Kurt Ernst | Principal Product Manager, Risk and Fraud
Proof

Kurt Ernst is Principal Product Manager for Risk and Fraud at Proof, where he leads the product vision and development of Defend — Proof's industry-first risk and fraud platform built to secure identity across the Identity Authorization Network. With over 20 years of experience spanning banking, fintech, e-commerce, and credit reporting, Kurt has built and deployed fraud detection and identity verification platforms responsible for protecting billions of accounts and hundreds of millions of transactions globally. His expertise spans the full spectrum of identity and fraud risk — from synthetic identity detection and new account fraud to transactional risk, deepfake detection, and machine learning model development. A Carnegie Mellon MBA and computer engineer by training, Kurt brings a rare combination of deep technical fluency and executive-level product strategy to one of the most consequential challenges in digital commerce today.

Appearances:

Identity Week America - Day 1 @ 14:00

Every digital transaction has an identity problem — and most industries haven't noticed yet

From buying a home to onboarding a new hire to authorizing an AI agent to act on your behalf, the gap between digital convenience and identity certainty is widening fast. In this session, Daniel Buchner, Director of Product, Digital Assets at Proof, and Kurt Ernst, Principal Product Manager for Risk and Fraud at Proof, trace the rise of the Identity Authorization Network across industries and government, expose what AI-generated deepfakes and synthetic identity fraud look like in the wild, and make the case that Digital ID isn't a compliance feature — it's the trust infrastructure the entire digital economy is being built on top of, whether we've planned for it or not. Leave with a cross-sector framework you can apply immediately and a clearer view of where identity risk is headed next.

Kurt Ernst, Principal Product Manager, Risk and Fraud, Proof