Keynote Speaker: Itay Goldstein

Itay Goldstein is the Joel S. Ehrenkranz Family Professor and a Professor of Finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has been on the faculty of the Wharton School since 2004. He serves as the coordinator of the Ph.D. program in finance and holds a secondary appointment as a professor of economics. Professor Goldstein earned his Ph.D. in economics in 2001 from Tel Aviv University. He is an expert in the areas of corporate finance, financial institutions, and financial markets, focusing on financial fragility and crises and on the feedback effects between firms and financial markets. His research has been published in top academic journals, including the American Economic Review, Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Economic Studies, and Review of Financial Studies. His research has also been featured in the popular press in The Economist, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Forbes, National Public Radio, and others. Professor Goldstein has been executive editor of the Review of Financial Studies since 2018. Before that, he served as an editor for five years. He also served as an editor of the Finance Department in Management Science and an editor of the Journal of Financial Intermediation. Professor Goldstein is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He served as an academic advisor in various policy institutions, including the Federal Reserve Banks of New York, Philadelphia, and Richmond, the Bank of Canada, the Bank for International Settlements, and the Committee for Capital Markets Regulation. He was the co-founder and the first president of the Finance Theory Group and served as a director of the American Finance Association, the Western Finance Association, and the Financial Intermediation Research Society. He is a frequent speaker in academic and policy forums around the world, and acted as keynote speaker in leading academic conferences. He has taught various undergraduate, MBA, Ph.D., and executive education courses in finance and economics. Prior to joining Wharton, Professor Goldstein has served on the faculty of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. He has also worked in the research department of the bank of Israel.

Industry Panel Speakers

Sergei Kouzmine
Founder and Managing Partner, FinTech Ventures Fund

Sergei Kouzmine is the founder and managing partner of FinTech Ventures Fund. Sergei is an experienced entrepreneur, executive, and venture capitalist, and has founded more than 10 companies in the banking, retail, and entertainment industries. Under Sergei’s leadership as CEO, one company in Europe grew from $40 million to $1.3 billion in revenues within 4 years. Prior to founding Fintech Ventures, Sergei was the founder and managing partner of qWave Capital, the first venture capital fund focused exclusively on emerging quantum computing technologies. Sergei received an MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, an M.S. in physics from Novosibirsk State University, and a Ph.D. in nuclear physics from the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Russia.

James Stevens
Partner, Troutman Pepper

James Stevens provides corporate and regulatory advice on behalf of Troutman Pepper. He has substantial experience in the representation of public and private companies, including banks, neobanks, marketplace lenders, payments companies, crypto and DeFi companies, and other fintech and financial services providers in connection with formation, licensing, sponsorship and program agreements, mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financing transactions, joint ventures, and regulatory reporting and compliance. James often serves as the principal outside counsel for his clients. He has written numerous articles, speeches, and media commentaries on financial services, including banking and fintech. He has served on many boards and committees of financial companies and banking associations. His achievement has been recognized by various honors, including Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 2021 Leaders in Corporate Citizenship and Best Lawyers in America.

Oliver Burns
Head of Strategic Partnerships, FIS

Oliver Burns leads Strategic Partnerships at FIS where he is responsible for the company’s relationships and roadmaps with both established and emerging Pay, Bank, & Invest partners around the world. Oliver’s organization develops joint business, innovation, product and GTM collaboration plans with FIS’s high-potential and high-value partners across accelerator/venture, emerging fintech, big tech, enterprise, money movement and ESG domains. Oliver also enjoys supporting mentor programs through FIS Rising Professionals, ETA Young Professionals, and SHE-CAN. With more than 25 years in banking, financial services and fintech, Oliver has also held senior-level financial, commercial and corporate development leadership roles at Elavon, First Horizon, Visa and TSYS with a focus on payments and financial technology, platforms and services.

Dennis Lockhart
Former President, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Dennis P. Lockhart served as the 14th president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta between March 1, 2007 and February 28, 2017. During Lockhart’s tenure, the Federal Reserve faced some of the most traumatic economic events since the Great Depression of the 1930s, including the financial crisis and Great Recession. Under Lockhart’s stewardship, the Atlanta Fed has won several awards, including one of America’s Top Workplaces by Workplace Dynamics in 2013. Lockhart has a long career in financial services and has held leadership positions at Citigroup, Heller Financial, and Zephyr Management as well as on the faculty of Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service and Johns Hopkins University's Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. Lockhart served as a member of the board of directors of several companies, including CapitalSource, Tri-Valley Corp., and Greenfield Holdings Credit. Currently, Lockhart serves on many organizations, including on the board of directors of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and St. Joseph's Health System, and the board of trustees of Agnes Scott College.

Authors should submit an electronic version of the paper in PDF format no later than October 25, 2021. There is a submission fee of $50. Please submit your paper at the following website: https://www.conftool.org/gsu-fintech-2022/
Paper selection will be finalized by early January 2022. The RFS dual submission decisions will be finalized before the conference dates in February.

