Congressman Flood Announces Flyover Fintech Panel on “AI and Banking”

LINCOLN, NEBRASKA - Today, U.S. Congressman Mike Flood announced Flyover Fintech will include a panel on "AI and Banking." The panel, featuring industry leaders from Zest AI, Synovus, FNBO, and Dynamo AI, will happen at the Congressman's Flyover Fintech Conference in Lincoln on September 23, 2025.

"Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the future of virtually every aspect of life, including banking," said Congressman Flood. "This diverse panel of experts will share how their organizations are taking a variety of approaches to leverage AI as they envision the future of banking. With just three weeks to go, I encourage anyone interested in joining the conversation to register for Flyover Fintech today."

Mike de Vere is the Chief Executive Officer of Zest AI, where he leads the company's mission to harness artificial intelligence to modernize lending and strengthen the financial system for all. The company is transforming the $17 trillion U.S. consumer credit market by delivering AI technology that helps lenders expand access to credit, protect against evolving fraud risks, and conduct more intelligent data analysis. Zest AI technology helps to even the playing field by ensuring that financial institutions of all sizes can harness the power of AI. With more than 25 years of experience, Mike has built his career around amplifying the voice of consumers and transforming data into actionable insights that drive meaningful change. He has held senior leadership roles at Nielsen, Harris Interactive, and J.D. Power, where he worked at the intersection of data, business, and public policy.

Kevin Johnson is Head of AI at Synovus, where he leads the bank's generative AI agenda. His team focuses on embedding AI into everyday tools, simplifying operations, and advancing teammate capabilities and modern platforms. Previously at Synovus, he led Application Development & Delivery, shifting to a product model and launching a Power Platform Center of Excellence, and later led Cloud Services, setting the cloud roadmap, standardizing environments, strengthening governance, and improving cost management. Earlier, he led workplace technology through the pandemic, introduced proactive monitoring, and delivered major branch conversions, ATM modernization, new payment channels, and the bank's first online credit-card origination platform. Active in the community, Johnson supports the Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America and shares practical lessons on responsible AI at industry events.

Mihaela Kobjerowski is the Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer for FNBO (First National Bank of Omaha). She is responsible for the overall credit risk for all of First National of Nebraska (FNNI), including FNBO. She has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, having spent her career in credit risk, data science, marketing and compliance roles. Mihaela served as the FNBO Chief Compliance Officer before returning to credit risk as the Chief Consumer Credit Officer in September 2019. Mihaela graduated with a master's degree in economics from University of Iasi, Romania. She continued there as an assistant professor with the Department of Statistics, while starting work on a PhD in analytics and working for a German start-up building neural networks. After moving to Omaha, she completed a master's degree in economics at the University of Nebraska Omaha and worked briefly as a consultant for Union Pacific Railroad, before joining FNBO as a credit analyst. Mihaela is found online talking about the use of analytics and machine learning models in consumer finance, working with Habitat for Humanity to build homes in Romania, supporting Opera Omaha and promoting consumer credit education. She is married to Brett and has two sons.

Vaikkunth Mugunthan is the CEO and Co-Founder of Dynamo AI, a company focused on delivering safe, secure, and compliant AI solutions for enterprises and governments. Since its founding, Dynamo AI has raised over $30 million in funding and works with top financial institutions, banks, and Fortune 500 companies. Vaikkunth holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where his research focused on the intersection of data privacy, security, and regulatory compliance in AI systems. His doctoral work was complemented by a Ph.D. minor in Privacy, Fairness, and Law from Harvard University. He grew up in Omaha and Chennai.

Photos of the panelists can be found here.

Flyover Fintech conferences feature a wide variety of speakers, ranging from members of the House Financial Services Committee to leading voices in the fintech industry.

Congressman Flood has previously announced that House Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Artificial Intelligence Chairman Bryan Steil will address this year's conference. He has also announced a panel on "Bank-Fintech Partnerships." Additional speakers and panelists for Flyover Fintech 2025 will be announced in the coming days.

More details about the conference, including registration, travel, and lodging information can be found at https://www.flyoverfintech.com. Interested individuals can register here today. The deadline to register is September 9, 2025.