Speakers
Eugenio Aleman, Senior Economist, Wells Fargo
Eugenio J. Alemán is a director and senior economist at Wells Fargo. He forecasts national, regional, and international economic trends. His primary focus is the United States Economy and the Global Economy. Within the U.S. economy he covers the U.S. consumer and interest rates. Eugenio is also an expert on Latin American economics with special interest in the economies of Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. He is based in Charlotte, N.C. Eugenio joined Wells Fargo in his current position in 2005. Before coming to Wells Fargo, Eugenio was the general manager of a restaurant in Puerto Rico from 1985 until 1990. From 1995 until 1996 he was a professor of economics and director of the M.B.A. program at the Inter-American University in Puerto Rico, and from 1996 until 1998 he worked for the petroleum industry in Argentina. He has been an adjunct professor of economics at Drexel University in Philadelphia since 1999, and now only teaches online economics courses for the university. From 1998 until 2005 he worked at Global Insight (now IHS), one of the most important economic forecasting and consulting firms in the U.S., as managing director for its Latin America Service. Eugenio earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the Universidad Del Salvador in Buenos Aires, Argentina; an M.B.A. with a concentration in marketing from the Inter-American University in Puerto Rico; and an M.A. and doctorate in economics with an emphasis in economic development and international trade and finance from Florida International University. Eugenio's commentary has appeared in national publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, and USA Today, as well as many national and international media outlets including the Associated Press, Reuters, and Bloomberg News. He has also made appearances on CNBC and in U.S. Hispanic media outlets.
Madelyn Antoncic, Executive Director, Institutional Investment Solutions, Principal Global Investors
Madelyn Antoncic, Ph.D., is Executive Director, Institutional Investment Solutions for Principal Global Investors and is responsible for strengthening PGI’s relationships with sovereign wealth funds, government pension funds, central banks, insurance companies, and endowments around the world. She also serves as a key conduit for developing asset solutions for the investment challenges of sovereign clients. Dr. Antoncic joined PGI from the World Bank, where she was Vice President and Treasurer overseeing $140 billion in assets under management including assets of official sector institutions, as well as of the World Bank Group's $22 billion pensions. Dr. Antoncic has gained a wealth of experience in banking and finance having begun her career as an Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Following the Fed, she spent 12 years at Goldman Sachs holding various positions, including more than seven years trading structured products. She then had a two-year stint at Barclays Capital and 10 years at Lehman Brothers. She holds a Ph.D. in economics with a minor in finance from The Stern School of New York University and was an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Doctoral Fellow.
Rob Atkinson, President, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
As founder and president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), Robert D. Atkinson leads a prolific team of policy analysts and fellows that is successfully shaping debate and setting the agenda on a host of critical issues at the intersection of technological innovation and public policy. He is an internationally recognized scholar and a widely published author whom The New Republic has named one of the “three most important thinkers about innovation,” Washingtonian Magazine has called a “Tech Titan,” and Government Technology Magazine has judged to be one of the 25 top “Doers, Dreamers and Drivers of Information Technology.” A sought-after speaker and valued adviser to policymakers around the world, Atkinson’s books include Innovation Economics: The Race for Global Advantage (link is external) (Yale, 2012), Supply-Side Follies: Why Conservative Economics Fails, Liberal Economics Falters, and Innovation Economics is the Answer (link is external) (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006), and The Past And Future Of America’s Economy: Long Waves Of Innovation That Power Cycles Of Growth (link is external) (Edward Elgar, 2005). He also has conducted ground-breaking research projects and authored hundreds of articles and reports on technology and innovation-related topics ranging from tax policy to advanced manufacturing, productivity, and global competitiveness. President Clinton appointed Atkinson to the Commission on Workers, Communities, and Economic Change in the New Economy; the Bush administration appointed him chair of the congressionally created National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission; and the Obama administration appointed him to the National Innovation and Competitiveness Strategy Advisory Board. He now serves as co-chair of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s China-U.S. Innovation Policy Experts Group. He now serves as a member of the U.S. State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy, and as a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Atkinson is a member of the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age and serves on the boards or advisory councils of the Internet Education Foundation, the NetChoice Coalition, the University of Oregon’s Institute for Policy Research and Innovation, and the State Science and Technology Institute.
Jared Bernstein, Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Jared Bernstein joined the Center in May 2011 as a Senior Fellow. From 2009 to 2011, Bernstein was the Chief Economist and Economic Adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, executive director of the White House Task Force on the Middle Class, and a member of President Obama’s economic team. Bernstein’s areas of expertise include federal and state economic and fiscal policies, income inequality and mobility, trends in employment and earnings, international comparisons, and the analysis of financial and housing markets. Prior to joining the Obama administration, Bernstein was a senior economist and the director of the Living Standards Program at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. Between 1995 and 1996, he held the post of deputy chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor. He is the author and coauthor of numerous books for both popular and academic audiences, including “Getting Back to Full Employment: A Better Bargain for Working People,” “Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed?,” nine editions of “The State of Working America,” and his latest book “The Reconnection Agenda: Reuniting Growth and Prosperity.” Bernstein has published extensively in various venues, including The New York Times, Washington Post, and the Financial Times. He is an on-air commentator for the cable stations CNBC and MSNBC, contributes to The New York Times’ Upshot blog and The Washington Post’s PostEverything blog, and hosts jaredbernsteinblog.com. Bernstein holds a PhD in Social Welfare from Columbia University.
Kathy Bostjancic, Director, US Macro Investor Services, Oxford Economics
Kathy has extensive experience providing insightful global economic and financial market analysis and forecasts to institutional and retail investors and Fortune 500 business leaders and professionals. She has a deep understanding of U.S. monetary and fiscal policy and its impact on the economy and markets, acquired through her years as a financial market economist. Kathy has worked at Citicorp Investment Bank, Union Bank of Switzerland, and Merrill Lynch as the Senior Director, U.S. economist. Additionally, prior to joining Oxford Economics, Kathy was the Director for Macroeconomic Analysis at The Conference Board. She oversaw the U.S. economic forecast and was a member of the team that produced the global outlook. Kathy is frequently cited in leading financial and business publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and the New York Times, and she regularly appears on radio and television programs. She holds an MA in economics from New York University and a BA in economics from Rutgers College.
Steve Camarota, Director of Research, Center for Immigration Studies
Steven A. Camarota is Director of Research at the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in public policy analysis, and a Masters degree in political science from the University of Pennsylvania. In recent years, he has testified before Congress more than any other non-government expert on the economic and fiscal impact of immigration. For a number of years, he was lead researcher on a contract with the Census Bureau examining the quality of immigrant data in the American Community Survey. His research has been featured on the front pages of the New York Times, Washington Post and USAToday, as well as many other media outlets. He has written academic articles for such journals as the Public Interest and Social Science Quarterly. He has also written general interest pieces for such publications as the Chicago Tribune and National Review. He appears frequently on radio and television news programs including CNN, Fox News Channel, NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, National Public Radio, and the Newshour on PBS.
