2026 Banking Outlook Conference: The Next Horizon in Banking

Our annual Banking Outlook Conference, sponsored by the Risk Analysis Unit of the Supervision and Regulation Division, provides an overview of banking conditions, risks, and issues expected over the next 12 months. The goal is for bank supervisors and industry participants to examine and discuss challenges confronting the financial services industry. The conference is designed to promote open and informal discussions on how economic trends, financial market activities, and the regulatory environment will affect the banking industry in the year ahead.

For comments or questions, please email the Banking Outlook Conference.

Registration is required to attend the Banking Outlook Conference. Admission to the conference will be denied to anyone who has not registered.

Agenda

Speaker Biographies

Raphael W. Bostic is president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. From 2012 to 2017, Bostic was the Judith and John Bedrosian Chair in Governance and the Public Enterprise at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California (USC), where he was director of the master's of real estate development degree program and founding director of the Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast. Bostic also served USC's Lusk Center for Real Estate as the interim associate director from 2007 to 2009 and as the interim director from 2015 to 2016. From 2016 to 2017, he was the chair of the center's Governance, Management, and Policy Process Department. From 2009 to 2012, Bostic was the assistant secretary for policy development and research at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Bostic worked at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 1995 to 2001, first as an economist and then a senior. He served as special assistant to HUD's assistant secretary of policy development and research in 1999. He was also a professional lecturer at American University in 1998. He graduated from Harvard University in 1987 with a combined major in economics and psychology. He earned his doctorate in economics from Stanford University in 1995.

Michelle W. Bowman has been serving as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System since November 26, 2018. Initially appointed to fill the remainder of an unexpired term, she was reappointed for a full 14-year term that ends on January 31, 2034. On June 9, 2025, Bowman was sworn in as the third vice chair for supervision and is responsible for overseeing the supervision and regulation of depository institution holding companies and other financial firms supervised by the Board. As the only member of the Board with banking and state supervisory experience, she chairs the Board's Subcommittee on Smaller and Regional Community Banking, and serves on the Board's Payments, Clearing, and Settlement Committee. Bowman also chairs the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Councils. Her international roles include serving on the Governors and Heads of Supervision group of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and as the U.S. Plenary member of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), where she chairs the FSB's Standing Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Cooperation. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Financial Stability Institute of the Bank for International Settlements. Prior to her appointment to the Board, she served as the Kansas state bank commissioner from January 2017 to November 2018, and as vice president of Farmers & Drovers Bank in Kansas from 2010 to 2017. Her past public service includes serving as a deputy assistant secretary and policy adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, director of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and counsel to the US House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, as well as working for Kansas senator Bob Dole. Following her time in Washington, Bowman led a government and public affairs consultancy in London before returning to Kansas in 2010. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas and a JD from the Washburn University School of Law. Bowman is a member of the New York State Bar.

Scott Cocanougher is chief executive officer of First Community Bank of Tennessee in Shelbyville, Tennessee. He began his career in banking in his hometown of Decatur, Texas, where he started from the ground up at the bank, working through bookkeeping, teller work, data processing, and then into the lending function. He moved to Tennessee in 1997, where he received his first rolls in management and eventually served as the bank president, present chief executive officer, and board member of the bank holding company and the bank. Cocanougher is a graduate of Texas A&M University and the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University.

Joe Davidson, as senior vice president over the Atlanta Fed's Supervision and Regulation (S&R) Division, oversees the Bank's supervision of state member banks, bank and financial holding companies, and US branches and agencies of foreign banking operations. He is a member of the Atlanta Fed's executive leadership committee and serves on the Federal Reserve System's Supervision Committee. Davidson came to the Atlanta Fed in February 2023 from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, where he had served as senior vice president of the Seventh District's S&R Division since 2018. In that role, he reported to S&R's executive vice president and oversaw the division's talent management, finance, business operations and analytics, quality management, conflicts of interest, applications and enforcement, and technology and records management functions. He joined the Federal Reserve in 1999 as a retail payments analyst in Chicago and later served as a compliance and Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) examiner and managing examiner. He was promoted to assistant vice president of consumer compliance and CRA in 2010, and then to vice president in 2012. Davidson holds a bachelor's degree in in economics from Kalamazoo College in Michigan.

Gordon Fellows is president and chief executive officer of the Mississippi Bankers Association (MBA), the state's unified voice for the banking industry. He oversees all aspects of the association, including the MBA's policy advocacy and government relations initiatives. He leads the MBA’s lobbying efforts at the Mississippi State Capitol and works closely with the Mississippi congressional delegation and national banking trade groups to support industry federal lobbying efforts.

