14: Future of Finance: Tokenization of Money & Finance - Why Is It a Big Deal?

In the backdrop of the Network Readiness Index (NRI) Report, this episode will explore governments' role in an effectively integrating AI to optimize both country (case study: Switzerland)  and business processes.  Our distinguished speakers include: Soumitra Dutta, President of Portulans Institute and Dean of Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford [moderator], Thomas Schneider, Ambassador and Director of International Relations at the Swiss federal Office of Communication (OFCOM) and Mauricio J. Vianna e Silva, CEO of MJV Technology and Innovation. This two-part mini-series was organized in partnership with the Portulans Institute.

Soumitra Dutta is President of the Portulans Institute and is Peter Moores Dean and Professor of Management, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford
Before joining the School in 2022, he was Professor of Management and the former founding Dean of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, New York.

He received a B. Tech. in electrical engineering and computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, an MS in both business administration and computer science, and a PhD in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley.

Soumitra is the founder and co-editor of fourteen editions of the Global Innovation Index which is published with the World Intellectual Property Organisation and is leading global assessment of national innovation capabilities. He has co-edited sixteen annual reports of the Global Information Technology Report for the World Economic Forum on the impact of information technology on development and national competitiveness. The Global Information Technology Report has been rebranded and published as the Network Readiness Index since 2019 by Portulans Institute.

Thomas Schneider, Ambassador and Director of International Relations at the Swiss federal Office of Communication (OFCOM) and represents the Swiss Govt. on Internet Governance and IT/Digital society at UN, ITU, OECD - and Chair of Committee on AI at the Council of Europe
He represents the Swiss government on Internet Governance and Information/Knowledge/Digital Society at UN IGF, UN CSTD, ITU, UPU, UNESCO, WSIS Follow-Up, OECD, Council of Europe, OSCE, etc.

In addition, he serves on the Council of Europe as Chair of the Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAI) and a Member of the Bureau of the Committee on Media and Human Rights in the Information Society (CDMSI).

Mauricio J. Vianna e Silva, CEO, MJV Technology and Innovation
Computer Engineer at PUC-RJ (1990), MSc. in Computer Science at IIT - Illinois Institute of Technology (1992), and Ph.D. in Computer Science at IIT (1995).
As a consultant he has worked for: Chicago Board of Trade Clearing Co.(USA), Performance Computing Inc.(USA), Miller&Fairchild Inc.(USA), R&R Donnelley(USA), Boavista Bank, Secretaria Municipal da Fazenda of Rio de Janeiro, Telefonica Celular, Claro, Vivo, Oracle and Bradesco Seguros.

He has published several articles at international conferences of IEEE and ACM about Software Engineering and Active Databases. Currently, he is working in projects in the areas of Bank Innovation, Mobile VAS, Auto/Health Insurance Innovation, Social Systems Innovation and Pharmaceutical. 

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Part II of this mini-series on the Network Readiness Index (NRI) Report, in partnership with the Portulans Institute, will explore the interplay between country's readiness in the cybersecurity and data privacy/protection space (case study: Estonia). Our distinguished speakers include: Soumitra Dutta, President of Portulans Institute and Dean of Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford [moderator], Tõnu Tammer, Executive Director of CERT-EE at the Estonian Information Systems Authority (RIA) and Bob Gardner, Founder & Executive Director of NEW WORLD TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS.

Soumitra Dutta is President of the Portulans Institute and is Peter Moores Dean and Professor of Management, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford
Before joining the School in 2022, he was Professor of Management and the former founding Dean of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, New York.

He received a B. Tech. in electrical engineering and computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, an MS in both business administration and computer science, and a PhD in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley.

Soumitra is the founder and co-editor of fourteen editions of the Global Innovation Index which is published with the World Intellectual Property Organisation and is leading global assessment of national innovation capabilities. He has co-edited sixteen annual reports of the Global Information Technology Report for the World Economic Forum on the impact of information technology on development and national competitiveness. The Global Information Technology Report has been rebranded and published as the Network Readiness Index since 2019 by Portulans Institute.


Tõnu Tammer, Executive Director of CERT-EE at Riigi Infosüsteemi Amet | Estonian Information Systems Authority.

