Frank Sorrentino is chair, CEO and founder of ConnectOne Bank, an industry-leading commercial bank.  ConnectOne Bank has delivered strong growth and performance metrics as it developed a unique model to serve small-middle market clients.  Under Mr. Sorrentino’s leadership, ConnectOne has achieved numerous milestones including completing the first bank IPO since the great recession, and a series of mergers & acquisitions, propelling the company to become one of the largest banks headquartered in the state of New Jersey.

Mr. Sorrentino led the acquisition of BoeFly, a fintech company that operates a business lending marketplace specializing in the franchise space.  He serves as a voice of the industry, frequently commentating on Bloomberg, Fox Business News, The Wall Street Journal, American Banker, along with being a contributor for Forbes.com. 

Eric Sprink is the president and CEO of Coastal Community Bank and Coastal Financial Corporation. Coastal prides itself on being “un-bankey” and has organically grown from less than $200 million in assets when Mr. Sprink joined the bank in 2006, to more than $2 billion today.

Community is the bank’s middle name and also a way of doing business.  The bank is openly changing the rules of what banking means.  In addition to meeting the needs of local Coastal Community Bank business clients, Coastal is delivering partner banking or “Banking as a Service” to finech’s, capitalizing on the strong relationship culture built on top of a robust compliance backbone through its wholesale banking division – CCBX.

Because of the relationships the bank has built with finech’s, Mr. Sprink is a frequent speaker and advocate for bank and fintech partnerships.  He has worked closely with a number of regulatory bodies as the banking industry evolves and faces disruption.

Nathan Baumeister is the CEO and co-founder of ZSuite Technologies, Inc., a financial technology company that powers community financial institutions with digital escrow products for specific commercial verticals.  He provides strategic direction while working to grow the business and the product line.  Under his leadership, ZSuite Tech will continue to support the technological and financial growth of banks and credit unions.  He serves as a board member of the Association of Financial Technology (AFT).

Mr. Baumeister has more than 14 years of experience in the technology industry and previously served as CEO of Towny, a marketing technology company built to help local businesses grow.  During his time there, he oversaw fast growth, launched multiple new markets and adapted the company’s product offerings.  He held various executive positions at Kasasa, an award-winning financial technology and marketing provider.