Perianne Boring

Founder & President, Chamber of Digital Commerce

Perianne Boring founded the Chamber of Digital Commerce building it into the world’s largest trade association representing the blockchain industry. Perianne was named among CoinDesk’s “10 Most Influential People in Blockchain 2016” and “Top Woman in Bitcoin 2015” for her public policy accomplishments. An avid public speaker, she has presented at leading industry events including the Consumer Electronic Show (CES), Money 20/20, South by Southwest (SXSW) and many others. She also contributes to Forbes through her column, “The Beauty of the Blockchain.” Prior to forming the Chamber, Perianne was a television anchor of an international finance program that aired in more than 100 countries to over 650 million viewers.

Perianne began her career as a legislative analyst in the U.S. House of Representatives, advising on finance, economics, tax and healthcare policy. She holds her bachelor’s degree in business administration and economics from the University of Florida.

Jennifer Boone

Special Agent in Charge, FBI

In January 2018, Jennifer C. Boone was selected by Director Christopher Wray as the Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles Field Office, Counterintelligence & Cyber Division.

Her previous assignment began in October 2016 when she was selected as the Deputy Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence Division. In April 2016 she was a Section Chief of the Counterproliferation Center at FBI Headquarters. Ms. Boone also served as Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Philadelphia Division's Counterintelligence and Cyber Branch. Ms. Boone entered on duty with the FBI in 1997. Following graduation from the FBI Academy, she was assigned to the Los Angeles Division.

Ms. Boone subsequently served in the Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence Divisions at FBI Headquarters, on detail to the U.S. Senate, and as a Supervisory Special Agent of a counterintelligence squad at Washington Field Office. She served as Director of Counterintelligence for the National Security Council at the White House from 2012-2014.

She is also certified as an FBI negotiator. Ms. Boone earned a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service and a Master of Arts from Georgetown University.

Iris Bohnet

Albert Pratt Professor of Business & Government, Harvard Kennedy School

Iris Bohnet, the Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government, is the Academic Dean of Harvard Kennedy School. She is a behavioral economist, combining insights from economics and psychology to improve decision-making in organizations and society, often with a gender or cross-cultural perspective. Her most recent research examines behavioral design to de-bias how we live, learn and work. She is the author of the award-winning book What Works: Gender Equality by Design, and advises governments and companies on the topic around the world. Professor Bohnet is the co-director of the Women and Public Policy Program and the faculty chair of the executive program “Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century” for the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders. She serves on the boards or advisory boards of Credit Suisse Group, Applied, Edge, genEquality, We Shape Tech, and the UK Government’s Equalities Office as well as numerous academic journals. She was named one of the Most Influential People in Gender Policy by apolitical in 2018, a Leading Thinker of Victoria, Australia, 2016-2019, and has received an honorary degree from the University of Lucerne, Switzerland, in 2016. She is married and the mother of two children.

Frank Bisignano

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, First Data

Frank Bisignano has spent his 30-year career leading by example, serving in integral executive roles at some of world’s largest financial services companies, giving back to his surrounding communities, and providing support and opportunities for the men, women, and their families serving in the armed forces. Currently, Bisignano serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of First Data – one of the largest FinTech companies, providing commerce solutions to businesses and financial institutions across the globe.

Early in his career, Bisignano worked at First Fidelity Bank, where he was an executive vice president overseeing technology and operations, and later served as chief consumer lending officer. At First Fidelity, Bisignano earned a reputation for skillfully managing complex mergers and integrations, overseeing 13 acquisitions into the business and consolidating eight banks into one.

Following First Fidelity, Bisignano joined Citi in 1994. As he took on more senior roles at Citi, he played a key role in a series of historic transactions. These deals included the merger of Citicorp and Travelers and the acquisitions of Salomon-Smith Barney and Primerica Financial Services, among others.

Bisignano then held several roles at Citigroup that included serving on the bank’s management committee and roles as chief administrative officer for the Corporate and Investment Bank and CEO of Citigroup's Global Transactions Services business. While CAO, Bisignano also served as the firm-wide deputy head of technology and operations, a post he held during 9/11, when he deployed and ran Citigroup's business continuity plan. The plan required emergency relocation of 16,000 employees displaced by the loss of 7 World Trade Center, which was crippled by the terrorist attack. In later years at Citi, as CEO of the bank’s Global Transactions Services business from 2002–2005, Bisignano’s unit’s revenue grew to $6 billion from $4 billion annually, with bottom line performance swinging from a net income loss of $400 million to a profit in excess of $1 billion during his tenure.

