Ellen Linardi is Chief Product & Technology Officer at Synctera, powering the next generation of embedded finance. With more than 15 years driving product innovation in fintech, she previously led product and design at Clover through exponential growth – delivering double-digit annual expansion and scaling to $272B in GPV. Ellen's expertise lies in transforming complex financial infrastructure into seamless, market-leading solutions that accelerate business growth and redefine industry standards.
Upcoming Talks
13 May 2026
This session examines two opposing views on unifying product and engineering under a single CPTO. One side argues that combining functions removes friction, clarifies priorities and strengthens customer focus. The other side argues that separating product and engineering creates healthier tension, clearer ownership and better technical depth. Using Ellen’s experience stepping into a unified CPTO role at Synctera, the debate challenges assumptions on alignment, autonomy and organisational design.
Debate Outcomes
• Compare the benefits and risks of unifying product and engineering under one leader
• Explore how conflicting priorities emerge in early stage companies like Synctera
• Understand how customer problem ownership can support or undermine functional clarity
• Gain insight into when organisational unity accelerates delivery and when it constrains it