Greater Buffalo Chapter

Matthew Haslinger is the Chief BSA/AML and Sanctions Compliance Officer for M&T Bank.  Matthew started his AML career with U.S. Department of Justice’s Money Laundering and Bank Integrity Unit as a Senior Trial Attorney where he was involved in the investigation and prosecution of complex, national and international money laundering, and sanctions-related matters.

In 2012, Matthew returned to his hometown of Buffalo, NY to become the Head of the Financial Investigations Unit (FIU) at M&T Bank.  As Head of the FIU, he was responsible for day-to-day operations and strategic decision-making for enterprise-wide transaction monitoring, customer investigations and suspicious activity report filing for the bank.  Matthew later took on the role of BSA/AML Officer for M&T Securities Inc.

In 2020, Matthew was appointed Chief BSA/AML Officer for M&T Bank.  As Chief BSA/AML Officer, Matthew is now responsible for oversight, implementation, and strategic direction of the enterprise-wide programs for Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money laundering and governmental sanctions compliance.  Matthew is an active member of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists, was awarded ACAMS AML Professional of the Month in October 2020, and is a licensed attorney in Virginia and New York.

Chris is the Founder and CEO of regulatory compliance advisory and consulting firm, Augmenta Prime, which is based in the Buffalo, New York area.  In this capacity, his role is multifaceted, aiming to ensure the firm’s success by providing strategic leadership, business development, operations management, regulatory expertise, client engagement, team leadership, financial management, compliance, risk management, innovation, and industry representation.

Prior to this, Chris has over a decade of banking experience, serving in strategic leadership positions for financial institutions ranging from $1B to $112B in assets overseeing BSA/AML/OFAC and Fraud programs.  These financial institutions were both local to the Western New York region and nationally; First Niagara Bank, Evans Bank, Five Star Bank and USAA Bank.  Following the banking experience, Chris was an executive in the RegTech and FinTech industries providing perspectives on stringent U.S. banking regulations.

Chris earned his Bachelor's Degree from Buffalo State University in Business Administration and maintains multiple compliance related professional certifications through his active memberships with the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists and the American Bankers Association.  Additionally, Chris serves as the Co-Chair for the Greater Buffalo Chapter with the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists.  As an active member of the National Academy of Finance, FBI InfraGard, and Buffalo Cyber Fraud Task Force, Chris remains at the forefront of industry trends, actively contributing to the advancement of financial compliance practices and standards.

In his free time, Chris enjoys traveling with his wife and two teenage sons, as well as volunteering with different nonprofit organizations.  He also spends time coaching various youth sports teams and serving as a Board member for youth programs.

Christine Hoffman is an Operations Senior Department Manager at KeyBank, managing the AML Detection department. She has over 20 years’ experience in banking/financial services with over 19 years in management. Christine has almost nine years of AML experience and became CAMS certified in 2020.  Prior to leading the AML Detection team, she managed in the Due Diligence and AML Investigations areas. Christine received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree with a concentration in Financial Analysis from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Priyank Patel currently serves as the Financial Crimes Risk Surveillance Director at KeyBank. He is part of the second-line financial crimes governance team of compliance and is responsible for BSA/AML and OFAC risk surveillance, analytics, and controls assessments. He has 14+ years of experience in banking and financial crime. Before joining KeyBank, Priyank worked for First Niagara, where he played an instrumental role in setting up the bank's BSA/AML, OFAC, and Fraud program. Priyank holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communication, an MBA in Marketing, an MS in Finance, and a Graduate Diploma in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. He is a member of the ACAMS, a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), and a Certified Financial Crimes Specialist (CFCS).

Denise holds a position as Senior Vice President, Compliance Sanctions Sr. Officer within the Global Legal Affairs and Compliance Function at Citi.

