Hello! I’m David Harper, CFA, FRM. I started bionicturtle.com in 2004 and built it into the #1 exam preparation provider (EPP) for the Financial Risk Manager (FRM). In February of 2021, I sold the business to CeriFi where I continue to run it as President, Bionic Turtle, a CeriFi company. And now I’m part of a great team that is building the world’s greatest platform for financial education at every stage of your career.

I love learning about (and teaching) risk. I also write investing articles at Seeking Alpha, where I disclose my portfolio/trades and practice risk management. My focus is disruptive technologies, patient GARP-style with a portfolio risk overlay; e.g., diversification. The market wants growth but I’m a value technician at heart, consequently I am willing to wait for great companies to prove their worth to the general audience. I have a BA, Economics from UC, Berkeley. I earned my CFA in 2003 and my FRM in 2004.

I’ve been training and practicing data science for several years. Of course, my preferred data tool is R (aka, #RStats, #rstat). The best thing about R is the amazing community, there is nothing quite like an RStudio conference. Online I try to keep sharp with Coursera, datacamp and perhaps the most talented data science instructor on the planet: Matt Dancho’s Business Science.

I am extremely interested (and invested) in digital disruption and the future of work (FOW), including EdTech, talent marketplaces and work management (my favorite software is wrike).

This is a distill site and this About page is a postcard (by Sean Kross)

David Harper


Hello! I’m David Harper, CFA, FRM. I started bionicturtle.com in 2004 and built it into the #1 exam preparation provider (EPP) for the Financial Risk Manager (FRM). In February of 2021, I sold the business to CeriFi where I continue to run it as President, Bionic Turtle, a CeriFi company. And now I’m part of a great team that is building the world’s greatest platform for financial education at every stage of your career.

I love learning about (and teaching) risk. I also write investing articles at Seeking Alpha, where I disclose my portfolio/trades and practice risk management. My focus is disruptive technologies, patient GARP-style with a portfolio risk overlay; e.g., diversification. The market wants growth but I’m a value technician at heart, consequently I am willing to wait for great companies to prove their worth to the general audience. I have a BA, Economics from UC, Berkeley. I earned my CFA in 2003 and my FRM in 2004.

I’ve been training and practicing data science for several years. Of course, my preferred data tool is R (aka, #RStats, #rstat). The best thing about R is the amazing community, there is nothing quite like an RStudio conference. Online I try to keep sharp with Coursera, datacamp and perhaps the most talented data science instructor on the planet: Matt Dancho’s Business Science.

I am extremely interested (and invested) in digital disruption and the future of work (FOW), including EdTech, talent marketplaces and work management (my favorite software is wrike).

This is a distill site and this About page is a postcard (by Sean Kross)