Edgar Perez is one the world’s few business and technology executives who can light up a room with insightful and inspiring business presentations on the impact of new technologies, from 5G to quantum computing and from artificial intelligence and deep learning to cyber security. A published author and energetic keynote speaker, he is also an international consultant affiliated with Gerson Lehrman Group, Guidepoint Global Advisors, Internal Consulting Group and Capvision.
Edgar has presented in front of thousands of top executives around the world through keynote speeches and both public and in-house corporate training programs on 5G, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, deep learning, cybersecurity and financial trading. He has presented in Beijing, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kiev, Kuala Lumpur, Lima, London, Miami, Naples, New York, Santiago, Sao Paulo, Scott Air Force Base, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Taipei, Warsaw and Washington DC, among other global capitals.
He was a vice president at Citigroup, a senior consultant at IBM, and a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Co. Mr. Perez has an undergraduate degree in Systems Engineering from Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Lima, Peru (1994), a Master of Administration from Universidad ESAN, Lima, Peru (1997) and an MBA from Columbia Business School, New York, majoring in Finance and Management (2002).
Previous Experience
Author:He is author of Knightmare on Wall Street, The Rise and Fall of Knight Capital and the Biggest Risk for Financial Markets (2013), and The Speed Traders, An Insider’s Look at the New High-Frequency Trading Phenomenon That is Transforming the Investing World, published in English by McGraw-Hill Inc. (2011), ????, published in Mandarin by China Financial Publishing House (2012), and Investasi Super Kilat, published in Bahasa Indonesia by Kompas Gramedia (2012). He contributes to The New York Times and China’s Sina Finance.
Media: He has been interviewed on CNN‘s Quest Means Business, CGTN’s Business Today and The Point, CNBC‘s Squawk on the Street, Worldwide Exchange, Cash Flow, Street Signs and Squawk Box, FOX BUSINESS‘s Countdown to the Closing Bell and After the Bell, Bloomberg TV‘s Market Makers, CNA’s Asia Now, CNN en Español‘s Dinero, Petersburg - Channel 5, Sina Finance, BNN‘s Business Day, CCTV China, China Radio International, Bankier.pl, TheStreet.com, Leaderonomics, Channel NewsAsia‘s Business Tonight and Cents & Sensibilities.
Clients: Edgar has presented to the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Council on Foreign Relations, Vadym Hetman Kyiv National Economic University (Kiev), Quant Investment & HFT Summit APAC (Shanghai), CFA Singapore, Hong Kong Securities Institute, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University and University of International Business and Economics (Beijing), among other public and private institutions. In addition, Mr. Perez has spoken at a number of global conferences, including Institutional Investor’s CEO Roundtable (Berlin) and Global Growth Markets Forum (London), Cyber Security World Conference (New York), Inside Market Data (Chicago), Emerging Markets Investments Summit (Warsaw), CME Group‘s Global Financial Leadership Conference (Naples Beach), Harvard Business School‘s Venture Capital & Private Equity Conference (Boston) and MIT Sloan Investment Management Conference (Cambridge.
Talking Points
Welcome to the Metaverse: The Next Evolution of the Internet
The Metaverse is where our digital and physical lives will converge. It will include a virtual world interoperating with the physical world where we live, and generate a robust economy that spans entertainment, commerce, education and work, while transforming long-standing industries such as finance, retail, healthcare fitness, and more. Today, every major company is staking a claim on the Metaverse, from social media giants Meta (formerly Facebook) and Snap to gaming powerhouses Tencent, Microsoft and Epic Games, to hardware providers Nvidia and TSMC. Gear up to embrace the possibilities the Metaverse will bring during this fascinating futuristic session with Mr. Edgar Perez.
Welcome to the Metaverse: The Next Evolution of the Internet
Bitcoin is dead. Long live Ethereum and CBDCs
The blockchain has been declared as a big revolution in business technology; it is indeed a game-changer for a global financial system that needs an upgrade. A more exciting development has been the booming rise in speculative cryptocurrencies based on blockchain technology, from Bitcoin to Ether. This surge has attracted a new generation of crypto bulls who see these crypto currencies as the cash of the future. Meanwhile, central banks and policymakers around the world explore ways to introduce Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). If you buy Bitcoin now, Mr. Edgar Perez says, do it at your own peril. Instead, he explains, it is time to explore the future with Ethereum or other platforms that implement smart contracts; ultimately, let’s be prepared to embrace the new realities of CBDCs’ widespread deployment.
