Speakers

Larry A. Akinyooye, Bureau of Labor Statistics
Larry Akinyooye is a Senior Economist for the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) within the Office of Employment and Unemployment Statistics (OEUS) at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Within the JOLTS program, Larry overseas estimate analyses; data review and validation; research and article publication; and coordination of state and national press release. Prior to JOLTS, he held a position as a Regulatory Economist with the Department of Homeland Security and worked in the OEUS within the Current Employment Statistics State & Area program. He obtained his MA in Economics from the City University of New York and his MBA in Finance from the Sellinger School of Business at Loyola University.

Vipin Arora, Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis
Vipin Arora is the Director of the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Dr. Arora oversees the production of closely watched economic statistics that provide an objective and timely picture of the U.S. economy. These include gross domestic product (GDP), personal income, and other national statistics, as well as data about states, counties, and industries, and U.S. international trade and investment.

He works with BEA's executive team to expand the agency's statistical programs and collaborates with BEA’s researchers to bolster the impact and effectiveness of research that furthers the agency’s mission. He is working with leadership to position BEA as an employer of choice for years to come.

Before joining BEA, Dr. Arora served as acting deputy assistant director of the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate of the National Science Foundation (NSF). He also served as deputy director of NSF’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, one of the federal government’s 13 principal statistical agencies.

At NSF, Dr. Arora oversaw data analysis, information dissemination, operations, human capital management, and multiple special projects. He led the creation of new partnerships between the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics and other federal agencies to better understand topics of importance in science and engineering.

Before that, he led economic analysis at the U.S. Energy Information and Administration. Dr. Arora also served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Army, as an analyst at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, and in the private sector in multiple organizations.

Dr. Arora holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Australian National University, a master’s degree in public administration from Syracuse University, and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois.

Rebecca Baker, Editor At Large, Bloomberg Industry Group
Rebecca Baker is an editor at large with the Bloomberg Industry Group in Arlington, Va. She previously was deputy head of news for the New York Daily News and deputy editor-in-chief for the New York Law Journal. She also worked as a reporter for several regional newspapers along the East Coast. Born and raised in Western Pennsylvania, she now resides in Alexandria, Va.

Jeff Barnett, Economist, Bureau of Economic Analysis
Jeff Barnett is Chief of the Business and Consumer Services Branch at the Bureau of Economic Analysis. He oversees the GDP consumer spending component for the service sector of the economy. He also directs the production of GDP by Industry statistics for a variety of service sector industries. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Howard University and a M.S. in Management from the University of Maryland Global Campus.

Keith B. Belton
Keith B. Belton is a public policy analyst and government relations executive whose career has spanned government, industry, and academia. His experience includes work with Indiana University’s Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Dow Chemical Company. He currently serves as Senior Director, Policy Analysis and Statistics for the American Chemistry Council, a Washington, DC-based trade association representing chemical manufacturers. 
His particular areas of expertise include benefit-cost analysis; industrial policy, economic complexity theory, and the federal regulatory and legislative process.
In terms of education, Keith holds a B.S. (chemistry) from the University of Maryland, and an M.S. (environmental science), and Ph.D. (public policy) from the George Washington University. 
He is a member of several professional associations, including the American Chemical Society, the American Economic Association, the National Association of Business Economists, and the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis.

Aaron Betz, Congressional Budget Office

Aaron works for the Congressional Budget Office in their Macroeconomic Analysis Division. He has analyzed the macroeconomic effects of tax reform, stimulus during the pandemic, and other legislative changes. His current projects involve long-term modeling of the production side of the economy and how it is affected by changes in policy. He received his Ph.D. in Economics in 2012 from the University of Virginia.

Kathleen Bostjancic, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist , Nationwide Mutual
Kathy Bostjancic is Senior Vice President and Chief Economist for Nationwide Mutual. Kathy leads a team of economists delivering economic forecasts and analyses that are used to inform and strengthen the organization’s strategies and operating plans in the insurance and financial services businesses.
Prior to joining Nationwide, Kathy served as Chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics where she was responsible for assessing and forecasting the U.S. macroeconomic environment including Federal Reserve’s monetary policy, and its impact on industries and financial markets. Kathy served in similar roles at The Conference Board, Merrill Lynch, Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), and Citicorp Investment Bank where she provided analyses on both U.S. and global macroeconomic topics, including international capital and foreign exchange markets, housing markets, U.S. consumer research, and global inflation and labor markets. 
Kathy is a noted economic expert who holds a master’s degree in economics from New York University and a bachelor’s in economics from Rutgers University. She is a is a frequent speaker to media and industry groups on the economic outlook, monetary policy, macroeconomics and financial markets.

