Building an AI Model Governance Program that Scales
Model governance is an operational discipline.
The greatest AI risk in financial services is not adoption, but insufficient governance. Join us for a practical session for compliance, risk, and technology leaders who need to move beyond policy documents and build operational model governance that holds up under examination.
What you'll learn
Why traditional model risk frameworks fall short when applied to AI, machine learning, and automated decisioning systems
What regulators and examiners actually evaluate when they assess model governance — and where most organizations have gaps
A practical framework for building model and data governance across the full product lifecycle, from development through monitoring and retirement
How to connect model governance to your CMS, risk assessments, and testing programs so it drives real compliance decisions
What fintechs, banks, and BaaS platforms need to demonstrate to sponsor banks and examiners about third-party and partner model oversight
Why this matters now
Regulatory expectations for model governance have expanded significantly. SR 11-7 and OCC 2011-12 set the foundation, and examiners now evaluate whether inventories are complete, validations are independent, and governance committees provide real oversight, not rubber-stamp approvals.
Most organizations have not kept pace. Model governance is still treated as a documentation exercise while AI systems introduce risk categories — opacity, drift, fairness exposure — that traditional frameworks were never designed to capture. The organizations that embed governance across the product lifecycle reduce systemic exposure and scale with control. The ones that wait are building on a foundation examiners are already testing.
Speakers:
Amber de Volk, CEO + Founder, Equinox Compliance
As a senior compliance architect and regulatory advisor Amber has over eighteen years of experience across fintech, banking, payments, and emerging financial technologies. She holds an LLM in Financial Risk Management and specializes in CMS and AML program development, model governance, AI oversight, and enterprise risk management. Known for her strategic approach and hands-on leadership style, Amber partners with founders and executive teams to build scalable, defensible compliance frameworks that drive growth and enable safer innovation.
David Stickney, Founder and Managing Principal, Arq Advisory
David Stickney, CMCP, AMP, is the Founder & Managing Principal of Arq Advisory LLC (SDVOSB), where he supports banks, fintechs, mortgage originators and services, and other regulated financial services providers with federal and state consumer compliance strategy, supervisory risk management, and regulator-ready execution. A former CFPB Senior Commissioned Compliance Examiner and Examiner-in-Charge—and former Senior Director in the Consumer Financial Services practice of an international consulting firm— he brings deep federal supervisory and advisory experience across lending, mortgages, and deposits/payments. David specializes in enterprise Compliance Management Systems (governance, monitoring/testing, issues management, training, and third-party oversight), fintech–bank partnership oversight, regulatory remediation, and fair lending.
Brought to you by Equinox Compliance