Centennial Speaker Series: Crash or Boom? Crypto, DeFi, and NFT Mania

Of all of the disruptive possible uses of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, decentralized finance (or DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (or NFT) might be the one most likely to bring this technology to a wide audience—and challenge the established finance industry in the process. Join us for a fireside discussion with Dean Rapaccioli; alumnus Michael Bucella, GABELLI ’08; and adjunct faculty members Paul Johnson and Donna Redel.

6 p.m.: Welcome Remarks and Speaker Introductions: Donna Rapaccioli, dean of the Gabelli School of Business

6:08 p.m.: Fireside Chat: Michael Bucella, Professor Paul Johnson, Professor Donna Redel

6:45 p.m.: Audience Q&A

7 p.m.: Closing Remarks: Dean Rapaccioli

About the Speaker
Michael Bucella is a partner at BlockTower Capital, an institutional crypto asset and blockchain technology investment firm. Prior to BlockTower, Bucella spent nearly a decade with Goldman Sachs in New York, most recently in the securities division, where he was running the multi-asset sales and trading business for the Canadian region, leading efforts to expand the strategy globally. Previous to this role, he led the Institutional global equities franchise, also for the Canadian region. He joined Goldman Sachs in 2008 as part of the firm’s asset management division (GSAM), where he focused on cross-asset, global investment strategies for North American institutions. Bucella is a graduate of Fordham University and a member of the Fordham University President’s Council, and is a mentor for the Techstars and Creative Destruction Labs accelerator programs in both New York and Toronto. He is also active in multiple philanthropic organizations, as well as many personal endeavors to directly aid relief missions in disaster-stricken areas.

Paul Johnson runs Nicusa Investment Advisors, an advisory firm focused on helping CEOs and boards of directors deal with operational and financial strategy, capital allocation, shareholder value creation, and corporate communications. Johnson applies his 35 years of experience as an investment professional and his 25 years as a business school professor to help senior managers address these critical strategic issues. He is the founding partner and investment manager of Nicusa Capital Partners, a private investment partnership that he started in 2003. As an investor, he has invested in virtually all sectors of the economy. Prior to founding Nicusa, Johnson was a managing director in the equity research department of Robertson Stephens. He analyzed all sectors of the technology industry in his 20 years as a sell-side research analyst and has participated in more than 100 venture capital investments and investment banking transactions in his career. He is an adjunct professor at the Gabelli School of Business, where he teaches Value Investing, and a fellow to the Gabelli Center for Global Security Analysis. Johnson received the Gabelli School of Business’ graduate-level Dean’s Award for Faculty Excellence in April 2017. He is co-author, with Paul Sonkin, of Pitch the Perfect Investment: The Essential Guide to Winning on Wall Street and is a contributing annotator to The Most Important Thing, Illuminated, by Howard Marks; co-author of the history of value investing in Columbia Business School: A Century of Ideas, a book celebrating the school’s 100-year anniversary; and co-author of The Gorilla Game: Picking Winners in High Technology, which reached BusinessWeek’s best-seller list and was the number one best-selling investment book on Amazon for several weeks in 1998. Johnson has an M.B.A. in finance from the executive program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Donna Redel is a businesswoman, professor of blockchain-digital assets, angel investor, and philanthropist. She was the managing director of The World Economic Forum, the foremost global organization combining business, political, academic, and other leaders of society committed to improving the state of the world. Redel was the first woman to chair a USA exchange, The Commodity Exchange. Following her work in global organizations, she began a second career as a New York City-based advisor and investor focusing on financial technology, blockchain, and emerging technologies. She is an active participant in the startup community with New York Angels, serving as a board member, the co-founder of the Blockchain Committee, and co-chair of the Israeli Investment Committee. Redel developed and is teaching at Fordham Law School two courses on blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and digital assets, as well as DeFI and smart contracts. Highlights of Redel’s committee memberships are the NYS Committee for the Advancement of Women in Leadership in Financial Services, the MoMA Photography Committee, and board member of The Wall Street Blockchain Alliance. The focus of her public service efforts are the arts, health, and promoting women’s leadership. She has a J.D. from Fordham Law School, an M.B.A. from Columbia University and a B.A. from Barnard College (Columbia).