Punam Chuhan-Pole, Acting Chief Economist of the Africa Region, The World Bank Group
Punam Chuhan-Pole is the Acting Chief Economist of the Africa Region at the World Bank. Her recent work includes the semi-annual publication—Africa’s Pulse—which presents economic trends and prospects for the region’s economies and analysis of issues shaping Africa’s future, a report on the Socioeconomic Impact of Mining on Local Communities in Africa and a study documenting recent development progress—Yes Africa Can: Success Stories from a Dynamic Continent. Punam has also been a member of the core team producing the Global Monitoring Report, a joint World Bank-IMF annual publication. Her area of expertise includes aid and development, improving the quality and effectiveness of aid, links between donor allocations and recipient policies, and the changing aid landscape and the role of new public and private development players. She has also worked extensively on monitoring and assessing vulnerability of developing countries to external shocks, analyzing the determinants of private capital flows, and evaluating the debt defaults of the 1980s and 1990s. Punam led the Bank’s participation in the Inter-Agency Task Force on Finance Statistics and has collaborated closely with staff from the BIS, ECB, IMF, and OECD in establishing new international standards on the measurement and reporting of debt and other financial obligations and in preparing the new Debt Guide.
Lina Colucci, co-chair of Hacking Medicine, MIT/Harvard PhD student, inventor, ballerina, musician
Lina Colucci is a Ph.D. student at the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology (HST) Program. Her research focuses on developing a novel, portable sensor for non-invasive assessment of a person’s hydration state. She is excited by the healthcare revolution that is beginning and hopes to become an inventor and entrepreneur who helps shape the future of medicine. Lina graduated from Duke University in Mechanical Engineering with Departmental Distinction. In college, Lina’s research focused on cartilage tissue engineering and biomechanics. She was one of 30 Robertson Scholars selected every year to receive a full-ride and dual student privileges at both Duke and the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. On her own time, Lina works on developing novel ballet pointe shoes in the effort of bringing the 200-year-old piece of equipment into the 21st century. When she was 17, Lina was first-author on a paper about her ballet shoes that was featured on the cover of Ergonomics in Design. She interned at Nike to learn more about shoe design and continue the development of her ballet shoes. Lina was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, moved extensively between Brazil, Canada and the United States, and has done research in India and Sweden. Lina is also a ballerina, an avid classical and jazz clarinetist, and a lover of art in all forms.
Charlie Cook, Editor and Publisher, The Cook Political Report
Charlie Cook is Editor and Publisher of The Cook Political Report, a columnist for the National Journal Group, and a Political Analyst for NBC News. Charlie is considered one of the nation’s leading independent, non-partisan authorities on American politics and U.S. elections. In 2010, Charlie was a co-recipient of the American Political Science Association’s prestigious Carey McWilliams award to honor “a major journalistic contribution to our understanding of politics.” Charlie founded the The Cook Political Report in 1984, and it has become one of Washington’s most trusted sources for analysis of U.S. elections and political trends. Over the years, Charlie has served as a political analyst and Election Night analyst on NBC News and has appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press and ABC’s This Week, among many other prominent national programs. For the Spring semester of 2013, Charlie served as a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
Ross DeVol, Chief Research Officer, Milken Institute
Ross DeVol is the Chief Research Officer at the Milken Institute. He oversees research on international, national and comparative regional growth performance; access to capital and its role in economic growth and job creation; and health-related topics. Since joining the Institute, DeVol has put his group in the national limelight with groundbreaking research on technology and its impact on regional and national economies, and on the economic and human consequences of chronic disease. He specializes in the effects of technology, research and development activities, international trade, human capital and labor-force skills training, entrepreneurship, early-stage financing, and quality-of-place issues on the geographic distribution of economic activity. DeVol has authored numerous reports in the Institute’s primary research areas. His recent work involves research on global economic and financial market conditions. DeVol is ranked among the "Super Stars" of Think Tank Scholars by International Economy magazine. DeVol regularly appears on national television and radio programs (see links to recent appearances below), including CNN's "Moneyline," "Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo," Fox Business News, CNBC and NPR's "Talk of the Nation." He is frequently quoted in print media, such as The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Investor's Business Daily, the Los Angeles Times, Forbes, The Economist, Time, BusinessWeek and others. He keynotes prominent conferences and has served on a variety of panels at similar events. In September 2015, he made opening remarks at the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones in Los Angeles, stepping in for California Governor Jerry Brown at the governor's request. In 2015 the Los Angeles chapter of the National Association for Business Economics conferred on DeVol the Robert Parry Award, given annually to a member of L.A. NABE who has served on the Board and made notable contributions to the Chapter, in addition to his/her contributions to the economics community in Greater Los Angeles.
Jim Diffley, Senior Director, IHS Global Insight
Mr. James Diffley serves as Senior Director of the Industry Services and Consulting Group at IHS Economics. As Chief Economist of IHS U.S. Regional Services Group, he is responsible for the Regional Core Macroeconomic Service and the IHS Global Insight Real Estate and Construction Service. Since 1998, Mr. Diffley has supervised the quarterly economic forecast of the 50 states and over 300 metropolitan areas of the United States. He regularly makes presentations of these regional economic forecasts and analysis to clients, conferences, governmental bodies and the press. Mr. Diffley is also responsible for customized consulting projects. These have included long-term projections of cigarette consumption, forecasts of capital gains realizations, analysis of the economic impact of the securities industry on New York State, analysis of the impact of changing oil prices on local economies and the economic impact of various facility locations. Mr. Diffley’s academic work includes a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics & Economics from State University of New York at Buffalo, N.Y., a Master of Arts in Economics and a Ph.D. (ABD) at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, N.Y., U.S. From 1982 to 1987, he was on the economics faculty at Adelphi University, New York, U.S.
Karen Dynan, Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy and Chief Economist, U.S. Department of the Treasury
Dr. Karen Dynan serves as the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy and Chief Economist. Dr. Dynan leads the Office of Economic Policy, which is responsible for analyzing and reporting on current and prospective economic developments and helping develop policies to address economic challenges. Dr. Dynan came to Treasury from the Brookings Institution, where she was vice president and co-director of the Economic Studies program. Prior to joining Brookings, she served on the staff of the Federal Reserve Board for 17 years. While at the Fed, she played a leadership role in a number of areas, including macroeconomic forecasting, tracking household finances, and the Fed’s response to the financial crisis. She has also served as a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers and as a visiting assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University in 1998. Dr. Dynan is an expert on macroeconomic policy and household financial issues who has published widely in leading economics journals. She received her Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and her A.B. from Brown University.
Dino Falaschetti, Chief Economist, Committee on Financial Services, United States Congress
Advisor to Congress and the White House; consultant for financial valuations, corporate governance, and accounting and economics; executive decision-maker and keynote speaker –Dino Falaschetti provides thought leadership to improve public policies, legal strategies, and business performance at the highest levels. Dr. Falaschetti currently advises the 114th Congress of the United States as Chief Economist for the Committee on Financial Services, and plays a leading role in realizing the House’s biggest opportunities, including the most significant Federal Reserve reforms since the 1970s.Previously, Dr. Falaschetti served the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, where he advised Chairmen Ben Bernanke and Edward Lazear on issues involving money, banking, and economic performance, delivered a policy address from the White House grounds, and coauthored the Economic Report of the President. As a consultant for the SEC and private parties, Dr. Falaschetti provided expert testimony on some of the most prominent issues in business, finance, and law. As an executive decision-maker for leading think tanks, he strengthened bottom line performance and investor relations while translating financial and economic research into practical ideas for policymakers, business leaders, and media audiences. His career started by quickly rising from undergraduate intern to Fortune 100 C-Suite accountability for currency and interest rate hedges, complex business valuations, and a $1 billion money market portfolio. Dr. Falaschetti consistently delivers creative solutions in the face of diverse challenges by building on these practical leadership experiences as well as research-based insights he established as a distinguished professor of law, economics, and finance. He earned a PhD under an economics Laureate from Washington University in St. Louis, an MBA with high honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and a BS with distinction from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.
