2017 Innovators to Watch: 25 to 31

25. Anne Boden, CEO, Starling Bank

The United Kingdom is fast-emerging as a hub for “neo” or “challenger” banks–like Anne Boden’s Starling Bank, one of the original digital-only, mobile-focused banks to launch in the nation. Boden began building the neobank back in 2014, with the idea that the best bank would be more of an ally for consumers, combining technology and data to provide the best tools for financial decisions. In the three years since, Boden’s vision has come far: the bank is mobile-first, exploring innovations like voice and Alexa skills, and is integrated into the UK Faster Payments network which allows it to offer instant payments to business clients. One digital account, a simple smartphone app, and one simple bank card might be the future of U.K. consumer finance, at least if Boden has anything to say about it (which she definitely, definitely does).

26. Omer Ismail, COO, Marcus by Goldman Sachs

Establishing a Silicon Valley-kind of innovative culture at an incumbent bank is not an easy task. Omer Ismail, COO of Marcus — Goldman Sachs’ new online lending arm — is convinced that the division’s innovative ways will rub off on Goldman eventually.

The investment giant launched Marcus last year, and quickly filled its ranks with former executives from such fintech players as PayPal, Lending Club, and Discover Financial, among others.

In a recent interview, Ismail noted that Marcus is more casual than its parent (grandparent?) company. He told Business Insider: “You know, our chief architect has a nose ring, people wear jeans so there are definitely aspects that look different relative to folks that work in the investment banking division,” said Ismail. “We write on everything, we write on our walls, we write on our tables, we write on our windows, again, that’s very new.” Of course, a nose ring doesn’t say much about a company (or nose rings even in anymore?); however, Ismail did mention that, a department at Goldman began replicating Marcus’ informal weekly “huddles.”

Baby steps are sometimes all it takes — a double thumbs up to Ismail.

27. Abigail Johnson, CEO Fidelity

For a little over a year, Abigail Johnson runs a family business that you may have heard of. But what’s fascinating, it turns out that the newest CEO of Fidelity, Johnson, is an avid fan of bitcoin. (And who doesn’t love seeing traditional FIs back emerging technologies?) Johnson told the attendees of the recent Consensus event in New York all about Fidelity’s projects and investments in blockchain technologies, including its crypto-friendly cafeteria. Fidelity is adamant about its intent to drive the adoption of bitcoin, but, Johnson noted, there are still many challenges to overcome. Our favorite: “A lot of the time, blockchain creates solutions in search of a problem,” she said.

“We are forgetting the humans, while … we need to come up with use cases that drive clear benefits for customers and institutions. We don’t just need the technology to be better, we need it to be user-friendly.”

28. Marie Floyd, head of digital consumer experience, Wells Fargo

Innovation is easy–so long as you have no competition. For Marie Floyd, heading innovation efforts at Wells Fargo means staying a step ahead of well, every other bank, and that means tailoring each product to the consumer. Creating a mobile banking experience that is unique to the consumer is tricky even for someone heading an 80+ team of designers, researchers, and innovators, but it helps when the person in charge has had years of tech and banking experience. What’s on Floyd’s radar these days? AI, she told Bank Innovation recently.

“It’s really exciting to think about getting that right combination—just because we’re looking at and experimenting with AI, we’re not thinking that does away with personal touch or people,” she said. “By providing more options for people to get richer information, I think, thinking about the possibility of AI enabling something that feels more like a conversation; as opposed to the old model. If we can help people make it feel like it’s more like a person, use the smarts that are more than a person, drawing from a database of information and being able to give relevant, timely information in a format that’s really comfortable and easy, I think that’s really exciting.”

29. Luvleen Sidhu, Co-Founder, BankMobile

BankMobile has been focused on bringing the cutting-edge technology to the consumer since its inception in 2014, something Luvleen Sidhu, its president and chief strategy officer, is only planning on expanding in 2017.

Sidhu, is bringing her previous financial experience from Customers Bank to build up BankMobile. The bank utilizes mobile technology and financial literacy tools to provide the best consumer experience it can to its customers, the majority of whom are students and millennials. According to Sidhu, focus on AI, integrating with Alexa, and machine learning are all key areas for the company this year. In addition, Sidhu is adamant about making the customers’ voices heard: the bank often organizes various focus groups with its consumers regarding future products and services.

30. Chris Ballinger, Head of Mobility Services, Toyota Research Institute

You don’t have to work at a bank or a fintech in order to be innovative in the industry. Chris Ballinger, for one, has been a major block chain champion, all during his time at Toyota.

Ballinger, currently the CFO and head of mobility services at Toyota Research Institute (TRI) — a Toyota subsidiary that works on the development of autonomous vehicles — is a firm believer that the potential of blockchain to disrupt the auto space is “at least as great as [it is] anywhere else,” he noted during Consensus last month.

The company is building a “new mobility ecosystem,” powered by blockchain, according to Ballinger. “We are looking for people to take on this journey with us. We are looking for people that want to contact us,” he said. So far, the company has partnered up with four startups in the space — GEM, Commuters, Oaken Innovations, and BigChain DB — with many more in the pipeline.

31. Jim Riccitelli (left), Thomas Sponholtz, Co-founders, Unison

In order to get with the times, sometimes incumbents need to think outside of the (traditional) banking box — and that’s exactly what Unison did.

The 12-year-old San Francisco-based company launched a completely new product this year, aiming to disrupt the mortgage business as we know it. The company partners with home-buyers and lenders, offering to “co-invest” in a property by paying up a chunk of the down payment. In return, the company maintains an ownership stake in the property. Unison maintains a relationship with the customer, educating on property value and home improvement, co-founder Thomas Sponholtz told Bank Innovation previously. “Our relationship is a commitment,” he said, so once a customer decides to sell the property, Unison is right there to make sure the homeowner (well, and Unison itself) get the best deal.

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