What The Heck, Fintech

Wilson Wong on Fintech, Teaching & Real-World Impact (Part 2)

27 min · 21. apr. 2026
episode Wilson Wong on Fintech, Teaching & Real-World Impact (Part 2) cover

Description

🔥Join us on What the Heck, Fintech as we sit down with 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝘀𝗌𝗻 𝗪𝗌𝗻𝗎 — Associate Professor of Teaching in Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and FinTech thought‑leader bridging finance, technology, and education. 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝘀𝗌𝗻 brings real‑world experience, and a passion for Fintech is FinLife — how financial technology isn’t just reshaping markets, but lives, careers, and the way we learn and build solutions. In these two deep‑dive episodes, we explore: 💡 𝗛𝗌𝘄 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗌𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗎 𝗯𝗲𝘆𝗌𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝘇𝘇𝘄𝗌𝗿𝗱𝘀 into strategic, interdisciplinary impact 🛠 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗌𝗹𝗲 𝗌𝗳 𝗮𝗜𝗜𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗜𝗿𝗌𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 and hands‑on learning in shaping future innovators 🀖 𝗔𝗜, 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗌𝗹𝗌𝗎𝘆 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗎𝗲𝘀 that connect classroom theory with industry reality 🌍 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝘀𝗌𝗻’𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗎𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗌𝗻 𝗵𝗌𝘄 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗌𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗌𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 — from student experiences to real business problems If you’re curious about how finance and technology intersect with real life — not just theory — this conversation will expand your perspective and fuel your FinTech journey. 👉 𝗧𝗌 𝗰𝗌𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗌𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗌𝗺 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝘀𝗌𝗻 𝗪𝗌𝗻𝗎, please go to their LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilson-wong-wpi/

Comments

0

Be the first to comment

Sign up now and become a member of the What The Heck, Fintech community!

Get Started

1 month for 9 kr.

Then 99 kr. / month · Cancel anytime.

  • Podcasts kun pÃ¥ Podimo
  • 20 lydbogstimer pr. mÃ¥ned
  • Gratis podcasts

All episodes

52 episodes

episode Tracie Kosakowski: From Chemist, to Lawyer, to Fintech Leader (Part 1) artwork

Tracie Kosakowski: From Chemist, to Lawyer, to Fintech Leader (Part 1)

✹ 𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐚 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬, 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐞 𝐊𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐀𝐚𝐰𝐬𝐀𝐢 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 — 𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐚𝐰, 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧, 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐀, 𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬, 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐀𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥-𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧. 🔥 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐰 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐊 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐊𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐭𝐚 𝐥𝐚𝐰, 𝐭𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐀𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐭𝐚 𝐀𝐌𝐋, 𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬, 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐀, 𝐜𝐚𝐊𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐚𝐰 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐀𝐬, 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭-𝐠𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬. 💡 𝐖𝐞 𝐠𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐚𝐧: ✩ 𝐡𝐚𝐰 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧 ✩ 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐖𝐞𝐛𝟑’𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐊𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐧𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐲 ✩ 𝐡𝐚𝐰 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐀𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 ✩ 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐊𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲 ✩ 𝐡𝐚𝐰 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐚 𝐢𝐊𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞, 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬 ✩ 𝐡𝐚𝐰 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐖𝐚𝐊𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐊𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐊𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 🚀 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐣𝐚𝐛 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐲 “𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞” — 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐊𝐬, 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬, 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 — 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐊 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭, 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞. 🔗 𝐓𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐊𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐊 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐞 𝐊𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐀𝐚𝐰𝐬𝐀𝐢, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐠𝐚 𝐭𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐀𝐞𝐝𝐈𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞:https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracie-kosakowski/

Yesterday23 min
episode Building Trust in Digital Finance: Compliance and Stablecoins with Cristina Palladino (Part 2) artwork

Building Trust in Digital Finance: Compliance and Stablecoins with Cristina Palladino (Part 2)

In these powerful conversations, Cristina Palladino breaks down why compliance is no longer a back-office function — it’s a competitive advantage and a catalyst for innovation. From early-stage fintech startups to global digital asset ecosystems, Cristina explains how building a culture of compliance from day one fuels trust, accelerates growth, and protects consumers in today’s app-driven financial world. ✹ 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 — and Cristina shows exactly why. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔹 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐘𝐚𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧: 🔐 Why compliance must be embedded early — not bolted on later ⚖ How regulation actually enables innovation and faster scaling 💵 The real story behind stablecoins and evolving digital dollar frameworks 🀖 AI, fraud detection, deepfakes, and the new scam economy 🔎 How blockchain increases transparency and traceability 🌍 The future of cross-border finance and global regulatory alignment 🧠 Why modern compliance leaders must understand psychology, behavior, and risk Cristina also shares her journey from bank teller to fintech compliance leader, proving that today’s regulatory professionals are strategic operators shaping the future of finance — not just enforcing rules. The biggest takeaway?The fintech companies that win aren’t avoiding regulation.They’re building trust at scale through it. That’s why 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ To connect and learn even more from Cristina Palladino, please visit her LinkedIn profile:🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/cpalladino617/

30. juni 202624 min
episode Building Trust in Digital Finance: Compliance and Stablecoins with Cristina Palladino (Part 1) artwork

