Contributors
Ambica Tarakad
Ambica is a Senior Research Analyst with the Operations Council, and has been with the Corporate Executive Board since 2007. She holds a Bachelors degree from Rice University and a Masters degree from The London School of Economics. Currently based in Washington, DC, she also has experience living in India, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
Anne Walbridge
Anne is the newest researcher to the CFC team, having recently transitioned from the world of small business and commercial banking, researching sales force productivity, cash management, and complex branch-based sales. Anne is enjoying the consumer space, particularly because it lets her explore new financial products! Like the Council’s members, she’s wading into the social media space, figuring out how to most effectively understand what consumers are saying about their banks.
Arlinda Mezini
Arlinda is CEC's resident expert on global communications and corporate social responsibility. Having joined CEB in 2005, she previously worked in CEB’s financial services practice and focused on retail and commercial banking issues. Arlinda is a true globetrotter – a native of Tirana, Albania, she lived in Washington DC for several years, and now calls London her home. When not pondering CSR issues, you can find her indulging her passion for travel through weekend trips around Europe, practicing her language skills, or just exploring London on foot.
Derek Frost
Elisa Vannini
Elisa Vannini is a Director of Research for the Operations Council. She has ten years of work experience in Financial Services, most recently in investment banking working for Goldman Sachs in London. Elisa obtained a Bachelors Degree and a Masters Degree from Stanford University, and an MBA from ESADE Business School in Barcelona. She speaks English, Spanish and Italian.
Jaime Roca
Jaime is a Practice Manager at the Corporate Executive Board where he has served since 2005. He manages the research programs focusing on serving executives overseeing the Operations and Wealth Management functions in the financial services industry. Before joining the Corporate Executive Board, he served a variety of institutional investment clients as a technology equity analyst and also as a European analyst providing macroeconomic and political risk advice to investment bank and hedge fund managers. Jaime earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from Colorado College, Master of Arts with Honors in International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and a MBA from the Duke University Fuqua School of Business.
Kiara Domingo
Kiara joined the Council in 2008 amid a time of chaos for the financial services industry. She spends most of her time thinking about the post-crisis consumer and the implications for banks in terms of their products, channel distribution, and sales strategies. She has worked closely with Latin American institutions and has retail banking sales executives on speed dial. Her specialty is branch sales force productivity and as the CFC Forum moderator, knows what is top of mind of executives regardless of their time zone.
Lauren Fischetti
Michelle Sato
My name is Michelle Sato and I spend most of my days thinking about consumer banking. My research resume would most likely include topics like segmentation, sales and marketing coordination, branch management, channel integration, internet sales, customer acquisition, experience execution, and product innovation. However, my greatest claim to fame is my vast experience as a consumer of retail bank products and services. In my 13 years as a retail banking customer, I have “sampled” over 18 products at about 12 financial services institutions. I look forward to sharing my thoughts from the perspective of a retail banking researcher as well as a customer.
Peter Aykens
Peter Aykens is a Managing Director in the Financial Services Practice at the Corporate Executive Board. He joined the practice in 1991 and across the past 20 years has conducted extensive research in the areas of retail banking, wealth management, personal lines insurance and operations. Peter grew up in Minnesota, received a BA degree from St. Olaf College, studied in Wales at University College Wales, Aberystwyth and earned a Ph.D. from Brown University.
Robert Reed
Robert Reed is a Senior Director and Executive Advisor specializing in wealth management and business
banking. He brings a multinational perspective to business banking and wealth management issues based on
his experience in finance, marketing, and strategy consulting in the United States, Latin America, and Europe.
Previously, Robert served as the research director for the Sales Executive Board, the Marketing Leadership
Council, and the Corporate Leadership Council. Before joining the Corporate Executive Board in 2002, Robert
worked at Dow Chemical, Citibank, and IBM Consulting.
Robert completed the Citibank Account Officer Training Program during his tenure there and holds a BS in
Finance from Miami University of Ohio.
Sara Osborne
Sara Osborne is a senior researcher on the BBB's US team, where she focuses on demand-side research and how banks can better attract, serve, and retain commercial customers. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and currently resides in Washington, DC.
Scott Rothman
Scott is an Executive Advisor with the Operations Council and considers himself fortunate to be able to travel the world and work with financial services executives to develop and execute their most important initiatives across key areas of Operations. He is a huge fan of exit rows, the United upgrades when they actually happen, the Red Carpet Club, the Club Floor rooms given to Starwood Platinum Preferred Guests when such a floor exists, and the soothing voice of Hertz’s NeverLost system when he is indeed lost. When not on the road you can find Scott avoiding airports, dabbling in sports, reading, playing with his nieces and nephew and just generally relaxing. If you’re lucky he may let you in on his deepest, darkest secret…in addition to his ops background he has a tech background!
Sharon Chinn
Wallace Blankenbaker
Wallace Blankenbaker is a Senior Director and Executive Advisor specializing in wealth management and
business banking. An eight-year veteran of the Corporate Executive Board, he advises executives on their most
pressing challenges in business economics, staff development, product creation, and operational strategy.
Wallace is a frequent speaker at industry and company events and is often quoted in the financial trade press.
He has more than 15 years of financial services experience, including previous work as a strategy consultant at
American Management Systems (now CGI) and as a product strategist at FOLIOfn.
Wallace holds a Bachelor of Science in Commerce and a Masters in Business Administration, both from the
University of Virginia.
