Executive Vice President and Chief Information and Operations Officer
Pathward N.A.
Charles Ingram is the Executive Vice President and Chief Information and Operations Officer of Pathward®, N.A. and Pathward Financial, Inc. In this role, he leads Pathward’s Information Technology, Security, Artificial Intelligence, Analytics, Product Management and Strategic Business Operations and Business Transformation.
Prior to being appointed to his current role in July 2025, Ingram was Executive Vice President, Chief Technology and Product Officer since October 2021, and Executive Vice President, Chief Information Officer since March 2020.
Before joining Pathward, Ingram served as Chief Product Officer at Nextiva, Vice President of Information Technology at PetSmart, and as a leader of Technology Innovation and Enterprise Architecture at Yum Brands. Previously, he served in various global technology leadership roles across numerous divisions at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and Wachovia Bank.
Pathward Financial is the U.S.-based holding company of Pathward, a financial services company focused on increasing financial availability, choice and opportunity across its two core business lines, Partner Solutions and Commercial Finance. Pathward helps power financial inclusion for all by enabling its partners to provide innovative financial products to individuals and businesses.
The critical role of leadership in dismantling the traditional silos between product innovation and risk compliance to transform potential friction into a competitive advantage has never been more important. By shifting the organizational narrative from “compliance as a gatekeeper” to “risk as a design parameter,” forward-thinking leaders can foster a culture where regulatory requirements are integrated into the earliest stages of the digital product lifecycle rather than treated as a post-development bottleneck. Experts will discuss actionable strategies for aligning cross-functional incentives, implementing unified workflow models to increase transparency, and cultivating a shared language of “sustainable speed” that empowers teams to innovate aggressively without compromising safety or trust.