Editor’s Note: This story is part of Newsmakers, an ARTnews series where we interview the movers and shakers who are making change in the art world.

For Christie’s Global President Alex Rotter, November was a vindication. After an up-and-down year, the auction house kicked off New York’s fall marquee sales week with a double-header that brought in $690 million with fees on 79 lots—up more than 40 percent on the equivalent sale in May—with sell-through rates of 97 percent by value and 96 percent by lot. Two nights later, the house’s 21st-century evening sale added another $123.6 million, with just one work failing to sell.

It was the kind of week auction houses dream about when the market feels wobbly: deep bidding, a handful of new records, and, crucially, no disasters. For Rotter, who also serves as Christie’s global chairman of 20th- and 21st-century art, the run was also a test of whether his read on the market was right.