buzz; however, it can be extremely annoying at times when you expect more research and subject matter expertise from the authors of many of these articles.  Luckily that isn't the case whatsoever with Tanaya.  She consistently does her homework when researching a topic and this is evident throughout her writing at media companies such as CoinDesk, American Banker, and now TearSheet.  Tanaya's also been a strong advocate and voice for women in the tech scene.

And she can seriously ice-skate. Seriously.

Luxembourg is serious about fintech.  Just ask Nasir Zubairi the CEO of Luxembourg's first incubator LHoFT.   The Luxembourg House of Financial Technology (LHoFT) is Luxembourg’s dedicated FinTech platform where finance and technology interact to shape the future of finance.  And Nasir is the perfect choice to head up such an endeavor.  He has had a long career in the financial services space in just about every leadership role imaginable.

You can learn more about LHoFT and Nasir on their website.

I had the opportunity to first interview Michelle last year for the FemTechLeaders series (her full interview is posted below).  It was intriguing to learn how Michelle's love for writing shaped her career as a journalist and how her background as a journalist shaped her career as a mobile payments thought leader.  Michelle now is the Global Head of Digital Consumer Research for Euromonitor and she also is a contributing author for Forbes where she focuses on the impact of digital and mobile on payments and banking.

http://www.femtechleaders.com/north-america/michelle-evans-maclachlan/

The term "thought leader" is handed out a bit too easily these days, especially when it comes to FinTech.  That said, Chris Skinner is without a doubt one of the top two or three thought leaders in financial services today.