After Citigroup, Bisignano was the co-chief operating officer for J.P. Morgan Chase and the chief executive officer of its Mortgage Banking unit. As co-COO, Bisignano's responsibilities included overseeing global technology, human resources, real estate, operations, procurement, compliance, regulatory control and oversight, resiliency, security and safety, and general services for all of J.P. Morgan Chase’s businesses in over 60 countries. Under Bisignano’s leadership, the Mortgage Banking unit reported 2012 net income of $3.3 billion, a turnaround that reversed a net loss of $2.1 billion in the prior year.

Bisignano joined First Data as Chief Executive Officer in 2013 and added the title of Chairman of the Board in 2014. Upon his arrival at First Data, Bisignano began to rapidly transform the 48-year-old company from its position as the world’s largest traditional payment processor into a technology innovator, industry collaborator, and commerce enabler for the 21st Century.

One of Bisignano’s first big moves as CEO was launching a company-wide equity ownership program, turning all of First Data's employees into shareholders. In his early days, he steered the rollout of Clover Station, a breakthrough point-of-sale platform designed for small and midsized businesses to track inventory, manage employees, build lasting customer relationships, and accept the full array of payments, from cash to Apple Pay. The spirit of a technology company soon took hold as Bisignano partnered with, or acquired, leading startups to further strengthen First Data’s portfolio of cutting-edge solutions and services.

In June 2014, First Data announced an historic $3.5 billion private placement of equity which began a deleveraging effort that continues today. The private placement was followed by a $2.6 billion IPO in October 2015, the largest U.S. IPO of the year. These transactions, along with substantial refinancing of First Data’s debt, ratified the transformation begun under Bisignano’s leadership and set the course for First Data’s future.

Today, First Data is the largest merchant acquirer in the world, enabling electronic payments around the globe, 3,000 times a second, for more than 6 million merchant locations, 3,700 financial institutions, and millions of consumers. As a payments industry leader, First Data gives its clients the tools they need to thrive in today’s fast-changing world. In 2018, the company processed approximately 100 billion electronic transactions worldwide, representing $2.6 trillion in transaction volume. Headquartered in Atlanta, First Data operates in 27 countries spanning the globe.

Throughout his career, Bisignano has worked to create career opportunities for men and women who served in uniform. While at J.P. Morgan Chase, he was a founder of the 100,000 Jobs Mission, an original coalition of 11 companies that has since grown to a roster of more than 200 firms, hiring more than 450,000 veterans. Bisignano’s commitment to veterans has continued at First Data, where the First Data Salutes program provides broad opportunities and support for returning service members, veterans and their families.

A strong supporter of diversity, Bisignano also helped create seven new employee resource groups at First Data, earning the company a roster of accolades for its efforts, ranging from veterans’ groups to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

Bisignano is a member of the Board of Directors of Humana Inc. Among his non-profit commitments, he serves on the boards of the Partnership for New York City, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, The Perelman Center for Performing Arts at the World Trade Center, the Mount Sinai Health System, the advisory board for the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and The Battery Conservancy. In addition to being a Centennial Society member of The Economic Club of New York, he also serves on the boards of the Metro Atlanta Chamber and The Commerce Club of Atlanta. Bisignano was previously vice chairman of the Options Clearing Corporation and a board member for the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, the Alliance for Downtown New York, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and PENCIL.

In 2010, Bisignano was awarded Syracuse University’s Chancellor's Medal for Outstanding Achievement for his innovation in technology and education. Bisignano received accolades in 2012 for his work leading the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project, which digitized hundreds of thousands of documents of Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders. In 2014, Bisignano received the Colonel Michael Endres Leadership Award for Individual Excellence in Veteran Employment from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The New York Institute of Technology honored Bisignano in May 2014 with a Doctor of Commercial Science degree for his achievements in business and his philanthropic endeavors. In 2017, Syracuse University bestowed Bisignano with an Honorary Doctorate of Law degree for his distinguished business career and his work in championing higher education and supporting the disadvantaged.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He has three children, Morgan, Alexa, and Henry. He and his wife, Tracy, reside in New Jersey.