Bitcoin is dead. Long live Ethereum and CBDCs
Achieving Digital Impact with “State-of-the-art” Deep Learning
Deep learning has enabled many practical applications of artificial intelligence in today’s digital organizations. Deep learning breaks down tasks in ways that makes all kinds of machine aids seem possible, even likely. Driverless cars, better image recognition, more effective medical diagnoses, even better movie recommendations, are all here today. Mr. Edgar Perez will identify what organizations need to do today to embrace the future, starting with the basics: empowering their employees and turbocharging the organization’s digital transformation strategy. Organizations then can then launch pilots for the most promising opportunities, leveraging “state of the art” cases from today’s global innovators such as Google, Facebook, Apple and Tesla. Mr. Perez will show organizations how to kick start their digital impact transformation.
Achieving Digital Impact with “State-of-the-art” Deep Learning
Meet the Blockchain’s Newest Hype Machine: NFTs
Non-fungible tokens or NFTs are virtual certificates built on blockchain technology. The blockchain offers a secure record of transactions, serving as an incorruptible proof of ownership. An oil painting can only be displayed in one place and has an identifiable owner. However, a digital image or video can be infinitely duplicated and enjoyed on screens around the world for free. NFTs offer today two things that the physical art market has always depended on: scarcity and authenticity. Therefore, “original” artworks and their owners can always be identified via the blockchain. NFTs can be sold or traded; often gaining value in the secondary market, so far. Should users jump on the NFT bandwagon? “Two words,” says Mr. Edgar Perez. “Be cautious.” Mr. Perez will explain why the current NFT mania might be obscuring the beginning of a bubble.
Meet the Blockchain’s Newest Hype Machine: NFTs
Is the Global Race to Achieve Quantum Supremacy Coming to an End?
Google recently announced that their most advanced quantum computer, a radically new design to manipulate and process information, has achieved “quantum supremacy” for the first time. The technology giant's Sycamore quantum processor was able to perform an incredibly complex task in 200 seconds, a feat that would take the world's fastest supercomputers 10,000 years to complete. The ultimate development and commercialization of this technology will tremendously accelerate difficult tasks across all industries, including financial services, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and the upcoming space exploration. Are we really there yet? Mr. Edgar Perez will enlighten your audience with the latest head-turning business applications of this revolutionary technology.
Is the Global Race to Achieve Quantum Supremacy Coming to an End?
The Artificial Intelligence Breakthroughs that are Changing the Digital World
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been referred as the general ability of computers to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings. Through a comprehensive review of the latest artificial intelligence breakthroughs, Mr. Edgar Perez will offer his insights on how these advancements will impact businesses and the human race in general for years to come, and more specifically, how companies can leverage the plethora of available resources to start their digital transformation and implement solutions to formerly intractable problems. Mr. Perez will reveal why AI is the present and the future.
The Artificial Intelligence Breakthroughs that are Changing the Digital World
Advice for Global Organizations: Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste
A “black swan” event of the magnitude of COVID-19 will certainly trigger a radical change in the expectations of business stakeholders. Organizations that reinvent themselves and leverage Artificial Intelligence, 5G and Blockchain to make the most of better insight and foresight will disproportionally stand to succeed. The requirement of resilience trumps the everlasting pursuit of efficiency; potentially marking the end of supply-chain globalization. Mr. Edgar Perez will inspire CEOs not only to analyze weaknesses but also to discover opportunities to improve corporate performance.
Advice for Global Organizations: Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste
What the Boeing 737 Groundings can teach us about Technology and Automation
Only days after the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, the U.S. FAA grounded the Boeing 737 Max 8, joining airlines and governments worldwide in an effort to guarantee passenger safety, just months after the crash of Lion Air Flight 610 involved the same model. Reports point to Boeing’s new automated flight-control system, known as MCAS, as the culprit. However, an initial review of the design, certification and deployment process for the 737 MAX shows an over-reliance on untested technology, potential conflicts of interest between regulators and airlines, and lack of proper documentation and training. Is it still safe to fly? Mr. Edgar Perez will provide an insider’s look at how this dysfunctional process evolved, and what your organization can do to identify technology and operational challenges that can compromise its viability.
What the Boeing 737 Groundings can teach us about Technology and Automation
Neuro what? Neuromorphic Computing and the Quest to Build an Artificial Brain
Neuromorphic Computing (NC) attempts to emulate the human brain’s neural structure and operation with the goal to match a human's flexibility and ability to learn from unstructured stimuli with the energy efficiency displayed by our brain. NC has grown at the intersection of diverse research disciplines, including computational neuroscience, machine learning, microelectronics, and computer architecture, among others. It seeks to produce a cognition machine that not just reaches decisions, but memorizes information and even deduces facts. Mr. Edgar Perez will enthrall your audience with the possibilities created by computers that will behave as though they were originally engineered for the tasks they are executing, rather than as today’s general-purpose computers.