Hillary Fowler joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta in 2012, where she leads the Risk and Analysis Unit, responsible for providing data analysis, market intelligence, and surveillance to support banking supervision. Previously, she led the team responsible for the evaluation of credit underwriting, capital and liquidity planning, and stress testing processes of large and complex financial institutions. Prior to joining the Federal Reserve, Fowler worked for several years in the financial services industry in New York at firms including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Bank of America. Fowler graduated from Duke University in 2003 with a bachelor of arts degree in economics and a minor in Spanish.

Kareem A. Haamid is a senior financial regulatory professional with nearly two decades of experience in bank supervision, fiduciary oversight, and risk management. He currently serves as a senior examiner on the asset and wealth management team at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, where he evaluates the safety, soundness, and governance of large, complex financial institutions. Haamid has extensive expertise in fiduciary activities, trust operations, asset management, compliance, and enterprise risk management. Prior to joining the Federal Reserve in 2024, he held senior leadership roles with the Virginia State Corporation Commission Bureau of Financial Institutions, including Large Financial Institution Examiner-in-Charge and Lead Trust Examiner-in-Charge, overseeing institutions ranging from community banks to multi-billion-dollar organizations. He holds an MBA in finance and BBA from Averett University and is a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University and the University of Virginia School of Bank Management. He maintains multiple professional certifications, including the certified fiduciary and investment risk specialist designation completed at the University of Notre Dame.

Rhoshunda Kelly was appointed by Mississippi governor Tate Reeves to serve as the Commissioner of the Department of Banking and Consumer Finance on March 22, 2021. Kelly has more than 20 years of experience as a regulator, beginning her career with the department as a bank examiner trainee in 2001. She was a field examiner from 2001 to 2011 and became a review examiner in 2012. Kelly was promoted to the director of bank supervision in 2013 and appointed deputy commissioner in 2014. As deputy commissioner, Kelly managed the banking, mortgage, consumer finance, administration, legal, and information technology divisions. She also ensured effective coordination between the state and federal regulators and fostered engagement with regulated industries. As commissioner, Kelly ensures effective agency operations and oversees $124 billion in state-chartered banking assets. She also ensures the licensure and supervision of more than 9,300 consumer finance and mortgage licensees that represent 11 financial industries. She serves as a member of the Mississippi Certified Public Manager Advisory Board. Kelly is past vice chair of the Mississippi State University Finance and Economics Advisory Board and was named a 2019 Leader in Finance by the Mississippi Business Journal. Kelly is active in the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and serves as the chair-elect of the executive committee and board of directors. Kelly received her undergraduate degree in business with a concentration in banking and finance from Mississippi State University. She is a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University, where she is a past instructor. Kelly is also an honor graduate of the American Bankers Association Graduate Trust School.

Scott E. Latham serves as president and chief executive officer of the Alabama Bankers Association, a professional trade association representing nearly 118 commercial banks across Alabama with combined deposits exceeding $182 billion in more than 1,927 locations across the state. Having served in this capacity since 1997, he is an active member of the Alliance of State Bankers Associations, a division of the American Bankers Association. He serves as a member of the board of trustees of Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tennessee, and currently serves as chairman. He holds an MBA from Auburn University in Montgomery and a degree from the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

Clayton Legear is chairman and chief executive officer of Merchants & Marine Bancorp Inc. and the company's bank subsidiary, Merchants & Marine Bank. Legear joined Merchants & Marine in 2011 and has served in a variety of roles since that time including compliance manager, chief risk officer, chief operating officer, and president. Prior to joining the company, Legear served as a financial institution examiner and deposit insurance claims specialist with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Legear is involved in organizations including the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's Community Depository Institution Advisory Council (chairman), the Mississippi State Board of Banking Review (vice chairman), the Federal Reserve Board's National Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council (member), the Conference of State Bank Supervisors Bankers Advisory Board (member), the Mississippi Bankers Association (executive committee), the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce (director), Young President's Organization (member), and the Athelstan Club. Legear holds a bachelor of science degree in business administration from Troy University, where he graduated with magna cum laude honors. He is a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University and is pursuing Harvard Business School's Certificate of Management Excellence. He is an alumnus of both Leadership Jackson County and Leadership Mississippi. He has also been recognized as one of the Top 10 Business Leaders Under 40 by the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce.

Kevin Massiah serves as the assistant vice president over the Service Provider and Technology supervisory group for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He also has extensive experience in bank supervision covering community banks up to large banks. He previously served as Deputy Central Point of Contact (DCPC) for a large financial institution; director of exams over the Cybersecurity, Operational Resiliency, and Emerging Technology team; and DCPC for a regional bank. He was previously part of the Federal Reserve's System Fintech Emerging Technologies workgroup and involved in fintech outreach efforts. Massiah has been with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta for nine years. Prior to joining the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Kevin spent seven years at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in a variety of roles working through the Great Recession supervising community, regional, and large banks.