As a member of the Independent Compliance Risk Management, Global Sanctions Advisory, Controls and Execution Team, she is the Project Implementation Lead responsible for the management of sanctions screening alerts from client, transaction, markets, securities services, and trade finance screening against regulatory authorities such as OFAC, EU, and OFSI. Additionally, Denise is responsible for the strategic review and implementation of screening operations team processes, current and potential future regulatory sanctions program impact, assessing and advising on risk factors and potential violations (system or human error), and ensuring all products, businesses, branches, and teams adhere to Citi’s Global Sanctions Policy and internal risk appetite. Denise also manages sanctions alert workflow technology enhancements to promote effective risk management controls and operational efficiency efforts.

Denise joined Citi in 2000 as a Customer Account Balancing Representative for Citi’s Global Transaction Worldlink FX clients. In 2009, she joined the Global Payment Operations Sanctions Screening Team within Citi’s Global Funds Transfer Department, responsible for managing a team of analysts conducting sanctions alert review to ensure compliance with OFAC and AML-related regulations.

In 2014, Denise joined the Global Sanctions Compliance Team as the first Officer located in Citi’s Buffalo (Getzville) Office where she was responsible for all aspects of the regulatory compliance function, including fulfilling OFAC reporting obligations, investigation, and disposition of alerts for OFAC issues identified across all product lines globally, and drafting of sanctions-related communications.

Prior to joining Citi, Denise worked for M&T was a Corporate Registered/Bearer Bond Specialist.

Denise attended Buffalo State College, completed Banking, Economics and English courses thru AIB (American Institute of Banking) and has obtained CAMS certification thru the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) organization, and Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists (ACSS) OFAC, EU and UK Essentials Certifications Courses.

Mike Jozwiak most recently served as the Financial Intelligence Unit Director and BSA/AML and OFAC Officer for Five Star Bank in Buffalo, NY. In his role, Mike had responsibility for all Anti-Financial Crimes matters, to include BSA/AML operations and compliance, OFAC compliance and Fraud investigations. Mike has been in the banking industry for 11 years, serving in various Anti-Financial Crimes roles for three different financial institutions, including specialized investigations, quality control, high-risk customer oversight and BSA Officer.

Before his career in Anti-Financial Crimes, Mike served on active duty with the U.S. Army as a Military Intelligence Officer for the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). Though a Pennsylvania native, Mike obtained his undergraduate degree from the University at Buffalo and has lived in WNY for more than a decade. Mike received his CAMS designation in 2015 and maintains that his primary goal, regardless of his role, is to turn information into actionable intelligence.

Brian currently serves as the Bank Secrecy Act and OFAC Officer at Lake Shore Bank where he is responsible for the BSA/AML, Fraud and physical security programs.  Prior to his current role, he spend 27 years at M&T Bank, with the last 19 years in the BSA/AML space where he managed multiple teams in the Quality Assurance, Training, Regulatory and Audit handling, SAR and Customer Exits Teams.  Brian holds a Bachelors and MBA in Business Administration. He is a member of ACAMS and holds the CAMS (Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist) designation.

Chris Rickerson currently serves as the BSA and Fraud Officer at Canandaigua National Bank & Trust in Pittsford, NY. Chris brings over 10 years of financial industry experience, all of which has been spent in the BSA/AML and fraud spaces. Prior to joining Canandaigua National Bank & Trust in 2025, Chris worked in BSA/AML roles at Five Star Bank, Santander Bank, and Evans Bank. Chris most recently spent seven years at Evans Bank in Buffalo, NY, as BSA Officer. In that role, Chris was responsible for the oversight of the bank’s BSA/AML/OFAC, Cannabis, and fraud programs. In his current role, Chris is responsible for oversight of BSA/AML/OFAC and fraud for Canandaigua National Bank & Trust, as well as Canandaigua National Trust Company of Florida. Chris is passionate about Financial Crimes and helping to fuel financial institution growth through managed risk. Chris received a Bachelor of Science in Economic Crime Investigation from Utica University and has been CAMS certified since 2019.

