Despite the fact that women-owned businesses are growing at twice the national average, the women entrepreneurs at their helm only receive 16% of conventional loan funding. Proposed CEO of Fortuna Bank Ilaria Rawlins is looking to change that by increasing womens’ access to financial education, mentorships, networking, and capital. In today’s chat, Rawlins discusses the unique opportunity inherent to starting a new bank with a fresh tech stack, and the importance of leaders understanding the ins and outs of CRM. Plus: you’ll never guess which U.S. President Rawlins is related to. (Hint: he contracted smallpox in Barbados!)

⁠Elliott Spence⁠ is a Principal Consultant at Silverline with eight years of experience designing and implementing Salesforce Solutions. Prior to Silverline, Elliott was a Senior Digital Product manager with First Financial Bank, where he grew the Salesforce practice to over 1,600 users and led the Salesforce implementations to Marketing, Customer Service, Retail Bank, and Mortgage.

⁠JP Owens⁠ is the Managing Director of Banking and Lending at Silverline. JP partners with banks and credit unions to help them identify new ways to leverage technology solutions that drive transformation, growth, and measurable ROI. JP formerly served as the Director of Digital Product Experience at First Financial Bank, where he led multiple functional teams within the Digital organization and was responsible for vision, delivery, and execution across Digital channels.

Ilaria Rawlins is the Proposed CEO of Fortuna Bank, the first bank in Ohio run predominantly by women. She previously served as Retail Bank President for First Financial Bank, driving retail strategy and leading 145 retail banking centers throughout Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois. Rawlins grew up in the retail industry with a desire to help and connect with people.