 A dedicated IT Professional highly skilled in IT security, strategy and policy development with skills in interpersonal communications. Possessing excellent foresight and the ability to plan ahead and assess and identify problems and find innovative solutions.

Currently working as an Executive Director of CERT-EE Estonian Information System Authority Cyber-security incident resolution and prevention in Estonia Coordinating, solving and preventing cybersecurity incidents in Estonia and internationally and building resilience and cyber-skills Ensuring safe and secure elections and e-Voting Ensuring security of e-Gov infrastructure: x-Road & EID.

Bob Gardner, Principal, NEW WORLD TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS

Robert formed New World Technology Partners (NWTP) in 1977 as a technology incubator to cultivate Strategic technologies and entrepreneurial ventures for National Security and Critical Infrastructure. Through NWTP, he managed/participated in the launch of several technology startups, including August Systems, Verdix, Meiko Scientific, Cryptek, Phoenix Numeric and Probity Labs. 

He is helping launch a Cyber Enterprise Risk Management Tradecraft for NSA and mentors their Service Academy interns on the topic.  As guest researcher for the Department of Commerce NIST, he developed methods for integrating the NIST Cyber Security Framework with Enterprise Risk Management for Industry and Government. He writes and trains company executives and public officials about the Enterprise impact of Cyber Risk and has prepared briefings and testimony for the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate committees and Industry forums. 

Prior to forming NWTP, he held senior engineering positions for Burroughs Corporat

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This episode of “A look into the Crystal Ball on the Future of Finance,” features Jennifer Capasso, US Head of embedded banking & platforms at HSBC, and Yvonne Bendinger-Rothschild, Executive Director of the EACCNY. Their conversation will dive into the technical aspects of Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), or Embedded Banking, and the implications of this major innovation for clients and for the financial industry as a whole.

Jen Capasso, US Head of embedded banking & platforms at HSBC, has over 18 years’ experience in Banking supporting clients from consumers to large multinational corporations.  Jen is currently the US Head of Embedded Banking and Platforms, leading a unique proposition to embedded Banking products and services into Third Party ecosystems

Yvonne Bendinger-Rothschild, Executive Director of the EACCNY since October 2010. Prior to joining, she has worked and consulted for a number of non-profits and for-profits where she significantly contributed to their growth by raising their public profiles, geographic foot print and relevance within their respective industries. In her roles, she has worked with clients and partners across the US, in Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Her priority is to create value for its membership and help grow the organization and its influence on both sides of the Atlantic. To that extend she is spearheading EACC’s international expansion strategy and is working with partners across the U.S. and Europe to identify & develop suitable locations and collaborators to expand the EACC chapter network.

Thanks for listening! Please be sure to check us out at www.eaccny.com or email membership@eaccny.com to learn more!

In this episode of the "Future of Technology", we will hear from Dr. Keith N. Darrow, Advisory Board Member at CILcare, in conversation with Yvonne Bendinger-Rothschild, Executive Director of the EACCNY. Their conversation will cover 'Hearing Loss' and the technological advancements that are on the horizon around early detection, preventing cognitive decline and more!

Dr. Keith N. Darrow, Advisory Board Member, CILCARE, completed his doctoral work at the joint M.I.T. & Harvard Medical School program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology. Prior, he completed his clinical audiology degree at Brooklyn College, in New York City. He is a former Clinical Professor at Northeastern University and is currently a tenured professor at Worcester State University. Dr. Darrow’s clinical experience is vast and includes a clinical fellowship at the Department of Otolaryngology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and he is co-founder of the Hearing and Brain Centers of America. Dr. Darrow has chosen to lead the Excellence In Audiology. His Amazon.com best-selling books, Stop Living In Isolation, has been read by over 100,000 adults and his newest book, Preventing Decline is a #1 New-Release on Amazon. Dr. Darrow is a nationally recognized speaker, trainer, and researcher and has conducted research at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary for over fifteen years. His publications and research have been cited over 1000 times.

Yvonne Bendinger-Rothschild, Executive Director of the EACCNY since October 2010. Prior to joining, she has worked and consulted for a number of non-profits and for-profits where she significantly contributed to their growth by raising their public profiles, geographic foot print and relevance within their respective industries. In her roles, she has worked with clients and partners across the US, in Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Her priority is to create value for its membership and help grow the organization and its influence on both sides of the Atlantic. To that extend she is spearheading EACC’s international expansion strategy and is working with partners across the U.S. and Europe to identify & develop suitable locations and collaborators to expand the EACC chapter network.

