The 2017 Tech 40: Michael Bodson

Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., labeled by regulators as a systemically important financial market utility, processes $1.5 quadrillion worth of securities transactions a year. It is fixated on accuracy, efficiency, security, and risk mitigation in posttrade operations, yet it is hard to keep a conversation with president and chief executive officer Michael Bodson from veering into cloud computing, machine learning, or the distributed-ledger technology of the blockchain. The last was seen as an existential threat to clearinghouses like DTCC before Bodson began to have his say. In his letter in DTCC's 2016 annual report, the 59-year-old refuted "the overheated rhetoric that predicted our demise" and wrote "now many of the key blockchain players want to engage with us on initiatives." At the forefront of blockchain experimentation and deployment, New York–based, industry-owned DTCC has invested in Digital Asset Holdings (Bodson is a board member) and joined collaborative standards groups Hyperledger Project and Enterprise Ethereum Alliance. In an interview, he says, "We are strong believers that the distributed ledger will play an important role in the financial industry in the future."