The Aspen Institute

Building a more inclusive financial system requires efficient methods of verifying and authenticating people’s identity and effective means to block bad actors. Technological advances are making that more possible than ever, but demands attention and investment to make sure our goal—improved financial outcomes for people—are met in that transformation.

The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program hosted this conversation on July 9, 2024, bringing together leaders and innovators exploring the transformative potential of digital identity to build a more secure financial system that works better for everyone. 

Agenda

Welcome Remarks

• Ida Rademacher, Vice President, Aspen Institute; Co-Executive Director, Financial Security Program

The Time is Now: The Role of Technology in Financial Services
As technology advances, the time is now to build a better identity system for people to achieve financial security.

• Jen Taylor, President, Plaid
• Ida Rademacher, Vice President, Aspen Institute; Co-Executive Director, Financial Security Program

Building towards a Digital Equity Future
Frameworks for digital equity and inclusion are imperatives to incorporate into our thinking on digital identity.

• Chukwudi Onike, Program Officer, Visa Foundation
• Kate Griffin, Director of Programs, Aspen Institute Financial Security Program 

The State of the U.S. Identity System
What is the state of play of our identity system today? What is possible with new technology in digital identity and what will it take to get there?

• Jeremy Grant, Managing Director, Venable LLP, and Coordinator, Better Identity Coalition
• David Ehrich, Co-founder, Petal and Alliance for Innovative Regulation

Spurring Government Action in Digital Identity
In a world of increasing fraud, new technology provides an opportunity for people and the government to answer the question – how do you know that someone is who they say they are online?

• Rep. Bill Foster, U.S. House of Representatives
• Ida Rademacher, Vice President, Aspen Institute; Co-Executive Director, Financial Security Program

The Opportunities and Risks of Digital Identity
This cross-sector panel will examine the opportunity and the risks of digital ID for people, providers, and the financial system.  

• Jo Ann Barefoot, CEO and Co-Founder, Alliance for Innovative Regulation (moderator)
• Ariel Kennan, Senior Director, Digital Benefits Network, Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University
• Anu Madgavkar, Partner, McKinsey Global Institute
• Brian Russell, CEO, DaVinci Partners Consulting 

Live in the Field: NIST Mobile Driver’s License Project
Partnerships among the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and financial services providers will explore the use of digital identity in remote account opening for financial institutions. 

• Ryan Galluzzo, Identity Program Lead, National Institute of Standards and Technology
• Kate Griffin, Director of Programs, the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program (moderator)
• Will Wilkinson, Head of Policy, Block 

Closing Remarks
What is our collective work toward building a more inclusive financial system for all? 

• Ida Rademacher, Vice President, Aspen Institute; Co-Executive Director, Financial Security Program 

Speakers 

Jo Ann Barefoot, CEO and Co-Founder, Alliance for Innovative Regulation

As a former senior bank regulator and Capitol Hill staffer, she helped design and implement policy frameworks in the traditional financial system. Today, she focuses on the places where the disparate currents in our markets and regulatory systems can flow together to form something new and better than what came before it. At AIR, she is helping to make the financial system fairer and more resilient by spurring the development of new solutions for financial consumers that employ the advantages and combat the risks of digital innovation. Their mission is to connect government officials, digital innovators, financial providers, academics, nonprofits and other stakeholders, assembling a diverse network committed to the common goal of a technologically advanced regulatory system.

She has always been interested in the confluence of technology, markets, culture, social movements, science, art, education, global poverty reduction and, crucially, regulation in fostering the transformative ideas that make our world better.