Kyle Brown joined the Bureau of Economic Analysis in 2006 as an analyst producing Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) for services estimates, and currently works as Branch Chief in the Goods and Distributive Services Branch.  He is responsible for the production and oversight of PCE Goods, Motor Vehicle Output (MVO), Food, Transportation Equipment, and Distributive Services estimates, analyzing a variety of economic data from government and private sources to ensure timely, relevant, and accurate estimates.  Prior to Joining the BEA, Mr. Brown held a position as a math teacher for Fairfax County Public Schools.  Mr. Brown attended Grand Valley State University where he completed a B.S. in Mathematics and Economics.

Jennifer Bruner, Senior Research Economist, Bureau of Economic Analysis
Jennifer Bruner is a senior research economist in the Research and Methodologies Group in BEA’s International Directorate.  She has spent her entire professional career at BEA.  Her research interests include the measurement of services, the role of multinational enterprises in international trade, the implications of profit shifting for economic measurement, the measurement of digital trade, and the development of new data sets via data source linking.  Jennifer has contributed to the development of the OECD Handbook on Measuring Digital Trade.  She has been an active member of BEA’s R Users Group and holds a Data Science Specialization certificate from Johns Hopkins University.  Jennifer received her Ph.D. in Economics from American University and a B.A. in Economics and French from Albright College. 

Jesus Cañas, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Jesus Cañas is a senior business economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas analyzing regional economic growth. His research also focuses on issues pertaining to the Mexican economy, the U.S.–Mexico border economy and cross-border manufacturing. He has written articles for academic journals such as Annals of Regional Science and Growth and Change and co-edited Ten Gallon Economy: Sizing up Economic Growth in Texas.

Cañas is a member of the Mission Foods Texas–Mexico Center Faculty Advisory Board at Southern Methodist University, charged with the task of improving the Texas–Mexico relationship in its economic, political, social and cultural aspects. He is also an adjunct professor at Texas Christian University. He holds a BA in economics and finance and an MS in economics from the University of Texas at El Paso.

Alberto Cavallo, Edgerley Family Associate Professor, Harvard Business School
Alberto Cavallo is the Edgerley Family Professor at Harvard Business School, where he teaches in the Business, Government, and the International Economy (BGIE) unit, a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Cavallo's research focuses on the behavior of prices and its implications for macroeconomic measurement, models and policies. He pioneered the use of online data to measure inflation and conduct research on high-frequency pricing dynamics during his Ph.D. at Harvard. He created Inflacion Verdadera in 2007 to measure the real inflation rate in Argentina and co-founded The Billion Prices Project in 2008 to expand the measurement of online inflation globally. Cavallo also co-founded PriceStats in 2011, the leading private source of inflation and PPP statistics in over 20 countries. He received a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2010, an MBA from MIT Sloan in 2005, and a B.S. from Universidad de San Andres in Argentina in 2000.

Julia L. Coronado, Founder, MacroPolicy Perspectives
Julia Coronado is founder of the economic research firm MacroPolicy Perspectives and a Clinical Associate Professor at the McCombs School of Business. Julia received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Texas then served as an economist at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors for eight years forecasting the US economy and publishing scholarly articles on pension finances and market valuations, retirement saving, and digital currency and monetary policy. She is Vice President of the National Association of Business Economists, and serves on the Board of Directors of Robert Half International and Dynex Capital, the Advisory Boards of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Pension Research Council at the Wharton School and the Cleveland Fed’s Center for Inflation Research.

Wendy Edelberg, Director, The Hamilton Project
Wendy Edelberg is the director of The Hamilton Project and a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution. Edelberg joined Brookings in 2020, after more than fifteen years in the public sector. She is also a Principal at WestExec Advisors. Most recently, she was Chief Economist at the Congressional Budget Office. Prior to working at CBO, Edelberg was the executive director of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which released its report on the causes of the financial crisis in January 2011. Previously, she worked on issues related to macroeconomics, housing, and consumer spending at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers during two administrations. Before that, she worked on those same issues at the Federal Reserve Board. In 2022, Edelberg was appointed as a co-chair of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Climate and Macroeconomics Roundtable.

