Episodes

On Podcast #23, we have Eiland Glover, founder of Kowala. He helps us sort through the cryptocurrency noise, sets out the problems to be solved, and challenges us to think about cryptocurrencies in the future. Eiland Glover is the CEO and Cofounder of KOWALA, creator of the world’s first autonomously stabilizing cryptocurrency: kUSD. Eiland has spent his career creating systems and companies at the intersection of finance, technology, education, game theory, and human psychology. He is a firm ...

Podcast #22 features Norb Vonnegut, wealth management practitioner turned novelist and journalist at the Wall Street Journal. Besides talking finance and the future of wealth management, we talked a lot about his fiction writing. He is the author of three Wall Street thrillers: The Trust Top Producer The Gods of Greenwich He also works on non-fiction. As a contributing columnist for WSJ.com, Norb probes wealth management issues ranging from Cybersecurity to The gender pay gap among industry ...

Podcast #21 features a fascinating conversation with Bart Stephens on the emergence of Bitcoin and blockchain. Bart is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of BLOCKCHAIN CAPITAL, the first VC firm to raise a venture fund through an ICO, and the most active VC investor in the sector, with 72 portfolio companies across three funds. Bart is also a Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Stephens Investment Management, a family owned and operated hedge fund and venture capital firm. Bart has a background...

I recently spoke to Matt Cooney at NICKERSON PR about the development of Virtual and Augmented Reality. We charted the differences and Matt made predictions about the future of this technology on a variety of industries and businesses including real estate. This is fascinating stuff and vital as we try to understand where the trends in economic growth and employment are going. Forming and engaging communities has been the common thread in Matthew Cooney’s career path. He has built and scaled so...

It is impossible to come away from a conversation with Marisa Arredondo and not be impressed. She is the founder of skincare and lifestyle brand PHACE BIOACTIVE. After graduating from Stanford University, Marisa worked as an analyst on Wall Street for 12 years to research and invest in cosmetic, drug and biotech companies. There, she learned about skin biology, ingredient technology, and pH balance as it relates to anti-aging. She also graduated from Harvard Business School, where she conceived...

Podcast #18 gives us a chance to speak with hedge fund manager and documentary producer, John Fichthorn, about his documentary, “Betting on Zero”. John co-founded Dialectic Capital Management, LLC in 2003 and serves as its Portfolio Manager. “Betting on Zero” offers an inside look at the controversy behind multi-level marketing companies and the gamesmanship that occurs on Wall Street. The documentary follows Bill Ackman, principal of Pershing Square, and the impact on Herbalife after Ackman ma...

I recently met and spoke with New York City playwright, Jonathan Leaf, about the challenges and success of his new play DECONSTRUCTION. He has written numerous plays and most recently had a successful run for DECONSTRUCTION which played at the Storm Theater in New York City. I was lucky enough to see it and experience firsthand the intelligent thought provocation that his work achieves. DECONSTRUCTION dives into the one of the main scandals in the field of literary criticism . . . “Set in 1949...

I recently spoke with Ashley Koff. A registered dietitian, Ashley is not only one of the top people in the nutrition field, but she’s a terrific entrepreneur as well. We have known each other since college so it was particularly fun to catch up on her exploits. [In typical Frazer fashion, the last time we saw each other was in a NYC steakhouse . . . which must have been real fun for a top nutritionist!]. Ashley is a Registered Dietitian and one of the top Nutritionists in the country. In additi...

(This appeared in Rick Lazio’s Ignite Blog back in July of 2011 . . . I reread it and liked it, so I thought I would repost it.) MATHLESSNESS – AMERICA’S FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM by Frazer Rice. Modern Americans are largely innumerate. They are, to borrow Richard Posner’s felicitous phrase, mathless- most can’t use or judge the effects of numbers. Such ignorance would be of little concern, except that math permeates everything and ignorance of it imperils both America and Americans. For example,...

It was a treat to talk to my friend, Robert A. George, about the political landscape washing over New York, Washington, and the rest of the country. We cover Donald Trump and his initial stumbles, the departure of Preet Bharara, the future of Governor Andrew Cuomo, and the re-election prospects of Mayor Bill DiBlasio among other topics. Lots of fun in the world of politics! Robert is an editorial writer for the New York Daily News (and formerly for the New York Post) and a conservative/libertar...

I spoke on my podcast with noted psychotherapist, Will Meyerhofer. He deals with heavy hitters on Wall Street, the NYC legal world and entertainment professionals. He pulls no punches. While I have written before on the psychological perils of legal practice and Wall Street (The Death of a Profession: Law’s Long, Bitter Descent and Its Tragic Human Toll), there is nothing like speaking with someone who is in the trenches helping people deal with the modern (and misunderstood) strains of the pr...

