2016 NECINA Financial Technology Conference

2016 NECINA Financial Technology Conference
--Riding Technology and Innovation Wave in Finance Industry

Date/Time: Apr. 23rd (Sat.), 9:00AM- 1:30PM
Venue: Constant Contact Innoloft, 1601 Trapelo Rd, Waltham, MA 02451
Registration:  http://necina-2016-fintech.eventdove.com

Overview

In the Financial sector, cutting-edge technologies such as mobile application, machine learning and cloud computing are being utilized to enhance efficiency and reduce costs for mainstream companies to better serve their customers. At the same time, these same technologies are enabling innovators to disrupt the industry with innovative business models. Recently, there has been a strong demand for IT skillsets in the industry. Financial companies are aggressively hiring talents from red chip companies such as Facebook, Google, etc to integrate emerging technologies into their businesses.

For this Fintech Conference, we have assembled a group of distinguished speakers consisting of visionary technology executives, seasoned and innovative Fintech entrepreneurs, and technology experts.

If you are an IT or financial professional, or if personal finance is an important part of your life, we invite you to join us at this event.  Take advantage of the excellent opportunity to dialogue with our distinguished speakers, discuss with audiences across IT and financial domains, and network with like-minded audiences. Let us inspire each other, embrace the impacts, and improve the quality of our life together!

Agenda

09:00 AM    Registration & Breakfast
09:20 AM    Welcome & NECINA Intro (John Wang)
09:30 AM    Keynote Speaker: David Saul, SVP/Chief scientist, State Street
“Do You Know Where Your Data Is? How FIBO Makes Data Smarter and More Governable”
10:00 AM    Presentation: Mitchell Dong, Managing Director, Pythagoras Investment
“Fintech: Is It an Art or a Science? – A Serial Entrepreneur’s View”
10:20 AM    Presentation, Albert Ma, Chief Innovation Officer, Insigma Hengtian
“Apply Machine Intelligence to Software Engineering”
10:40 AM    Presentation: Natty Hoffman, Chief Operating Officer of Prattle
‘What Robots are Reading: Sentiment Analysis in the Financial Markets”
11:00 AM    Presentation: Cherry Zhang, Director, Fidelity Investments
“Mobile in Financial Industry:  Today’s Landscape, Technology, Challenges and Future”
11:20 AM    Conference Break
11:40 AM    Panel Discussion (Moderator: John Wang)
12:30 PM    Lunch
01:30 PM    Conference Adjourns

Speakers

Registration:   http://necina-2016-fintech.eventdove.com

Conference Organizers

John Wang: john.wang@necina.org
Joan Ni: joan.ni@necina.org
Fan Wu: fan.wu@necina.org

Speaker Bios

David Saul  Senior Vice President and Chief Scientist, State Street Corporation

David Saul is senior vice president and chief scientist at State Street Corporation, reporting to the chief information officer.  In this role, he is responsible for proposing and assessing new advanced technologies for the organization as well as evaluating technologies already in use at State Street and their likely evolution in order to reinforce the organization’s leadership position in financial services.
Mr. Saul previously was chief information security officer, where he oversaw State Street’s corporate information security program, controls and technology. Prior to that, he managed State Street’s Office of Architecture, where he was responsible for the overall enterprise technology, data and security architecture of the corporation. Mr. Saul joined State Street in 1992 after 15 years with IBM’s Cambridge Scientific Center, where he managed innovations in operating systems virtualization, multiprocessing, networking and personal computers. Mr. Saul serves as a trustee of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. In 2007 he was honored with a Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leader Award.  American Banker named Mr. Saul as one of its Top Innovators of 2013 for his work on data semantics and standards. Mr. Saul holds bachelors and master’s degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mitchell Dong  Serial Fintech Entrepreneur, Managing Director, Pythagoras Investment Management

Mitchell Dong AB ‘75 is a serial entrepreneur who has started a dozen businesses over the last 40 years.  He started selling toads at age five and performed magic tricks for children’s birthdays as a preteen.    In college he started an energy and environmental consulting business.  For most of his career he was a developer of independent power plants, including solar, hydro and cogeneration facilities in the USA, China and Africa.   He also developed ammonia fertilizer plants.  As he hedge fund manager, he developed quant models for trading mutual funds, electric power and uranium.   Today he is developing algorithmic models for trading bitcoin.  Having sold several of his companies, he invests the sales proceeds through his family’s investment office and is an active private investor.  He advises many students on their startup ventures.
Mitchell is a graduated from Harvard College in 1975 and from the OPM program at Harvard Business School in 1997.  In college he started as a chemistry major butafter receiving only mediocre grades, he switched to economics where he did much better.

Albert Ma  Chief Innovation Officer, Insigma Hengtian Software, Ltd.

Mr. Albert Ma is the Chief Innovation Officer of Insigma Hengtian Software, Ltd. He has over 25 years of IT management and software development experience. Before joining Hengtian, Mr. Ma was the Chief Information Officer of the State Street Technology Center for several years in Hangzhou, China. He was the core team member in setting up the IT operation locally and migration of strategic applications to the Hangzhou office.
Mr. Ma graduated from the University of Queensland with a Masters Degree in Technology Management and an MBA from the Univeristy of Hull. He is a certified Project Management Professional and Certified IT Professional. As the company’s Chief Innovation Officer, Mr. Ma manages the R&D and innovation activities of the company. He makes leading research efforts in technical solutions in Big Data Analytics, Cloud Computing, Mobile, Machine Learning and Software Engineering Automation.

Natty Hoffman  Chief Operating Officer of Prattle

Natty Hoffman is the Chief Operating Officer of Prattle, a text analytics firm that provides decision-making solutions for investors. Previously, she worked for IBM as a project executive at State Street Corporation, leading various teams to modernize State Street’s IT operations, and as a financial systems consultant. Natty holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management – University of Toronto, and undergraduate degrees in finance and journalism from the University of Massachusetts.  She holds B.S in Industrial Engineering and International Business and M.A. in Economics.

Cherry Zhang  Director, Fidelity Investments

Cherry is currently leading Fidelity NetBenefits mobile application development team and responsible for launching, growing, and innovating the mobile application which was awarded a Silver Medal by Corporate Insight’s annual 2015 Monitor Awards.  She is the founder and organizer of annual Fidelity Mobile Conference, Mobile Trade Show and Digital Platform Innovation club.  She frequently speaks at college events to promote and encourage young women to get into technology.