Edelberg is a macroeconomist whose research has spanned a wide range of topics, from household spending and saving decisions, to the economic effects of fiscal policy, to systemic risks in the financial system. In addition, at CBO and the Federal Reserve Board, she worked on forecasting the macroeconomy. Edelberg received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago, an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. from Columbia University.

Femi Elegbede, Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration
Femi Elegbede, Ph.D., is the Acting Director with the Investment Research Team at SelectUSA, U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration. SelectUSA works with the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service and entities across government to facilitate job-creating business investment into the United States and raise awareness of the critical role that economic development plays in the U.S. economy. Dr Elegbede works with 75 global markets/US embassies and more than 100 locations throughout the United States (50 states and US territories).

Dr. Elegbede leads the supply chain, clean tech, renewable energy, sustainability, and reshoring strategy for SelectUSA. In addition, Dr. Elegbede partners with U.S. Department of Energy, Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and academic Institutions to develop pathways for U.S. Manufacturing, supply chain, renewable energy, and Foreign Direct Investment.

Prior to joining SelectUSA, Dr. Elegbede has worked with United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, and The Council of Economic Advisers, an agency within the Executive Office of the President of the United States.

Dr. Elegbede has a Ph.D. in Sustainability and Economics from Michigan State University and a Certificate in Global Supply Chain Management, M.A. in Applied Economics from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Aaron Flaaen, Principal Economist and Group Manager, Federal Reserve Board of Governors
Aaron Flaaen is a Principal Economist and Group Manager in the Research and Statistics Division of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C.  In addition to studying the industrial sector and supply chain linkages, his Board-related work centers on exploring expanded economic measurement with non-traditional data sources.  His academic research has been published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals and focuses on the causes and consequences of multinational firms and global trade.  More recently, his work has focused on the effects of the 2018-2019 U.S.-China trade dispute on consumer prices and the U.S. manufacturing sector.  In 2015, his research was awarded the  Young Economist Essay award by the World Trade Organization.  Findings from his research have been summarized in major news outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Economist, and The Washington Post.  Dr. Flaaen is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, where he has taught international trade theory and policy since 2017.  He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan.

Erik Friesenhahn, Bureau of Labor Statistics

Stephen Gallagher, CBE, Director of Research Americas, Societe Generale
Stephen Gallagher is US Chief of Economics at Societe Generale where he is responsible for North American economic and financial market research. He has been with SG since 1995. Before joining SG, Gallagher was money market economist Kidder Peabody and Co. Inc. He is an active member of several professional organizations including: New York Forecasting Club (serving as group president in 2004), The Bank Economist Group, and the National Association of Business Economists (NABE). In 2005, NABE awarded Gallagher top forecaster of the year, based on forecasts for interest rates and the macroeconomic outlook. Gallagher received an MA and M. Phil. in economics at Columbia where he also earned a Fellowship Award and was an instructor for microeconomics. While at the University of Michigan he worked for the Department of Transportation Research, a think-tank specializing in the automotive industry.

Maurine A. Haver, CBE, President, Haver Analytics Inc
Maurine is founder and CEO of Haver Analytics, an economic information services company. She served as President of the National Association for Business Economics (1994-95) and now chairs the NABE Statistics Committee which works to improve the quality of US economic statistics. Maurine is a member of Advisory Committees to the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of Labor Statistics and served one term as an advisor to the newly formed Office of Financial Research at the US Treasury.  She serves on the boards of the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics (COPAFS), The NABE Foundation, and Mutual of America. Maurine is a recipient of NABE’s David L. Williams Lifetime Achievement Award, the William F. Butler Award granted by NYABE to distinguished business economists, and the Julius Shiskin Memorial Award for Economic Statistics.  She is a fellow of NABE and the Money Marketeers of New York University.

Matthew Hoops, Financial Analyst, Flow of Funds Section, Federal Reserve Board of Governors
Matt Hoops has worked at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in the Flow of Funds section of the Research and Statistics Division since 2012.  Since January 2020, Matt has been the manager of the Financial Accounts Projects Group.  The group oversees quarterly publication of the Z.1 Financial Accounts of the United States statistical release, publication of international data submissions to the OECD, IMF, and BIS, as well as the development and implementation of improvement projects. Matt has served on the OECD WPFS Bureau since 2020 and he has participated in G-20 Data Gaps Initiative II and III workstreams. Prior to his role as group manager, Matt worked as a financial analyst on special projects for the Financial Accounts to improve their accuracy, comparability, relevance, and accessibility, with a particular focus on financial intermediaries and governments.  He has co-authored several FEDS Notes papers on Financial Accounts topics.  He has also worked on several Enhanced Financial Accounts initiatives including projects on Hedge funds, money market mutual funds holding detail and state and local government defined benefit pension plan funding status.  He received his B.A in economics, political science, and philosophy from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Michael W. Horrigan, CBE, President, WE Upjohn Institute