Stanley Fischer, Vice Chairman, U.S. Federal Reserve System
Stanley Fischer took office as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on May 28, 2014, to fill an unexpired term ending January 31, 2020. He was sworn in as Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors on June 16, 2014. His term as Vice Chairman expires on June 12, 2018. Prior to his appointment to the Board, Dr. Fischer was governor of the Bank of Israel from 2005 through 2013. From February 2002 to April 2005, Dr. Fischer was vice chairman of Citigroup. Dr. Fischer served as the first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund from September 1994 through August 2001. From January 1988 to August 1990, he was the chief economist of the World Bank. From 1977 to 1999, Dr. Fischer was a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). From 1992 to 1995, he was the Elizabeth and James Killian Class of 1926 professor. From 1973 to 1977, Dr. Fischer was an associate professor of economics at MIT. Prior to joining the MIT faculty, Dr. Fischer was an assistant professor of economics and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago. Dr. Fischer has published many articles on a wide variety of economic issues, and he is the author and editor of several scholarly books. He has been a fellow at the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Econometric Society, as well as a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and an honorary fellow at the London School of Economics. Dr. Fischer was born in Lusaka, Zambia, in October 1943. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in economics from the London School of Economics. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1969. Dr. Fischer is married with three adult children.
Peter R. Fisher, Senior Lecturer, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth; former Head of Fixed Income, BlackRock
Peter R. Fisher is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Business and Government at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, where he is also a Senior Lecturer. He also serves as a Senior Director at the BlackRock Investment Institute. He is a member of the Board of Directors of AIG, Inc., of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. Mr. Fisher previously served as head of BlackRock’s Fixed Income Portfolio Management Group and as Chairman of BlackRock Asia. Prior to joining BlackRock in 2004, Mr. Fisher served as Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for Domestic Finance from 2001 to 2003. He also worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1985 to 2001, concluding his service as Executive Vice President and Manager of the Federal Reserve System Open Market Account.
Robert Graboyes, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Robert Graboyes is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He specializes in the economics of healthcare. Previously, he was a sub-Saharan Africa economist at Chase Manhattan Bank, a regional economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, and an economics professor at the University of Richmond. Twice he was a visiting health care scholar in the Republic of Kazakhstan. He has chaired the National Economists Club and the Healthcare Roundtable of the National Association for Business Economics. Graboyes earned his PhD in economics from Columbia University and has a MSHA from Virginia Commonwealth University, MPhil from Columbia University, and a MA in government from the College of William and Mary. An award winning teacher, he holds teaching positions at Virginia Commonwealth University, and the University of Virginia.
Richard Green, Senior Advisor, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate
Richard K. Green, Ph.D., is the Director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. He holds the Lusk Chair in Real Estate and is Professor in the Sol Price School of Public Policy and the Marshall School of Business. Prior to joining the USC faculty, Dr. Green spent four years as the Oliver T. Carr, Jr., Chair of Real Estate Finance at The George Washington University School of Business. He was Director of the Center for Washington Area Studies and the Center for Real Estate and Urban Studies at that institution. Dr. Green also taught real estate finance and economics courses for 12 years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was Wangard Faculty Scholar and Chair of Real Estate and Urban Land Economics. He also has been principal economist and director of financial strategy and policy analysis at Freddie Mac. More recently, he was a visiting professor of real estate at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and he continues to retain an affiliation with Wharton. He is or has been involved with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the Conference of Business Economists, the Center for Urban Land Economics Research, and the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. Dr. Green also is a Weimer Fellow at the Homer Hoyt Institute, and a member of the faculty of the Selden Institute for Advanced Studies in Real Estate. He was recently President of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association. Dr. Green earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He earned his A.B. in economics from Harvard University. His research addresses housing markets, housing policy, tax policy, transportation, mortgage finance and urban growth. He is a member of two academic journal editorial boards, and a reviewer for several others. His work is published in a number of journals including the American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Journal of Urban Economics, Land Economics, Regional Science and Urban Economics, Real Estate Economics, Housing Policy Debate, Journal of Housing Economics, and Urban Studies. His book with Stephen Malpezzi, A Primer on U.S. Housing Markets and Housing Policy, is used at universities throughout the country. His work has been cited or he has been quoted in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and the Economist, as well as other outlets. He recently gave a presentation at the 31st annual Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Economic Symposium, where his work was cited by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. He was also recently featured as a speaker at the White House on housing policy. The National Association of REALTORS, the Ford Foundation, and the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy have funded grants to support some of Dr. Green’s research. He consults for the World Bank. In 1995, Dr. Green was honored as “Teacher of the Year” by the University of Wisconsin Graduate Business Association, and soon thereafter was inducted into that University’s Teaching Academy.
Keith Hall, Director, Congressional Budget Office
Keith Hall became the ninth Director of the Congressional Budget Office on April 1, 2015. He has 25 years of public service, most recently as the Chief Economist and Director of Economics at the International Trade Commission (ITC). Before that, he was a senior research fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Chief Economist for the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, Chief Economist for the Department of Commerce, a senior international economist for the ITC, an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas, and an international economist at the Department of Treasury. In those positions, he worked on a wide variety of topics, including labor market analysis and policy, economic conditions and measurement, macroeconomic analysis and forecasting, international economics and policy, and computational partial equilibrium modeling. He earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in economics from Purdue University.
George Hammond, Economic and Business Research Center Director and Research Professor, University of Arizona
George W. Hammond, Ph.D., is director of the Economic and Business Research Center in the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. He has extensive experience in the design and use of econometric models for forecasting, and he has produced nearly 100 forecasts during his career. Dr. Hammond’s forecasts and other research have garnered significant grant support and had significant influence, reaching over 1,000 business leaders, policymakers, and individuals each year through conferences, publications, and press contacts. These print, radio, and televised press contacts included NBC Nightly News, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, The New York Times, and local media. Dr. Hammond is also a research professor in the Center. His academic research focuses on the determinants of local economic growth in the U.S., the impact of state and local policies on economic growth, and the contribution of higher education to local workforce development. Dr. Hammond holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Colorado and a Ph.D. in business economics from Indiana University.
Karen Alderman Harbert, President and Chief Executive Officer, U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st
Century Energy
Karen Alderman Harbert is president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy (Institute). Harbert leads the Institute’s efforts to build support for meaningful energy action nationally and internationally through policy development, education, and advocacy. Harbert is the former assistant secretary for policy and international affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). She was the primary policy adviser to the secretary of energy and to the department on domestic and international energy issues. Prior to joining the DOE, Harbert was deputy assistant administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Harbert gained experience on issues associated with economic reform and privatization through earlier positions at the USAID, the Organization of American States, and the International Republican Institute. She received a degree in international policy studies and political science from Rice University in Houston, Texas.
