Nick Miller assists commercial and small business banking sales teams to generate more profitable relationships, faster, by closing the gap between when clients hope for or expect from their bankers and what bankers deliver – value beyond the product. He has consulted with community, regional, and money center banks and credit unions in the US, Canada, and Mexico on sales strategy, implementation of new sales initiatives, staff skills development and training. business partner alignment, value propositions, sales process, customer experience, sales support and enablement, and community networks development. He has written extensively on marketing and selling to small business clients and prospects, developing trusted advisor relationships, and value-based conversations. His “Weekly Sales Thought” column circulates globally and his articles have been published or quoted in journals including ababankmarketing.com, BAI Banking Strategies, Sales & Marketing Management, Commercial Lending Review, The RMA Journal, and American Banker. Nick is a co-founder of the leading industry intelligence platform, Vertical IQ; the American partner for small business content strategy provider The Small Business Company; a director on the board of the Irish software company, Econiq; and President of the Board of Community Boating, Inc. in Boston – sailing on the Charles River. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with his spouse, six guitars, a baritone horn, dozens of books on small boat sailing, and a treasury of bright bow ties.

Abbas Merchant is the Founder & CEO of i2a Advisors and Senior Executive Advisor at Prowess Consulting, Data and AI, where he advises clients on growth, brand, data, and AI strategy. A former EVP and CMO at Regions Bank and served in senior leadership roles at M&T Bank, U.S. Bank, and Scotts Miracle-Gro. Abbas brings deep expertise in transforming marketing into a strategic growth engine and building resilient, reputation-forward brands in regulated industries.

Kristen Link is currently SVP of Business Banking Integrated Experience Product for U.S. Bank. In this role, she focuses on bringing together the bank’s banking, software, and payments products into one seamless experience for its small businesses. Over the last 20 plus years her scope and charter have grown, from selling banking products to leading consumer credit to building the digital solutions clients need.

For over four decades, Chip Higgins has dedicated his career to empowering small business owners to transform vision into reality. Starting in the management training program at First American National Bank in Nashville in 1984, Chip’s commitment to small business owners led him to executive leadership of small business activities at First American, First Tennessee, and Pinnacle Financial Partners. Chip’s business banking strategies consistently earned each institution national “best brand” recognition by Greenwich Associates. Yet, his true focus has always been serving entrepreneurs directly, recognizing the vital role they play in shaping communities and driving economic progress. That focus ultimately led him away from the banking industry. In April 2024, Chip published The Bizzics Way: Powering Your Small Business to Maximum Momentum under the Forbes imprint. The book built on the profound idea that momentum isn’t just a business buzzword—it’s a universal law that shapes lasting success at every level. The Bizzics Way earned Amazon Bestseller status on presale and ultimately earned #1 Bestseller distinctions in five different Amazon classifications, including Small Business and Self-Employment. Through his Bizzics coaching practice, founded in 2019 and now further enriched by his book, Chip demystifies business and leadership for entrepreneurs, offering both practical tools and encouragement for the journey. In 2025, Chip launched Bizzics On Demand, an AI-assisted thinking partner and coach for small business owners with ultimate scalability and accessibility, 24/7. The agent is trained fully in the context of the text of The Bizzics Way and follows a consistent process of issue identification, ideation, and a practical path forward for every business owner to “take the next best step” in building and sustaining business momentum. What fuels Chip’s work is his conviction that every business owner deserves access to resources, coaching, and a champion in their corner. He shows that with the right guidance and the power of momentum, even the boldest entrepreneurial dreams can make the world a better place—one energized step at a time. Chip holds an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA from UNC’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business. He currently serves on the Executive Board of the Middle Tennessee Council, Scouting America.

Maggie is a Senior Vice President and the Regional Bank Small Business and SBA Director for Huntington National Bank, a $200 Billion Dollar Regional Bank based out of Columbus, Ohio. With a background in financial underwriting, commercial closing due diligence, and SBA Program Eligibility, Maggie has built a career specializing in business solutions and is very active as a small business advocate in the communities that Huntington serves. Maggie is currently overseeing the National SBA Franchise and Small Business Teams, with a focus on making and servicing loans from $1,000 – $25 Million in size, throughout the entire small business life cycle beginning at start-up and continuing through $50 Million in revenue size. Working with start-ups on business plans, helping small businesses expand into commercial companies, finding aging owners a generational solution for the sale of their business, and even helping those customers who fall on hard times, small business solutions are her passion. As a member of NAGGL and several other small business associations, Maggie works closely with private and public segment leaders nationwide to communicate Huntington’s mission for small business. She is the business representative on the bank’s ESG (Environmental Social and Governance) Board, focusing on Huntington’s impact on our customers, colleagues, and community. Maggie is also a member of Huntington’s National Community Advisory Council, where she works with community leaders across the Midwest to drive bank policies, procedures, and philanthropy to better support the ever-changing neighborhoods where we are based. Maggie is proud to be the Chair of Huntington’s Political Action Committee (HBI-PAC) enabling meaningful, transparent, and publicly accountable political participation. Maggie earned her BSBA degree from Ohio Dominican University and is a graduate of the CBA Executive School of Banking at Furman University, SC. She was a 40 Under 40 2019 Award winner in Columbus, Ohio, where she resides in with her family. Maggie is on the Board of Directors for ECDI, the nation’s most active small business CDFI. She is currently serving as the President of the Development Board at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She is also proud to be celebrating her 14th year as a rider and fundraiser for Pelotonia, a grassroots bike tour in the fight to end cancer.

Mary Ellen Egan is a journalist with more than 25 years of experience in business and investigative journalism. She has been a staff writer and editor at Forbes, The American Lawyer, First Amendment Watch and American Banker. She has freelanced for Bloomberg, Bloomberg Law, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Stanford Graduate School of Business and Thomson Reuters. She is currently an adjunct professor of journalism at New York University.