Leslie D. Biddle

Partner & President, Serengeti Asset Management

Leslie D. Biddle is a partner and the president of Serengeti Asset Management where she heads the firm’s research efforts and risk committee. Previously, she was Global Head of Commodity Sales at Goldman Sachs and the CFO of the firm’s investments in the metals and mining sector. She was named managing director in 2004 and partner in 2006. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Ms. Biddle was a Vice President at The AES Corporation focusing on project finance and power plant development. She also served as a vice president at the Overseas Investment Corporation, providing political risk insurance and financing to U.S. companies expanding overseas. Ms. Biddle holds an A.B. from Colby College where she is vice chair of the Board of Trustees. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Empire State Realty Trust (NYSE) and CenterPoint Energy (NYSE).

Jim Bethea, CFA, CAIA

Vice President & Chief Investment Officer, The University of Iowa Center for Advancement

Jim Bethea serves as Vice President and Chief Investment Officer for The University of Iowa Center for Advancement. Before joining the Center for Advancement, he worked in investment manager research at RVK and Touchstone Investments. He has also worked on mergers, acquisitions, and leveraged buyouts at Mystic Capital and as a project engineer for Bridgestone. He received his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from The Ohio State University and his M.B.A. from Case Western Reserve University. He is a CFA and CAIA charterholder and is on the Investment Advisory Committee for the University of Iowa’s Henry Fund.

Ken Bertsch

Executive Director, Council of Institutional Investors

Ken Bertsch was named Executive Director of the Council of Institutional Investors in 2016. He has more than 30 years of experience across a wide range of investment, consulting, management and corporate governance roles. He most recently served as a Partner at CamberView Partners. He previously was President and CEO of the Society of Corporate Secretaries & Governance Professionals; Executive Director for corporate governance and proxy voting at Morgan Stanley Investment Management; Managing Director for corporate governance analysis at Moody's Investors Service; Director of the governance engagement program at TIAA-CREF; and in various roles at the Investor Responsibility Research Center. He holds a JD from Fordham University School of Law and an undergraduate degree from Williams College.

Russel S. Bernard

Managing Principal, Westport Capital Partners

Russ Bernard is the Managing Principal at Westport Capital Partners LLC, an investment management company focused on opportunistic, distressed and core plus real estate investments. The company was founded in 2005, and invests in real estate through direct and indirect property ownership and through public and private real estate securities and financial instruments. It focuses on generating returns through a wide range of value-added transactions, distressed assets, financial securities, off-market situations, operating partnerships, development opportunities both domestically and internationally, and hands-on solutions to complex situations. Westport Capital Partners was Endowment and Money Management Magazine’s 2010 Real Asset Manager of the Year.

Prior to founding Westport Capital Partners, Mr. Bernard was a Principal at Oaktree and the Portfolio Manager for Oaktree’s real estate funds. He was responsible for the management of a series of closed-end real estate funds. Prior to joining Oaktree in 1995, Mr. Bernard was a Managing Director at TCW and Portfolio Manager of the TCW Special Credits Distressed Mortgage Fund. Prior to that, he was a partner at Win Properties, Inc., a national real estate investment company for eight years. Before joining Win Properties, Mr. Bernard was with Time Equities, Inc., a New York real estate company for three years. He began his career as a Staff Accountant at Price Waterhouse in New York. Mr. Bernard has been on several corporate, university and charity boards. Mr. Bernard holds a B.S. in Business Management and Marketing from Cornell University.

The Honorable Stephen K. Benjamin

Mayor of Columbia, South Carolina

At 29 years old in 1999, Benjamin was appointed to Governor Jim Hodges' cabinet as director of the state's second largest law enforcement agency, the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services. Mayor Benjamin has continued his service to the community in serving on numerous boards for nonprofit organizations such as the Columbia Urban League, Benedict College, the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce and as a founding board member of the Eau Claire Promise Zone. He also served as a founding member of Choose Children First and chief legal counsel for Midlands Crimestoppers. In 2009, Benjamin drew national attention by representing prominent radio host Tom Joyner and securing a pardon for Joyner's great uncles wrongfully convicted in the death of a 73-year-old Confederate veteran and executed in 1913. In a landmark decision, the South Carolina Board of Paroles and Pardons voted unanimously to grant the posthumous pardon, the first for South Carolina in a capital case. Reelected by a 30 percent margin in November 2013, Mayor Benjamin's administration has been characterized by his firm belief in Columbia's potential and intense focus on job creation. In his first term alone, his leadership helped cut unemployment in the metro by roughly half and secured billions of dollars in new regional capital investment in the midst of a national recession.

