Trained mathematician, former front man of a punk rock band, pentagon policymaker, and nonfiction author who performs his book live. There’s no fitting Matt into any sort of box. Equal parts left-brained strategist and creative troubadour, Matt is the lead consultant you call when you want to change the way you see the world. When you want to zoom in to understand the details and then back out to discover a new way to put the puzzle together. The common theme of his approach? An unbending commitment to finding essential simplicity in the sometimes overwhelmingly complex.
For Matt, that simplicity is not just a buzzword; it's a lifestyle. Fueled by a need to do, say, and be more with less, Matt drinks his coffee black, keeps his emails short, loves his music live, and tries to listen more than he talks.
Dr. Shlomo Benartzi is a behavioral economist interested in combining the insights of psychology and economics to solve big societal problems. He works on creating digital nudges that leverage technology to achieve massive scale and help millions make better financial decisions. He received a Ph.D. from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management and is currently a professor and co-founder of the Behavioral Decision-Making Group at UCLA Anderson School of Management. Benzarti is also a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Wharton Behavior Change for Good Initiative, working on Applied Behavioral Economics and Financial Decision-Making.
His work has demonstrated the potential for far-reaching improvement. Along with Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler of the University of Chicago, he pioneered the Save More Tomorrow™ (SMarT) program, a behavioral prescription designed to nudge employees increase their savings rates gradually over time. In their original research, he and Thaler found that SMarT increased employee savings rates from 3.5 percent to 13.6 percent. The SMarT program is now offered by more than half of the large retirement plans in the U.S. and a growing number of plans in Australia and the U.K. The program has also been incorporated into the Pension Protection Act of 2006, enabling approximately 15 million Americans boost their retirement savings.To help bridge the gap between academic research and the real world, Benzarti has worked with many financial institutions and served on multiple advisory boards. He is currently a senior academic advisor for the VOYA Behavioral Finance Institute for Innovation, a board member of Acorns, and a senior advisor for Blast, Personal Capital and Wisdom Tree.
Captain Alfredo Fuentes’ career spans 26 years of serving FDNY and 37+ years specializing in the fields of Emergency Management, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Response and Recovery, Search and Rescue. He was a core member of the FEMA NYTF 1, National Urban Search and Rescue Team.
He is a recipient of 11 meritorious awards, as well as receiving the 9/11 Meritorious Medal for actions performed during the 9/11 NYC terrorist attacks at the WTC. During his career Captain Fuentes has had an outstanding record in his profession, not only in New York City, but internationally as well. He has been a consultant and has performed work for FEMA for over 15 years. He responded and operated in the attacks on the NYC World Trade Center on 9-11-01 as Acting Battalion Chief for the NYC Fire Department, Marine Division where he was ultimately buried and trapped in the collapse of the North Tower, eventually he was recovered, extricated and transported. He suffered numerous and near fatal injuries and remained in a coma for weeks.
During his emergency career, Captain Fuentes operated at the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995, the Humberto Vidal explosion & collapse in Puerto Rico in 1996, Hurricane Hugo (Puerto Rico, 1989), Hurricane George (The Dominican Republic, 1998), and numerous other emergencies and disasters, domestically and internationally. He has been awarded a United States Patent for a "structure monitoring device." He has written for various emergency magazines. His first book, American By Choice was published in 2004. He served as an instructor for the New York City Fire Department and the United States Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Captain Fuentes has consulted for Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Department of Energy), Department of Homeland Security, FEMA and as past Director and Advisor for Disaster Response for the Knights of Columbus organization of 1.8 million members. He holds numerous certificates in various disciplines such as, Confined Space and Building Collapse.
Alfredo Fuentes was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador. He holds a Bachelors degree in Psychology from the State University of NY and a Masters Degree in Homeland Security Leadership from the University of Connecticut. He is bilingual in English and Spanish.
Professor and Co-Chair of the Behavioral Decision-Making Group at UCLA Anderson School of Management, and Senior Academic Advisor for the Voya Behavioral Finance Institute for Innovation
His work has demonstrated the potential for far-reaching improvement. Along with Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler of the University of Chicago, he pioneered the Save More Tomorrow™ (SMarT) program, a behavioral prescription designed to nudge employees increase their savings rates gradually over time. In their original research, he and Thaler found that SMarT increased employee savings rates from 3.5 percent to 13.6 percent. The SMarT program is now offered by more than half of the large retirement plans in the U.S. and a growing number of plans in Australia and the U.K. The program has also been incorporated into the Pension Protection Act of 2006, enabling approximately 15 million Americans boost their retirement savings.
To help bridge the gap between academic research and the real world, Benzarti has worked with many financial institutions and served on multiple advisory boards. He is currently a senior academic advisor for the VOYA Behavioral Finance Institute for Innovation, a board member of Acorns, and a senior advisor for Blast, Personal Capital and Wisdom Tree.