Skip to content Skip to footer

2022 Spring Agenda

Home2022 Spring Agenda

ELEVATE IN 2022

MAY 12-13, 2022 | PROVIDENCE, RI

Move your brand, bank, and life onwards and upwards with sessions geared towards elevating new ideas with a refreshed perspective.

Registrants who attend the full 2-day Conference will receive 9.5 CFMP credits.

Schedule & Agenda

Day 1: Thursday, May 12

12:00 P.M.

1:00 P.M.

1:30 P.M.

REGISTRATION OPENS

CHECK IN CAN BE FOUND ON 17TH FLOOR OF THE GRADUATE

PROGRAM BEGINS

ELEVATE YOURSELF, YOUR TEAM, AND YOUR ORGANIZATION USING INSIGHTS PROVIDED BY THE PREDICTIVE INDEX BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT.

In this interactive session, you’ll learn more about your own natural behavior and what motivates you in the workplace. In addition, you’ll learn how to leverage this information to be a more self-aware leader and to communicate with and work more effectively with colleagues. In addition, you’ll learn how this information can help you improve hiring and retention in your organization. Participants will have the opportunity to take a free PI Behavioral Assessment and receive a Behavioral Report with results prior to the session.

MEET YOUR SPEAKER

Teri Kinsella
Talent Optimization Consultant

Predictive Index Midtlantic

Breakout Sessions:

2:30 P.M

INTERACTIVE SESSION WITH THE PREDICTIVE INDEX

Dive deeper into the Predictive Index Behavioral Assessment by breaking into small groups based on individuals’ strongest factors to discuss the strengths and challenges of that factor. Participants will launch into a discussion to identify tools  and tactics to enhance their leadership skills based on their strongest factors. 

Speaker: Teri Kinsella

2:30 P.M

NEFMA 2021 AWARDS SHOW PANEL

Attend this panel to hear from three of the top award winners from this year’s Virtual Award Show! Bank representatives from financial institutions will host a Q&A while discussing their winning campaigns, including their ideation process, how they worked to turn their creative visions into reality, and the response the campaigns received from customers and the community alike.

MEET YOUR PANELISTS
Alison Brigham
AVP, Marketing and Community

Lee Bank

Winner of 2021 Out of Home Campaign of the Year
Kathy Gugliotti
SVP, Marketing Director

Newtown Savings Bank

Winner of 2021 PR Campaign of the Year Award

 

Sarah Auer
VP, Senior Marketing Director

Kennebunk Savings

Winner of 2021 Website redesign of the Year

3:30 P.M

BOOSTING YOUR BRAND WITH THE NEW PR 

When Mary Cate last met with the NEFMA faithful, she was schlepping storytelling as a means to light your media channels on fire. At this year’s Spring Conference, she will give an on-location report into how decisions are made in newsrooms across New England. Mary Cate will also help you learn how to get a reporter’s attention as well as how to really blow up that coverage with an “earned to owned” strategy.

Attendees will learn how to:

  • Discover what reporters want,
  • Prepare pitches that pop,
  • Ignite coverage with an “earned to owned” strategy.

Mary Cate Mannion
Digital Public Relations Analyst

GCAi

4:30 P.M

ELEVATING YOUR DIGITAL STRATEGY

You know you need to be visible online, but what you may not realize is that visibility isn’t just about ranking in the organic search engine listings – it’s about dominating your local search results.  

“Huh? I thought they were the same thing!” you might be thinking.  

Most business professionals don’t even realize that dominating their local search results is important, let alone know how to do it. Ranking in the local 3-pack is essential for financial institutions looking to generate more leads and sales from their online presence. But what many companies don’t realize is that there are a number of little-known tactics that can help them dominate their local search results. 

We’ll share five strategies you can implement that will help you improve your local search visibility and generate more leads and sales from your online presence.  You’ll come away knowing:  

  • How to check your local search results 
  • The one tactic you must implement to improve your local search traffic literally overnight 
  • How to find out which of your competitors are outranking you, and how they’re doing it 
  • The deadly traps many local institutions fall into when managing their local presence 
  • Why most of what you’ve been told about local marketing for your institution is dead wrong – and what to do about it! 

And, as our way of saying, “Thank you,” you’ll walk away with our free 9-Point Google My Business Optimization Guide so that you can immediately implement what you learn during this presentation. 

