Speakers | Elder Fraud Prevention Summit

2024 Speakers

Anne Larkin, Consultant, Moonshot Initiative

Anne W. Larkin is a seasoned fraud, litigation, and legislation attorney. Her passion for combating elder financial fraud stems from her parents’ cognitive decline and experiences with financial scammers who ruined their finances. In 2023, she retired as the Senior Vice President – Aging Client Relationship Leader for Wells Fargo. During her time with Wells, she worked closely with the lines of business, legal, compliance, fraud, and government relations. She also encouraged partnering with various industry professionals to spread information and ideas to reduce an institution unwittingly banking a perpetrator while another the victim.

Andy Mao, National Elder Justice Coordinator, Department of Justice

Andy Mao is the Department of Justice’s National Elder Justice Coordinator, a position established by the Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act. In this capacity, he helps to coordinate the Department’s many elder justice efforts, including its programmatic efforts to enhance the capacity of elder justice processionals to combat elder abuse, neglect and financial exploitation. Mr. Mao is also a Deputy Director in the Department of Justice’s Civil Fraud Section, where he has investigated and litigated a wide array of health care fraud matters involving hospitals, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and skilled nursing facility chains. Mr. Mao joined the Department in 2000 through the Attorney General’s Honors Program after completing a federal clerkship in the District of New Jersey. Mr. Mao is a graduate of Cornell University and the University of Virginia School of Law.

Brett Frederick, Director, Enterprise Fraud Risk Management, U.S. Bancorp

Brett Frederick is a seasoned fraud risk management professional in the financial industry with a focus on Elder Financial Abuse Prevention. Mr. Frederick has implemented many firsts during his fifteen years at U.S. Bank such as establishing the Company’s Elder and Vulnerable Adult Financial Exploitation Prevention Program at the bank, including its policy, all employee training, customer awareness campaigns, and constant stakeholder engagement focused on continuous improvement. Mr. Frederick is currently a director of Enterprise Fraud Risk Management and a Certified Fraud Examiner.

Catheryn Eisaman – Avalos, Vice President Risk and Controls Manager Digital Strategies, Zions Bancorp

Catheryn J Eisaman – Avalos serves as Vice President Risk and Controls Manager Digital Strategies for Zions Bancorp. Her role encompasses oversight of risks and controls for the digital strategies of the financial institution. Catheryn’s has over 20 years as a fraud and anti-money laundering professional in the financial services industry beginning her career as a call center representative. In 2002 she began her work in financial crimes risk management in a newly formed fraud department aimed at early identification and prevention of fraud. Catheryn has earned her CAMS and CFE certification and in 2018 she was identified as a Phoenix Business Journal 40 under 40. Catheryn has developed strong relationships with both banking and law enforcement professionals to collaborate in combatting financial crimes. Catheryn received her bachelor’s from University of Phoenix as well as a master’s in legal studies from the Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law.

Carl Tugberk, Executive Director ​, Office of Consumer Practices, Wealth and Investment Management​, Wells Fargo

Carl Tugberk is an Executive Director and the Wealth and Investment Management, Policy, and Vulnerable Consumers Leader for the Office of Consumer Practices at Wells Fargo & Company. Carl provides strategic advice and thought leadership to help ensure Wells Fargo products, services and business practices within the Wealth and Investment Management line of business are fair and transparent to consumers. This includes assessing and advising on consumer-related products, services, and business practices to ensure the consumer’s perspective plays a significant role in decision-making. Carl is also responsible for leading the ongoing integration of the company’s Treating Consumers Fairly Principles, managing engagement in reviews of enterprise policies relevant to consumer practices, and advising on consumer practices issues relevant to vulnerable consumers. He has over 18 years of experience in legal and regulatory policy work with a focus on consumer/investor protection and securities issues.

