David Tax | Head, Payments Strategy & Innovation
TD Bank

David Tax's path to banking could be called the "road less travelled." He grew up in Canada with an affinity for science and math that led him to pursue degrees in electrical engineering, which culminated with a PhD at MIT where he developed high-power microwave devices known as gyrotrons. He soon came to realize that the business world also offered many interesting challenges and decided to return to Canada to work at consulting firm McKinsey & Company. After serving the strategy needs of clients in a variety of industries, David developed an affinity for payments and left to lead the Strategy and Innovation function within TD's Enterprise Payments team. At TD, David has played a key role in formulating bank-wide payments strategy and driving awareness and action around Fintech trends like Open Banking, Digital Commerce, Digital Currencies/Assets, and emerging methods to combat fraud and scams. He is one of TD's leading inventors with over 100 filed and granted patents and plays a key role in shaping the bank's innovation and IP agenda.