MEET YOUR SPEAKER

Brad Solomon
Principal

SC Digital

4:30 P.M

BRANDING WORKSHOP

Does your brand accurately reflect who you are today, where you’re going tomorrow, and what your customers can expect from you? Is your FI holding on to a stodgy or outdated identity for fear of alienating your customer base, despite having incorporated new and innovative digital tools or solutions? In other words, is your branding, well… on brand? In an ever-changing marketplace, the risk of becoming obsolete grows exponentially with each new shift. There’s never been a better time to ask yourself: does our brand still reflect who we are as an organization? In our Branding Workshop session, we’ll walk you through the process of helping your FI think more peripherally about your brand as it exists today, and give you the tools and guidance to begin the process of internal brand discovery that will enable you to remain relevant in the quickly evolving financial sector.

MEET YOUR SPEAKER

Jennifer Stearns
Account Director, Brand Strategist

Stackpole

5:15

RECEPTION

Day 2: FRIDAY, May 13

7:00

CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST OPENS

8:30

USING DATA TO MAKE INFORMED DECISIONS PANEL DISCUSSION

Attend our Data Panel discussion and hear from three industry experts about how financial marketers can analyze and use available data in their day-to-day workflow to make more thoughtful, informed decisions. Data is king, and especially for financial marketers, understanding data and leveraging it is key when driving fruitful marketing campaigns. Attend this session and learn how to use data to get the budget approvals needed to reach new customers and keep your customer retention rates high, all while making a meaningful impact.

MEET YOUR PANELISTS
Bill Dewitt
EVP & Chief Marketing Officer

People’s Credit Union

Adrian Phillips
AVP of Client Insights

WordCom, Inc.

 

Amber Heffner Cosby
Director of Business Intelligence & Software Engineering

Bangor Savings Bank

 

9:30

HARNESSING THE POWER OF FINANCIAL DATA

Financial data powers visibility into consumer behavior and enables the sophistication that financial institutions need to truly understand their consumers and deliver the personalized experiences and offers they expect. Repeatable, sustainable success will require consumer-focused, data-informed strategies and the effective leveraging of data.

David Hall, Director of Catalyst, MX Technologies’ client consulting team, will discuss the challenges keeping financial service providers from unlocking their data and effectively taking action on those insights to provide meaningful guidance and offers for their consumers and to position their organization to not only be relevant, but also to thrive in today’s financial services landscape.

MEET YOUR SPEAKER

David Hall
Senior Director of MX Catalyst

MX Technologies

10:30

THE TRUTH ABOUT DIGITAL MARKETING

MEET YOUR SPEAKER

Brad Solomon
Principal

SC Digital

11:30

KEYNOTE: INSIGHTS AND TRENDS EMPOWERING THE DIGITAL CONSUMER

One of the key outcomes in the post-COVID world is the clear emergence of the digitally empowered consumer. Every sector from media, to retail, to government, and even financial services has seen rapid acceleration and adoption of digital engagement and empowered consumers over the past two years. In this session we will review the key emerging consumer behaviors directly impacted by digital, discuss engagement strategies for digital natives, and review various industry case studies of how companies have competed in the evolving digital landscape.

Attendees will leave this workshop with:

  • A deeper understanding of the emerging competitive landscape.
  • Interactive exercises that can be used to help their institutions be better at collaborating around innovation.
  • Insight into how the best companies prepare themselves for future threats and opportunities.
  • Strategies for keeping the member and their user experience front-and-center.
  • Ways to future-proof how their credit union adapts to changes of all kinds.
  • A realistic view of where digital is really going in the next five years – separating the hype from the reality.
MEET YOUR SPEAKER

Sam Maule
Key Account Executive

Google

1:00 PM

CONFERENCE ENDS

*All times subject to change

Teri Kinsella

Talent Optimization Consultant
LinkedIn
Pi Midlantic

With a career spanning 25+ years, Teri brings broad experience to her clients, ranging from leadership of Fortune 500 global initiatives to entrepreneurship.

As a consultant for Predictive Index Midlantic since 2009, Teri works with a variety of clients to help them align their talent strategy with their business strategy.  Utilizing the Predictive Index Talent Optimization Platform, Teri consults with clients to help them attract, retain and develop their #1 asset…their talent.

Teri’s select list of current clients includes: Oracle, Corcentric, Dymax, InfoVista PeopleShare, Provident Bank and Steel Partners.

Prior to joining the company, Teri owned Kinsella Marketing, a company that delivered comprehensive brand development, marketing strategy and marketing services to a wide variety of clients. In addition to The Predictive Index, some of those clients included: Pizzeria Uno, Wild Harvest, Tommy Hilfiger Footwear, and Saucony.

