Habonim Engaging in Dialogue
Join us for a fascinating conversation with
Emanuel Derman
world-famous expert on finance, physicist, philosopher, award-winning author,and graduate of Habonim SA!
Emanuel is especially renowned for his exceptional ability to explain complex ideas simply, interweaving humorous, poignant and insightful personal stories into his talks and writing.
See his 33 brief episodes of My Life as an African
See his chapter on Habonim in Models.Behaving.Badly.
See his blogs, books, interviews, etc. at https://emanuelderman.com/
scroll down for Emanuel Derman’s bio
PLEASE NOTE THESE TIMES FOR IN YOUR ZONE
California/Vancouver (PDT) – 10:00 AM
Toronto/NY (EDT) –1:00 pm
London – 6:00 PM
South Africa – 7:00 PM
Israel – 8:00 PM
Sydney/Melbourne (AEDT) Monday 3:00 AM
Join us 20 mins before start times above for a slideshow and music
Please use your existing HED login for Zoom or re-register
Emanuel Derman grew up in Habonim South Africa, obtained a B.Sc. (Hons) at the University of Cape Town, and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Columbia University.
He did research at the Universities of Pennsylvania, Oxford, Rockefeller and Colorado, and worked at AT&T Bell Laboratories where he developed computer languages for business modeling.
He then joined Goldman Sachs where he was co-author of the famous Black–Derman–Toy (BDT) model, one of the first interest-rate models, and the Derman–Kani model of the “volatility smile.” He ultimately became head of Goldman’s Quantitative Risk Strategies Group.
Emanuel was named IAFE/SunGard Financial Engineer in 2000 and elected to the Risk Hall of Fame in 2002.
His book My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance, was one of Business Week’s top ten books of the year for 2004.
In 2011, he published Models.Behaving.Badly which draws on Habonim SA, Apartheid, and the Great Recession to contrast financial models with scientific theories. Emanuel has written many articles on this contrast and has said:
“In physics there may one day be a Theory of Everything; in finance and the social sciences, you’re lucky if there is a usable theory of anything.”
Emanuel is currently a professor at Columbia University and Director of its program in financial engineering. Until recently he was also the Head of Risk and a partner at KKR Prisma Capital Partners, a fund of funds. He lives in New York

Join us 20 mins before start times above for a slideshow and music
Please use your existing HED login for Zoom or re-register
Do you have Presentation Ideas?
If you have an idea for a HED presentation please contact the HED Committee:
Stephen Pincus at spincus@goodmans.ca
Dave Bloom at davebloom@outlook.com
Felicity Swerdlow at felicityswerdlow@gmail.com
Mark Kedem at mark.kedem@gmail.com
Adam Blumenthal at adamblumenthal98@gmail.com