Thanks for listening! Please be sure to check us out at www.eaccny.com or email membership@eaccny.com to learn more!

This episode of “A look into the Crystal Ball on the Future of Finance,” features Dong He, Deputy Director, Monetary & Capital Markets Department at the IMF , and Stuart Mackintosh, Executive Director of THE GROUP OF 30. Join us in learning what makes tokenization of central bank money (CBDC) special. How will it change the landscape of financial markets, cross-border payments and capital flows? How can we fully reap the benefits of tokenization and avoid the pitfalls/risks?

Dong He, Deputy Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department (MCM), INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
Dong has oversight responsibility for MCM’s work on digital currencies and fintech. He joined MCM in October 2014 and led MCM’s work on global financial stability analysis, monetary and macroprudential policies, and technical assistance on central bank operations.

Dong holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Cambridge. He started his career in 1993 when he joined the World Bank through the Young Professionals Program. He was a staff member of the World Bank during 1993-1998, of the IMF during 1998-2004, and of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) during 2004-2014. At the HKMA, he was Executive Director responsible for directing research and policy advice on issues relating to the maintenance of monetary and financial stability and the development of financial markets. He was also Director of the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research.

Dong has been an active member of the global central banking community and a regular participant in international meetings of central banks and regulatory agencies. He has published extensively on macroeconomic and financial market issues.

Dr. Stuart P. M. Mackintosh, Executive Director, GROUP OF 30
Stuart P.M. Mackintosh is the Executive Director of the Group of Thirty an international financial think tank comprised senior figures from central banking, the financial sector, and academia.  His research focus centers on climate change, macroeconomic and systemic risks, global governance issues, and the international political economy.

Dr. Mackintosh has served as President of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE), the largest professional organization of economists in the United States. He is an elected member of the Conference of Business Economists, comprised of the leading economists in North America. He is a certified Business Economist.

Dr. Mackintosh has a B.A. and Ph.D. from Newcastle University and a M.Sc. from the University of Edinburgh. In 2018 Dr. Mackintosh was appointed a non-resident Visiting Fellow at Newcastle University.

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In this episode of the "Future of Technology", we will hear from Ron Hume, Chief Technology Officer at BLUE SKY NETWORK, in conversation with Yvonne Bendinger-Rothschild, Executive Director of the EACCNY. Their conversation centers on the idea of connectivity: its practical/business applications, the bandwidth challenges, the ethical/security concerns, and what skills will be needed in the future to adapt to this emerging reality of a globally connected world.

Ron Hume is CTO of Blue Sky Network, a satellite communications, asset tracking, and data connectivity company headquartered in San Diego, California.  Ron brings over 30 years experience in telecommunications, working at IBM, L3Harris, and many startups including early pioneers of Voice over IP technology, Netspeak.  A computer science graduate of the University of New Brunswick (UNB) in Canada, Ron has also done graduate work in Cyber Security at RIT in Rochester, New York, and Georgia Tech.  Ron has been at the forefront of telecommunications innovation, particularly his time as CTO at Cequint which brought Caller Name Display (the feature that tells you who is calling you) to smart phones on every wireless carrier in the US. Ron also spent time in Africa as an owner of an aviation logistics company doing humanitarian work for the United Nations, and NGOs.  Originally from Canada, Ron currently lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Yvonne Bendinger-Rothschild, Executive Director of the EACCNY since October 2010. Prior to joining, she has worked and consulted for a number of non-profits and for-profits where she significantly contributed to their growth by raising their public profiles, geographic foot print and relevance within their respective industries. In her roles, she has worked with clients and partners across the US, in Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Her priority is to create value for its membership and help grow the organization and its influence on both sides of the Atlantic. To that extend she is spearheading EACC’s international expansion strategy and is working with partners across the U.S. and Europe to identify & develop suitable locations and collaborators to expand the EACC chapter network.

Thanks for listening! Please be sure to check us out at www.eaccny.com or email membership@eaccny.com to learn more!