Christine Kieffer, Senior Director, FINRA Foundation

Christine N. Kieffer is senior director of the FINRA Investor Education Foundation with over 20 years of financial and investor education experience. She manages national, state and grassroots partnerships, and develops tools and programs for law enforcement, victim advocates and consumers to advance investor protection and fraud prevention initiatives. Her role includes management of research into investor attitudes and behaviors, primarily related to financial fraud. Kieffer also oversees financial readiness programs for military families and other underserved audiences and participates in implementation of the National Financial Capability Study. Kieffer holds a Bachelor of Science from Vanderbilt University with a double major in economics and mathematics.

Deborah Royster, Assistant Director, Office for Older Americans, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Deborah M. Royster serves as Assistant Director, Office for Older Americans, at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“the Bureau”). In this role, Ms. Royster leads a team of talented, mission driven professionals to advance the mission of the Office for Older Americans to help protect older consumers across the nation from financial harm, and to help older consumers make sound financial decisions as they grow older.

Jackie Blaesi-Freed, Section Chief, Policy Division, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network

Jackie Blaesi-Freed is a Section Chief in FinCEN’s Policy Division. She is responsible for a range of efforts related to anti-money laundering statutes and regulations, including leading rulemakings, issuing interpretations and guidances, and providing technical assistance to draft legislation. Prior to joining FinCEN, Jackie was an Assistant Director with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch. There, she brought civil and criminal cases targeting perpetrators and facilitators of fraud. She oversaw the component’s Bank Secrecy Act data teams and trained attorneys and agents across the country on investigating and prosecuting scams. Jackie was instrumental in organizing the Department’s elder fraud efforts.

James Jefferson, Senior Vice President Chief Risk Officer, Montecito Bank & Trust

With over 20 years of experience in the banking industry, James Jefferson currently serves as Senior Vice President Chief Risk Officer, for Montecito Bank & Trust (MB&T), a $2.2 billion bank which operates 16 branches in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. James began his banking career right out of college and holds the designation of Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager. He currently oversees enterprise risk management and regulatory affairs for MB&T and leads the Bank’s AML/BSA, fraud, information security, and regulatory compliance teams. James lives in Solving with his wife and two sons, and enjoys playing (and watching) hockey, kayaking, and brewing his own beer.

Joe Snyder, Public Policy Chair, National Adult Protective Services Association

Joe Snyder is the Public Policy Chair and former President of the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA). Joe also is the co-founder of the Philadelphia Financial Exploitation Prevention Task Force which he served as Chair for 10 years. Joe is a former Board Member of NAPSA’s Financial Exploitation Advisory Board as well as a member of the North American Securities Administrators Association Advisory Committee.

Julia Macbeth, Supervisory Special Agent, Economic Crimes Unit, Federal Bureau of Investigation

Julia MacBeth is a Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) at FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC. SSA MacBeth is currently part of the FBI's Economic Crimes Unit where she manages the Cyber Enabled Frauds program and acts as the FBI’s National Elder Justice Coordinator, working to identify new emerging threats targeting vulnerable adults and overseeing public outreach and awareness efforts. SSA MacBeth was previously assigned to the FBI Detroit Field Office where she investigated a variety of criminal matters and coordinated a financial crimes task force consisting of federal, state, and local law enforcement partners targeting fraud organizations. 

Kathy Stokes, Director of Fraud Prevention Programs, AARP Fraud Watch Network

Kathy Stokes is a nationally recognized leader in the fraud arena. As Director of Fraud Prevention Programs with the AARP Fraud Watch Network, Kathy leads AARP’s social mission work to educate older adults on the risks that fraud represents to their financial security. Since 2019, she and her team have expanded AARP’s leadership in this space, by mounting a national campaign to change the narrative on how we talk about fraud victims and guiding an effort to fundamentally transform how our country addresses fraud. Kathy currently serves on the advisory council to the Board of the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators and on the advisory council to the Senior Issues Committee of the North American Securities Administrators Association. Kathy also serves on a Federal Reserve Working Group on Scam Information Sharing.

Mac Montana, Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation

Mac Montana (he/him) is an FBI Special Agent specializing in financial crimes, specifically financial institution fraud, mortgage fraud, and money laundering. Mac’s cases include instances of grandparent scams, romance fraud, business email compromise (BEC) fraud, social-media-enabled money laundering, and Small Business Administration (SBA) COVID-related loan fraud. Previously, Mac worked as a Financial Analyst for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and as a Budget Analyst for the City of Austin, Texas. Mac is Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and holds a Master of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Connecticut School of Business.