Building Trust in Digital Finance: Compliance and Stablecoins with Cristina Palladino (Part 1)

In these powerful conversations, Cristina Palladino breaks down why compliance is no longer a back-office function — it’s a competitive advantage and a catalyst for innovation. From early-stage fintech startups to global digital asset ecosystems, Cristina explains how building a culture of compliance from day one fuels trust, accelerates growth, and protects consumers in today’s app-driven financial world. ✹ 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 — and Cristina shows exactly why. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔹 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐘𝐚𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧: 🔐 Why compliance must be embedded early — not bolted on later ⚖ How regulation actually enables innovation and faster scaling 💵 The real story behind stablecoins and evolving digital dollar frameworks 🀖 AI, fraud detection, deepfakes, and the new scam economy 🔎 How blockchain increases transparency and traceability 🌍 The future of cross-border finance and global regulatory alignment 🧠 Why modern compliance leaders must understand psychology, behavior, and risk Cristina also shares her journey from bank teller to fintech compliance leader, proving that today’s regulatory professionals are strategic operators shaping the future of finance — not just enforcing rules. The biggest takeaway?The fintech companies that win aren’t avoiding regulation.They’re building trust at scale through it. That’s why 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ To connect and learn even more from Cristina Palladino, please visit her LinkedIn profile:🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/cpalladino617/

23. juni 202622 min
episode How Evan Schnidman Went From Professor to AI Founder to Leading Fidelity Labs (Part 2) artwork

How Evan Schnidman Went From Professor to AI Founder to Leading Fidelity Labs (Part 2)

🚀 AI, startups, financial innovation, and the future of fintech—all in one conversation. In this two-part episode, we sit down with Evan Schnidman, Head of Fidelity Labs, to explore a career that spans academia, artificial intelligence research, startup founding, and building new fintech businesses inside one of the world’s largest financial institutions. 💡 Evan’s journey perfectly illustrates a core idea of this podcast: Fintech is FinLife. From building early AI and natural language processing systems to analyze central bank language, to founding and selling an AI startup before the recent LLM boom, to now launching new ventures inside Fidelity Labs, Evan has spent his career translating complex financial signals into meaningful innovation. In these episodes, you’ll hear insights on: ⚡ The early days of AI in finance—before today’s generative AI wave 🏊 Why fintech startups and large financial institutions are now collaborating, not competing 🚀 How Fidelity Labs builds and launches entirely new fintech businesses 📊 The role of data, research, and ecosystem partnerships in driving innovation 💡 Why entrepreneurship requires accepting more failures to achieve more breakthroughs Evan also shares fascinating insights into the innovation flywheel at Fidelity Labs, including ventures like: 🔹 Private market infrastructure tools 🔹 AI-driven compliance platforms 🔹 Crypto data visibility solutions 🔹 Customer intelligence platforms for wealth managers This conversation shows how fintech innovation isn’t just about technology—it’s about connecting research, startups, financial institutions, and real human needs. That’s why Fintech is FinLife. If you care about the future of AI in finance, startup innovation, and how big financial institutions reinvent themselves, this is an episode you won’t want to miss. 🔗 To connect and learn even more from Evan Schnidman, please visit his LinkedIn profile:https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-schnidman/

16. juni 202625 min
episode How Evan Schnidman Went From Professor to AI Founder to Leading Fidelity Labs (Part 1) artwork

How Evan Schnidman Went From Professor to AI Founder to Leading Fidelity Labs (Part 1)

🚀 AI, startups, financial innovation, and the future of fintech—all in one conversation. In this two-part episode, we sit down with Evan Schnidman, Head of Fidelity Labs, to explore a career that spans academia, artificial intelligence research, startup founding, and building new fintech businesses inside one of the world’s largest financial institutions. 💡 Evan’s journey perfectly illustrates a core idea of this podcast: Fintech is FinLife. From building early AI and natural language processing systems to analyze central bank language, to founding and selling an AI startup before the recent LLM boom, to now launching new ventures inside Fidelity Labs, Evan has spent his career translating complex financial signals into meaningful innovation. In these episodes, you’ll hear insights on: ⚡ The early days of AI in finance—before today’s generative AI wave 🏊 Why fintech startups and large financial institutions are now collaborating, not competing 🚀 How Fidelity Labs builds and launches entirely new fintech businesses 📊 The role of data, research, and ecosystem partnerships in driving innovation 💡 Why entrepreneurship requires accepting more failures to achieve more breakthroughs Evan also shares fascinating insights into the innovation flywheel at Fidelity Labs, including ventures like: 🔹 Private market infrastructure tools 🔹 AI-driven compliance platforms 🔹 Crypto data visibility solutions 🔹 Customer intelligence platforms for wealth managers This conversation shows how fintech innovation isn’t just about technology—it’s about connecting research, startups, financial institutions, and real human needs. That’s why Fintech is FinLife. If you care about the future of AI in finance, startup innovation, and how big financial institutions reinvent themselves, this is an episode you won’t want to miss. 🔗 To connect and learn even more from Evan Schnidman, please visit his LinkedIn profile:https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-schnidman/

9. juni 202627 min