Aubrey Hawes 
Company:
Oracle Senior Director, Solution Consulting Americas for the Financial Services Global Business Unit
Background (Education/Career etc):
- BS Computer Science from South Carolina (Columbia)
- Project Mgmt Master Certificate from George Washington
- Various leadership and development classes at Univ. Michigan Ross Business School and IESE Business School (Spain)
Connection to Carolina Fintech Hub (CFH):
I am on the operating committee for the Carolina Fintech Hub and am particularly involved in the hackathon work stream. Even though I had never either attended or led a hackathon, I was asked to lead the hackathon work stream because of my willingness to engage with that community.
Our first hackathon at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte was a huge success and could not have happened without co-lead Matt Choiniere, CFH Members, UNCC, Aurablocks, Yodlee. The Oracle team was also vital as they provided the cloud, blockchain fabric, banking APIs, mentoring and training.
Building on that success, we are re-designing the workstream to focus on talent management, community outreach and the upward mobility challenges that Charlotte, and other communities around the Carolinas, face. Hackathons will occur as part of a broader focus. For example, we are launching the Blockchain Challenge with SIA Partners, Oracle and CFH to target multiple university campuses. The CFH banking partners will engage with students and recent grads to execute on a team-based blockchain project that will run over 6 weeks. The workstream will also promote community engagement and respond to regional issues like Charlotte’s lack of upward mobility and emphasizing the inclusion of STEM skills in school curricula.
**Main passion** [what keeps you busy and what do you love about work and/or life?]:
My passions revolve around fintech, financial services innovation, youth baseball, cycling and working out. More broadly, my passions are centered around two categories – innovation and athletics – which I think have many similarities. I coach youth baseball, mentor fintechs, and run hackathons because they allow me to merge my abilities and expertise with my desire to have a positive impact on others. The ability to have a positive impact on others, see the potential in someone, and get them to achieve something maybe they didn’t think they could accomplish motivates and pushes me to keep going: whether coaching an 11-year-old kid hitting his first home run, or teaching 5 college students how banking works. Impact doesn’t occur overnight though, it takes patience and endurance, which my physical training reminds me. My cycling and working out goals aren’t always achieved in a short window but require practice and suffering.
Why Fintech? [why are you in the fintech industry?]:
Simply: My current role at Oracle requires me to work closely with banks and fintech firms, so I am naturally engaged in the fintech community! I was the global product marketing expert when Oracle launched the Oracle Banking Digital Experience (OBDX) product in 2015, opening the opportunity to speak at global banking conferences around the world – London, Singapore, New York, San Paulo, San Francisco, San Jose. After many miles and too much time in airports, I realized that I didn’t necessarily need to travel the world to be involved in the excitement of fintech – I could engage with fintech in my own city. And I wanted Oracle to be a part of it. A professional contact connected me with Dan Roselli, the leader of QC Fintech. We discovered that we both wanted to put Charlotte on the map for thought-leadership in fintech and digital banking. By combining our resources, contacts and ideas, we launched Next Money Charlotte in June 2016 – showcasing QC Fintech’s Demo Day, sponsored by Oracle. It was a great success—world renowned VC investors spoke and we filled the Filmore! In 2017, we expanded further to target the entire southeast with Next Money SE. This year, we are building an even larger event with the help of QCFintech, Finsiders, and CFH – mark your calendars for June 13!
Along this journey, I have realized how the Charlotte fintech community has enabled me to be more valuable to Oracle, especially as banking has gone digital. I have now shifted positions at Oracle to lead the Banking Solution Consulting team across North and South America., where I help clients modernize their banking applications.
Why the Carolina Region?:
I was born in Charlotte (so I would like to think I am native!) but grew up in Atlanta, Rocky Mount, NC and finally Roanoke, VA. I came back to Charlotte after graduating from South Carolina to become a software developer at IBM, then quickly shifted to a client-facing role that took me around the globe. In 2000, I joined a banking start-up software company based out of Dublin, Ireland called Eontec. They were looking to enter the North American market and picked Charlotte, based on the talent and banks in the area. Eontec was successfully sold to Siebel in 2004 and I have worked for Silicon Valley ever since. My career has taken me all over the world, yet, Charlotte is home. With one flight connection, I can get to any major city in the world. Plus, there are phenomenal networking opportunities here. There are so many financial services experts that are active in the local events – industry gurus are relatively accessible.
Then there is the location– Charlotte is a short drive to the mountains or beach. It is also conducive to cycling — I can get on my bike and go for a long ride from Uptown Charlotte to Stanley, NC and back. My only complaint is the summer heat!.. But then you can visit Banner Elk, NC to cool off.
What is Next?… (for you, the industry, the next 5 years?):
Business survival will be a key focus – especially for banks. Look at what is happening in the business world – 30% of the Fortune 500 companies 15 years ago either don’t exist or are no longer on the Fortune 500 list. That should be a wakeup call for all of Corporate America. We are living in a world of great change—and great opportunities.
The challenge for banks will be: How does it all evolve? How much consolidation will the market and regulators allow? Who will be providing “banking” services in the future?
I believe the branch closing trend will continue. The digitization of money will continue, but the need to process payments, borrow to finance large purchases (education, cars, homes, business expansion) and to invest in short and long-term will remain constant. The bigger question is who will provide the best experience for these services and who be responsible for managing the risks? With all of this change, it is important for the incumbent banks to continue to evolve so they are making change happen as opposed to it happening to them. I think Charlotte stands to gain here. We have so much “fin” talent and the “tech” talent is growing faster here than anywhere else according to national reports. We know this, and we are working to make Charlotte’s national reputation reflect that!
What Advice do you have for others interested in Fintech?
Be willing to roll up your sleeves and engage, share and learn! I look back 3 years ago to when I met Dan Roselli and learned what he was doing Packard Place and QC Fintech. Before I was connected with Dan, I had no clue about the fintech scene in Charlotte. It is easy to get caught up in the headlines about the big companies here BofA, Wells Fargo, Ally, BB&T, TIAA, UNCC, IBM, and Duke Energy and not see what is going on in regards to fintech. If you found this blog post then you probably know something about the fintech community and that CFH exists. CFH is sounding the alarm and the Charlotte City government is supporting fintech and the work that CFH is doing. We just need to get the word out to everyone. You can be a big part of that.
Readers: If you want to be involved, there are a few simple steps you can take: Sign-up on CarolinaFintechHub.org so you can be made aware to what is going on. Come to fintech and CFH events, like Finsiders’ events (finsiders.org), where we discuss fintech topics and where fintech- novices can network with fintech-veterans. Visit Packard Place, walk up to people sitting in the Garage, and find out what is going on. There is no one way to get involved– you just have to take the first step! There is not a more welcoming community!