Kevin A. Hassett, State Farm James Q. Wilson Chair in American Politics and Culture and Director of Economic Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute
Kevin A. Hassett is the State Farm James Q. Wilson Chair in American Politics and Culture at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). He is also a resident scholar and AEI’s director of economic policy studies. Before joining AEI, Hassett was a senior economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and an associate professor of economics and finance at Columbia (University) Business School. He served as a policy consultant to the US Department of the Treasury during the George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations. Hassett has also been an economic adviser to presidential candidates since 2000, when he became the chief economic adviser to Senator John McCain during that year’s presidential primaries. He served as an economic adviser to the George W. Bush 2004 presidential campaign, a senior economic adviser to the McCain 2008 presidential campaign, and an economic adviser to the Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign. Hassett has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in economics from Swarthmore College.
Selma Hepp, VP Business Intelligence, Pacific Union
Selma Hepp joined Pacific Union in early 2016 as Vice President of Business Intelligence. In this newly created executive role, Selma analyzes real estate market and economic conditions in order to help our real estate professionals thoroughly understand client demographics and empirical market dynamics on a hyperlocal basis. This will give Pacific Union real estate professionals definitive buyer profiles and specific marketing tactics that will enable them to better serve the company's clientele. Prior to joining Pacific Union, Selma was Chief Economist at Trulia. Her career includes positions at senior economist for the California Association of Realtors and economist and manager of public policy and homeownership at the National Association of Realtors. She has also worked as a research associate at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education. Selma earned her Master of Arts in Economics from the State University of New York (SUNY), Buffalo and a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning and Design from the University of Maryland.
Constance Hunter, Chief Economist, KPMG
Constance Hunter is the Chief Economist of KPMG LLP. She is an economic thought leader focusing on how economic factors impact asset prices and business performance worldwide. In her role at KPMG, Constance works closely with the firm’s leadership and clients to identify inflection points, risks, and opportunities that arise in the constantly evolving economic landscape. She is known for correctly calling economic indicators that presage market turning points such as the Russian currency devaluation in 1998, the Dotcom bubble in 2001, the real estate and credit crisis in 2007-08, the recovery of the housing market and concurrent low bond yields in 2012, and the continued low bond yields through 2016. Constance has held numerous positions in asset management for more than twenty years and has held the position of Chief Investment Officer or Chief Economist for the past ten years. Prior to joining KPMG, she served as Deputy Chief Investment Officer at AXA Investment Managers, where she helped manage over $500 billion in fixed income assets. She graduated with a BA in Economics and Sociology from New York University and with a Master’s of International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Glenn Hutchins, Co-Founder, Silver Lake Partners
Glenn Hutchins is a co-founder of Silver Lake, the global leader in technology investing. He is a director of both AT&T and Nasdaq, Inc.; a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; vice chairman of both the Brookings Institution and the Economic Club of New York; and a member of the Executive Committee of the New York Presbyterian Hospital. He is an owner and member of the Executive Committee of the Boston Celtics basketball team. Mr. Hutchins is a director of the Harvard Management Company, which is responsible for the Harvard University endowment, and co-chairman of the University’s capital campaign. He is also a board member of the Center for American Progress as well as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Previously, Mr. Hutchins served President Clinton in both the transition and the White House as a special advisor on economic and health-care policy. He was also previously chairman of the board of SunGard Data Systems, Inc. and Instinet, Inc. Mr. Hutchins and his wife, Debbie, founded the Hutchins Family Foundation which, among other projects, has created the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University, which is chaired by Mr. Hutchins; the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at The Brookings Institution; and the Chronic Fatigue Initiative, which conducts basic research into the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome. Mr. Hutchins holds an A.B. from Harvard College, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, World Bank
As Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Sri Mulyani Indrawati is responsible for the World Bank’s operations worldwide. She works closely with client countries and member states to put operational strategies in place that address new and persistent development challenges in support of the World Bank’s goals of ending poverty and promoting shared prosperity. She is also responsible for the strategic direction and policy framework of the Bank’s Fund for the Poorest, IDA, one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 77 poorest countries. She chairs the World Bank Group’s Advisory Council on Gender and Development, which brings together global leaders and experts on gender issues, including from the private sector. Before joining the World Bank in June 2010, she served as Indonesia’s minister of finance in addition to being the coordinating minister of economic affairs. She was her country’s first female and youngest ever finance minister. Sri Mulyani is known as a determined reformer and fearless corruption fighter and has been credited with steering her country skillfully through the financial crisis. Her earlier positions include head of the Indonesian National Development Planning Agency, executive director at the International Monetary Fund, faculty member at the University of Indonesia, and visiting professor at the Andrew Young School of Public Policy at Georgia State University. Indrawati holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Illinois and a bachelor of arts in economics from the University of Indonesia.
Chris Jackson, Small Business Research & Policy, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Chris Jackson is a research assistant in Research and Policy for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, assisting in the understanding of what policies and environments best promote entrepreneurship and education in the pursuit of economic growth. In particular, he focuses on a number of entrepreneurship policy issues that are relevant for federal and state policymakers, including occupational licensing, non-compete agreements, intellectual property, and taxation. He also is a frequent contributor to the Kauffman Growthology blog. Previously, he worked as a research assistant in the economics department at the University of Missouri. Jackson holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Randel Johnson, Senior Vice President, Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Randel K. Johnson joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on December 1, 1997. As senior vice president, he is primarily responsible for labor, immigration, and employee benefits issues pending before Congress and the federal agencies.Consulting with the Chamber’s member policy committees and his staff of 11, Johnson determines the Chamber’s position and sets strategy on a wide variety of issues that fall within the jurisdiction of his division. These include union-driven initiatives such as card check legislation, ergonomics, and blacklisting regulations; pension funding reform and health care; civil rights and wage and hour; and comprehensive immigration reform, including visa and border policy. Johnson regularly testifies before Congress and is widely quoted in the media on employment and immigration issues as a recognized expert in these fields.Johnson is a member of the Brookings Institution’s Quality Alliance Steering Committee and previously served on the board of directors of the National Immigration Forum and the Lutheran Immigration Refugee Services agency. He was also a member of the Department of Homeland Security Data Management Improvement Act Task Force on border entry and exit issues, the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations Immigration Task Force, the 21st Century Workforce Commission, and the Carnegie U.S.-Mexico Migration Study Group.Before joining the Chamber, Johnson was the Republican labor counsel and coordinator for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce where he supervised a staff of professionals and was responsible for employment policy and legal issues before the committee. His work centered on legislative activity under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the National Labor Relations Act, the Congressional Accountability Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
Sara Johnson, Senior Research Director, Global Economics, IHS
Sara Johnson is Senior Research Director, Global Economics with IHS Economics. In this role, she helps clients assess worldwide business and financial opportunities and risks. IHS Economics provides economic forecasts and analyses of over 200 countries. Ms. Johnson co-authors the Global Executive Summary, manages the Executive Strategy Council, and presents the IHS economic outlook to international conferences. She was previously North American Research Director and Chief Regional Economist with Standard & Poor’s DRI, a predecessor of IHS Economics. Ms. Johnson holds a B.A. in economics and mathematics from Wellesley College and an M.A. in economics from Harvard University with concentrations in finance and macroeconomic theory. Ms. Johnson is a former director of the National Association for Business Economics and the NABE Foundation, and was named a NABE Fellow in 2014. She is a member of the American Economic Association and serves on Associated Industries of Massachusetts’ Board of Economic Advisors.