With the excitement of Tiger Woods’ return in the Bahamas, it was time to do a podcast around golf. Welcome to Podcast #12, where I spoke with Eddy Lui. Eddy is a fellow golf fanatic who has founded a new golf platform called 18Birdies. We were able to get a round in this summer at Winged Foot and then record this interview about the company shortly afterward. 18Birdies can be downloaded on most mobile platforms and their website is www.18Birdies.com. The “Live Engine for Golf”, 18Birdies is a ...

I was thrilled to speak with election lawyer, Bryan Sells a week or so ahead of the big confrontation between Trump and Clinton. We talked about the process and importance of voting and the issues with the current election and future trends in our country’s voting. Based in Atlanta, Bryan is a civil rights lawyer specializing in voting rights, election law, and redistricting. He represents individual voters, civil rights organizations, political parties, candidates, and campaigns. Before foundi...

Podcast #10 was a fun and intense conversation with Foreign Policy and International Relations Expert, Andrew Peek. Andrew is the Director of the Washington Program at Claremont McKenna and an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine. He is also a former Captain in the US Army and Strategic Advisor to General Joe Allen. He has written and appeared widely in the media and can be found on Twitter at @AndrewLPeek. We conducted a brief primer on Foreign policy and the Election starting with a quick summary ...

It was a genuine pleasure to speak with Blake Morgan about the state of the music industry . . . we spoke for an hour and could have kept going for much longer! Native New Yorker Blake Morgan is a recording artist, record producer, and the founder and owner of ECR Music Group, a global music company which operates under an elemental principle unprecedented in the music world: all of its artists and labels own one-hundred percent of their master recordings. On the heels of his sold-out eight-mo...

I recently spoke with Michael Devlin, adviser to Urban Seed (www.urbanseedvegas.com) We covered a variety of topics related to agribusiness and food policy. Urban Seed’s mission is to become the premier supplier of locally grown, low carbon impact, fruits, vegetables, and micro greens in the local market using proprietary and innovative technology & processes with modular, easily expandable structures which provide opportunities for unlimited growth. Their philosophy is to prioritize the “Made...

I spoke with director, William Wedig, who is starting to make a dent in the world of movies. Having done work for brands such as PBS, MTV, Sports Illustrated, People Magazine and Time Magazine, his work has been shown on broadcast and cable television, in AMC and Clearview theaters, on Times Square billboards and in festivals such as Sundance and the Toronto Film Festival. In 2012, William began his television-directing career. 145 shoot days, 550 script pages and 5,000 shots later, William co...

I recently spoke with Scott Johnston about his transition from banking to entrepreneurism and two of his technology projects. WAYIN is Scott’s venture co-founded with Scott McNealey. They help major companies aggregate and understand the date generated by consumers and their social media presence. That data can then be used by the company to better focus their marketing efforts and sell more efficiently. LiquidSky is Scott’s venture that seeks to more efficiently allocate the world’s computing...

Michael Monaghan, Co-Founder and CEO of Beartooth What an exciting thing to watch the launch of a business. It represents the beginning of a new, scary and wonderful challenge. It also culminates years of innovation, planning, preparation and hard work. Today, Beartooth launches officially for the public. It is the brainchild of Michael Monaghan, a friend I have known for years. An idea borne out Michael’s experiences both as a financier at Goldman Sachs and as a devout skier and outdoorsman, B...

John Williams, Principal of the Williams Law Group and President of IncNow.com I sat down with my colleague and fellow Emory Law graduate, John Williams, to talk about the differences and challenges of driving both a law firm and an online incorporation business. We spoke about trends in the legal industry and peered into our respective crystal balls about the direction of Delaware corporate law and the opportunities and issues that entrepreneurs face. What percentage of the day is spent lawye...

In the latest Podcast, I speak with Steve Wilamowsky about the development and current state of bankruptcy law. Steve Wilamowsky is a partner in Chapman and Cutler’s Litigation, Bankruptcy and Restructuring Group. For over twenty years, clients have relied on Steve to guide them through complex corporate reorganizations, distressed asset transactions, and bankruptcy-related litigation. We track his road into legal practice, go into detail about the landscape of bankruptcy law and muse about i...

EPISODE 2: Crime Novelist, TERRENCE MCCAULEY Crime Novelist, Terrence McCauley Meet Terrence P. McCauley. He is a part of a new breed of crime fiction writers. This up-and-comer is one to watch. His acclaimed new thriller SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL will be published by Polis Books in July 2015. Sympathy for the Devil (New from Polis Books) Polis is also republishing Terrence’s first two award-winning crime novels set in 1930 New York City – PROHIBITION and SLOW BURN. In 2008, Terrence won the TruT...

Welcome to the first episode of the Frazer Rice Podcast (Trust me . . . I’m working on getting a snappier title!). Expect to see more interviews with artists, entrepreneurs, commentators and tastemakers from New York and beyond. Today we have an interview with Jayne Merkel, contributing editor for the Architectural Record and author of the monograph Eero Saarinen. We discuss the evolution of New York City’s skyline and downtown redevelopment, trends for the future and our favorite neighborhoods...