How AI is Shifting the Narrative for Young Fintech Talent

That is perfect.

Executive Director, Georgia Fintech Academy.

It's so funny you mention your connection to this event, it's been about a year, our one-year anniversary, since I saw you last, at this event. For me, coming from the US, Georgia specifically, it's been a whirlwind. Obviously you deal with the jet lag, the time-schedule changes, and just the chaos of being at a major event like this. But the people, the community, the culture of this event have been really refreshing. I think it differs from a lot of other event platforms in that people are just that much more engaging and open for connection, I never have that door closed in my face. So I love being here, especially because I carry with me the consideration for future talent and the next generation. That's part of my role; my day job is focused on that. I come here looking for insights, industry innovations, where the industry is thinking about talent, the growing demand for talent is really needed, so I can inform our curriculum and programming, and provide students more access and exposure to all the unique pathways that exist in the industry. So that's part of the reason I'm here, and I have been living it up.

This event keeps bringing me back. First of all, I love this event versus the other one, in Vegas, to be honest, the food is different, the people are different, and the variety of companies and businesses you see here is different too. There have been a lot of announcements over the past two days from the Money20/20 Europe platform, and I feel like I've been staying ahead of the curve, getting some of that fresh, relevant content straight from the stage, where people are amplifying those messages, you can't really get that everywhere. I'm also here as press this year, I got a press pass, and I am milking it for all it's worth. I really am. I'm having my own sessions, I'm doing podcasts, I'm doing social media. This is a real opportunity for me not only to learn and develop myself, but to provide relevant content to our students and to our broader community, people who are mentoring, giving back, volunteering, speaking with our students, and sharing how they apply what they're learning in the classroom to the roles they're in. So it's really helpful to have access to that variety of experienced professionals here.

I would say AI. We've been talking about agentic AI and what that means for a lot of our students. We started off focused on risk and fraud management, leveraging AI and machine learning, years ago, and now it's evolved into so many different use cases. I'm loving getting insight into the companies that are using it not only for their internal operations, but to improve the solutions they offer customers. So thinking about all these varied use cases where AI is being applied has broadened that view, when we say "AI," it's not just one thing, it's becoming a lot of different things to a lot of different people. But then there are also the risk implications, and I'm hearing a lot of people talk about that, and really focusing on how it translates into roles and opportunities for students. Because now a particular solution, functionality or capability that didn't exist before is here, and you're building a core set of disciplines around it to make sure, operationally, you've covered risk, operations, technology implementation, all the facets that are really required. So I've been really enjoying those conversations with the leaders I've met so far. I had six meetings yesterday for my podcast, and the conversation is not only "what are you doing within your organisation?" but "how does this, downstream, provide access and opportunity for the next generation of talent?" Bringing those two pieces together has been really rewarding.

Again, I feel like I'm being repetitive with the AI thing, but there are almost two sides of the coin. You have some folks who are very pessimistic about AI, and, to be honest, this younger generation sees and hears all of the negative news around AI replacing jobs, and there being no more entry-level positions for students. One thing I'm taking away from a lot of the conversations I had with senior leaders at many different organisations is that it's creating new pathways and new opportunities. It's actually allowing some junior people to delegate earlier than they ever would have. Some of the tasks that I had to do to get clearance and start my journey in this industry are no longer necessary, and it allows people to really contribute from day one, versus doing some of the grunt work, some of the things that, to be honest, I didn't enjoy, that didn't feed me or grow me in a meaningful way. But I think there's a balance there that we're still trying to figure out as an industry. And in that moment of uncertainty, it opens up so many opportunities, not only from a startup and entrepreneurship perspective. I could go on and on about this.

It's fascinating you ask that, because I'm constantly comparing. One of the things I didn't mention when you asked earlier about the value I see coming out of this event, and being in Europe, is that payments has moved at a different pace abroad than it has domestically in the States. There are so many lessons learned, and so many newer capabilities being leveraged here, that we can learn from and adopt. There's a sharing, transatlantically, that's been facilitated, especially from the Atlanta ecosystem. Atlanta, Georgia is a fintech hub, as you know, because you saw me speak about this last year. We're a major fintech ecosystem in the States: 70% of US-based transactions are routed through Atlanta and Georgia. Because of that, we have some of the most dominant payment players in the business in the state, which means access to so much centralised talent, 260 fintech companies, the likes of Global Payments, Worldpay, FIS, Deluxe, InComm; the list goes on and on. And what that has created is a talent pool of 55,000-plus experienced professionals. I'm bringing in and ushering in the next generation into that population, in this cycle of mentorship, coaching and experiential learning, all the elements that help feed and develop a young person trying to navigate their career. So, long story short, to get to your question about what people can learn: it's that model of pipeline development. We've tested it and developed it, and we've been successful, now, since 2019, 13,000 students have come out of the institutions we support and into fintech and payments jobs. Now we're seeing retention, and we're seeing flourishing and success stories coming out the other end. So it's this model of being able to tap into not only the innovation and creativity that come out of the ecosystem, but also the people, the skills, the skills development and the talent.

Oh my gosh. I read an article literally last week, an announcement that Georgia, the country, is developing a stablecoin. And I immediately thought of all the work that a lot of my friends at organisations like the Fintech Accord, and others in Atlanta, Fintech Atlanta is another organisation, have been doing. We've been really focused on stablecoins; a lot of conversations have been had, all the way up at the Capitol in DC and also in local government, discussing how we can support organisations like Fiserv and others operating within the stablecoin space. So to hear that announcement from Georgia, I was like, "well, we're also doing some stuff in the other Georgia", which, by the way, I get asked about all the time: "you don't look like you're from Georgia, you don't sound like you're from Georgia," and I'm carrying the Georgia Fintech Academy brand on me. So I thought, tale of two cities, why not think about the complexity that both geographies are navigating in this space, given we went so quickly from theory to talking about applicability and implementation? It's a real thing now. Given the GENIUS Act and some other things that have happened in the States, it's become a more relevant and expected conversation in the mainstream. So that was the intent of the "tale of two Georgias." I'm glad you mentioned it.

I love this question, because I feel like I'm a veteran now, I've got so many grey hairs, most of them covered up now, but I have them to prove it. Thinking back to my first Money20/20, I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and, as we like to say in the South, "bless my heart", I came in guns blazing. I wanted to get the most out of the event, and I analysed every aspect of it. I wanted 150 connections, 600 leads, something ridiculous. I had all these stats, I had spreadsheets, I had the ROI I'd captured for myself for coming to the event. And I think it's overkill. It can be very defeating and very draining, emotionally, to approach a big, stimulating event like this that way. So I'd recommend: do your due diligence, make those connections by putting in the extra effort to research both sides, so you can have a fruitful, beneficial conversation when you meet in the connections lounge. Then look at the agenda and identify those panels, for me, I have friends on different stages, so I want to make sure I support them and hear what they're sharing from a thought-leadership perspective, so I develop an itinerary for the critical ones. Then also plan space to breathe, to relax, and to have conversations like we did in passing, it's nice to catch up. You're going to meet so many people, and see acquaintances and friends, and leveraging the opportunity to reconnect that way is important. So I try to keep that in mind, because I'm so highly motivated and data-driven, by the numbers and the production I'm trying to create as an outcome. But at the end of the day, sitting back, giving yourself permission to let it breathe and enjoy the event for what it is, is also a balancing act, but it's definitely necessary.