Combined with the rebirth of Main Street, these accomplishments have drawn national attention and accolades including his being awarded an Aspen Rodel Fellowship and receiving an Honorary Doctor of Humanities from Francis Marion University. He has twice been named to The Washington Post's "The Root 100 List” (2011 and 2013) as well as the 2014 GRIO 100 and was honored to receive a 2014 Triumph Award from the National Action Network as their 2014 Public Servant of the Year. As part of his commitment to fostering a world class police department in the City, Mayor Benjamin introduced the “Justice for All” initiative in 2014, which implemented new training, competitive pay, diverse representation and community engagement to strengthen the foundation of trust and accountability that exists between our communities and law enforcement agencies.

President Obama’s administration has also commended Mayor Benjamin on his work on behalf of My Brother’s Keeper (MBK). The city’s MBK efforts, in addition to Mayor Benjamin’s leadership, have led to Columbia being seen as a nationwide leader in implementing and upholding the missions of the program. Mayor Benjamin was asked to speak at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, where he talked about the importance of instilling in his daughters that they can do anything they set their minds to, even becoming President of the United States. In December 2017, Mayor Benjamin initiated city ordinance 2017-109, which banned the attachment of bump stocks and trigger cranks in the City of Columbia, making Columbia the first city in the nation to do so. He is a firm believer in common sense bipartisan leadership and endeavors to implement policies and programming that provide the best course of action for city residents.

In addition to serving as Mayor of Columbia, Mayor Benjamin also serves as President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and as Chairman for Municipal Bonds for America. He teaches a class at the University of South Carolina Honors College and Columbia College titled “Columbia, South Carolina: Building a Great City” and is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi and Sigma Pi Phi fraternities.

Mayor Benjamin is married to the Honorable DeAndrea Gist Benjamin, Chief Administrative Judge (Common Pleas) for South Carolina's Fifth Judicial Circuit. The two are the proud parents of daughters Bethany (13) and Jordan Grace (11).

Anne Beagan

Office of Public Affairs, FBI

Special Agent Anne C. Beagan recently transferred to the Los Angeles Field Office (LAFO) of the FBI after 22 years in the New York Field Office (NYO).

SA Beagan has assisted on dozens of television series, feature films, books and magazine articles relating to the FBI or FBI personnel. She has also successfully developed liaison relationships with the media, publishing, motion picture, television and entertainment industries to promote FBI accomplishments and ensure that depictions of the FBI are accurate and factual in regard to FBI policies and practices.

SA Beagan curated two historical exhibits in the NYO to showcase the history and great work of the NYO to employees and official visitors.

SA Beagan coordinated the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) 35th Anniversary event and subsequent media stories surrounding the founding of the NYO JTTF.

SA Beagan has served as the NY liaison to both the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York as well as the Newseum in Washington, DC.

For 8 years she served as the Special Events Coordinator under the NY Counterterrorism Division responsible for the coordination of dozens of high-visibility NY Special Events including 3 National Special Security Events (NSSEs) - the 2002 U.N. General Assembly, the 2002 World Economic Forum, which was held in NY as a sign of solidarity to the United States after the events of 9/11, and the 2004 Republican National Convention.

She has served as the Protocol Officer to the NYO Special Agent-in-Charge of Counterterrorism managing and coordinating all official visits to the JTTF, including heads of federal and state agencies and foreign delegations. She also coordinated speaking engagements and presentations by, and to, the JTTF, and facilitated Executive Board Meetings.

After 9/11 SA Beagan was assigned as the FBI liaison to the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management.

Temporary assignments have included: assignment to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and the GTMO Task Force at FBI Headquarters (HQ), HQ International Operations Division and the HQ Office of Public Affairs Investigative Publicity and Public Affairs Unit.