David Ehrich, Co founder, Petal, Alliance for Innovative Regulation

David Ehrich has worked in banking and payments for 25 years at McKinsey, American Express where he was a GM in the prepaid group, and JPMorgan Chase where he was the head of credit card strategy. David is the architect of the Bank On National Account Standards for bank accounts with no overdraft fees and he is a Co-Founder of Petal, a NYC-based fintech credit card startup pioneering the use of cash flow underwriting to help consumers who lack a history of credit. David is also a Co-founder and founding Executive Director of AIR – the Alliance for Innovative Regulation, a non-profit dedicated to the digital modernization of the regulatory system. David has served as a member of the Community Advisory Board (CAB) of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and he has served on several nonprofit boards. He is a fintech advisor and angel investor, and an advisor to TSEF (The Social Entrepreneurs Fund). David is a storyteller featured by the Moth, and he has an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a B.S. from Cornell University.

Representative Bill Foster, U.S. House of Representatives

Congressman Bill Foster is a scientist and businessman representing the 11th Congressional District of Illinois, a position he’s held since 2013. He also represented the 14th Congressional District of Illinois from 2008 to 2011. He is the only PhD physicist in Congress.

Bill serves on the House Financial Services Committee where he advocates for consumer protections and an economy that works for everyone. In response to the Great Recession, he helped create several important reforms in the financial services and housing markets, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. He currently serves as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy.

In the wake of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, Bill was named to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus. The Select Subcommittee is charged with examining the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, including the use of taxpayer funds to mitigate the public health and economic consequences of the pandemic.

Bill previously served on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee where he fought for evidence-based policies and forward-thinking approaches to some of our country’s most pressing issues, including climate change and energy innovation. Bill continues to be a champion for sustained federal funding for scientific research.

He also served as the chairman of the Science Committee’s Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee, which is empowered to investigate and oversee federal scientific research.

Bill’s business career began at age 19 when he and his younger brother co-founded Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc., a company that now manufactures over half of the theater lighting equipment in the United States.

Before he became a Member of Congress, Bill worked as a high-energy physicist and particle accelerator designer at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). He was a member of the team that discovered the top quark, the heaviest known form of matter. He also led the teams that designed and built several scientific facilities and detectors still in use today, including the Antiproton Recycler Ring, the latest of Fermilab’s giant particle accelerators.

Bill lives in Naperville with his wife Aesook, who is also a physicist. Bill has two grown children, Billy and Christine. Bill’s father was a civil rights lawyer who wrote much of the enforcement language behind the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Ryan Galluzzo, Identity Program Lead, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Ryan is the Identity Program Lead for the Applied Cybersecurity Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). In this role he coordinates digital identity projects, initiatives, and efforts to advance NIST’s standards & guidance and drive foundational research to promote innovation in digital identity. He has contributed to multiple NIST Special Publications (NIST SPs) including NIST SP 800-63 Digital Identity Guidelines. Prior to joining NIST Ryan was a Specialist Leader at Deloitte & Touche where he spent over 10 years providing cybersecurity and identity management subject-matter insights to multiple federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, the General Services Administration, and NIST.

Jeremy Grant, Managing Director, Venable LLP, and Coordinator, Better Identity Coalition

Jeremy Grant brings more than 25 years’ experience at the intersection of identity, privacy, and cybersecurity, having served in a range of leadership positions spanning government and industry. He serves as Venable’s Managing Director of Technology Business Strategy and is a member of the firm’s Technology and Innovation Group. Jeremy previously established and led the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC), housed in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); NSTIC was the first new cybersecurity program launched by the Obama administration. There he led activities across private and public sectors to drive a marketplace of more secure, privacy-enhancing identity solutions for online services. He also served as NIST’s Senior Executive Advisor for Identity Management. Before leading NSTIC, Jeremy spent three years as a market analyst focused on identity and cybersecurity. Earlier, he led the Security and Identity Management practice at a systems integrator. Jeremy began his career as a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate, drafting legislation laying the groundwork for U.S. government smart card and PKI efforts, and working on a range of privacy and technology issues. Jeremy also serves as Coordinator of the Better Identity Coalition, an organization focused on developing and advancing consensus-driven, cross-sector policy solutions that promote better solutions for identity verification and authentication.

