Jo Ann Barefoot is CEO & Co-founder of the Alliance for Innovative Regulation (AIR), host of the global podcast show Barefoot Innovation, and Senior Fellow Emerita at the Harvard Kennedy School Center for Business & Government. She has been Deputy Comptroller of the Currency, partner at KPMG, Co-Chairman of Treliant Risk Advisors, and a staff member at the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. She serves on the advisory bodies for FinRegLab, and the Milken Institute. She formerly served on the boards of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling ...
Shelley Anderson is Chief Development & Impact Officer for Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia (EMEAA) at the Alliance for Innovative Regulation (AIR), where she leads the design, funding, and scaling of programs that strengthen consumer protection and advance inclusive financial systems across emerging markets. Shelley brings deep expertise at the intersection of regulation, technology, and consumer outcomes. Prior to joining AIR, she spent 16 years at the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Nick Cook is Chief Innovation Officer at AIR. Based in London, he was previously the Director of the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Innovation Division, including the agency’s RegTech and TechSprint initiatives, its data and analytics strategy, machine learning endeavours, and the “Innovate” program (encompassing the Regulatory Sandbox, innovation and digital policy, and industry-facing direct support services). At AIR, Nick heads the TechSprint program and the nascent AIR Fair Finance Accelerator, working with partners and the innovation ecosystem to define its scope ...
Nat Weber is Chief Development & Impact Officer for the Americas at AIR where he is responsible for advancing strategic partnerships, strengthening development efforts across the Americas, and supporting responsible innovation that improves financial systems and consumer outcomes. Prior to joining AIR, Nat served in several leadership roles over a 13+ year career at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). During his tenure, he helped establish and scale the Office of Consumer Response and led multiple efforts to streamline and modernize consumer financial regulations and ...
Jerry Buckley joined AIR as a Counselor Advisor in July 2026, where he leads new work on agentic AI, consumer empowerment, and the future of consumer finance. Jerry brings decades of experience in consumer financial services law, financial policy, electronic commerce, and regulatory modernization. He was a founder of Buckley LLP, a leading national financial services law firm that combined with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in 2023. Chambers USA has described him as “a recognized dean of the consumer finance bar.”
F. Christopher Calabia joins AIR with three decades of experience in financial regulation. He is enthusiastic about AIR’s mission to promote the responsible use of technology for the public good. Currently Chris is Head of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Digital Currency Initiative. He leads research engagements with central banks and other stakeholders to advise policymakers on the potential risks and opportunities associated with the launch of this new digital asset. In that vein, Chris began his career as a central banker ...
Lauren is Director of Programs and Impact for EMEAA at the Alliance for Innovative Regulation (AIR), where she leads the development and delivery of innovation programs that bring regulators, financial institutions, technology companies, and the wider ecosystem together to tackle some of the most important challenges shaping the future of financial services. Since joining AIR in September 2025, Lauren has led programs focused on the future of payments and gender inclusion, helping translate emerging technologies and new approaches ...
Rebecca leads innovation programs across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia (EMEAA) at the Alliance for Innovative Regulation (AIR). She designs and delivers initiatives that help regulators strengthen their innovation and supervisory capabilities, while bringing them together with financial institutions and innovators to test new approaches and scale responsible innovation. Rebecca has spent her career on both sides of the regulator-industry relationship, giving her a practical understanding of how policy, innovation and implementation connect ...
Elise joined AIR as the Finance & Operations Manager in early 2023. She supports and manages day-to-day financial and administrative activities, including organizational and project budgets, AIR’s operational policies, and internal controls. Prior to joining AIR, Elise held business management and administrative positions at growing firms in the Boston area for over six years, primarily in the financial services sector. She worked most recently as the business operations manager at Crowninshield Financial Research in Brookline, and before that at Cabot Investment Technology ...
Syreen joined AIR in December 2025 as a Program Manager. She leads and collaborates with diverse global partners on Tech, Innovation, and Design Sprints focused on financial inclusion, financial regulation, and innovation, designing and facilitating Sprints and workshops that help regulators and financial service providers translate data and insights into actionable policy and product decisions. Before joining AIR, Syreen spent ten years in international development as a program manager and monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) consultant. She worked with ...
Victoria Jory joined AIR in May 2024 as Strategic Engagement Lead and Program Manager. She joins us from Women's World Banking where she led Global Events and Brand Sponsorships. Prior to joining Women’s World Banking, she was Director, Global Impact at Standard Chartered Bank where she worked for a total of 14 years. During this time, Victoria had experience across the European Region and Group, working in Group Sustainability, Private Bank (West) and the Europe CEO's Office. She led two of the Group’s global flagship initiatives: 'Seeing is Believing', where the Bank raised $104 million ...
Danae joined the team as Executive Assistant in February 2023. In her primary role, she supports CEO Jo Ann Barefoot with scheduling, travel planning and logistics, and provides additional administrative support. Danae came to AIR with a diverse career background in account and operations management, logistics, event planning, and executive administration for both nonprofits and consulting firms. Most recently, she spent nearly a decade as an executive assistant at a growing healthcare consulting startup in the Washington ...
Sulita joined AIR in November 2025 as a Program Manager, supporting innovation-focused programs and bringing financial regulators, policymakers and other stakeholders together to advance responsible innovation across Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and Europe. She brings more than 10 years of experience spanning project management, financial inclusion, consumer protection and international development ...
Nitya joined AIR in May 2023 as a Program Manager. She collaborates with diverse global partners on TechSprints focusing on the potential of data mining and AI to enhance financial inclusion. She also provides consulting and technology education services for regulators in emerging markets. Prior to joining AIR, Nitya spent eight years working in credit, payments and strategy roles at prominent Indian banks and other financial services firms. As a result of this experience, she has an in-depth understanding of the impact and market nuances resulting from new regulatory processes ...
Julieta joined AIR in August 2026 as a Program Manager driving responsible innovation programs at the intersection of regulation and financial health across EMEAA. She brings 10 years of multidisciplinary experience spanning program management, systems change, financial inclusion, product innovation, law and women's economic empowerment. Before joining AIR, Julieta worked at Fair4All Finance in London, where she focused on program management and proposition design, contributing to the delivery of a U.K.-wide affordable credit program ...
Lucie Pickavance serves as Event Coordinator at the Alliance for Innovative Regulation (AIR), having joined the organization in October 2025. With over 25 years of experience in the financial events industry, she oversees operational planning, vendor coordination, and full logistical execution for international and regional convenings. In her role, she manages end-to-end event logistics, venue sourcing, materials production, and stakeholder coordination for key AIR initiatives, including the Gender-Disaggregated Data (GDD) Sprints and the Africa Stablecoin program ...
Joe joined AIR in November 2021 as its first Global Head of Marketing and Communications. He leads marketing activities across all channels with a strategic focus on increasing AIR’s brand awareness, expanding its reach and optimizing communications for the greatest impact. His focus areas include website management, social media marketing, email marketing, speaking appearances, podcast promotion, public relations, fundraising materials and event support. Joe has over a decade of marketing experience in the graphics and publishing sector from his previous roles ...
Katie Smith is Director of Advisory & Product at AIR, where she has strategic responsibility for AIR’s advisory offering and leads a portfolio of programs working with financial regulators and partners internationally. Her work focuses on helping regulators respond effectively to changing financial markets, technologies and institutional challenges. She works closely with regulatory leaders to shape and deliver advisory engagements that combine strategic thinking, practical implementation and collaborative approaches to change. Her work increasingly draws on systems thinking to help regulators ...
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