YBlockchain? Episode 006

Alexander Lipton is Global Head of Quantitative R&D at Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Co-Founder and Strategic Advisor of Sila, Partner at Numeraire, Visiting Professor and Dean’s Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Connection Science Fellow at MIT.  Alex is a board member of Sila and an advisory board member of several fintech companies worldwide.  In 2006-2016, Alex was Co-Head of the Global Quantitative Group and Quantitative Solutions Executive at Bank of America.  Earlier, he was a senior manager at Citadel, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and Bankers Trust.  At the same time, Alex held visiting professorships at EPFL, NYU, Oxford University, Imperial College, and the University of Illinois.  Before becoming a banker, Alex was a Full Professor of Mathematics at the University of Illinois and a Consultant at Los Alamos National Laboratory.   In 2000 Alex was awarded the Inaugural Quant of the Year Award and in 2021 the Buy-side Quant of the Year Award by Risk Magazine.  In addition to his latest book, "Blockchain and Distributed Ledgers: Mathematics, Technology, and Economics," Alex authored/edited 10 other books and more than a hundred scientific papers.  Alex is an Associate Editor of several journals, including Finance and Stochastics, Journal of FinTech, International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Finance, and Quantitative Finance.  He is a frequent keynote speaker at Quantitative Finance and FinTech conferences and forums worldwide.

Diana Barrero Zalles '17 is Director at Weild & Co., focusing on capital raising, M&A, and strategic advisory for blockchain, crypto, and ESG. She is also co-author of the book, "Transparency in ESG and the Circular Economy: Capturing Opportunities Through Data," which discusses the importance of environmental, social, and governance issues in today’s connected world, and the role of emerging technologies to uphold sustainability. Diana is also Senior Contributor for Forbes covering Central Bank Digital Currencies and Stablecoins, in addition to having published industry research on various topics related to digital assets, market integrity for crypto trading platforms, and DeFi.  She also advised the Parliament of Cyprus to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets and AML/CFT risk assessment. Previously, Diana managed cross-border transactions with the investment banking offices of the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank in Washington DC. She is an alumna of the University of Notre Dame and has an MBA from Yale. She was born in Bolivia and is a native Spanish and English speaker.