Kate Griffin, Programs Director, Aspen Institute Financial Security Program

Kate Griffin serves as Director of Programs at the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program. She works on initiative strategies, ensuring FSP’s work across savings, investing, wealth building, benefits, and financial inclusion catalyzes leaders to make systemic change that results in financial security for all people in America. She also serves as senior strategic advisor to FSP’s work supporting the creation and execution of a multi-sector National Financial Inclusion Strategy in the U.S. that moves from focusing on account and information access to measurable financial security outcomes for households. Kate has spent two decades working with financial services professionals to leverage technology to work better for low-income and marginalized people, both here in the US and in developing countries. She has led a social enterprise providing financial wellness benefits to workers, and was on the founding executive team of a start-up fintech, tasked with bringing the voice of underserved consumers into product design and delivery. She also led programming for savings, financial capability, higher education, and housing at Prosperity Now. She started her career in international microfinance working with CGAP and the Grameen Foundation. Kate holds degrees in international development from Kenyon College and American University and lives in suburban Washington, DC with her family.

Ariel Kennan, Senior Director, Digital Benefits Network, Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation

Ariel Kennan (she/her) is a Senior Director at the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University, where she researches and advises on advancing design, data, and technology for accessible and equitable delivery of public benefits. Ariel leads the Digital Benefits Network to support practitioners in current and near term challenges in public benefits delivery and envisioning future policies, services, and technologies. Ariel is a leader in service design, digital product development, and organizational strategy. She has worked in the private, nonprofit, and public sectors to drive change and deliver impactful solutions. Previously, she served in the New York City Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity where she founded the nation’s first municipal service design studio and managed a portfolio of best-in-class digital products to connect and deliver services. Most recently, she was the Director of Civic Innovation at Sidewalk Labs, where she led the strategy for inclusive participation in the social infrastructure of cities. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Integrated Design from Parsons School of Design. She is based in Brooklyn, New York.

Anu Madgavkar, Partner, McKinsey Global Institute

Anu Madgavkar is a partner at the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), the global business and economics research arm of McKinsey & Company. She has worked for over two decades with McKinsey in Asia and the United States, building deep insights on global labor markets, growth and inequality, the economic impact of digital technologies.

Anu is an active thought partner to business and government leaders, a speaker at global forums including the World Economic Forum, the Clinton Global Initiative, the UN ECOSOC Council, the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, Chatham House, Asia House, Conference Board, the World Bank, IFC, IMF, UN Women, the UN High Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment, DFID, India’s NITI Aayog, the International Organization for Migration, the UN Global Migration Group, and various government and multilateral agencies.

Anu is based in McKinsey’s New Jersey office and was previously based in Mumbai, where she has been a partner co-leading McKinsey’s Financial Institutions practice in Asia. She holds a degree in economics and statistics from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Chukwudi Onike, Program Officer, Visa Foundation

Chukwudi (Chuk) Onike is a Program Officer at Visa Foundation where he supports the Foundation’s global grantmaking related to its Financial Inclusion and Learning & Insights portfolios. In his current capacity, Chuk helps deploy the Foundation’s resources to address issues at the intersection of digital equity and inclusive entrepreneurship. Most recently, Chuk was a Senior Associate for Innovation at The Rockefeller Foundation where he contributed to shaping and executing strategy around a variety of new frontiers opportunities, including digital technology for social impact, climate change, and economic development. Prior to that, he worked as a Research Consultant for the World Bank’s Public Sector and Governance Practice.

Brian Russell, CEO, DaVinci Partners Consulting

Brian Russell is a fintech executive with a 30+ year track record of delivering trusted innovation in financial services. He is currently a Strategic Advisor with expertise in Authentication and Digital Identity and the Founder and CEO of DaVinci Partners Consulting.

