JOHN D'AGOSTINO

Dubbed “Johnny of Arabia” by the Wall Street Journal, John D’Agostino is a Harvard Business School graduate who became the youngest vice president at the New York Mercantile Exchange – the world’s largest energy derivatives exchange – and spearheaded the Exchange’s breakthrough international partnership: the first ever Middle Eastern based energy exchange, the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME). He is the main character in New York Times best-selling author Ben Mezrich’s book, Rigged: The True Story of an Ivy League Kid Who Changed the World of Oil, which chronicles how this Italian-American from Brooklyn conquered Harvard Business School and helped revolutionize the world of oil and energy trading exchanges.

D’Agostino has been asked to speak at over 35 global events on such topics as negotiation, energy, hedge funds, and other business and global economic and political issues. He has appeared on Fox TV’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” CNBC’s “Fast Money,” Bloomberg Television, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and numerous other financial and non-financial media. He has also written case studies used by Harvard and has been a guest lecturer for INSEAD University.

The son of an Italian immigrant mother, D’Agostino finished his studies at Harvard Business School and turned down several Wall Street investment banks after being recruited by the Chairman and President of the New York Mercantile Exchange. After five months he become the youngest vice president of the exchange when he was asked to run a new Strategy department. The DME became his central focus, but he also worked in Singapore, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, and India.

When D’Agostino put together the revolutionary partnership that led to the DME, it created a major milestone for global trading and economics, particularly the adoption of Western capitalist principles to guide pricing for sour crude oil. As sour crude represents the vast majority of known physical supply, the partnership also represented what could become the primary global benchmark for pricing of the world’s most valuable commodity.

Working three years from inception to deal closing, in the wake of 9/11 and one of the worst periods of global tensions between the West and Middle East, D’Agostino structured, negotiated, and brokered an agreement that became one of the most important in Dubai’s dramatic growth plan and a key part of the emirate’s goal to become the financial center of the Middle East.

D’Agostino attended Williams College, Oxford University, and Harvard Business School. He lives in New York City.