Neuro what? Neuromorphic Computing and the Quest to Build an Artificial Brain
The Ultimate Business Disruptor: Quantum Computing
Classical computing was invented in the 1940s; the advent of Quantum Computing (QC) will make these computers look painfully slow. Calculations that would take longer than a human’s life span to work out on a classic computer can be completed in a matter of hours or minutes with QC. Furthermore, QC will enable solving a set of problems that couldn’t be solved before. QC’s benefits include efficiently simulating new drug molecules and dramatically reducing the time complex financial calculations take, among many others. For optimization, sampling or search problems, this promises dramatic speedups. Mr. Edgar Perez will reveal why Quantum Computing will disrupt companies in every industry.
The Ultimate Business Disruptor: Quantum Computing
The Importance of the Cybersecurity Framework for Directors and CEOs
An email embedded with malware. Security systems hacked by thieves. Credit card numbers stolen from store purchases. There’s certainly no shortage of examples when it comes to data security breaches and the havoc they wreak on business. No wonder then that nearly a third of CEOs in KPMG’s latest global survey identified cyber security as the issue having the biggest impact on their companies today. Every organization should apply a Cybersecurity Framework for analyzing cyber security, and ideally it should be integrated into an organization’s existing enterprise risk framework. The most innovative companies today have recognized that cyber security is a customer experience and revenue opportunity, not just a risk that needs to be managed. Mr. Edgar Perez will explain why this must be done across the entire organization and why the CEO and Board of Directors have the most important role to play.
The Importance of the Cybersecurity Framework for Directors and CEOs
The Challenges of Content Creation on Machine Learning Steroids
As reporters and editors around the world gear to face the rise of journalism generated by machines, challenges loom large on the horizon. Content published by news agencies already incorporates automated technology. Systems are able to assist reporters in churning out thousands of articles on company earnings reports each reporting period. However, these smart machine learning systems may be challenged by companies that astutely highlight figures or position relevant sentences in an effort to garner a more favorable portrayal. Machine-generated stories are not infallible. Mr. Edgar Perez will offer his insights on how journalists can rise to the challenge so that their APIs are not taken for a ride by such tactics.
The Challenges of Content Creation on Machine Learning Steroids
Managing the Upcoming Tsunami of Unstructured Data with Artificial Intelligence
The Internet of Things (IoT) explosion will see 75 billion connected devices deployed by 2025. The volumes of data generated will become a tsunami that firms will need to digitalize. Unfortunately, most firms only look at the easy information they can get from structured data while ignoring their unstructured data, which accounts for 90 percent of content generated globally, making unstructured data a tremendous source of untapped value. Artificial Intelligence is making it possible and affordable to sift through and find digital meaning in vast amounts of unstructured data obtained from video, audio, emails, logs, social media posts and IoT devices. All of this data can bring about enormous benefits; Mr. Edgar Perez will show organizations how to reap these benefits today.
Managing the Upcoming Tsunami of Unstructured Data with Artificial Intelligence
Trade Wars and their Impact on Financial Markets already influenced by Artificial Intelligence (AI)
China and the US are locked in an escalating trade battle. The IMF has said that taxing all trade between these two economies would cause some $455 billion in GDP to evaporate; that would be a loss larger than South Africa’s economy. Financial markets are already wobbling with each new trade-war headline. What will happen if they near future? What are the long-term consequences? Would the trade war increase the likelihood of a “flash crash” in financial markets that are increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence-driven electronic trading systems? Mr. Edgar Perez will discuss the dramatic impact of current and subsequent trade wars for both countries involved and the rest of the world.
Trade Wars and their Impact on Financial Markets already influenced by Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Social Engineering: The “Weakest Human Link” in Cybersecurity
Social engineering involves tricking your employees into breaching security protocols or giving away information. Social engineering exploits human weaknesses rather than technology, preying upon people’s propensity towards trust. Often, these exploits are used to gather information to support a more targeted cyberattack, with the initial forays based on the premise of ‘little and often’ so as not to cause concern. Employees at all levels, including senior executives, are vulnerable. Mr. Edgar Perez will explain why by improving employee awareness and introducing simple technical measures, organizations can improve their protection against social engineering techniques and the risk of a cyberattack.
