Voices of Impact

Momentum, Markets, and Mindset: Tal Cohen

Tal Cohen is President of Nasdaq, where he leads the company’s market services and financial technology divisions and oversees its North American and European exchanges. Before joining Nasdaq, he served as CEO of Chi-X Global Holdings and Senior Vice President and Co-Head of Electronic Trading for North America at Instinet. Tal also worked in mergers and acquisitions at American Express and began his career at Arthur Andersen. He has served on the boards of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada and the Canadian Depository for Securities. Tal holds a B.A. from SUNY Albany and an M.B.A. from NYU Stern School of Business.

Predictions, Patterns, and Principles: Igor Tulschinsky

Igor Tulchinsky is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of WorldQuant, a global quantitative asset manager with 28 offices and over 1,000 employees. He oversees strategy, research, and portfolio management, founding the firm in 2007. Igor spent 12 years prior in statistical arbitrage at Millennium Management. Earlier, he worked as a venture capitalist, scientist at AT&T Bell Labs, programmer, and authored The Age of Prediction, Finding Alphas, and The UnRules. Igor also launched WorldQuant University, WorldQuant Foundry, and WorldQuant Ventures. He holds an M.A. in computer science from the University of Texas, completed in a record nine months, and an M.B.A. in finance and entrepreneurship from the Wharton School.

Ambition, Authority, and Artistry: Aby Rosen

Aby Rosen is a Principal and Co-Founder of RFR Holding LLC, a Manhattan-based real estate investment, development, and management company. He was born in Frankfurt, then part of West Germany, to parents who were Holocaust survivors. Over his career, Aby has built a portfolio that includes landmark properties such as the Seagram Building and the Lever House, as well as hospitality destinations like the W South Beach, The Jaffa, and the Gramercy Park Hotel. Beyond real estate, Aby is a prominent collector of modern and contemporary art, with works by artists including Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, and Damien Hirst. He is also a founder of the CORE Club and recently acquired the historic movie theater in Southampton.

Antisemitism, Academia, and Advocacy: Dr. Charles Small

Dr. Charles Small is the Founding Director and President of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP). He established the ISGAP Oxford Summer Institute in Critical Antisemitism Studies in 2015 and previously served as the Founding Director of the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism. Charles is the author of several books and articles, including the five-volume Global Antisemitism: A Crisis of Modernity and The Yale Papers: Antisemitism in Comparative Perspective. He holds a BA in Political Science from McGill University, an MSc in Urban Economic Development Planning from University College London, and a DPhil from the University of Oxford.

Energy, Engineering, and Enterprise: Michael Polsky

Michael Polsky is the founder and CEO of Invenergy, the world’s largest private developer, owner, and operator of energy solutions. Under his leadership, the company has developed more than 220 projects totaling over 38 gigawatts across 34 U.S. states and four continents. Michael established the Polsky Center for the Global Energy Transition at the World Resources Institute, the Polsky Energy Transition Leadership Academy at the University of Chicago, and the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago, where he serves as a Trustee Emeritus. He holds an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from the University of Chicago.