Walter Lukken, President and CEO, FIA

Walter Lukken is the President and CEO of the FIA, the leading global trade organization for the futures, options and centrally cleared derivatives markets, with offices in Brussels, London, Singapore and Washington, D.C. FIA’s membership includes clearing firms, exchanges, clearinghouses, trading firms and commodities specialists from more than 48 countries as well as technology vendors, lawyers and other professionals serving the industry. FIA’s mission is to support open, transparent and competitive markets, protect and enhance the integrity of the financial system, and promote high standards of professional conduct. As the principal members of derivatives clearinghouses worldwide, FIA’s clearing firm members play a critical role in the reduction of systemic risk in global financial markets.

Mr. Lukken serves on the CSRC International Advisory Council (IAC) where he joins other international capital and derivatives markets experts to advise the chairman of the CSRC on global policy initiatives. Walt previously was CEO of New York Portfolio Clearing, the derivatives clearinghouse jointly owned by NYSE Euronext and the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp. Before joining the private sector in 2009, Walt served as Acting Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for 18 months, a period that included the financial crisis of 2008 and as CFTC Commissioner since 2002.

Prior to joining the CFTC, Walt served for five years as counsel on the professional staff of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee under Chairman Richard Lugar. He received his B.S. degree with honors from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and his Juris Doctor degree from Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon.

David Yermack, Albert Fingerhut Professor of Finance and Business Transformation, New York University’s Stern School of Business

David Yermack is the Albert Fingerhut Professor of Finance and Business Transformation at New York University’s Stern School of Business, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1994.  He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at the NYU School of Law, Director of the NYU Pollack Center for Law and Business, and a Research Associate of the NBER Law and Economics program.

In 2014 Prof. Yermack began teaching a full semester course at NYU on Digital Currency and Blockchains with his Law School colleague Prof. Geoffrey Miller.  The course was the first in the world on this topic taught at a major research university, and it now draws more than 200 students annually.

Prof. Yermack has presented his FinTech research at numerous international universities and regulatory bodies including the United Nations, Bank for International Settlements, OECD, U.S. Treasury Department, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank, and the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.