This episode of “A look into the Crystal Ball on the Future of Finance,” features Johan Geduhn, Chief Compliance Officer & Chief Sustainability Officer at TRADEWIND FINANCE, and Yvonne Bendinger-Rothschild, Executive Director of the EACCNY. What is the current state of ESG in trade finance?  How can Europe and the U.S. collaborate closer to avoid greenwashing? Learn more about the role that trade finance can play in pushing towards more sustainable trade practices.

Johan Geduhn, Chief Compliance Officer & Chief Sustainability Officer, TRADEWIND FINANCE. Mr. Geduhn is responsible for the firm’s global portfolio with clients in over 70 countries. His tasks also include social and environmental management, anti-money laundering, counter terrorist financing, governance, risk management and regulatory compliance. Before joining Tradewind in 2011, Mr. Geduhn worked in the legal department of the German-Slovenian Chambers of Commerce. During his tenure at Tradewind, Mr. Geduhn has held multiple roles within the company. Previously he served as head of the legal department and most recently as Global Head of Operations. Mr. Geduhn is a graduate of Cologne University of Applied Sciences, where he studied Commercial Law with a specialization in international and financial law. He speaks German, Mandarin, English and Spanish.

Yvonne Bendinger-Rothschild, Executive Director of the EACCNY since October 2010. Prior to joining, she has worked and consulted for a number of non-profits and for-profits where she significantly contributed to their growth by raising their public profiles, geographic foot print and relevance within their respective industries. In her roles, she has worked with clients and partners across the US, in Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Her priority is to create value for its membership and help grow the organization and its influence on both sides of the Atlantic. To that extend she is spearheading EACC’s international expansion strategy and is working with partners across the U.S. and Europe to identify & develop suitable locations and collaborators to expand the EACC chapter network.

Thanks for listening! Please be sure to check us out at www.eaccny.com or email membership@eaccny.com to learn more!

In the third episode of this mini-series on the Future of Technology, we will hear from Vint Cerf, Vice President & Chief Internet Evangelist at GOOGLE, and widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” and Alexandre Blais, Professor & Scientific Director of the Quantum Institute at UNIVERSITÉ DE SHERBROOKE. Vint and Alexandre will walk us through the challenges and opportunities that Quantum Learning presents. They will define Quantum Learning and explore: how can its development impact society as a whole? What are the challenges of making Quantum Machine Learning (QML) a reality?

Vinton G. Cerf, Vice President & Chief Internet Evangelist, GOOGLE
In this role, he is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies to support the development of advanced, Internet-based products and services from Google. He is also an active public face for Google in the Internet world.

Widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. In December 1997, President Clinton presented the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and his colleague, Robert E. Kahn, for founding and developing the Internet. Kahn and Cerf were named the recipients of the ACM Alan M. Turing award in 2004 for their work on the Internet protocols. In November 2005, President George Bush awarded Cerf and Kahn the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their work. The medal is the highest civilian award given by the United States to its citizens. In April 2008, Cerf and Kahn received the prestigious Japan Prize.

Cerf is a recipient of numerous awards and commendations in connection with his work on the Internet.

Cerf holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Stanford University and Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from UCLA.

Prof. Alexandre Blais, Physics Professor & Scientific Director of the Quantum Institute, UNIVERSITÉ DE SHERBROOKE
Alexandre Blais is a professor of physics at the Université de Sherbrooke and Scientific Director of the Institut quantique at the same institution. His research focusses on superconducting quantum circuits for quantum information processing and microwave quantum optics. After completing a PhD at the Université de Sherbrooke in 2002, he was a postdoc at Yale University from 2003 to 2005 where he participated in the development of circuit quantum electrodynamics, a leading quantum computer architecture. Since then, his theoretical work as continued to have an impact in academic and industrial laboratories worldwide. 

Alexandre is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a Guggenheim Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, a member of CIFAR’s Quantum Information Science program and of the College of the Royal Society of Canada. His research contributions have earned him a number of academic awards, including NSERC’s Doctoral Prize, NSERC’s Steacie Prize, the Canadian Association of Physicists’ Herzberg and Brockhouse Medals, the Prix Urgel-Archambault from the Association francophone pour le savoir, the Rutherford Memorial Medal of the Royal Society of Canada,  as well as a teaching award from the Université de Sherbrooke.