M. Ayhan Kose, Director, Development Prospects Group, the World Bank Group
Ayhan Kose is Director of the World Bank Group’s Development Prospects Group. In this capacity, he leads the World Bank Group’s work on global macroeconomic outlook and forecasts as well as financial flows and commodity markets. He also coordinates work related to the monitoring of the World Bank Group’s twin goals of ending poverty and promoting shared prosperity. Under his management, the Development Prospects Group produces the Bank’s flagship reports, Global Economic Prospects and Global Monitoring Report, in addition to other monitoring publications.Mr. Kose has written extensively on international macroeconomics and finance. Many of his articles have been published in leading academic journals, such as the American Economic Review, International Economic Review, Journal of International Economics, Review of Economic Dynamics, Journal of Development Economics, and Economic Policy. He has also written articles for a number of policy-oriented publications, including the IMF’s World Economic Outlook, Finance & Development, Foreign Policy, Euromoney Emerging Markets Handbook, and VoxEU. His research has been featured in prominent media outlets, such as The Economist, New York Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, and other international and regional newspapers. He is on the editorial boards of several academic journals, and was the founding Co-Editor of the IMF Economic Review and Editor of the IMF Research Bulletin.Mr. Kose’s latest book, Collapse and Revival: Understanding Global Recessions and Recoveries (co-authored; IMF Publications, October 2015), tracks the global business cycle through the destruction of a global recession to the renewal of recovery, drawing on four major episodes in the past half century. His previous book, Financial Crises: Causes, Consequences, and Policy Responses (co-edited; IMF Publications, February 2014), provides a comprehensive overview of recent research on financial crises. His first book, Emerging Markets: Resilience and Growth Amid Global Turmoil (co-authored; Brookings Institution Press, December 2010), examines the performance of emerging market economies during the global financial crisis.
Arthur Kroeber, Managing Director and Head of Research, GaveKal Dragonomics, Senior Fellow, Brookings-
Tsinghua Center
Arthur R. Kroeber is head of research at Gavekal, a financial-services firm based in Hong Kong, founder of the China-focused Gavekal Dragonomics research service, and editor of China Economic Quarterly. He divides his time between Beijing and New York. Before founding Dragonomics in 2002, he spent fifteen years as a financial and economic journalist in China and South Asia. He is a senior non-resident fellow of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center, an adjunct professor at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, and a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations. His book, China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know, is published by Oxford University Press in April 2016.
Andreas Lehnert, Deputy Director, Office of Financial Stability Policy and Research, Federal Reserve Board
Andreas Lehnert is Deputy Director of the Office of Financial Stability Policy and Research at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, DC. Andreas joined the Fed after earning his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago. He started in the household finance research group where he worked on a variety of topics in consumer and mortgage credit. During the financial crisis, he contributed to several projects including various mortgage modification initiatives, the TARP, the 2009 bank stress tests and the TALF. In November 2010 he moved to the Board’s newly created financial stability group where he participates in a variety of ongoing initiatives to promote financial stability, including regulatory reform, the periodic assessment of financial vulnerabilities, the development of macroprudential tools and the design and oversight of the bank stress tests; in addition, he supports the Federal Reserve’s role on the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Financial Stability Board. His research focuses on financial stability, macroprudential policy, banking, and finance.
David Lingelbach, Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, University of Baltimore
David Lingelbach is an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Merrick School of Business of the University of Baltimore, where he serves as Academic Program Director of the Entrepreneurship Fellows Program. He is also an Adjunct Professor of International Economics at Johns Hopkins’ Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. David’s research focuses on entrepreneurial finance and entrepreneurship in developing and emerging economies. His research has been published in international journals including Venture Capital: An International Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance, International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Journal of Product and Brand Management, and Journal of Consumer Marketing. He is currently working on a book on the Russian oligarchs entitled, Aloof Partners: How Six Outsiders Created the World’s Greatest Fortune. Prior to becoming an academic, David worked in financial services for over twenty years. He was CEO of Bank of America’s businesses in the former Soviet Union and President of Russia’s first venture capital fund. He was also the founder and co-founder of eight startups. David has served as a policy adviser on entrepreneurship and venture capital to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Gates Foundation, and the national governments of Indonesia and Qatar. Dr. Lingelbach completed a Ph.D. from the University of Exeter in 2009 and S.M. and S.B. degrees from MIT in 1984.
David Lipton, First Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
Mr. David Lipton assumed the position of First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund on September 1, 2011. He served as a Special Advisor to the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund starting July 26, 2011 before assuming his duties as First Deputy Managing Director. Before coming to the Fund, Mr. Lipton was Special Assistant to the President, and served as Senior Director for International Economic Affairs at the National Economic Council and National Security Council at the White House. Previously, Lipton was a Managing Director at Citi, where he was Head of Global Country Risk Management. In that capacity, he chaired Citi’s Country Risk Committee, worked for the Senior Risk Officer, and advised senior management on global risk issues. Prior to joining Citi in May 2005, he spent five years at Moore Capital Management, a global hedge fund and, before that, a year at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Lipton served in the Clinton administration at the Treasury Department from 1993 to 1998. As Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs — and before that as Assistant Secretary – Lipton helped lead the Treasury’s response to the financial crisis in Asia and the effort to modernize the international financial architecture. Before joining the Clinton administration, Lipton was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center of Scholars. From 1989 to 1992, he teamed up with Prof. Jeffrey Sachs then at Harvard University, working as economic advisers to the governments of Russia, Poland and Slovenia during their transitions to capitalism. Lipton began his career with eight years on the staff of the International Monetary Fund, working on economic stabilization issues in emerging market and poor countries. Lipton earned a Ph.d. and M.A. from Harvard University in 1982 and a B.A. from Wesleyan University in 1975.
Craig Martin, Chief Executive Officer, Feinstein Kean Healthcare
Craig Martin has spent a quarter century working with innovators in the life sciences, technology and health care. He counsels leaders from industry, academia, government and non-profits to meet challenges and opportunities presented by the advancement of new and novel technologies, products, services, policies and ideas.His recent work has centered on helping organizations develop and adapt business, market entry, positioning and communication strategies based on major shifts in health care, including: health reform, emerging reimbursement and care delivery models, the rise of “big data”, consumer empowerment, the advancement toward personalized health, and the new and innovative science and technologies driving many of these trends.
His client relationships at FKH include pharmaceutical, diagnostic, genetic testing, drug development, technology, health analytics business consulting and services companies, as well as advocacy groups, health systems and academic research centers. Craig began his career working with organizations in the midst of responding to dramatic changes in environmental, health and safety policy, technologies, practices, and public and market expectations. His background includes work in Washington, DC, New York and Cambridge as well as international markets, and building and establishing a global network of specialized consultancies to serve client needs.
Christopher Mayer, Professor of Real Estate, Finance and Economics, Columbia Business School
Professor Mayer is Paul Milstein Professor of Real Estate and Finance and Economics at Columbia Business School. His research explores a variety of topics in real estate and financial markets, including housing cycles, mortgage markets, debt securitization, and commercial real estate valuation. Dr. Mayer is also a principal at Longbridge Financial, a new and innovative company focused on developing and delivering reverse mortgage products to senior homeowners in a responsible manner. Professor Mayer also serves as a Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a member of the Academic Advisory Board for Standard and Poor's. He has received funding from the National Science Foundation and Pew Charitable Trusts. Dr. Mayer has been active in advising policymakers on the financial crisis, testifying six times before committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, writing on the causes of the housing and credit bubbles for the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, and authoring numerous op-ed articles on housing and credit markets. He frequently appears in the media, including regular appearances on National Public Radio, Bloomberg, the Washington Post, and ABC News and commentary in The Wall Street Journal and The NY Times. Dr. Mayer previously served as Senior Vice Dean at Columbia Business School and held positions at The Wharton School, the University of Michigan, Harvard Business School, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. He holds a BA in Math and Economics from the University of Rochester with highest honors and a PhD in Economics from MIT.
