Donnalynn interviews Asher Edelman, Executive Chairman at ARTBnk, Chairman of Edelman Companies- Artemus, ArtAssureLTD, Edelman Arts- Where art meets Finance.

Edelman became the youngest (24 years old) New York Stock Exchange approved office manager and in 1969 founded Mack, Bushnell &Edelman where he was CEO. Edelman’s Wall Street businesses included investment banking, money management, and derivatives trading.

He taught a course at Columbia Business school called, “Corporate Raiding – The Art of War.” His textbook Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. The character of Gordon Gekko in Wall Street was based in part on Edelman.

In 1988, he founded a contemporary art museum in Switzerland. The FAE Musée d’Art Contemporain launched the first European retrospective exhibitions of Robert Mapplethorpe, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Roy Lichtenstein, and Peter Halley. 

Edelman is the founder and president of ArtAssure Ltd and Artemus, an art leasing business. Artemus buys art from owners and then leases it back, typically for seven years. and Most Recently, has become the executive chairman at ARTBnk, which we discuss in our talk. 

With a long standing career in finance and the arts, he sits on many boards and has contributed greatly to the art world culture and continues to innovate in an ever changing industry.