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 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 are currently presented in New York, London, Boston and Chicago. Custom versions of both seminars have been given to corporate clients in the U.S.,  Canada and the U.K.

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, by Reuters in both print and TV, BBC World Service, Investors Business Daily, Nikkei CNBC in Japan, among others.  His paper  "Algos Gone Wild"  will appear in the Spring 2010 issue of the Journal of Trading.


Current Academic Appointments

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

Securities Industry News, Reuters, Advanced Trader, Wall Street and Technology and Nikkei Shimbun and CNBC Japan and others
Link to press citations

Recent Speaking Engagements