Marti DeLiema, Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota

Professor Marti DeLiema comes to the School of Social Work as an interdisciplinary gerontologist, driven to understanding how our society can cultivate long, healthy, and fulfilling lives for all citizens. An important component of aging well is avoiding financial abuse and fraud, yet victimization causes millions of Americans to become financially fragile in older age. Using both quantitative and qualitative research methods, Professor DeLiema studies financial victimization using focus groups, in-depth interviews, and survey and panel data. She collaborates with financial institutions, the Federal Trade Commission, the US Postal Inspection Service, the FINRA Foundation, and other agencies to analyze victimization risk factors and test efforts to inoculate consumers from fraud through enhanced consumer education and structural interventions. Her research has been funded by the National Institute of Justice, the Social Security Administration, the Administration for Community Living, the National Institute on Aging, AARP and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation.

Mike Steinbach, Head of Financial Crimes and Fraud Prevention, Citi

Michael Steinbach joined Citi in February 2017 as the Director of Cyber Fraud responsible for developing an intelligence led approach to combating significant cyber-enabled fraud. In April 2018, he assumed the role of Head of Personal Banking and Wealth Management Fraud Prevention. This expanded role included end to end accountability to prevent, detect, and mitigate fraud across all Consumer Bank lines of business and regions worldwide. In June of 2023, Michael led the merger of Financial Crimes with Fraud Prevention, creating an industry-first global utility with end-to-end responsibility for adherence to Anti Money Laundering and Know Your Customer (AML/KYC) regulations and prevention of fraud throughout the entirety of the customer lifecycle. In his current role of Head of Financial Crimes and Fraud Prevention, Michael leads a dynamic organization focused on a transformative digital first strategy that delivers industry leading AML/KYC and fraud performance while ensuring his team provides value to the customer through automation, digitization, and frictionless experiences.

Parker Johnson, Tactical Specialist, Federal Bureau of Investigation

Parker Johnson (she/her) serves as a Tactical Specialist at the FBI Washington Field Office with subject matter expertise in Money Laundering and Financial Institution-Related Fraud. As a Tactical Specialist, Parker leverages open source intelligence to supplement the FBI's understanding of threat actors, fraud trends, and criminal tradecraft within FBI Washington's area of responsibility. Parker holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice: Investigative Services from the University of New Haven, and has worked for the Bureau in various capacities since 2017.

Peter Cook, Chief Communications Officer, American Bankers Association

Peter Cook joined ABA in April, 2017, as executive vice president and chief communications officer. As leader of the communications group, Cook is responsible for the association’s public relations, member communications and brand marketing departments, as well as the ABA Foundation. He and his team provide strategic communications counsel to ABA’s leadership and member banks across the country.

Renee Williams, Executive Director, National Center for Victims of Crime

Renée Williams is a dedicated advocate and leader in the field of victim services, currently serving as executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime. With over 15 years of experience in the nonprofit and legal sectors, Renée has a proven track record of championing the rights and needs of victims of crime. Prior to her role at the NCVC, Renée was the executive director of a legal services organization in Pittsburgh that focused on the legal rights of victims of domestic violence and other indigent clients. 

Trina Clayeux, CEO, Give An Hour

Dr. Trina Clayeux brings a wealth of executive experience in workforce development and mental health to her role as CEO of Give an Hour. With a proven history of visionary leadership and innovation, she has made significant contributions in enhancing access and the delivery of vital services within her field. Her career spans various impactful roles, including tenure as Chief Operations Officer for social impact organizations, director and assistant dean for community college systems, and multistate coordination of a Department of Defense base realignment event and a national corporate network for military spouse employment. Having herself been a military and veteran spouse for many years, she possesses an innate understanding of the distinctive challenges and opportunities inherent in this community, making her a dedicated advocate for their personal and professional growth.