Bernard S. Donefer
 Adjunct Associate Professor
Department of Information, Operations & Management Sciences

Henry Kaufman Management Center
44 West 4th Street, Suite 8-171
New York, New York 10012-1126
(212) 998-0831
 bdonefer@stern.nyu.edu




Biographical Information

Bernard Donefer's lengthy career in the financial services industry included work with banks, securities firms and exchanges in the US, Europe and Asia where he held senior management positions including the presidency of two international financial software firms.   He is Adjunct Associate Professor at the NYU Stern Graduate Business School and Fellow of the Center for Digital Economy Research.  At Stern since 2005, Prof Donefer teaches Financial Information Systems and Risk Management Systems in the MBA program.  He is also Associate Director of the Subotnick Financial Services Center at the Zicklin School at Baruch College, where he is a Distinguished Lecturer.  He volunteers with  Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) in development and training.  He has acted as a volunteer advisor or board member to Artists for Humanity , St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, Poets in the Schools, Volunteers for the Arts and the Volunteer Urban Consulting Group.  He holds an MBA in Finance from the NYU Stern School of Business.

Previously, at Fidelity Investments in Boston, as SVP and head of Capital Markets Systems, he implemented one of the industry's first straight through processing (STP) equity trading environments. He was also responsible for their algorithmic trading, fixed-income, foreign exchange, market making and mid-office systems, client and marketplace connectivity and their proprietary real time VaR based credit and market risk management system. 

Prof. Donefer is principal of Conatum Consulting, LLC , where his consulting clients include US and foreign stock exchanges, asset managers, international banks and major global securities firms.  Prof. Donefer has consulted and appeared as an expert in intellectual property and software patent cases.  His Risk Management for Non-QuantsSM and Capital Markets BootCampSM public programs have been oversubscribed and have been  presented in New York, Boston and Chicago. Custom versions of both seminars have been given to corporate clients in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., including the SEC, DTCC and Federal Reserve Bank.  A frequent industry speaker and commentator, Prof. Donefer chaired and moderated panels at algo and hedge fund trading conferences on the challenges, risks and opportunities of electronic trading in global markets.  He has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, by Reuters in both print and TV, BBC World Service, Investors Business Daily, Nikkei CNBC in Japan, Australian public radio, among others.  His paper  "Algos Gone Wild"  appeared in the Spring 2010 issue of the Journal of Trading.

Research Interests Courses Taught
 Suggested Readings

 I am often asked about further readings and useful websites for my courses.  Here is a personal list of suggestions: Readings and Websites

Recent Press Citations
NY Times, WSJ, Investors Business Daily, The Atlantic Magazine, MIT Technology Review, Bloomberg, Reuters, BBC World Service, Australian Public Radio, Advanced Trader, Wall Street and Technology and CNBC Japan and others
Link to additional press citations

2011

 NYSE Plans "Dark Orders" for Retail Customers, Financial Times, October 12, 2011
Prof Tracks Auto Crash Trades, New York Convergence, August 9, 2011
Computer Systems Run World Economy , American Public Radio, August 9, 2011
A Beating of Wings, (Italian and English), Il Sole 24 Ore, May 19, 2011
HFT Methodologies and Market Impact, Review of Futures Markets, Vol 19 # 1, 2011
Trading Spike Seen Just Before ADP Report, Wall Street Journal, January 11, 2011

2010

 Das Digitale Herz des Kapitalismus (in German), Wissen Magazine Switzerland, November 21, 2010
The Limits of Algo Trading, Deutsche Borse Business Journal, 3Q2010
SEC Focuses on Market Makers, Financial Times, November 9, 2010
Trading Pennies into $7B Drives HFT Cowboys, Bloomberg, October 6, 2010
Debate on Crash and Its Causes, Wall Street Journal, October 5, 2010
Flash Crash Report Too Long in the Making, Reuters Insider, Video, October 1, 2010
Flash Crash, Australian Broadcasting Co. (Radio), August 29,2010
No Such Thing as HFT,Tabb Forum, August 24,2010
Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts, Money Web South Africa, August 12,2010
Adventures in Algorithmic Trading, Asset International, August 5,2010
Monsters in the Market, The Atlantic Magazine, July/August 2010
Automated Trading Compounds Selloff, Yahoo News Room, May 7, 2010
Computers Blamed for Wall Street Crash, New Scientist, May 2010
 Exposing the Identity of Dark Pools, Advanced Trader, March 1, 2010
 Algos Gone Wild, Journal Of Trading, Spring 2010
Trading Shares in Milliseconds, MIT Technology Review, Jan. 2010
Algos Gone Wild, Advanced Trader, Jan. 14, 2010
Market Data Roundtable , Streambase Webinar, Jan. 21, 2010

2009

Algos Gone Wild (TV Interview), Reuters TV Interview Nov. 2009
SEC Rules to Make Dark Pools Disclose Data,Investors Business Daily Oct. 21, 2009
Ultra High Speed Share Trading, BBC World Service (Radio), Sep. 2,2009
Wall Street Secrets, New York Times, Aug. 24,2009
Real Time Racing, Risk Professional GARP, Aug. 2009
StreamBase High Frequency Trading, On-line Webinar, Aug. 12, 2009
Algos Gone Wild, Reuters Blog Commentaries July 21, 2009
Code Green: Goldman Sachs and UBS, Securities Industry News July 20, 2009
The Matrix But With Money, Ars Technica July 27, 2009
Fuzzy Math and Algos, Reuters Blog Commentaries July 31, 2009

Recent Speaking Engagements