Camelia Minoiu is a research economist and adviser in the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Previously, she worked at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the International Monetary Fund. Her research focuses on financial intermediation and examines how financial frictions and policy interventions shape the allocation of credit in the economy. Minoiu's research has been published widely in peer-reviewed journals, including in the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of Financial Economics, and the Journal of Monetary Economics. Camelia holds a PhD in economics from Columbia University and an MSc in econometrics and mathematical economics from the London School of Economics.

Wayne Rosen is the assistant special agent in charge of the Southeast Region of the Office of Investigations, Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Rosen's area of responsibility covers Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The Office of Investigations is responsible for investigating complex financial fraud investigations, ethics violations, and violations of Board and Bureau policies. Rosen has more than 20 years of experience as a federal law enforcement officer. Prior to joining the OIG, Rosen was a special agent for the Internal Revenue Service—Criminal Investigation. Prior to working for the federal government, Rosen was a tax consultant and financial planner with Wealth and Tax Advisory Services, which at that time was a subsidiary of HSBC USA Inc. Rosen received a bachelor of science degree in accounting and a master of science degree in accounting from the University of Florida. He is also a graduate of the FLETC Law Enforcement Supervisors Leadership Program, American University's Office of Inspector General Leadership Program, and the Lincoln Leadership Institute at Gettysburg. Rosen is also a certified fraud examiner.

Rodney Rushing is executive vice president and chief operating officer at ServisFirst Bank in Birmingham, Alabama. During his 40-year banking career, Rushing managed correspondent and audit divisions and was an executive vice president at Compass Bank. While at Compass, he held securities licenses, managing Investment Division sales and the Correspondent Division. In 2010, Rushing joined ServisFirst Bank to start its Correspondent Banking Division. As executive vice president and chief operating officer at ServisFirst Bank, he manages the bank's Correspondent Banking Division, which services more than 330 bank relationships in 29 states. The division has more than $2.5 billion in deposits. Rushing is a past chairman and 2008 president of the Alabama Bankers Association. He received his bachelor's degree from Auburn University.

Allen Stanley is a vice president in the supervision and regulation division at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He is the leader of the community and regional bank supervision group. Stanley joined the Atlanta Fed in 1989 and has held positions of increasing responsibility within supervision and regulation. Stanley earned a bachelor's degree in industrial management from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA in finance from Georgia State University. He also attended the executive development program at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Mike Timoney is vice president of payments system improvement for Federal Reserve Financial Services. Timoney is responsible for understanding the payments and fraud landscape and identifying areas where security needs improvement. Timoney is responsible for designing, developing, and implementing key elements of the Fed's payment improvement strategy for payment security, including improving fraud data, researching security and fraud trends, and evaluating emerging security and fraud technologies. He identifies and contributes to opportunities for collaboration with the payments industry to improve overall payments security. Timoney is a certified fraud examiner and certified Treasury professional.

Paula Tkac is an executive vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and is a member of the executive leadership committee. Tkac also serves as primary monetary policy adviser to Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic and is actively involved in strategic leadership. As an economist, Tkac has conducted research on various financial market topics including the asset management industry, financial regulation, the municipal bond market and policy responses to financial crises. Her research has won two William F. Sharpe Awards from the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. Tkac frequently speaks to private sector and community groups on issues related to monetary policy, financial regulation, and leadership. She has also appeared on C-SPAN and as an op-ed writer in the Wall Street Journal. Before she joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta in 2000, Tkac was on the faculty of the finance department at the University of Notre Dame. Tkac earned her bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in economics from the University of Chicago.

Lee Wetherington is senior director of corporate strategy at Jack Henry & Associates. Wetherington directs the development of actionable insights, forecasts, and strategy for Jack Henry and the financial services industry at large. To this end, he guides a team of analysts who track the trends and implications of emerging tech disrupting and transforming the financial services industry. Wetherington delivers keynotes nationwide focusing upon opportunities and challenges in data, AI, fintech, payments and digital banking. He has also served as technology faculty chair for several graduate schools of banking and management and has delivered guest lectures on leadership and technology at universities across the country. He was named Strategic Alliance Executive of the Year at the Golden Bridge Awards, which recognizes the world's top executives across every major industry globally. Wetherington's articles and commentary have been published widely across the financial services industry, and he is lead author of Jack Henry's annual Strategy Benchmark, a bellwether survey and study of financial institution CEOs' strategic priorities. Wetherington received bachelor's degrees in economics and English from Duke University in 1990, and in 1993 he completed graduate studies at Emory University.