Fred Cook (Chair)
Fred Cook is a senior financial services and technology executive with more than 25 years of experience guiding organizations through digital transformation, technology modernization, and operational automation. His career spans executive leadership across technology, business operations, and facilities, with a consistent focus on aligning innovation with risk management, regulatory expectations, and long-term enterprise strategy. As Chief Information Officer at BlueShore Financial (Retired), Fred led Technology, Business Ops Solutions, and Facilities, positioning the organization as a recognized industry innovator, while maintaining strong operational resilience and governance discipline. He oversaw complex technology portfolios, enterprise infrastructure, vendor ecosystems, and capital investments critical to organizational stability and strategic growth.
Fred has been recognize for leading the implementation of North America’s first Temenos T24 Core Banking Platform, a major milestone in core banking modernization, and for co-creating the award-winning Financial Spa® branch model— An integrated design approach combining digital platforms, data, processes, and physical environments to redefine the customer experience and enable sustainable competitive differentiation.
He has served as on boards and peer committees across Canada’s payments and credit-union technology sectors, Hewlett Packard Canada Technology Advisory Board, and Internationally leading the Temenos–Microsoft Global Peer Group, advancing best practices. His leadership has been recognized with the Midmarket IT Leadership Award, Elite 8 CIO Award, and the Visionary Leadership Award.
Nancy McNeill
Nancy leads Coast Capital Savings’ corporate operations, and transformation office, supporting the credit union’s branch, commercial and contact center network in the delivery of banking services to its members. In her role, Nancy works with a leadership team to assist with enterprise projects/initiates, continually upgrading process within the credit union’s operations and across its enterprise. With 47 years of experience in the financial/payment services industry; Nancy was a founding board member of the National Canadian ATM Exchange Network for 12 years. Today, she is a member of the Payments Canada RTR Management Committee, CBA Payments Modernization, advisory committee, newly appointed back on the Ficanex Board and serves on numerous advisory groups for Central 1. Nancy has led numerous enterprise projects for Coast Capital Savings including digital payments, Interac, lending.
Nancy lives in South Surrey, British Columbia and enjoys travel and wine.
Paul Paruch
As Vice President of Digital and Payments, Paul is a key member of the Executive Leadership Team at Atlantic Central and League Savings and Mortgage Company. He has 30 years of experience in the credit union system, with almost 20 years in senior leadership roles. Paul co-led the creation of the National Credit Card Program, which facilitated the National Credit Union system’s exit from TD Bank for credit card services. Paul is currently the co-chair of the Central 1 Payments Modernization Advisory Council and serves on the board of directors of Credit Union Central of Canada (CUCC).
Chris Inniss
Chris Inniss joined Mainstreet Credit Union in September 2021 as President & CEO; however, Chris has spent a number of years within the credit union sector, and several more years working in the financial services industry. Chris has also recently completed his EMBA at Ivey with Ivey Scholar distinction, where he particularly excelled at corporate strategy.
Through his experiences and education, Chris has become a transformational leader in the Credit Union industry with a proven record of success. A charismatic culture builder and big-picture thinker, Chris leads by example, fostering open communication and mentorship to empower his team to achieve the vision. With drive and ambition, Chris is confident, persuasive, and willing to jump into challenges and take risks himself. His collaborative leadership style gives his team the freedom and confidence to do their best work.
Chris also has extensive board and committee experience, serving on the National Credit Union Young Leaders Committee, Business Advisory Centre Durham, Regional Food Distribution Association, Back Door Mission for the Relief of Poverty, and more recently, serving on the board for the Ontario Credit Union Foundation and now as a Director of FICANEX Services.
Mike Kelso
After honing his trade as a systems designer at CIBC in the early 80’s, Mike co-founded TCS (Canada) Ltd which developed and marketed payments and branch solutions for FI’s in North America, the Caribbean, Middle East, and Asia. Among the many firsts he directed were the first financial smart card in Canada, centralized software management of the national POS terminal network of Saudi Arabia, and the design and implementation of the national shared ATM and POS networks in three countries.
Ten years in at TCS, he led the company to create the first white label ATM switch in Canada which soon became the largest banking machine network in the country.
In recent years, working through his consulting company, Mike has developed lines of business for chip card, contactless, and mobile payments for dozens of FIs, and has provided consulting services for business strategy, product definition, and technical design in the payments space to many major corporations, card networks, and government organizations around the world.
Andrew Homan
Andrew currently leads digital banking and payments for Vancity, one of Canada’s largest credit unions. As a seasoned product management leader, Andrew brings nearly two decades of experience in the financial services industry.
Throughout his career, he have had the privilege of working with financial institutions and fintech companies of various sizes, which has given him a broad perspective on the industry. In prior roles, Andrew led teams that have been recognized with numerous innovation awards for their groundbreaking work. One of his most notable achievements has been spearheading the launch of Canada’s only full-service digital bank, which has set a new standard for banking in the digital age.
Andrew is passionate about driving innovation and excellence in digital banking and payments, and he looks forward to continuing to contribute to the industry.
Doug Ebner
A seasoned credit union industry professional, has over two decades of rich experience. At SASCU, he served as Vice President of Strategy & Innovation, leading initiatives such as Digital Transformation, Lean, and Agile projects. Previously, as VP of Innovation & Business Integration at Your Neighbourhood Credit Union, Ontario, Doug drove initiatives to elevate member and employee experiences through innovative solutions. His expertise spans digital operations, project execution, innovation, and data analytics, cultivated through leadership roles at various credit unions. Doug holds a Black Belt in LEAN methodology, demonstrating his commitment to value creation and enhancing organizational efficiencies. As an alum of Filene Institute’s i3 Program, he contributed groundbreaking solutions to the credit union system. With an unwavering passion for driving positive change, Doug continues to influence the industry’s future, ensuring organizations stay at the forefront of innovation and excellence.
Sue Whitney
Sue is Special Advisor, Payments Strategy and Relationships at Central 1. Sue is responsible for modernizing Central 1 payments services and mapping out the future payments strategy, one of Central 1’s key services to credit unions and many other financial institutions across Canada. Sue had dedicated much of her professional life to building solutions to deliver excellent payment experiences, at Interac Association, Visa Canada and Payments Canada. Sue has led transformational change in each of these organizations, including introducing chip cards at Interac and adding e-transfer to the Interac product suite, launching Visa Debit and tap/contactless payments with Visa, and leading industry and stakeholder relations and product strategy for payments modernization, at Payments Canada. Sue has also worked at a global fintech and as a federal regulator in the financial services area.