Organization – FD-Tech Center

UT Dallas professor Vijay Mookerjee teaching in a phd seminar

The internal structure of the FD-Tech Center is comprised of the following:

  1. Dr. Vijay Mookerjee (Director)
  2. Dr. Eric Zheng (Associate Director)
  3. Dr. Robert Kieschnick
  4. Academic Committee (Faculty Members, Director and Associate Director)
  5. Administrative Assistant

External Structure

The external structure will consist of an advisory board and industry members.

Board of Advisors

Advisory board members will:

  • Advise members of the research center on key challenges faced by entities in the Fintech ecosystem and how these translate into research opportunities;
  • Identify new/emerging training and teaching needs and advise the center on programs that it may offer to address these needs;
  • To serve as an advocate for the center and help build important ties and connections between JSOM and the business community;
  • Guide and advise the center on its outreach mission and strategies to reach key target audiences;
  • Attend annual advisory board meeting; and
  • Provide keynote talks at conferences held by the center.

Industry Members

  • Membership dues are valid for a period of one year. The membership can be renewed with the consent of all parties. Newly appointed members shall begin their term with the first regular meeting of the board.
  • Industry members are honorary members and their participation on the advisory board does not impose any restrictions on them.
  • Industry members may deputize others with specific specialties and backgrounds to attend specific meetings where their specialties and/or backgrounds may be relevant to the meeting’s purpose.
  • Ex-officio members may deputize others from their organizations to attend meeting sessions in person or electronically.
Leemon Baird

Leemon Baird

Dr. Leemon Baird is the inventor of the hashgraph distributed consensus algorithm, Co-founder of Hedera, and Co-founder and Co-CEO of Swirlds Labs. With over 20 years of technology and startup experience, he has held positions as a Professor of Computer Science at the US Air Force Academy and as a senior scientist in several labs. He has been the Co-founder of several startups, including two identity-related startups, both of which were acquired. Leemon received his PhD in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University and has multiple patents and publications in peer-reviewed journals and conferences in computer security, machine learning, and mathematics.

Karthik Kumar

Karthik Kumar

Karthik Kumar is the EVP & COO of LendArch and he leads the US Mortgage industry towards disruptive digital and cognitive solutions. Has focused the last 20 years in Consulting, Solution architecture, Operational delivery, Project management, Compliance management and as a change agent for technology endeavors . He is an international speaker , host and facilitator known for disruptive change and digital transformation at various platforms. Karthik is a Chartered Accountant and a LEAD Alumni from the Stanford Graduate School of Business . He is also COPC Certified , CRU from MBA and a 6 Sigma Black Belt. He is an advocate for Youth Mental Health and Member of The Board of Advisors for Sky Schools.