ALUMNI/AE
ALUMNI PROFILES
ETHAN VALLARINO ’07
ART ASSETS One of the things Ethan Vallarino appreciates about his Millbrook education is that his teachers never expected him to simply accept what they presented on the surface. Rather, he learned how to peel back layers and uncover solutions and steps needed to create a finished product. This is the same approach he uses as chief executive officer at his newest venture, ARTBnk. He identified a problem: how could art owners quickly and easily determine the value of their tradable art from a reliable source? Upon peeling back many layers, Ethan and his team came to a definitive conclusion: create a system to make the valuation of art a scientific, data-driven process instead of one filled with egos and opinions. Building the business model was a bit more complicated, but the road to ARTBnk was organic for Ethan. After graduating from Millbrook in 2007, he attended St. Lawrence University, majoring in financial economics and minoring in fine arts. At St. Lawrence, he focused on drawing, painting, and sculpture and studied art history as well. “Art became almost therapy for me. I’d go into the studio, and my intuition would take over. Working within any medium, it’s almost like capturing your mood for the day, the week, the month – as long as it takes you to complete it.” As a sophomore, Vallarino landed an internship with ArtAssure LTD, an art financing firm run by Asher Edelman (The character of Gordon Gekko in Wall Street was based in part on Edelman.) Upon graduating from St. Lawrence, Vallarino joined ArtAssure on a full-time basis as their executive director of business development, a job with a steep learning curve. After becoming well acquainted with high-end art sales, purchases, loans, and financing, Ethan knew he could apply this knowledge to a new venture, and he
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• SUMMER 2020