Her initial assignment to the NYO in 1996 was in the Criminal Division working white collar crimes, civil rights and crimes against children matters.

Dr. Donald Basile

Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Monsoon Blockchain Storage

Dr Donald Basile is Founder and CEO of Monsoon Blockchain Storage. As an entrepreneur and venture capitalist he has spent more than 20 years immersed in the tech sector, working with a wide range of firms in hardware, software, IT, telecommunications, healthcare and private equity.

Dr. Basile was Co-founder, CEO and BOD member of two recent industry leading storage companies both of whom went public on NYSE: Fusion-io and Violin Memory. Leading both companies from conception through global operations and creating total peak market value over $5B. Don led partnerships with the biggest IT companies including HP, Dell, Microsoft, IBM and SAP and his clients have included the world' largest banks, media companies, retailers and technology companies such as Apple and Facebook.

Basile completed both his MS and PhD in electrical engineering at Stanford University, after graduating first in his class at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Basile was an early participant in the first Internet revolution of the 90's. As the 90's came to a close Don was part of the core Raza investment team backing over 30 broadband data center companies including four IPO's and over a dozen $100M+ acquisitions.

Don and his teams have raised over $1B for high tech startups and he has been an investor, executive or BOD member in over 30 Silicon Valley companies. Dr. Basile career has included working at industry leaders AT&T Bell Labs, IBM, Comcast (Lenfest) and United Health Group. His current interests include Blockchain, Digital Assets, Al, mobile, storage, 3D printing and security and future revolutionary technologies Graphene and other advanced nano-materials.

Will Bartlett

Chief Executive Officer, Parallax Volatility Advisers

Will Bartlett is the Chief Executive Officer of Parallax Volatility Advisers. Will has been involved with equity options since 1995 and has been with Parallax since 1996. In his more than 20 years at Parallax, Will has played an active role transforming the firm from a small, floor-based equity options trading operation into a large participant in the global volatility market. Parallax manages a complex portfolio of listed and over the counter volatility positions on global equities, indexes, ETFs, and commodity futures. Prior to joining the Parallax, Will worked on the floor of the Pacific Coast Exchange while earning his Bachelor’s degree in Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. Will proudly serves on the Board of Governors of Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco and is a member of The Guardsmen, an organization helping at-risk youth by providing scholarships, support, and outdoor education programs to students in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Michael Bapis

Managing Director, Vios Advisors at Rockefeller Capital Management

Michael N. Bapis, Managing Director with Vios Advisors at Rockefeller Capital Management, brings over 20 years of wealth management and private banking experience to the practice.

Michael is dedicated to assisting clients and families, institutions and professional athletes and entertainers by providing knowledgeable insight and highly personalized client service. In utilizing global asset allocation concepts and tactical investment strategies, Michael works with clients and families to create financial portfolios that align with long-term goals and optimize their wealth.

Michael began his career at Morgan Stanley in 1998, where he spent time in various departments learning a wide array of skills and knowledge within the financial services industry. A year later in 1999, Michael became a financial advisor. During this time, he was promoted to a Senior Vice President, Wealth Advisor and honored as a member of the prestigious Chairman's Club -- a group that highlights the top 150 advisors in the firm.

Michael joined Rockefeller Capital Management in September 2018 as the third team to breakaway from a wirehouse advisor to join the HighTower partnership. In September 2018, Michael and his team joined Rockefeller Capital Management as the first team to join their expanding wealth management division. To highlight the move, Michael’s team changed their name from “The Bapis Group” to “Vios Advisors”.

As an NFLPA Registered Advisor, Michael understands the intricacies of financial planning for professional athletes, specifically in the NFL. He is dedicated to providing the necessary resources, education, and strategies to promote financial wellness and financial stability through the arc of every athletes career – from signing initial contracts all the way through to ensure a successful and stress-free retirement. In his client-centric approach, Michael excels at managing relationships with the athletes, as well as their families and additional centers of influence, to encourage seamless communication and to create a strong bond of trust to create a lifetime of financial prosperity and stability for the duration of their careers and beyond.