Thanks for listening! Please be sure to check us out at www.eaccny.com or email membership@eaccny.com to learn more!

In the second episode of this mini-series on the Future of Technology, we will hear from Vint Cerf, Vice President & Chief Internet Evangelist at GOOGLE, and widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” and Matt Hutson, Contributing Writer at THE NEW YORKER. They will walk us through the challenges and opportunities that Machine Learning presents, and what the future may hold for this technology. What is Machine Learning? How does it differ from AI? What are the limits of simulating human discourse? How can we detect machine-made mistakes and judge the confidence with which a computer reaches its conclusions?

Vinton G. Cerf, Vice President & Chief Internet Evangelist, GOOGLE
In this role, he is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies to support the development of advanced, Internet-based products and services from Google. He is also an active public face for Google in the Internet world.

Widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. In December 1997, President Clinton presented the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and his colleague, Robert E. Kahn, for founding and developing the Internet. Kahn and Cerf were named the recipients of the ACM Alan M. Turing award in 2004 for their work on the Internet protocols. In November 2005, President George Bush awarded Cerf and Kahn the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their work. The medal is the highest civilian award given by the United States to its citizens. In April 2008, Cerf and Kahn received the prestigious Japan Prize.

Cerf is a recipient of numerous awards and commendations in connection with his work on the Internet.

Cerf holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Stanford University and Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from UCLA.

Matthew Hutson, Contributing Writer, THE NEW YORKER
Matthew Hutson is a freelance science writer in New York City and a Contributing Writer at The New Yorker. He also writes for Science, Scientific American, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications, and he’s the author of “The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking.” 

Thanks for listening! Please be sure to check us out at www.eaccny.com or email membership@eaccny.com to learn more!

To kick-off this mini-series on the Future of Technology, we will hear from Vint Cerf, Vice President & Chief Internet Evangelist at GOOGLE, and widely known as one of the "Fathers of the Internet," and Gerard de Graaf, Senior EU Envoy for Digital and Head of the new EU Office in San Francisco. They will walk us through the challenges and opportunities that Artificial Intelligence presents, and what the future may hold for this technology.

Vinton G. Cerf, Vice President & Chief Internet Evangelist, GOOGLE
In this role, he is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies to support the development of advanced, Internet-based products and services from Google. He is also an active public face for Google in the Internet world.

Widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. In December 1997, President Clinton presented the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and his colleague, Robert E. Kahn, for founding and developing the Internet. Kahn and Cerf were named the recipients of the ACM Alan M. Turing award in 2004 for their work on the Internet protocols. In November 2005, President George Bush awarded Cerf and Kahn the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their work. The medal is the highest civilian award given by the United States to its citizens. In April 2008, Cerf and Kahn received the prestigious Japan Prize.

Cerf is a recipient of numerous awards and commendations in connection with his work on the Internet.

Cerf holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Stanford University and Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from UCLA.

Gerard de Graaf, Senior EU Envoy for Digital and Head of the new EU Office in San Francisco
Gerard de Graaf has worked for more than 30 years in the European Commission across a wide range of policy areas. Until his recent appointment, he was director in DG CNECT, responsible for the Digital Services and Digital Markets Acts (DSA/DMA), two landmark pieces of legislation which have been recently adopted in the European Union to keep the Internet safe, protect fundamental rights and enhance competition in digital markets. 

Previously, Gerard de Graaf was responsible, inter alia, for the EU’s telecommunications and audiovisual policy (including copyright), cyber security, ICT standardisation, Startup Europe, ICT and green, and  international relations. He has been co-chairing two of the Trade and Technology (TTC) Council Working Groups, on greentech, and on data governance and technology platforms. 

Before joining DG CNECT, he worked in the Secretariat-General of the European Commission, in DG Research and Innovation and in DG Internal Market. From 1997 to 2001, he was trade counsellor at the Commission’s Delegation to the United States in Washington DC. He joined the European Commission in 1991, having worked for the Benelux Economic Union and the Schengen secretariat on free movement within the EU.

Thanks for listening! Please be sure to check us out at www.eaccny.com or email membership@eaccny.com to learn more!