Speakers

Matt Gellene is the Head of Specialized Consumer Client Solutions, which provides financial solutions for consumers through Bank of America’s Consumer Investments, Consumer Lending Employee Banking & Investments, Advanced Client Solutions, and Preferred Business teams. These teams of specialists support clients, as well as our enterprise teammates, in financial centers and across centralized locations.
Matt and his leadership team help to ensure teammates are delivering a consistent culture of client care and are providing clients with access to Bank of America banking and lending solutions and Merrill investment solutions aligned to their needs and priorities.
Matt joined Bank of America in a wealth management role in 1991 and has held executive roles in Bank of America’s Premier Banking and Investments group and Bank of America Consumer Banking & Investments. He holds a master’s degree of business administration from the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from The George Washington University. In addition, he holds Series SIE, 4, 7, 9, 10, 24, 63, and 65 FINRA registrations.
Matt is the market sponsor for Worcester, MA. He currently serves as co-chair of the Banking and Client Service Advisory Board of Year Up and has served as a director on the boards of The Walker School and the Catholic Memorial H.S. Parents Association. Matt is also active in coaching several youth sports teams and volunteers his time with the Boy Scouts of America.

Paulette McCann is a strategist supporting Progressive’s Loyalty Program, where she focuses on creating meaningful, long-term value for customers by providing education on program benefits, implementing changes and enhancements, and designing communications that encourage customer engagement. She also supports Progressive’s Perkshare program, collaborating with vendors to ensure partnerships are relevant and valuable to Progressive’s customer base. With twenty-seven years at Progressive, Paulette brings deep expertise and a strong commitment to rewarding and recognizing customer loyalty. 

Brad Moats is the SVP of Card Product & Portfolio Strategy at NCSECU serving the membership for over 4 years. In his role, his team manages credit, debit, and ATM card products, loyalty programs, and cards analytics for Card Services. He has over 18 years in the financial institution space focused on cards and loyalty programs. Brad did over a decade with American Express, various vendors, First Citizens Bank before landing in his home at NCSECU. Credit Unions, our focus with people helping people, always spoke to him and great to finally be delivering on his calling. And loves it! And our members! It’s very rewarding to deliver the best card products and loyalty programs available in market to our members exceeding their expectations on a daily basis.

Derek Hagman is a customer loyalty strategist and data-driven marketer with experience helping major consumer brands deepen member relationships and drive lifetime value. As Director of Loyalty Member Experience at MGM Resorts International, he strategizes for the MGM Rewards program — one of the largest loyalty programs in the hospitality and gaming industry — translating member insights into initiatives that have achieved record-high satisfaction scores.

Before joining MGM, Derek spent eight years at Regal Cinemas spearheading the analytics behind the relaunch of its 10-million-member Crown Club and the rollout of the Regal Unlimited subscription program. His expertise spans loyalty program design, voice-of-the-customer research, and cross-functional leadership.

Derek holds an MBA in Marketing and Finance from the University of Tennessee and a BS in Telecommunications from the University of Florida. He is a Loyalty360 member and was awarded as a Knox News 40 Under 40 honoree.

Kit Leitner is a high-impact collaborator who builds bridges across teams, connects people and ideas, and facilitates alignment to move work forward while staying grounded in the needs of the consumer.

With four years’ experience at Nestle Purina Petcare, she spent her first two years redesigning and facilitating cross-functional ideation sessions in Purina’s Innovation Center, LAB9. Her passion for putting the consumer first eventually led her to the New Business Models team, where Purina challenges themselves to meet consumer needs ‘beyond the bag.’ Her past couple of years have been dedicated to standing up the myPurina app and loyalty program, with an emphasis on business opportunity discovery.

Kit lives in St. Louis with her fiancé, dog, and cat.

Nick Triantafellou is the Director of Marketing & Merchandising at Weigel’s, where he leads category management, marketing strategy, private label development, and retail media innovation for one of the fastest-growing convenience retailers in the United States.

Nick has helped transform Weigel’s approach to merchandising and marketing by blending data-driven category strategy with bold, community-driven storytelling. From launching viral NIL promotions and large-scale seasonal campaigns to building new vendor partnerships and retail media capabilities, his work has helped elevate Weigel’s into one of the most recognized and talked about brands in convenience retail. His work connecting sports, community, and retail has helped create one of the most innovative marketing strategies in convenience retail.

His leadership spans both the commercial and creative sides of the business, aligning merchandising strategy, brand marketing, and customer engagement to drive growth across the store and within the loyalty platform while creating measurable value for brand partners.

Beyond his role at Weigel’s, Nick is an active voice in the convenience retail industry and regularly speaks at national industry conferences, sharing insights on marketing strategy, retail media, merchandising innovation, and the evolving relationship between retailers, brands, and the communities they serve.

Diana Arceo is the CRM & Loyalty Sr. Manager at Chipotle Mexican Grill, where she drives data-driven strategies to boost customer engagement and innovation. In addition to leading the strategy and execution of the Chipotle Rewards program, Diana focuses on lifecycle marketing, designing personalized customer journeys that drive growth, engagement, and retention across channels. With over 8 years of experience in loyalty and marketing, including key roles at American Express, Diana brings a proven track record of building impactful, customer-first programs that deliver measurable results.

Sam Blanton is a Card Loyalty Product Specialist at North Carolina State Employees’ Credit Union (NCSECU), where he supports the strategy, development, and ongoing optimization of the credit card rewards program. With nearly a decade of experience across program delivery, training and development, and member service, he brings a well-rounded perspective on shaping loyalty experiences that are both customer-focused and operationally sound. He has contributed to the evolution of NCSECU’s Rewards program from early development through launch and continuous improvement. He began his career in NCSECU’s branch network and remains deeply passionate about the credit union model, with a focus on delivering meaningful, accessible value to NCSECU’s members.

Customer insights and strategy leader proven effective at transforming analytics into tangible strategies that drives business growth. Highly experienced at utilizing shopper insights to develop effective strategies through extensive experience working with top retailers including Walmart, Kroger, and Walgreens.  Zhao has led the Loyalty Customer Insights vertical at American Eagle for 5 years and resides in Pittsburgh with his wife, Maren, and 2 girls Alice and Layla. He holds an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University and an Engineering degree from Cornell University.  

Kate Maxwell is the Director of Loyalty Strategy & Operations at Amtrak, leading strategy, development, and optimization of Amtrak Guest Rewards, one of the nation's largest transportation loyalty programs. With over a decade of experience in loyalty, CRM, and customer analytics, Kate has built and scaled programs across travel, hospitality, and specialty retail. Prior to Amtrak, she directed the BlueRewards loyalty program and customer retention strategy at Bluemercury and spent a half-decade at Hilton shaping the Honors elite member experience. Kate holds an M.S. in Commerce from the University of Virginia and is known for bringing a data-first, customer-centric approach to loyalty strategy that drives lasting engagement and measurable impact.