Frank Medina, Senior Counsel and Director of Research, Better Markets
Frank Medina is Senior Counsel and Director of Research for Better Markets, a non-profit, non-partisan, and independent organization founded in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to promote the public interest in the financial markets, support the financial reform of Wall Street, and make our financial system work for all Americans again. Before joining Better Markets, Mr. Medina was the Deputy Chief Counsel for the House Financial Services Committee, where he drafted legislation and amendments and wrote reports on major financial regulatory issues considered by the Committee, including financial stability, systemic risk, and financial crises. Before that, he was a Senior Attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission, an Associate General Counsel at Citigroup, Inc., and an associate at the law firms of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering and Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Mr. Medina holds an AB from Brown University and a JD with honors from the University of Chicago Law School.
Chad Moutray, Chief Economist, National Association of Manufacturers
Chad Moutray is chief economist for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), where he serves as the NAM’s economic forecaster and spokesperson on economic issues. He frequently comments on current economic conditions for manufacturers through professional presentations and media interviews. He has appeared on Bloomberg, CNBC, C-SPAN, Fox Business and Fox News, among other news outlets. Prior to joining the NAM, Mr. Moutray was the chief economist and director of economic research for the Office of Advocacy at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) from 2002 to 2010. In that role, he was responsible for researching the importance of entrepreneurship to the U.S. economy and highlighting various issues of importance to small business owners, policymakers and academics. In addition to discussing economic and policy trends, his personal research focused on the importance of educational attainment to both self-employment and economic growth. Prior to working at the SBA, Mr. Moutray was the dean of the School of Business Administration at Robert Morris College in Chicago, Ill. (now Robert Morris University of Illinois). Under his leadership, the business school had rapid growth, both adding new programs and new campuses. He began the development of an M.B.A. program that began accepting students after his departure and created a business institute for students to work with local businesses on classroom projects and internships. Mr. Moutray is a former board member of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE). He is also the former president and chairman of the National Economists Club, the local NABE chapter for Washington, D.C. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from Eastern Illinois University. He is a Certified Business Economist™, where he was part of the initial graduating class in 2015. In 2014, he received the Outstanding Graduate Alumni Award from Eastern Illinois University, and in 2015, he accepted the Alumnus Achievement Award from Lake Land College in Mattoon, Ill., where he earned his associate’s degree in business administration.
Sandra O’Connor, Chief Regulatory Affairs Officer, JP Morgan Chase & Co.
Sandie O’Connor is the Chief Regulatory Affairs Officer for JPMorgan Chase & Co. She also serves on firmwide governance committees and chairs the JPMorgan Chase Foundation Investment Committee. In her role, O’Connor is responsible for the firm’s comprehensive regulatory strategy. This includes engaging in thoughtful and informed advocacy with regulators and policymakers, understanding and providing thought leadership on how policies affect the firm’s clients and economic growth overall, and governing company-wide internal coordination on global regulatory reform issues. O’Connor joined J.P. Morgan in 1988 and has held several key executive positions. Most recently, she was Treasurer of JPMorgan Chase, where she managed the firm’s capital, balance sheet, liquidity and funding strategy and positions, as well as the firm’s rating agency relationships and corporate insurance activities. In addition to her work at JPMorgan Chase, O’Connor serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the YMCA of Greater New York and Chair of its Development Committee, as well as on the boards of several industry trade associations.
Stephen D. Oliner, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
Stephen D. Oliner is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and a senior fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Ziman Center for Real Estate. Oliner joined AEI after spending more than 25 years at the Federal Reserve Board. An economist by training, Oliner held a number of high-level positions at the Fed and was closely involved in the Fed’s analysis of the US economy and financial markets. Since leaving the Fed, Oliner has become well known for his analysis of US monetary policy and has maintained an active research agenda that focuses on real estate issues and the US economy’s growth potential. He is coprincipal developer of the AEI Pinto-Oliner Mortgage Risk, Collateral Risk, and Capital Adequacy Indexes.
Peter Orszag, Former Director, US Office of Management and Budget
Peter Richard Orszag is an American economist who will join Lazard as Managing Director and Vice Chairman in May 2016. He previously served as a Vice Chairman of Corporate & Investment Banking and Chairman of the Financial Strategy & Solutions Group at Citigroup, Inc. He is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution and a Contributing Columnist at Bloomberg View. He is the former Director of the US Office of Management and Budget.
Michelle Patron, former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director, National Security Council
Michelle Patron is an energy strategist and thought leader with deep expertise in global energy markets, climate policy, geopolitics, and sustainability issues. She has two decades of unique experience advising private investors, governments, and NGOs on regional and global energy markets and driving high impact policy. Patron recently served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Energy and Climate at the National Security Council at the White House designing and executing international energy and climate policy, including the historic climate deal with China. Prior to the White House, she was Senior Director at PIRA Energy Group, a leading private energy research and consulting firm. Earlier in her career, Patron worked at the Department of Energy, Deutsche Bank, the International Energy Agency, and the Center for International Environmental Law, and served as energy attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Patron holds a BA from Columbia University and an MA from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She has served as an expert commentator to CNBC, BBC, NPR, Fox, CBS, The Economist, and The New York Times and written op-eds for Reuters, Foreign Affairs, the Financial Times and the Los Angeles Times. She has also been an adjunct professor at New York University and is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Scott Pattison, CEO, National Governors Association
Scott Pattison serves as executive director and CEO of the National Governors Association (NGA), the bipartisan organization of the nation’s governors. The group speaks with a collective voice on a wide range of issues—everything from health and education to cybersecurity, energy and transportation—and works to influence the federal government on innovative ideas that can be implemented nationwide. NGA seeks innovative solutions to today’s most pressing public policy challenges, identifying those exciting solutions happening every day at the state level. Pattison works with governors to identify and prioritize issues facing states, identifies challenges and solutions to those challenges and oversees the day-to-day operations of the association. He brings a wealth of pioneering experience in tackling trade issues; financial and resource planning; and understanding the nuanced relationship between state and federal governments, especially in how budgets can be drivers of success in achieving results. He’s frequently interviewed by news organizations, including The New York Times, NPR and The Washington Post, about public policy issues. Prior to joining NGA, Pattison served for over 14 years as director of the National Association of State Budget Officers, supporting governors’ chief financial officers and budget directors by providing expert analysis to guide state budget practices and decisions. He started his career in the federal government at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the late 1980s. At the FTC, Pattison held roles as attorney-advisor, special assistant and staff attorney. Following his tenure at the FTC, Pattison served as the executive director for the National Consumer Coalition, where he honed skills in nonprofit management and developed partnerships with members of Congress. Pattison also served as state budget director and head of the Virginia Department of Planning and Budget, as well as counsel in the office of the Virginia Attorney General. Pattison understands the crucial role education plays at all levels of public service. He recently served on the board of Old Dominion University and is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Richmond. He is also a fellow with the National Academy of Public Administration, serves on the board of the Center for State and Local Government Excellence and is a former chair of the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of George Washington University, Pattison went on to receive his law degree from the University of Virginia.
