Evan Smith, CEO and co-founder of The Texas Tribune
The Texas Tribune is a pioneering nonprofit, nonpartisan digital news organization that covers Texas politics and public policy. Since its launch in 2009, the Tribune has won international acclaim and numerous honors, including a Peabody Award and 21 national Edward R. Murrow Awards. Smith is also the host of “Overheard with Evan Smith,” a weekly half-hour interview program that airs on PBS stations around the country.
Previously, he spent nearly 18 years at Texas Monthly, including eight years as the magazine’s editor and a year as its president and editor in chief.
Joseph M. Otting, the 31st Comptroller of the Currency
The Comptroller is the administrator of the federal banking system and chief officer of the OCC, which supervises nearly 1,400 national banks, federal savings associations and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks operating in the U.S. The Comptroller also serves as a director of the FDIC and member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.
Prior to becoming Comptroller, Otting served as president of CIT Bank and co-president of CIT Group. He was also president, CEO and a member of the board of directors of OneWest Bank, N.A., and he also served as vice chairman of U.S. Bancorp, where he managed the Commercial Banking Group and served on the bank’s executive management committee.
Robert S. Kaplan, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Kaplan has served in his current position since Sept. 8, 2015. He represents the Eleventh Federal Reserve District on the Federal Open Market Committee in the formulation of U.S. monetary policy and oversees the 1,200 employees of the Dallas Fed. Kaplan was previously the Martin Marshall Professor of Management Practice and a senior associate dean at Harvard Business school.
Prior to joining Harvard, Kaplan was vice chairman of The Goldman Sachs Group, with global responsibility for the firm’s Investment Banking and Investment Management Divisions. He is the author of several books focused on leadership and reaching one’s potential.
Rob Nichols, American Bankers Association president and CEO
ABA represents banks of all sizes and charters and is the voice for the nation’s $18 trillion banking industry. Nichols joined ABA in August 2015, following 10 years at the helm of the Financial Services Forum, a non-partisan financial and economic policy organization. Before joining the Forum, Nichols served in the George W. Bush administration as the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Treasury Department.
This year, Nichols was elected to serve a two-year term as chairman of the International Banking Federation, whose members include the national banking trade associations representing every major financial center.