Teri spent her early career in the footwear industry, most notably at Reebok International where the culmination of her seven-year tenure was as Global Director of Advertising for the Men’s Division.

A native of the Boston area, Teri currently lives in North Bethesda, MD with her husband Tim, a technology entrepreneur, and their three sons.

Alison Brigham

LinkedIn

AVP, Marketing and Community Engagement

Lee Bank

 

Alison joined the marketing department at Lee Bank in 2017, after a decade working in New York City’s restaurant industry. In 2019, she won a 1Berkshire Trendsetter Award for Innovative Marketing Campaign.

Alison has a bachelor’s degree in physiology and psychology from McGill University. She also completed a master’s program in medical genetics at University of British Columbia. Alison is a member of the Lenox Business Partners and Berkshire Business and Professional Women; she also serves as board member and communications committee chair with the New England Financial Marketing Association. She volunteers with the Link to Libraries Volunteer Reader program at Conte Community School in Pittsfield, and is a member of the Pittsfield Artscape committee.

Alison is a recently reformed marathon runner who now prefers distances of 10K or less. She is also an equestrian who regularly participates in riding competitions with her horses, Ten and Eloise. A resident of Lenox, MA, she is an avid reader and enjoys taking photographs, mainly of animals and landscapes.

Kathy Gugliotti

Senior Vice President and Marketing Director

Newtown Savings Bank

 

Kathy Gugliotti is Senior Vice President and Marketing Director at Newtown Savings Bank, a $1.7 billion Mutual Savings Bank founded in 1855 and headquartered in Newtown, Connecticut. Ms. Gugliotti joined Newtown Savings Bank in 2006 and currently oversees all of the Bank’s Marketing, Public Relations and Social Media functions.  In addition, she is a member of the Bank’s Management committee, and previously served on the Boards of NEFMA, the Waterbury Chamber’s Business Women’s Forum, and TBICO in Danbury.  A resident of Southbury, CT, she has a Bachelors degree in Marketing from Post College, and an MBA from the University of Hartford.

 

 

Sarah Auer

VP, Senior Marketing Director
LinkedIn
Kennebunk Savings

 

Mary Cate Mannion

Digital Public Relations Analyst, GCAi
Producer, New England Corporate Video
Award-Winning Anchor/Reporter

Here’s what you need to know about me. I have interviewed hundreds of businesspeople and watched many fail their own interests because of an inability to tell their own truthful and meaningful stories.

Meaningful stories break through the clutter and I was rewarded for helping tell them. Now that I am behind the camera, I want to help businesses tell their story because it truly is the new elixir of engagement – and in a digital world, nothing matters more than engagement – the marketing superfood of 2022.

More about my storytelling travels? My reporting career took me through a variety of climates, cities, and stories. Starting in North Dakota (read cold even for New Englanders!) with an NBC affiliate, where I learned to interview and edit in temps well below freezing on a regular basis.

Arriving at the warm clime of Western Mass, I spent time in the Holyoke-Springfield DMA working as an anchor/reporter for ABC, CBS, and FOX News affiliates. Then I was off to Portland, ME, for a similar position for an ABC News affiliate there. Some thought I was so good at telling stories that I won a Broadcaster’s Award for my work and was nominated for two Emmy Awards.

Along this sometimes-cold journey, I think I have learned a thing or two about the art of helping humans explain what is important to them and others and then using technology to enhance those stories and bring them to market quickly.

I am really proud of the time that I spent at Emerson College, where I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in broadcast journalism. I currently serve as a board member of the Willie Ross School for the Deaf and am a member of Women in Film & Video New England.

These days, whenever possible, I am spending time outside with my rescue dog Enzo exploring my new home in Suffield, CT.

Brad Solomon

Principal
LinkedIn
SC Digital Marketing Specialists

 

Brad Solomon is the high-energy founder and CEO of SC Digital, a digital marketing agency based out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  Brad and his team focus on helping companies achieve ever increasing sales levels using proven digital marketing strategies and tactics.  Specializing in social media advertising, website creation, SEO, Google Adwords (Google Adwords Certified), email marketing, and much more.

Brad received his MBA from the UNH Paul College of Business and Economics.  After cutting his teeth in the automotive digital marketing space, he and his partner started SC Digital in 2017.  In less than 5 years, the company has grown to be a 7 figure business with over one hundred clients in dozens of different industries.  Brad is also the president of the Manchester Wolf Pack, New Hampshire’s largest BNI Networking Group and teaches digital marketing classes at University of New Hampshire.