Edward J. Pinto, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
American Enterprise Institute (AEI) resident fellow Edward J. Pinto is the codirector of AEI’s International Center on Housing Risk. He is currently researching policy options for rebuilding the US housing finance sector and specializes in the effect of government housing policies on mortgages, foreclosures, and on the availability of affordable housing for working-class families. Pinto writes AEI’s monthly Housing Risk Watch, which has replaced AEI’s FHA Watch. Along with AEI resident scholar Stephen Oliner, Pinto is the creator and developer of the AEI Pinto-Oliner Mortgage Risk, Collateral Risk, and Capital Adequacy Indexes. An executive vice president and chief credit officer for Fannie Mae until the late 1980s, Pinto has done groundbreaking research on the role of federal housing policy in the 2008 mortgage and financial crisis. Pinto’s work on the Government Mortgage Complex includes seminal research papers submitted to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission: “Government Housing Policies in the Lead-up to the Financial Crisis” and “Triggers of the Financial Crisis.” In December 2012, he completed a study of 2.4 million Federal Housing Administration (FHA)–insured loans and found that FHA policies have resulted in a high proportion of working-class families losing their homes. Pinto has a J.D. from Indiana University Maurer School of Law and a B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Penny Pritzker, U.S. Secretary of Commerce
Penny Pritzker has served as the 38th U.S. Secretary of Commerce since being sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden on June 26, 2013. As Secretary of Commerce, she is focused on providing American businesses and entrepreneurs with the tools they need to grow and hire. Secretary Pritzker is a key member of President Obama’s economic team, with 27 years of private sector experience. Since taking office, she has worked closely with the business community and helped advance the President’s priorities of expanding growth and opportunity for all Americans. Guided by conversations with more than 1,400 CEOs and business leaders, and over one-third of the Fortune 500 CEOs, Secretary Pritzker has developed the “Open for Business Agenda.” This bold strategic plan and policy blueprint for the Commerce Department focuses on expanding trade and investment, unleashing government data for economic benefit, spurring innovation, protecting the environment—and executing these priorities with operational excellence as careful stewards of taxpayer dollars. As the country’s chief commercial advocate, Secretary Pritzker leads the Administration’s trade and investment promotion efforts. In her first year in office, she traveled to 19 nations and led four trade missions, including the first to the Middle East by a Commerce Secretary in 15 years and a commercial diplomacy mission to Ukraine, Poland, and Turkey at the request of President Obama. In June 2014, she became the first-ever Commerce Secretary to travel to Burma, as part of her central role in the Administration’s strategic rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region. Her multiple trips to the region have strengthened and deepened our commercial relationships on the continent. A prominent advocate for America’s economic growth, Secretary Pritzker has initiated the United States High Level Economic Dialogue with Mexico, expanded our Foreign Commercial Service presence around the world, and worked with the American business community on urgent issues, such as the crisis in the Ukraine. Helping U.S. firms of all sizes discover new markets overseas has long been a Commerce Department priority. Secretary Pritzker in May accelerated and expanded that tradition by launching NEI/NEXT, an updated and revitalized continuation of the President’s successful National Export Initiative. This export-promotion program will build on the 11.3 million American jobs currently supported by exports by spurring more sales of U.S. goods and services from companies of all sizes in overseas markets.
Sree Ramaswamy, Senior Fellow, McKinsey Global Institute
Sree Ramaswamy is a Senior Fellow at the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), McKinsey’s business and economics research arm. He leads research on the activities of multinational corporations, their impact on the global economy, and the influence of technology, competition, and other forces on the corporate sector. He is also a co-leader of MGI’s research on the US economy, and has authored reports on the ongoing digital transformation of US industries, on new investment opportunities, challenges in the US labor market, and the role of US multinational firms in the global economy. Sree is a frequent speaker at conferences, policy and client roundtables, and media briefings on topics related to his core research and to MGI’s broader themes around global forces, technology, trade and investment, and the global and US economic outlook. His research covers broad sectors of the global economy, including manufacturing, natural resources, and advanced technology industries. Sree’s work is frequently cited in The Economist, Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications. Prior to joining McKinsey, Sree spent a decade in the US telecom and aerospace sector. He worked in regulatory affairs and engineering research for broadband satellite networks and holds three patents. He has an MBA and Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in engineering and telecommunications.
Ludger Schuknecht, Chief Economist and Director General, Economic Policy and International Economy, German Ministry of Finance
Ludger Schuknecht is Chief Economist & heading the Directorate General Fiscal Policy and International Financial and Monetary Policy at the German Ministry of Finance. In this role, he advises the Minister on economic policy issues in the domestic and international sphere. In his previous position of Senior Advisor in the Directorate General Economics of the European Central Bank, he contributed to the preparation of monetary policy decision making and the ECB positions in European policy coordination. Before that, he headed the ECB’s fiscal surveillance section which followed assignments at the World Trade Organisation and at the International Monetary Fund. His recent research focuses on public expenditure policies and reform and the analysis of economic boom-bust episodes. He wrote "Public Spending in the 20th Century: A Global Perspective" together with Vito Tanzi.
Derek Scissors, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
Derek M. Scissors is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he focuses on the Chinese and Indian economies and US economic relations with China and India. He also studies US economic relations with other Asian countries. He is author of the China Global Investment Tracker and a series of papers starting in late 2008 which chronicled the end of pro-market Chinese reform and predicted economic stagnation as a result. He is also currently an adjunct professor at George Washington University. Before joining AEI, Dr. Scissors was a senior research fellow in the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation. He has worked for London-based Intelligence Research Ltd., taught economics at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, and served as an action officer in international economics and energy for the US Department of Defense. Dr. Scissors has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree from the University of Chicago, and a doctorate from Stanford University.
Adam Sieminski, Administrator, U.S. Energy Information Administration
Adam Sieminski was sworn in on June 4, 2012, as the eighth administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). From March 2012 to May 2012, while awaiting confirmation as EIA administrator, Mr. Sieminski served as senior director for energy and environment on the staff of the National Security Council. From 2005 until March 2012, he was the chief energy economist for Deutsche Bank, working with the Bank's global research and trading units. Drawing on extensive industry, government, and academic sources, Mr. Sieminski forecasted energy market trends and wrote on a variety of topics involving energy economics, climate change, geopolitics, and commodity prices. From 1998 to 2005, he served as the director and energy strategist for Deutsche Bank's global oil and gas equity team. Prior to that, from 1988 to 1997, Mr. Sieminski was the senior energy analyst for NatWest Securities in the United States, covering the major U.S. international integrated oil companies. He also had acted as a senior adviser to the Energy and National Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonpartisan policy think tank in Washington, DC. He is a senior fellow and former president of the U.S. Association for Energy Economics, and served as president of the National Association of Petroleum Investment Analysts. In 2006, Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman appointed Mr. Sieminski to the National Petroleum Council (NPC), an advisory group to the secretary of energy, where he helped author the NPC's Global Oil and Gas Study: The Hard Truths. In addition to his affiliation with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, he was also an advisory board member of the Global Energy and Environment Initiative at Johns Hopkins University/SAIS. He had also served as chairman of the Supply-Demand Committee of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, and as an advisory member of the Strategic Energy Task Force of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a member of the Washington, DC, investment professional society, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. He received both an undergraduate degree in civil engineering and a master's degree in public administration from Cornell University.
