Blockchain for CFOs: Why You Need to Be Prepared
hosted by
The Boston CFO Leadership Council
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
7:30 AM to 8:00 AM - Networking and Breakfast
8:00 AM to 9:30 AM - Program
The offices of KPMG,
Two Financial Center, 60 South Street, Boston, MA 02111

For the last few years, Blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies have been studied and tested by academic institutions, researchers, and companies of all sizes. Best known as the technology originally devised for Bitcoin, the underlying technology as a central ledger owned by everyone and no one has enormous potential to change the way we do business.

Join The Boston CFO Leadership Council on Wednesday, April 25th, as we discuss “Blockchain for CFOs: Why You Need to Be Prepared,” as our panel of experts dives into this technology platform, how it’s currently being used by companies, and why and how you need to be prepared for its inevitable onset. This program was scheduled for March but was canceled due to inclement weather.

Learning Objectives:

• The fundamentals of Blockchain, including what it is, how it’s being used, and its business benefits

• Use cases of Blockchain in the healthcare, fintech, and insurance industries

• What it means and how to lead a company transformation from a centralized operational and business model to a distributed model

Speakers

Click here to learn more about CFO Leadership Council.

Registration

CFO Leadership Council members may attend this program for free. Non-member senior financial executives who are CFOs, Vice Presidents of Finance, Directors of Finance and Controllers (or the like) are welcome to attend this program at a one-time cost of $85.

Please note that service providers or any executives who are not senior financial executives (CFOs, Vice Presidents of Finance, Controllers, Directors of Finance, etc.) will not be admitted attendance to this event. The CFO Leadership Council reserves the right to decline any registration.

More Information

For more information about this program or The CFO Leadership Council, please contact Caroline Boyce, Marketing Director, Boston Chapter at Caroline@cfolc.com.

Cancellation Policy

Send cancellations to Caroline@cfolc.com no later than 4pm on April 23rd to receive a refund.

CPE Information:

• Program level: Intermediate

• Field of Study: Information Technology

• CPE: 2.0

• Program Prerequisites: None

• Advanced Preparation: None

• Delivery Method: Live/Group

The CFO Leadership Council is registered with the National Association of State Boards-of-Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors (Sponsor ID 109063). State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be addressed to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors, 150 Fourth Avenue North, Suite 700, Nashville, TN, 37219-2417. Website: www.nasba.org

About Our Speakers

Michael Bayer, Chief Financial Officer, iZotope, Inc. (Moderator)

Michael Bayer has more than 20 years of expertise in finance, operations, technology and business development primarily for venture-backed technology companies. He currently serves as Chief Financial Officer for iZotope, a provider of software and solutions for the audio industry and as a Lecturer at Babson College, where he teaches Corporate Finance and Strategy.

​Michael has been CFO at organizations including MotherNature.com, where he managed the firm's IPO; LightChip and Revivio, where he drove their acquisitions; and a number of other companies across a wide array of technologies including software, mobile, ecommerce, healthcare information and cleantech. Bayer also co-founded RPM Communications, where he led the launch of a 100,000-user mobile social network. He began his career as a financial and investment consultant at BDO Seidman, and he also served in financial management roles at Avery Dennison.

Currently, Michael is member of the Steering Committee for The CFO Leadership Council, where he chaired the 2014 CFO Technology Conference. In the past, he was also a Clean Energy Fellow with the New England Clean Energy Council. A chartered financial analyst (CFA), Michael holds an MBA from Cornell University, where he was an Albert Fried, Jr. Fellow and a Bachelor of Science from Babson College. He also studied Computer Science and Economics at Brandeis University.

Bill Fearnley, Research Director, IDC

Bill Fearnley is Research Director for IDC responsible for leading IDC’s worldwide blockchain strategies with a focus on blockchain, distributed ledger technology (DLT), smart contracts, and tokenization. At IDC he has written extensively on Blockchain and has collaborated with IDC colleagues in Europe and Asia. He developed the “IDC Four Forces in Distributed Ledger Technology” market model and he has collaborated with IDC Insights colleagues on Blockchain solutions in Energy, Government, Healthcare, Manufacturing, and Retail. Based on his background, Mr. Fearnley's research also includes Blockchain technology and business process innovation, industry use cases, regulatory and compliance issues, industry consortiums and collaboration. Prior to IDC, Bill was an industry analyst at Celent covering analytics, Big Data, cloud and mobile strategy and technology for capital markets and wealth management firms and technology providers. Before becoming an industry analyst, Bill spent more than 8 years as a sell side financial equity analyst covering PC and Enterprise Hardware for Janney Capital Markets and FTN Equity Capital. Mr. Fearnley was recognized by the Wall Street Journal in May 2008 as a "WSJ Best on the Street" analyst in the Computers & Office Equipment category.

Todd Goffman, Partner and General Counsel, Coinscape Advisors LLC

Todd has over 22 years’ experience as a corporate finance, securities and transactional lawyer helping technology companies with all of their business needs. Currently, he is co-founder and General Counsel of Coinscape Advisors, offering consulting services to companies implementing and financing Blockchain-related projects. The Coinscape team advises on technology, legal, finance and commercial strategies, and Todd focuses on structuring, risk management and financing matters, including ICOs. Prior to founding Coinscape, Todd spent most of his career as GC and a member of the executive team at three software companies. He joined each in the start up phase, and managed all legal and corporate affairs from early-stage financings to exit and beyond. For more than 10 years, Todd also led finance at two of those companies. During that time, he completed a $300m sale of one company. While continuing to lead finance and legal for that acquired company, Todd negotiated, closed and integrated $500M in acquisitions to help build this company to over 8,500 employees worldwide.

Todd was also a member of the business practice group at one of Boston’s top law firms. His broad experiences there included assisting companies in the high technology industry in all stages of development including, formation, private equity financing, intellectual property licensing, distribution and joint venture arrangements, mergers and acquisitions, initial and follow-on public offerings and all aspects of post-IPO representation. Additionally, Todd has volunteered for the last 3 years as a Strategic Advisor to ThinkMD, a start-up software company that merges evidenced-based medicine for the clinical assessment, triage, and treatment of sick children with the power of mobile technology and puts it into the hands of minimally skilled frontline healthcare workers, thereby expanding healthcare capacity directly in the communities where the humanitarian need is greatest.

John Hargrave, Publisher, Bitcoin Market Journal and CEO, Media Shower Inc.

John Hargrave is the publisher of Bitcoin Market Journal (www.bitcoinmarketjournal.com) which attracts thousands of investors to bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and ICOs. He is also the CEO of Media Shower (www.mediashower.com), the leading media company connecting blockchain companies with investors. He is a writer, speaker, and leader of the New Finance revolution.

Vasilios Roussos, Managing Director, DCU FinTech Innovation Center

Vasilios focuses on the nexus point of innovation, partnerships, and entrepreneurship. He is the Managing Director of the DCU FinTech Innovation Center, which houses the largest community of FinTech startups in New England. Through the Center, Vasilios is advancing the Boston FinTech ecosystem and the development of seed-stage startups. Previously, Vasilios founded and sold an omnichannel tech company and worked in venture capital, digital product development, and investment research at Village Ventures, Dell EMC, and Cambridge Associates. He graduated with Honors from Brandeis University and has an MBA from Cornell University with a concentration in venture capital and operations.