Kelly Sheffield is the Senior Vice President / BSA Officer for CNB Bank, responsible for the oversight of the AML and Fraud operations for the bank. Prior to joining CNB Bank in 2019, Kelly worked in BSA/AML at KeyBank, First Niagara Bank and HSBC. She began her banking career in 2006, transitioning into AML in 2007. Kelly received her Bachelor of Science degree from Hilbert College majoring in Economic Crime Investigation and has been ACAMS certified since 2017.

Jeff Kasarjian is a VP of Compliance Advisory at HSBC, specializing in the Global Payment Solutions product suite.

Jeff has worked in Financial Crime Compliance at HSBC with over 13 years of experience in AML, Sanctions, Fraud, AB&C and Tax Evasion at HSBC; holding US and global roles covering the Correspondent Banking/Multi-National Corporate Customer groups as well as Wholesale Payments/Transactional Banking product lines.  His responsibilities included support and oversight to the regional FC Product Advisory teams and Global Product Managers in his global roles as well as support to Relationship and Product Managers in his domestic roles.

In his current role at HSBC, Jeff provides oversight, challenge, and advisory support, for a diverse set of products covering Payments and Receivables, Liquidity Management, Commercial Cards programs and Embedded Banking/Banking as a Service. He also supports the coverage of high-risk client segments such as Correspondent Banking and & NBFIs.

Jeff’s interests are in the identification, and mitigation, of risks posed by the innovative products and emerging payment solutions created for the digital payments landscape.

Before starting his career, Jeff earned a Bachelor’s in Business Administration at Ithaca College and a Juris Doctorate from Suffolk University in Boston Massachusetts.

Adam Gibson is currently the BSA/AML Manager for Community Bank N.A headquartered in Dewitt, New York, where he is responsible for managing the BSA/AML Department staff and day-to-day operations.  Adam began a career in Law Enforcement as a Deputy Sheriff for the Union County Sheriff’s Department in Monroe, North Carolina. During his tenure, he held a number of roles  that included Jail Division, Court Bailiff, Patrol/Investigations and the Civil Bureau Unit. Working in the Civil Bureau Unit Adam formed a deeper understanding  about Trusts, Wills, Estates, Court Documents and Foreclosures.

In 2014, Adam returned to Buffalo, NY and began working as a BSA Compliance Specialist at M&T Bank. Based on the knowledge he gained in law enforcement, Adam joined the Wealth Division of M & T to investigate activity relative to complex customer Trust accounts. After developing expertise in that role, Adam advanced to the position of Litigation Liaison, where he travelled around the country and testified in courts on behalf of M & T Bank, representing the bank’s foreclosures at mediation hearings and non-jury trials. In 2020 Adam was again promoted at M & T Bank to manage the Direct Credit Fraud Team resulting in a one million dollar risk avoidance for that fiscal year.

Adam received his degree from the State University of New York at Brockport in Criminal Justice and holds his Advanced Law Enforcement Certificate from the State of North Carolina.

Patrick A’Hearn is currently the Deputy AML Officer for Tompkins Community Bank headquartered in Ithaca, NY, where he is responsible for assisting the AML Officer in day-to-day operations as well as managing AML and Fraud models, validation, testing, and tuning functions. Patrick began his career with M&T Bank shortly after graduating from the University at Buffalo School of Law and passing the bar exam.  He worked as an EDD investigator before moving over to support the QA function.  In 2018, he left to become the BSA/AML/OFAC Compliance Officer at Bank of Akron in Akron, NY.  In 2020, Bank of Akron was purchased by CNB Bank/Bank on Buffalo and Patrick quickly joined Bank of Holland for a brief stint as their BSA Officer before accepting the same position with Tompkins Community Bank in 2021.  He is a licensed attorney in the State of New York and has been a member of ACAMS since 2018.

Lenny Wiza is SVP and Senior Manager at KeyBank, leading the Financial Crimes Reporting and Intelligence team.  With 15 years of banking experience, including a decade in BSA, AML, and OFAC data analytics, he earned his CAMS certification in January 2023.  Previously, he worked at First Niagara in retail banking and operations, and holds a BS in Information Systems from SUNY Empire State University.