Sir Paul Tucker, former Deputy Governor, Bank of England; fellow, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; Chair, Systemic Risk Council
Chair of the Systemic Risk Council and former Bank of England deputy governor, Sir Paul Tucker is one of the most respected central bankers and financial policy makers of our time. He joined the Bank in 1980 and played a major role during his tenure in many of the most significant developments in the international financial system. Mr. Tucker was a member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, Financial Policy Committee, Prudential Regulation Authority Board, and Court of Directors. He was knighted for his reforms, which created a more resilient international banking system. Sir Paul is noted for his analysis and understanding of the capital markets, developing a new rigor and set of relationships for the BOE, which informed his voting positions on quantitative easing and forward guidance as a member of the Monetary Policy Committee. Sir Paul was analyzing the data and driving economic policy at one of the world's most influential and internationally oriented central banks only a few short months ago, and he has much to share about the implications of monetary policy for the global economy, international financial markets, and risks to monetary and financial stability. As a former leading member of the G20 Financial Stability Board, he has keen insight into international policymaking and into how large and complex international banks and markets should be properly supervised given the myriad of global regulations. He believes the new regulatory regime will influence monetary policy as well as shaping banks' strategies, and that policy to cure the problem of “too big to fail” should focus less on breaking up banks and more on 'resolution regimes' that put losses on to equity investors and bond holders, not taxpayers. Sir Paul was instrumental in establishing how an independent Bank of England sets monetary policy free from political decisions, illustrating how central bankers were responsible for some of the most effective policy initiatives during the last decade. Reflecting his agency in public policy via the Bank of England, globally and in Europe, Tucker is now a research fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Public Policy. Sir Paul also serves as a Director at Swiss Re, a leading global re-insurer, and was recently elected to the board of the Financial Services Volunteers Corps (FSVC).
Ángel Ubide, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs
Ángel Ubide is managing director at Goldman Sachs, in the Investment Management Division. He has a long experience in the hedge fund industry, having worked previously at D.E. Shaw (2013-15) and Tudor Investment Corporation (2001-12). During that time, he had several policy research affiliations, including Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (2009-16), board member of the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee (2010-12), founding member of the European Central Bank’s Shadow Governing Council (2002-12), and associate fellow at the Center for European Policy Studies (2003-05). He was a member of the Group of Experts of the Spanish Socialist Party during the 2015 election campaign and serves in the Scientific Board of the Progressive Economy. He started his career as an economist at the International Monetary Fund and as an associate at McKinsey & Company. Ángel received a degree in economics and business administration from the University of Zaragoza and his MA and PhD in economics from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.
Greg Valliere, Chief Strategist, Horizon Investments
Greg Valliere is the Chief Global Strategist at Horizon Investments. With over three decades of experience following Washington for investors, Greg brings a unique perspective to Horizon -- analyzing policy and politics and their impact on the markets. After Graduating from George Washington University, Greg co-founded The Washington Forum, which linked Wall Street with Washington. He subsequently held several positions, including Director of Research at the Charles Schwab Washington Research Group. Greg specializes in coverage of the Federal Reserve, economic policy and -- of course -- politics. He is a frequent guest on CNBC, Bloomberg TV and radio, CNN, Fox Business News and CBS radio. He is frequently quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Barrons and The New York Times. Greg is a member of the Conference of Business Economists and holds a Series 7 license. He and his wife Mary live in downtown DC, at the Watergate.
Holly Wade, Director, Research & Policy Analysis, NFIB Foundation
Holly Wade is the director of research and policy analysis for NFIB, where she provides analysis on public policy issues and economic trends affecting small business. She also produces the monthly Small Business Economic Trends survey with NFIB’s chief economist. She is a member of the National Association of Business Economics, National Economists Club, and the Department of Commerce’s Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Small and Minority Business. She has undergraduate degrees in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Washington and a Masters of Public Policy from the University of Denver.
Kevin Warsh, Former Governor of the Federal Reserve System; Shepard Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution
Kevin M. Warsh serves as Shepard Family distinguished visiting fellow in economics at the Hoover Institution and lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He advises several private and public companies, including service on the board of directors of UPS, and is also a member of the Group of Thirty (G30). Warsh conducts extensive research in the field of economics and finance. He recently issued an independent report proposing reforms in the conduct of monetary policy in the United Kingdom. The Bank of England adopted the report’s recommendations. Governor Warsh served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 2006 until 2011. Warsh served as the Federal Reserve's representative to the Group of Twenty (G-20) and as the Board's emissary to the emerging and advanced economies in Asia. In addition, he was Administrative Governor, managing and overseeing the Board's operations, personnel, and financial performance. Prior to his appointment to the Board, from 2002 until 2006, Warsh served as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Executive Secretary of the White House National Economic Council. Previously, Warsh was a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions department at Morgan Stanley & Co. in New York, serving as Vice President and Executive Director. He received his A.B. from Stanford University, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.
David Wessel, Director, Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Brookings Institution
David Wessel is director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, the mission of which is to improve the quality of fiscal and monetary policies and public understanding of them. He joined Brookings in December 2013 after 30 years on the staff of The Wall Street Journal where, most recently, he was economics editor and wrote the weekly Capital column. He is a contributing correspondent to The Wall Street Journal, appears frequently on NPR’s Morning Edition and tweets often at @davidmwessel. David is the author of two New York Times best-sellers: “In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke’s War on the Great Panic” (2009) and “Red Ink: Inside the High Stakes Politics of the Federal Budget” (2012.) He has shared two Pulitzer Prizes, one in 1984 for a Boston Globe series on the persistence of racism in Boston and the other in 2003 for Wall Street Journal stories on corporate scandals. A native of New Haven, Conn., and a product of its public schools, David is a 1975 graduate of Haverford College. He was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Business and Economics Journalism at Columbia University in 1980-81.
Dan White, Senior Economist, Moody's Analytics
Dan White is a Senior Economist at Moody’s Analytics, responsible for directing government consulting and regional economic research with an emphasis on fiscal policy. He regularly presents to clients and conferences, and has been featured in a number of print, radio, and televised media outlets, ranging from The Wall Street Journal to National Public Radio. He also has the pleasure of working closely with a number of governments in a consulting role. Before joining Moody’s Analytics, Dan worked as a financial economist for the New Mexico State Legislative Finance Committee in Santa Fe, where he forecast revenues and analyzed a wide range of policy issues concentrated around economic development, public investment, and debt management. Dan holds an MA in economics as well as undergraduate degrees in finance and international business from New Mexico State University.
Scott Winship, Fellow, Manhattan Institute
Scott Winship is the Walter B. Wriston Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Previously, he was a fellow at the Brookings Institution. Winship’s research interests include living standards and economic mobility, inequality, and insecurity. Earlier, he was research manager of the Economic Mobility Project of the Pew Charitable Trusts and a senior policy advisor at Third Way. Winship writes a column for Forbes.com; his research has been published in City Journal, National Affairs, National Review, The Wilson Quarterly, and Breakthrough Journal; and he contributed an essay on antipoverty policy to the ebook, Room to Grow: Conservative Reforms for a Limited Government and a Thriving Middle Class (2014). Winship has testified before Congress on poverty, inequality, and joblessness. He holds a B.A. in sociology and urban studies from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in social policy from Harvard University.