Panelists From left to right: Dustin Nofziger (Pryor Cashman), Neha Gosalia (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency), Brett Rawls (Valley National Bank)

The NYLIB community gathered for a panel discussion about banking cannabis businesses moderated by Peter Su of Green Check Verified. Panelists included Dustin Nofziger, a member of the Financial Institutions Group at Pryor Cashman LLP; Neha Gosalia, a BSA/AML Lead Risk Expert Specialist from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s Systemic Risk Identification Support & Specialty Supervision (SyRIS) unit; and Brett Rawls, Senior Vice President and Head of Correspondent & Specialty Banking at Valley National Bank. Casey Christopher, the Chief Empowerment Officer at Quontic Bank, provided opening remarks.

Moderator

Cannabis Banking Panel Discussion moderated by Green Check Verified’s Peter Su

Peter Su is a Senior Vice President with Green Check Verified, the top cannabis banking compliance software/consultancy in the space. A long-time banker, Peter has spent 20+ years in finance with stops at HSBC, Signature, Dime, and East West. He has personally spearheaded two separate cannabis banking programs and in his current role at Green Check is responsible for the growth of over 100 cannabis banking programs all over the country. A frequent speaker and a sought-after thought leader, he has been featured in Bloomberg, American Banker, Newsday, Rolling Stone, and others.

An active member of the cannabis community, Peter currently chairs the Banking and Financial Services Committee for the NYCCIA & HVCIA. He is also Vice Chair and founding member of the cannabis banking committee for ASTM Int'l. And, he is on the board of the Asian Cannabis Roundtable, serving as treasurer. Additionally, he writes for Rolling Stone Cannabis Culture Council.

Peter holds several designations: Accredited Cannabis Banking Professional (ACBP); Certified Treasury Professional (CTP); Certified Cannabis Banking Professional (CCBP); Certified Commercial Cannabis Expert (CCCE); and is Endocannabinoid Systems qualified.

Peter also previously served as an advisory panel board member for Pace University’s Lubin School of Business and is a U.S. Army veteran.

Featured Speakers

Dustin Nofziger is a member of Pryor Cashman’s Financial Institutions Group, where he counsels financial institutions and FinTechs, executives, and investors on a wide range of regulatory, enforcement, and complex commercial matters.

Dustin advises financial institutions on regulatory issues, counsels clients undergoing regulatory examinations, conducts internal investigations, and defends clients in government enforcement actions and investigations involving state and federal regulatory agencies. Dustin works with clients supervised and regulated by agencies including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the National Credit Union Administration, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, and the New York State Department of Financial Services. Dustin also provides strategic regulatory advice to FinTechs, including those in the blockchain space.

Neha Gosalia is a BSA/AML Lead Expert Risk Specialist within the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency‘s (OCC) Systemic Risk Identification & Support unit. In her 17-year regulatory career with the OCC, Neha has a vast array of experience from working as a safety and soundness examiner in community banks to serving as a compliance and BSA/AML examiner in midsize and large bank supervision. In her current role, she is focused on BSA/AML, providing technical consulting to OCC examiners and other divisions within the agency, performing quality assurance reviews of examination products, and serving as a resource to lead and conduct BSA examinations in large bank supervision. She has also collaborated on interagency assignments with the FDIC, Federal Reserve Bank, and CFPB.

Ms. Gosalia is based in New York City and holds an MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University and a BBA in Finance & Marketing.

Brett Rawls serves as the Head of Correspondent and Specialty Banking at Valley National Bank. In this role, in addition to multiple unique business lines, he has oversight and management responsibilities for Valley’s Cannabis-related BusinessBanking Program.

Brett has dedicated the past 25 years to the financial services industry, beginning his career at The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He later joined Silverton Bank, serving as Regional Market Executive in Florida before relocating to Atlanta and taking responsibility for Business Development and Regional Office Support. In 2009, Brett and a team of 80 correspondent bankers established a Correspondent Division with CenterState Bank, working directly with over a thousand community financial institutions nationally over the next 10 years.

During his time with CenterState, Brett had the opportunity to serve in multiple roles. In addition to his Business Development, Marketing, and Payments Solutions responsibilities within the Correspondent Division, he also oversaw the Treasury Management and SBA departments for the commercial bank. He later served as Executive Vice President and Chief Experience Officer for the then $17B organization. Brett gained valuable insights as a leader and participant in 19 merger & acquisition implementation events at CenterState.

Brett earned a B.S. degree in Management, with certificates in Economics and Organizational Psychology from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is also a graduate of the Florida School of Banking – University of Florida and a former instructor at several southeastern banking and operations schools.

From left to right: Aleidy Diaz-Wells (Mazars USA), Justin Gaffney (Mazars USA), Pinchus Raice (NYLIB & Pryor Cashman LLP), Michael Serao (First Central Savings Bank), Jason Quijano (First Central Savings Bank)

The NYLIB team is thrilled that we were able to provide an opportunity to bring our colleagues together to explore key issues of importance to members of the banking industry. Our organization’s mission is to provide a forum for networking and education.

From left to right: Suzanne Minnick (Valley National Bank), Pinchus Raice (NYLIB & pRYOR cASHMAN llp), Margaux Howard (Valley National Bank)

As we continue planning events and meetings, NYLIB is open to any suggestions on topics or issues that are of interest to the community and foreign banks in the tri-state area. Don’t forget to subscribe to our mailing list below, to stay informed on news and upcoming events.

From left to right: Bianca Reyes (Pryor Cashman LLP), Pinchus Raice (NYLIB & Pryor Cashman LLP), Casey Christopher (Quontic Bank), Dustin Nofziger (Pryor Cashman LLP)

Memorable Moments

Please enjoy more memorable moments from our Regulator Roundtable Dinner here. We encourage you to download your favorite moments and share them on LinkedIn. Don’t forget to tag the New York League of Independent Bankers (NYLIB)!