Westin Hotel and on Zoom

“Leading with Gratitude - The Intersection of Foresight, Hard Work, and Luck”

WaFd Bank President and CEO Brent Beardall will present how a 105 year old bank transformed from a technological neophyte to an industry leading digital first bank. In 2018, under Brent’s direction, WaFd undertook a bold initiative “Vision 2025” to transform into a “digital first bank,” with the vision of having a real time understanding of clients’ financial health, anticipating their needs, and helping them make better financial decisions. Brent will share examples of how we look at digital banking and how the pandemic accelerated our push to offer more digital tools to clients while maintaining our heritage as a relationship bank. He will share the role we played when businesses were staring into the abyss when the pandemic hit and how WAFD stepped up and offered PPP loans to both clients and non-clients. It’s our team’s belief that a bank should help any business get the help it needs in good times and bad times. His simple ask of all employees is to “love what they do and make a difference”.