Hailey Windham, CFCS

About

As Community Lead for Banking at Sardine, Hailey Windham brings deep practitioner roots in fraud prevention, financial crime, and credit union advocacy to the work of building and mobilizing an industry that too often fights in silos. A Certified Financial Crimes Specialist (CFCS), she focuses on elevating practitioner voices, driving honest conversations across fraud and financial crime in banking, and connecting the people doing the real work with the tools, knowledge, and each other.At Sardine, Hailey shapes how the company shows up in the banking community — through thought leadership, industry events, and practitioner-first content that reflects what fraud fighters actually need. She is the host of Fraud Forward (formerly Banking on Fraudology), a podcast that brings together fraud fighters, bankers, regulators, and industry leaders for candid, experience-driven discussions about what's working, what's broken, and what needs to change. The show recently celebrated its 100th episode milestone.Before joining Sardine, Hailey led national fraud strategy and detection efforts for a managed services operation supporting financial institutions across the U.S. — deepening her expertise in fraud operations, real-time intervention, scam response, and scalable program design for institutions of all sizes. Known for translating complexity into action and bridging banking, technology, and law enforcement, Hailey's work is grounded in a core belief: that community, transparency, and collaboration are not soft skills — they are the infrastructure that makes fraud prevention actually work.Recognitions and Awards• 2023 Credit Union Rockstar, CU Magazine• Continuous Improvement Award, SAFE Federal Credit Union, 2023• Top 20 Professionals Under 40, The Sumter Item, 2022