Jennifer Stearns

Account Director, Brand Strategist
LinkedIn
Stackpole

Jennifer serves as an Account Director and Brand Strategist at Stackpole in Newburyport, MA. Having spent the first ten years of her career in live entertainment marketing, she has an in-depth understanding of perishable product and the need to capitalize on short windows of opportunity for customer conversion. At Stackpole, Jennifer serves as the lead for several FI and Fintech clients across the country, and has been instrumental in creating actionable, measurable results for a number of New England financial institutions and payments platforms, in addition to directing the strategy and execution behind multiple brand launch and re-brand initiatives. 

Bill Dewitt

Chief Marketing Officer
LinkedIn
People’s Credit Union

 

Bill is Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at People’s Credit Union with responsibility for Marketing, Retail Administration, Deposit Operations and Facilities.  Prior to joining People’s, Bill was a principal at HCC Marketing which was acquired by Davis Advertising in 2016.

Starting his career as a product manager at Fleet Bank (now part of Bank of America), Bill moved on to other marketing positions at Fidelity Investments, Citizens Bank, and BankRI.  He also enjoyed several years at Arnold Advertising and Deutsch working with their financial clients.

He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and currently serves on the Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors, where he is chair of the Government Affairs Committee.

Adrian Phillips

AVP of Client Insights
LinkedIn
WordCom

Adrian is WordCom’s Client Insights expert. He has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, with that experience coming from all types of financial services, including traditional banking – investments, insurance, and mortgage.  He’s seen the financial services industry from some of the largest institutions to a local community credit union.  His experience also is both on the banking and vendor side of the marketing relationship.

Adrian loves data and the art and science of finding the story behind it. Using data in with a proactive omnichannel strategy is the key to attracting and keeping banking customers.  He is a graduate of Butler University majoring in communications and received his MBA from Anderson University.

Amber Heffner Cosby

SVP, Director of Business Intelligence & Software Engineering

Bangor Savings Bank

 

 

Amber Heffner Cosby is the SVP, Director of Business Intelligence & Software Engineering at Bangor Savings Bank, a $6.7B bank with 1,100 employees, 65 branch locations, and presence predominately in Maine and New Hampshire. She has been with the bank for 10 years, spending time first in Retail before moving to IT and Business Intelligence in 2016. Prior to joining Bangor Savings Bank and moving to the Midcoast, Maine she was in Chicago, Illinois where she led teams of application developers, and delivered custom solutions for Fortune 500 Companies.

In her current role, Amber has oversight over bank initiatives related to all things data. In February of this year, she led the effort to implement an in house CRM, Spark!. This endeavor was a full-time effort of both application & data engineers to deliver on the specific needs of BSB and a CRM. The key to the success of Spark! was the data model and conversion for a 360-degree view of the customer. Additionally, she is passionate about data literacy and is one of the banks’ liaisons to The Roux, the Portland campus of Northeastern University. With this partnership Amber, the Bank, and The Roux Institute are working to help bring data analytics related education to various bankers to deepen their knowledge and awareness of the importance of data.

In her spare time, Amber enjoys paddle boarding, vegetable gardening and is in a cookbook club where she explores new cuisines and cooking from around the globe.

David Hall

Senior Director
LinkedIn
MX
In 2018, after spending nearly 25 years in many front and back office roles at Zions Bancorporation and Bank of America, David joined MX to found Catalyst, MX’s Professional Services & Consulting team.

David’s vision is to level the playing field for financial institutions when it comes to delivering world class consumer experiences. He leads financial institutions through their own transformational journey to a more inclusive and open banking environment for the future. With emphasis on leveraging an organization’s existing culture, vision and capabilities, together with his clients, he designs strategies and execution roadmaps founded in data, to drive organizational growth and improve the financial lives of consumers.

When not lending expertise to financial institutions large and small, David donates time working with youth sporting programs and enjoys spending time with his family in Utah.

Sam Maule

Key Account Executive
LinkedIn
Google

 

 

Sam is an active mentor, thought leader, and sought-after speaker focusing on the human element of digital and banking innovation. He has over twenty-five years of experience working in the payments, mobile, and banking space across North America and Europe for both global banking and technology companies, and in the start-up community.

He was the Managing Partner at 11:FS, co-host of FinTechInsider podcast. and recurring host of Breaking Banks podcast. He has presented for such places as the Thailand Stock Exchange, FinTechStage Luxembourg, FinnoSummit Bogota, Money2020 US and Europe, SAMA Saudi Arabia, SIBOS Singapore, Seoul’s AI Conference, American Banker’s Conference, and CUNA.