Most recently he was SVP, Head of Enterprise Platform for Identity Management and Authentication at U. S. Bank where he was responsible for the vision, strategic direction, and leadership of these company-wide capabilities. He defined the roadmap, and target state architecture for Enterprise Identity Proofing, KYC and Authentication capabilities and his role spanned all lines of business and channels. Previously he was SVP, Head of Identity Management Capabilities at Wells Fargo and Executive Director, Identity Verification Strategy at JPMorgan Chase. He was also served as Senior Vice President, Financial Solutions in the G+D Mobile Security U.S. Division.

Brian has been an Advisory Board member for identity fintechs including red violet and Princeton Identity. He earned a BA from Colby College and an MBA from Wharton. He presently resides in Great Falls Virginia with his wife and is the proud father of three daughters and one granddaughter.

Ida Rademacher, Vice President, Aspen Institute; Co-Executive Director, Financial Security Program

Ida Rademacher is a vice president at the Aspen Institute and co-executive director of the Aspen Financial Security Program. She also launched and leads the Aspen Partnership for an Inclusive Economy. A leading voice on Americans’ financial health, Ida is also known for building innovative teams, initiatives and events that fuel new insights and fresh thinking about how to simultaneously build economic inclusion and economic growth. Her efforts have resulted in the creation of several cutting-edge initiatives and events, including the Expanding Prosperity Impact Collaborative (EPIC), the Aspen Leadership Forum on Retirement Savings, Benefits21, the Global Inclusive Growth Summit and The Future of Wealth. In Ida’s prior work as Chief Program Officer at Prosperity Now (formerly CFED), she created the multi-institutional team responsible for leading the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Consumer Financial Well-Being Metrics Project, and also led the creation of Upside Down, a program examining ways the U.S. income tax code generates disparate wealth building opportunities and contributes to growing levels of wealth inequality. Ida has testified on numerous occasions before Congress and contributes regularly to news and commentary on economic policy and consumer finance topics in outlets including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Politico and Marketplace.

Jen Taylor, President, Plaid

Jen Taylor is Plaid’s President, overseeing all global business units across Plaid, building innovative financial solutions to help customers scale.

Most recently, she served as Cloudflare’s Chief Product Officer where she led the delivery of world-class cloud-based security, performance, and reliability solutions for companies of all sizes. Prior to Cloudflare, Jen was senior vice president of product management for Search at Salesforce and held other leading roles within the company.

Jen holds a BA in Public Policy from Brown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Will Wilkinson, Head of Policy & Government Partnerships, TBD/Block

Will Wilkinson is Head of Policy and Government Partnerships at TBD, a division of Block Inc. (formerly known as Square) that specializes in the open source development of decentralized protocols for online payments and identity verification. Before joining TBD, he was Vice President for Policy at the Niskanen Center in Washington, DC. Will has been a U.S. politics correspondent for The Economist, a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, a fellow at the Cato Institute and Mercatus Center, a columnist for Vox and The Week, and a commentator for Marketplace Morning Report. He has published widely on an array of subjects including immigration, populism, cities, fiscal policy, regulatory policy, happiness research, behavioral economics and economic inequality in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, Politico and other publications. Will’s academic background is in philosophy and political theory, as well as creative writing. He has taught at Howard University, the University of Maryland, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two young children.

Our ability to identify, engage, and support leaders to advance this work is only possible due to the generous support of a growing group of partners. For this event in particular we’d like to lift up the Visa Foundation for their support of Aspen’s efforts to advance digital equity as a key facilitator of inclusive financial systems. We are also grateful for the support and partnership of all of the investors on our Inclusive Financial Systems work:  Edward Jones, Equifax, H&R Block, JP Morgan Chase, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, Plaid, U.S. Bank, Walmart, and Wells Fargo.

Related Resources

• Unlocking a More Inclusive Financial System: We Must Solve For These 5 Key Issues
• Towards a National Strategy for Financial Inclusion
• Aspen Institute and Partners Call For National Financial Inclusion Strategy