Social Engineering: The “Weakest Human Link” in Cybersecurity
The Biggest Risk for Financial Markets
Regulatory changes and technological evolution have transformed the financial landscape. Regulators around the world are now in a race to respond to the evolution of technology in financial markets and prevent its operational challenges from becoming the biggest risk for financial markets. However, when considering technology and the cyber landscape, errors are bound to happen. Financial services firms are expected to have deployed the most sophisticated defense systems against cyberattacks. Most of them would realize the need of these investments and implement them, but their IT departments would soon hit a wall. What would it take to limit the impact of the biggest risk for financial markets?
The Biggest Risk for Financial Markets
Establishing or Improving a Cybersecurity Program
The Cybersecurity Framework drafted by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology comprises leading practices from various standards bodies that have proved to be successful when implemented; it also may deliver regulatory and legal advantages that extend well beyond improved cybersecurity for organizations. Its adoption may prove advantageous for businesses across virtually all industries. Mr. Edgar Perez will explain why a proper Cybersecurity Program will build on the analysis of possible areas of concern, an understanding of the firm’s most critical assets, and a thorough review of Information Technology’s policies and procedures when faced with rampant cybercrime.
Establishing or Improving a Cybersecurity Program
Video
The Artificial Intelligence Breakthroughs Changing the Digital World
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a set of revolutionary technologies that is changing every walk of life. After decades of research and experimentation, AI today enables people to rethink how we leverage information, analyze data sets, and use its unique insights to accelerate and improve decision making. AI is already transforming the digital world and raising important challenges for society, the economy, and governance. What novel applications in finance, insurance, national security, health care, transportation, and smart cities are now in store for mankind? Are human workers on the way out of economic progress? How unbanked populations in the world fare in this new reality? Are we really at the beginning of the AI revolution?How Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence will Change your World
Machine Learning and Deep Learning, Artificial Intelligence’s most successful approaches to date, have dramatically improved speech recognition, visual object recognition, object detection and many other domains, bringing remarkable opportunities for firms in financial services, manufacturing, energy, pharma and defense.How Technological Innovation Drives Financial Reform & Economic Growth: Keynote Speaker Edgar Perez
Technological innovation drives financial reform; artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data and the blockchain are a few of the technologies that have triggered seismic changes in financial services. How can financial regulation support innovation, especially when it comes to financial technology? Financial regulators around the world can read a page or two from the most successful venture capitalists’ books. Thanks to their capabilities to quickly scan the market and recognize long-term trends, venture capitalists help themselves by proactively advising start-up companies in doubling-down on their selected paths or pivoting to the most promising areas. Thanks to their exposure to the most diverse set of financial technology enterprises, regulators can proactively reach out to promising and established startups. Collectively, they can learn about new tech developments and recognize trends from other industries. In doing so, financial regulators can make of the path between technology innovation and financial reform a two-way street. Through fostering emerging financial technology innovation, recognizing and closing regulatory and supervisory gaps, and enabling controlled sandboxes to conduct live experiments under appropriate supervision, financial reform can also drive technological innovation.THE NEXT DECADE OF TECHNOLOGY
The past decade ushered in an extraordinary era of cloud computing and artificial intelligence, a mind blowing amount of new types of devices and hardware innovations, 4G networks powering a new generation of interconnected apps and services, and much more. It's certainly impossible to predict what tech will look like 10 years from now. However, some significant trends are worth to take note of: * The increased availability of 5G * Blockchain as game-changer for businesses * The convergence of man and machine * The ultimate arrival of quantum computingThank you very much for your participation in Berlin at the European Institute CEO Roundtable. Your presentation was fascinating, a really informative session. The delegates seemed to hang o ... keep reading European Institute
Your presentation was the real highlight of the Emerging Markets Investments Summit. You clearly have the connections in the industry and are very well connected.
Thrilled to have your participation at this year’s Global Financial Leadership Conference.”
Excellent intense masterclass to help me brush up on Deep Learning. From applications and models to optimization and Python code, CNNs, RNNs, etc.
Edgar Perez is THE expert on high-frequency trading
I have had the pleasure of working with many of the industry’s smartest minds. Edgar ranks among the best speakers I have ever encountered. His keynotes on disruptive technologies have influenced industry leaders attending our forums in many parts of the world. In just one hour, attendees gain a fresh perspective on the major trends that are transforming the world, one qubit at a time.
It was such a pleasure to have you participate in our conference. The feedback was great and the information you shared with the audience was invaluable. Once again, thank you for your contribution in making the event a success.
Edgar absolutely exceeded our expectations. He delivered an amazing review of today’s global geopolitical environment. In a very straightforward and illuminating fashion, Edgar synthesized recent developments and future scenarios for our C-level audience hungering and thirsting for the most practical knowledge about China’s recent policies and strategies