Michael is considered a thought leader in the financial services industry, having regularly appeared on CNBC’s Trading Nation and Worldwide Exchange, Bloomberg TV and Yahoo Finance as well as quoted in CNNmoney.com, CNBC.com, Reuters, Financial Planning and Investment News. In addition, he has been honored on the Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Advisors List from 2016-2019 as well as recognized as a Barron’s Top Advisor from 2014-2018.

Daniel Barile

Partner & Senior Portfolio Manager, SkyBridge

Daniel Barile, CFA is a Partner and Senior Portfolio Manager at SkyBridge Capital. Mr. Barile’s responsibilities include portfolio management, research and due diligence across a variety of alternative investment strategies, as well as new product research and development. Prior to joining SkyBridge in June 2010, Mr. Barile was a Vice President on the Hedge Fund Management Group investment team at Citi Alternative Investments. Prior to joining Citi, Mr. Barile was an Associate Director covering financial institutions at Fitch Ratings. Mr. Barile started his career at Merrill Lynch in 2004. Mr. Barile received a B.S. in Management with a concentration in Finance from Binghamton University and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations.

Andy Ball

Portfolio Manager, Agency MBS and Student Loans, West Side Advisors

Mr. Ball joined West Side in July 2009 as a Portfolio Manager for the Agency MBS portfolios. In addition, he currently co-manages West Side’s student loan investments and serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Alcar LLC. Prior to joining West Side he was a mortgage derivative trader for the UBS CMO desk. Mr. Ball traded Trust and Structured IO/PO as well as Agency and Non-Agency mortgage derivative products. In 2009, he co-ran the mortgage derivative portfolio and oversaw the exit/liquidation of UBS’s mortgage derivative business. Mr. Ball was responsible for co-managing over $1 billion of Agency mortgage derivatives during this period. He built his career with a strong foundation in quantitative analysis first as a financial engineer for the mortgage portfolio at Freddie Mac and later building and implementing prepayment models at Wells Fargo Mortgage. He moved to UBS as the head prepayment strategist, writing prepayment commentary for the Mortgage Strategist and overseeing UBS’s prepayment modeling operations. Mr. Ball was twice ranked the #2 prepayment strategist by Institutional Investor magazine based on a peer-to-peer survey among buy-side analysts.

Mr. Ball received a B.A. in Economics from The College of William and Mary.

David L. Bahnsen

Founder, Managing Partner & Chief Investment Officer, The Bahnsen Group

David L. Bahnsen is the founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Investment Officer of The Bahnsen Group, a bi-coastal private wealth management firm with offices in Newport Beach, CA and New York City, managing over $3 billion in client assets.

David is consistently named as one of the top financial advisors in America by Barron’s, Forbes, and the Financial Times.

He brought The Bahnsen Group independent in April 2015 after eight years as a Chairman's Club Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and seven years as a First Vice President at UBS Financial Services. He is a frequent guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, and Fox Business and is a regular contributor to National Review.

David serves on the Board of Directors for the National Review Institute and is a founding Trustee for Pacifica Christian High School of Orange County. He is the author several best-selling books including Crisis of Responsibility: Our Cultural Addiction to Blame and How You Can Cure It (2018), and The Case for Dividend Growth: Investing in a     Post-Crisis World (2019).  His latest, There’s No Free Lunch: 250 Economic Truths, comes out in November of 2021.

David's true passions include anything related to USC football, the financial markets, politics, and reading. His ultimate passions are his wife of 20+ years,

Joleen, their children, Mitchell, Sadie, and Graham, and the life they’ve created together on both coasts.

Fatimah Baeshen

Former Spokesperson for the Embassy, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Fatimah S. Baeshen offers an insightful, sometimes comparative, glimpse into developments in the Arabian Peninsula and the United States with a strong capability to translate socioeconomic developments and cultural currencies to international audiences.

A socioeconomic strategist, Baeshen has over 17 years of experience working at the intersection of economic reform, social change, and private sector engagement having advised the private, public and NGO sectors on these areas.

In September of 2017, Baeshen was appointed Spokesperson for the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in Washington, D.C. and transitioned out of the role in January of 2019. She was the first Saudi woman to hold a spokesperson post for the Kingdom’s government.

Prior to her appointment as Embassy Spokesperson, she held positions with and/or advised AON, the Islamic Development Bank, the World Bank, Emirates Foundation for Youth Development, the Chalhoub Group, the Saudi Ministry of Labor, the Saudi Ministry of Economy and Planning, and the Arabia Foundation.

