Joel Hodroff~07/07/20~Stargate to the Cosmos~ Janet Kira & Dr Sasha Lessin

Joel Hodroff is an international authority on the use of non-cash financial instruments for commercial and economic development applications.  In 2005, he was selected as an Innovator of the Year by Minnesota’s Finance and Commerce newspaper.  Joel is also the Founder of Minnesota-based DualCurrency Systems (DCS). DCS designs programs and systems at the intersection of loyalty marketing, credit card services, and payment systems.  In 1997, the company was awarded two U.S. Patents for its novel DualCurrency Pricing, Accounting and Transaction Settlement system.  The system manages transactions in a combination of U.S. dollars and noncash financial instruments, such as loyalty rewards, barter dollars, or business scrip. DCS developed Universal Reward SolutionsSM for the incentives industry to optimize redemption while enhancing customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. The same DualCurrency payment system and Virtual Community Warehouse also manages innovative incentive programs, including wellness incentives that lower employer and employee health care costs and volunteer rewards that promote healthy communities. The genesis of DualCurrency Commerce occurred during Joel’s years as a commercial barter broker.  There he began to design a method of blending B2B barter with C2C (individual to individual) barter into a system of large-scale B2C barter.  He eventually integrated corporate scrip — frequent flyer miles, hotel scrip, and other business currencies — into the DualCurrency approach, creating a highly versatile new financial instrument and a next-generation payments platform. Healthcare Economic disparities The environment Poverty and crime Global economic development Getting beyond left versus right in politics Unlimited human potential