Why Kyriba Live Treasury & Finance Summit Has Become a Must Attend Event

Sports, music, diversity and finance rarely share the same spotlight, but a recent treasury and finance summit in Las Vegas has transformed the social networking and entertainment landscape for March. The Kyriba Live Treasury & Finance Summit shares the same month as March Madness, SXSW and International Women’s Day, and is quickly becoming a must attend and socially participate in conference. More than 700 finance professionals, treasury and fintech experts and corporate leaders joined-up at the Delano, Mandalay Bay, in Las Vegas, Nevada for a five-day summit that helped set a new standard for treasury and finance events. By all accounts the summit was remarkable, and will be well attended in 2020.

Why was the finance summit such a huge success in 2019? There are so many reasons we have to cover the event highlights in two blogs. Part one, this blog, showcases Keynote speakers, the infamous “Accelerate” pool party, Women in Finance, Ecosystem Exposition Hall, news and stories from the event, and a Facebook photo gallery to help relive the experience. Part two will illuminate more insights with client and attendee video interviews, polling data, client and partner awards and more.

Inspiring Keynotes

Keynotes from Kyriba CEO Jean-Luc Robert, and futurist and best-selling author Daniel Burrus, among many other notable thought leadership roundtables and breakout sessions, set an uplifting tone for the conference. Treasury and finance leaders are transforming the industry empowered by innovations in technology. This is not a surprise, according Robert, “the company started when a CFO client had no way of seeing his cash holdings in disparate countries, but we had a connectivity solution that gave him the visibility he needed to operate more effectively.”

Check out the agenda for more details about these sessions and others from a range of presenting companies. The top three sessions at Kyriba Live were What CFOs Expect of Treasury; Digital Innovation Roadmap for a Modern-Day CFO; and APIs – The Future of Bank Connectivity, according to a survey of attendees from a wide range of industries.

Women in Finance

Kyriba Live took place in the same week as International Women’s Day (#IWD2019), providing a showcase for some of the best and brightest women in treasury and finance. They included Kathryn Powers, global treasurer for World Vision, Jennifer Tomaloff, international treasury manager, Trek Bicycle Corp., Jennifer Bowerman, project manager at Amway, Priscila Nagalli, director of treasury and capital markets at Actualize Consulting, and many others. Notable among the women in finance were Tomaloff and Bowerman, whose leadership contributed to award winning achievements for Trek and Amway’s treasury teams. These awards will be the subject of our next blog—stay tuned. The Summit also enjoyed a diverse cultural audience with the participation of senior leaders from across the globe, including U.S., Canada, Mexico, Japan, India, U.A.E., and Morocco.

Reportage

Industry analysts and media attended Kyriba Live to participate in the summit and to learn about Kyriba’s company vision, and product roadmap. It also gave them the opportunity to network with their peers from AFP, IDC, The Hackett Group, Costco, World Vision, EY, Citi, JPMC, Bank of America, WeWork and others. Treasury and Finance magazine The Global Treasurer wrote several stories capturing topical themes from Kyriba Live panel presentations, including digital transformation, treasury’s role as the trusted advisor to the CFO, and upskilling to compete in the digital age. Read more about it here:

• Enhancing treasury through digital transformation: How can digital treasury transformation deliver benefits to an organization and help treasurers deal with the changing financial landscape? We share some of the thoughts from the Q&A session at Kyriba Live 2019 on the subject.

• 17 ways treasury can improve the CFO relationship: What do CFOs expect of treasury and how can treasurers become trusted advisors to CFOs, in the process building better CFO relationships?

• Treasury needs to ‘keep up in the digital skills race’: Speaking at Kyriba Live 2019, Jim Kaitz, President & CEO, Association of Finance Professionals urges treasurers to embrace new digital skills if they are to achieve the goal of treasury-led finance transformation.

Industry Celebration

The Kyriba Live 2019 Treasury & Finance Summit industry celebration gave attendees an opportunity to relax, recharge and network with friends and colleagues, pool side at the Daylight Beach Club at the Delano. In a setting that sounded and looked a little like Coachella, attendees were entertained by the massive DJ backdrop and booming beats, ballet-yoga dancers, juggling acrobats, life sized jenga, delightful cocktails and gourmet appetizers.

Attendance at the Ecosystem Exposition Hall

Kyriba’s partner and technology ecosystem is growing and so are the number of sponsors who support the event. The Ecosystem Exposition Hall became the meeting place to connect with partners and experts to see what value added services they can gain from Kyriba’s expanding ecosystem. From product demos, to 1:1 meetings and putting contests, the Ecosystem Expo Hall was a hot spot day-in and day-out at Kyriba Live.

March has a new must attend event for treasury and finance professionals. Stay tuned for Part two of the series about the Kyriba Live Treasury & Finance Summit, which will dive deeper into one of the largest events of its kind with video interviews, client insights, client awards and more. Check out our Facebook album here, and be sure to check back in the coming weeks!