She is published in several outlets including Time Magazine, Arab News, Al Arabiya, as well as, Islamic Finance News and has appeared on various news shows and outlets; ranging from Fox’s Mornings with Maria, CNN, CGTN, BBC, and PBS to MSNBC’s The Point.

Born in South Carolina and raised between Mississippi and Saudi Arabia; Baeshen obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and her Master of Arts at the University of Chicago’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, where she wrote her thesis on Islamic Finance Regulation in Secular Markets.

Maggie Arvedlund

Managing Partner, Turning Rock Partners

Ms. Arvedlund is the CEO and Managing Partner of Turning Rock Partners, a principal investment firm. Turning Rock seeks to make long-term investments in debt and equity securities of North American small and mid-capitalization businesses. The firm emphasizes return of principal and inherent cash flow throughout portfolio construction and employs time-tested credit and equity research, while performing deep dive analytics on each potential investment through a combination of financial, operational, and qualitative analysis. The firm is headquartered in New York, New York.

Prior to founding Turning Rock Partners, Ms. Arvedlund was a Managing Director at Fortress Investment Group where she spent eight years. While at Fortress, Ms. Arvedlund was responsible for private equity and debt investments for the Fortress Partners Fund, a multi-strategy vehicle which invested across asset classes and capital structures. Ms. Arvedlund served on the Investment Committee from 2010-2015 and allocated capital across the alternative landscape including hedged equity, private equity, real estate, distressed and other hard assets. Prior to joining Fortress, Ms. Arvedlund worked at Hall Capital Partners where she held roles in the portfolio management and research divisions. Prior to Hall Capital Partners, Ms. Arvedlund held a number of senior operating roles in several privately held businesses. Ms. Arvedlund received a BS with Honors from Vanderbilt University in Economics and an MBA in Finance from NYU's Stern School of Business. Ms. Arvedlund serves on several non-profit boards including Summer Search New York City and is a founding member of the NYU Stern Private Equity Advisory Board.

Anousheh Ansari

Chief Executive Officer, XPRIZE Foundation

Anousheh Ansari is a CEO of the XPRIZE Foundation, the world’s leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges. Ansari, along with her family, sponsored the organization’s first competition, the Ansari XPRIZE, a $10 million competition that ignited a new era for commercial spaceflight. Since then, she has served on XPRIZE’s Board of Directors.

Prior to being named CEO of XPRIZE, Ansari served as the CEO of Prodea Systems, a leading Internet of Things (IoT) technology firm she co-founded in 2006, and continues to serve as the executive chairwoman. She captured headlines around the world when she embarked upon an 11-day space expedition, accomplishing her childhood dream of becoming the first female private space explorer, first astronaut of Iranian descent, first Muslim woman in space, and fourth private explorer to visit space.

Ansari serves on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Future Council and has received numerous honors, including the WEF Young Global Leader, Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and STEM Leadership Hall of Fame, among others. She is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and serves on the board of Jabil and Peace First, as well as several other not-for-profit organizations focused on STEM education and youth empowerment.

Ansari also co-founded The Billion Dollar Fund for Women, announced in October 2018 at the Tri Hita Karana (THK) Forum on Sustainable Development in Bali, with a goal of investing $1 billion in women-founded companies by 2020.

She published her memoir, My Dream of Stars, to share her life story as inspiration for young women around the world.

Ansari holds a bachelor’s degree in electronics and computer engineering from George Mason University, a master’s degree in electrical engineering from George Washington University; and honorary doctorates from George Mason University, Utah Valley University, and International Space University.

Steven Algert

Managing Director, The J. Paul Getty Trust

Steve Algert is Managing Director and Asst. Treasurer responsible for the hedge fund and credit-related programs for The J Paul Getty Trust, the $7 billion foundation that operates the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Previously, Steve was at The Regents of the University of California, where he made the first hedge fund investments and helped oversee public equities. Before that Steve was in the fund of hedge funds group at Citigroup Alternative Investments and in the fixed income risk management and consulting groups at BARRA/RogersCasey.

Steve holds a Masters in Public and Private Management from the Yale School of Management and a B.S. from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a CFA and CAIA charter holder.