Digital currency is becoming more widely accepted and mainstream, and the Above Board Chamber wants to help Southwest Florida gain a better understanding of how commerce, banking systems, and specifically payments are impacted by new crypto currency trends. The chamber will host Jessica Washington, AAP, a payment risk expert with the Federal Reserve, at its monthly luncheon on Thursday, June 9, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., at the Hilton Naples, 5111 Tamiami Trail N.
“With digital currencies becoming more popular, we wanted to learn more about what it means for business,” said Jeanne Sweeney, founder of the Above Board Chamber. “By learning more about digital properties and currency that are trending, we can make informed decisions and have a greater impact both as business owners and consumers in the digital landscape.”
The June luncheon will offer an in-depth discussion into how blockchain and crypto assets have proliferated across the globe and why they are increasingly in the mainstream. Washington will offer insight to the fundamentals of crypto assets and digital currency so that business owners, investors, and consumers can lay a foundation to make informed business decisions, including:
- technology behind crypto,
- business use-cases for specific types (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.),
- understanding the Fed’s role and responsibilities,
- the difference between money, assets, currency, payments, other trends impacting crypto and
- what is Central Bank-backed Digital Currency.
Presenter Jessica Washington, AAP, Vice President, Retail Payment Risk Forum Research, is a payment risk expert with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Retail Payments Risk Forum. She is a recognized thought leader, collaborating with financial institutions, fintech, regulators, law enforcement, the legal community, and others in the Federal Reserve System. She regularly convenes and speaks to payments industry stakeholders to promote the mitigation of risks in paper, plastic, and digital payments. When she identifies risks, she looks for ways to fill system gaps and shares her ideas.
Washington recently served as Deputy Chair of the Diversity Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Advisor to NACHA’s Payments Risk Accreditation Oversight Panel, Board Member of The Payments Institute Board of Regents, Advisor to ePay Resource’s Conference Planning Committee, Member of Fintech Atlanta, and Member of FS-ISAC’s Payments Risk and Fraud Group.
Facilitator Kelly Werder, JD/MBA, is an Instructor for the Daveler Kauanui School of Entrepreneurship at Florida Gulf Coast University, with a Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School with a focus on Intellectual Property, and an MBA from the Sawyer School of Business. Recognizing opportunities developing in the crypto/NFT space, Werder developed a Special Topics course on Blockchain Applications to help her entrepreneurship students take advantage of this unique moment in time, including launching the FloriNouns NFT collection and creating a DAO with the class.
Register for the June luncheon at AboveBoardChamber.com or call Above Board Chamber CEO Jeanne Sweeney at 239-910-7426. Tickets are $40 for members and $65 for non-members if you register for the Naples event by Friday, June 3. Registration prices increase after this date to $45 for members and $70 for non-members.
Table sponsors for the June luncheon include William C. Huff, Naples Floral Design, and REDFIVE. Event sponsors are CONRIC pr + marketing, E. Sue Huff & Associates, Sunshine Ace Hardware, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Patrick Neale & Associates, Gulf Coast International Properties, Stacey Adams – Alliance Financial Group, Bank United, Conditioned Air, Verita Wealth Advisory Group and Hilton Naples.
The Above Board Chamber of Florida is dedicated to bringing people of all faiths together within the community, in the workplace and amongst one another. Their mission is to supply members with tools that allow them to take every aspect of their lives Above Board. For more information on the event or on how to become a member of the chamber, call Sweeney at 239-910-7426 or visit AboveBoardChamber.com.