Review of Financial Studies Dual Submission Option

Submissions to the conference can also be submitted to the Review of Financial Studies under its dual review system (free of charge), with the same submission deadline of October 25, 2021. Authors must indicate on the conference submission website whether they are interested to have their paper considered under this dual review option with the RFS. For more details about the dual submission policy of the RFS please see http://sfs.org/dualsubmissionpolicy/.

Address

Georgia State University Buckhead Center
Tower Place 200, 3348 Peachtree Rd. NE
Atlanta, GA 30326

GPS Users

The street address of 3348 Peachtree Road is not the best landmark to use for directions. If you are using Google maps or a GPS unit, input Tower Place Drive NE 30326 (or the intersection of Tower Place Drive and Lenox Road).

Gates on Tower Place Drive

Gates on Tower Place Drive block access to our building from Piedmont between 7:00 – 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. During these times, it is imperative that you enter from the Lenox Road intersection on Tower Place Drive.

MARTA Subway:

Take the North Springs line (Red Line) to the Buckhead N7 Station; follow the first exit out of the station and turn right on Peachtree Road (away from Lenox Square Mall); turn right again immediately after the Capital City Plaza building (before Fresh 2 Order Restaurant); follow the sidewalk on the left – it will lead you around to the front entrance of Tower Place 200.

One-way Rail Rides cost $2.50. Tickets can be easily purchased from vending machines at all MARTA stations. This is by far the easiest method, and is on a direct line to Atlanta International Airport. Here is a map of the MARTA rail system.

Driving:

From SOUTH of Atlanta: Follow I-85 North to GA 400. Exit at Lenox Road (first exit, before the toll plaza). Stay in the far left lane and turn left off the exit onto Lenox Road. At the next light, turn left onto Tower Place Drive NE. (On the Border Mexican Restaurant will be located on the left.) Remain in the left lane through both stop signs. Continue straight to the Tower Place 200 parking garage.

From NORTH of Atlanta on I-85:
Take I-85 South to the North Druid Hills exit. Turn right onto North Druid Hills Road. Go through two traffic lights. Stay in the left lane and continue straight onto E. Roxboro Road at the split. Turn left onto Peachtree Road. Turn right onto Lenox Road/Paul Coverdell Memorial Parkway. After you cross GA 400, turn left at the first light onto Tower Place Drive NE. (On the Border Mexican Restaurant will be located on the left.) Remain in the left lane through both stop signs. Continue straight to the entrance of the Tower Place 200 parking garage.

From NORTH of Atlanta on I-75:
From I-75 South, take Exit 251 for I-85 North toward Greenville. Merge onto I-85. Take Exit 87 onto GA-400 N toward Buckhead. Take the Lenox Road exit and turn left. Turn left at the first light onto Tower Place Drive NE. (On the Border Mexican Restaurant will be located on the left.) Remain in the left lane through both stop signs. Continue straight to the entrance of the Tower Place 200 parking garage.

From NORTH of Atlanta on GA-400:
Take 400 South. Follow Exit #2 GA 141 Connector to Buckhead. Make a right onto Lenox Road. At the next light, turn left onto Tower Place Drive NE. (On the Border Mexican Restaurant will be located on the left.) Remain in the left lane through both stop signs. Continue straight to the entrance of the Tower Place 200 parking garage.

From Peachtree/Piedmont Roads:
From Peachtree, turn north on Piedmont Rd. (If coming south on Peachtree, turn right on Piedmont. If coming north on Peachtree, turn left on Piedmont.) From Piedmont Road, turn onto Lenox Road. At the first light, turn right onto Tower Place Drive NE. (You will see On The Border Mexican Restaurant as a landmark.) Remain in the left lane through both stop signs. Continue straight to the entrance of the Tower Place 200 parking garage.

Parking

The Tower Place 200 parking deck is a paid deck. Validation tickets will be arranged for presenters, discussants, and registered conference participants in this garage only. We cannot validate parking for any other garages. An attendant is normally on duty until 8 pm on weekdays only. A payment machine is available after hours.

After you have parked, take the garage elevator down to the ground level – this will lead you directly into the lobby of Tower Place 200, and then take the building’s elevators to the 12^th Floor.

Unless otherwise dictated by the conference organizers, all guests are responsible for their own hotel bookings. The following hotels are near the conference venue.

• Courtyard by Marriott-- preferred hotel, within a 5-minute walk -- Phone: 404-869-0818
• DoubleTree by Hilton-- within a 5-minute walk -- Phone: 404-23-1234
• Springhill Suites-- <1 mile away -- Phone: 404-844-4800
• AC Hotel Buckhead (A Marriott property)-- <1 mile away -- Phone: 470-231-3030
• Intercontinental-- <1 mile away -- Phone: 404-946-9111