Expecting the unexpected

Denyette DePierro hasn’t just

read the rule books on cyber security and risk. As the Vice President and Senior Counsel for the American Bankers Association (ABA), she’s basically written them.

DePierro’s thirteen years in the field makes her truly one of the guardians of all things risk, cyber and a whole lot more! We’re super proud to welcome the charismatic, clever, and surprisingly chilled Denyette DePierro into our brave gang of buckaroos!

ITALY, POLITICS, LAW, TECH AND FINANCE… ALL IN ONE EPIC BUCKAROO

We could gaze at DePierro’s LinkedIn for hours. DePierro, if you’re reading, apologies for all the views. It’s just a lot to process. With two degrees (technically three?) in Law, Politics and Italian, DePierro’s worked in Washington, California, Naples (very glamorous) and London (ahoy there!). She’s taken on an insane number of extremely high-profile roles which blend international law, finance and tech in a way which would give most nonbuckaroo-people a tension headache.

“In 2008 - before we had the term 'fintech' or ‘innovation’ - I founded ABA's emerging technology and banking trends portfolio”, DePierro explains. As well as covering “what we now call fintech” (legend); DePierro’s remit also included underwriting for sustainable construction, P2P lending and social media. “Before social media became what it is today, I developed the first-in-kind social media-focused regulatory portfolio and risk management framework to assist banks in adopting, using, and securing social media channels”, she elaborates.

“This became the industry standard for managing and guiding social media strategy and bank-compliance engagement”.

CHILLED YET SPARKLING… LIKE CALIFORNIAN BUBBLY

There is SO much we could write about DePierro’s insanely impressive contributions to fintech in the regulatory space. But we absolutely MUST save some word count for her sparkling yet chilled personality. “Being a native Californian from a beach town, I’ve been told I bring a level of grounded calm to high-stress, deadline driven teams and projects”, she elaborates.

We asked DePierro if she had any words of advice for budding buckaroos. “If there is an aspect of tech that doesn’t make sense to you, then try it out. Do not ignore it”, she replied. And that did it for us. That line is so good that we want to make a book called “Best 100 quotes in fintech” and put that as number one. That’s EXACTLY what we love about her. … Oh! And this little gem which DePierro revealed to us at the last second,

“I gave up my apartment early in the Pandemic and have been living out of a suitcase moving from Airbnb to Airbnb, preferably somewhere on the water”. One word: Iconic.

Denyette “The Anticipator” DePierro, Vice President and Senior Counsel for the American Bankers Association

EXPECTING THE UNEXPECTED