Dr. Michael Horrigan has been the President of the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research since March 2019. The Institute, headquartered in Kalamazoo, MI, is a private, not-for-profit, nonpartisan, independent organization founded in 1945. The Institute conducts high-quality research on labor markets, focusing on the causes of unemployment, the effectiveness of social safety net programs, the impact of education and training on workers’ employability and earnings, the influence of state and local economic development policies, and the analysis of regional economic conditions. The Institute also administers federal- and state-funded employment and training programs for employment and training programs for disadvantaged and dislocated workers in Southwest Michigan.

Prior to coming to the Institute, Mike worked for 32 years in a variety of positions at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Most recently, from 2015 to 2019, he ran the employment and unemployment programs at BLS, including the publication of the national civilian unemployment rate and the monthly payroll jobs numbers. Prior to that position, Mike oversaw the inflation programs at BLS. 

Joanne W. Hsu, University of Michigan
Joanne W. Hsu (pronounced “shoo”) is the Director of the Surveys of Consumers and a Research Associate Professor at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. She earned her PhD in economics at the University of Michigan and her AB in economics and international relations at Brown University. Her research is primarily in the fields of household finance, labor economics, and survey methods, with a current focus on financial sophistication and cognition, and consumer experiences with debt. She previously served as a principal economist in the Division of Research and Statistics at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, where her work included the Survey of Consumer of Finances and the consumption forecast, as well as a visiting professor at the Department of Economics, Howard University.

Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, CBE, Senior Resident Fellow for Climate and Energy Program, Third Way
Ellen joined Third Way’s Climate and Energy program to help move the national debate forward as US transitions to clean energy.

Prior to coming to Third Way, Ellen has worked across the global landscape in the private sector and in public service. She established her career working as chief global economist at Ford Motor Company, providing insights and analysis on the global economy and how economic development creates jobs and opportunity for people in all sectors of the economy.

Ellen served as Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Commerce where she worked on several Administration initiatives improving data quality, measuring the digital economy, and expanding workforce development, manufacturing, trade and investment. Ellen also supported the development of the Administration’s economic forecast.

From her early days in upstate New York as the daughter of a teacher and a nurse, Ellen has been interested in the role of economic development and education in expanding opportunity. She served as President of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE), and is on the advisory board of WorkingNation and MacroPolicy Perspectives. At NABE, she is a member of the organization’s Foundation board of directors, and has worked to establish NABE’s premier education initiative. She feels lucky to engage students from diverse backgrounds who want a career using economics.

Ellen earned her Masters’ degree in international development and Ph.D. in economics at Clark University, and now serves on their Board of Trustees. She loves family and athletics. When not at work, Ellen spends time with her husband and kids who are now young adults.

Nicholas Johnson, Chief Division of Labor Force Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics
Nic Johnson has been the Chief of the Division of Labor Force Statistics at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) since June 2022. In this position, he oversees BLS work on the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). Previously, he was the Current Employment Statistics (CES) Data Collection Branch Chief where he led development of new procedures and collection instruments from 2015-2022. He started his BLS career in the Producer Price Index (PPI) program in 2000.

George A. Kahn, CBE, Vice President and Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (Retired)
George Kahn is an economist specializing in macroeconomics and monetary policy.  He was previously Vice President and Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. In this capacity, he served as an advisor to the Bank’s president and board of directors on monetary policy issues and conducted basic and applied research on issues of relevance to the Federal Reserve System.  He received a B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1978 and a Ph.D. degree in economics from Northwestern University in 1983.  Mr. Kahn has taught economics at the University of British Columbia and has published numerous articles on inflation and unemployment, potential economic growth, and monetary policy.  He is a member, former director, and fellow of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) and a member of the American Economic Association.  He is also a Certified Business Economist®(CBE), the certification in business economics and data analytics developed and awarded by NABE.

Emily Kerr, Senior Business Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Emily Kerr is a senior business economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. As a member of the Research Department's regional group, she conducts research on regional economic issues, coordinates the production of and writes the release for the Dallas Fed's Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey and helps produce the 11th District Beige Book—the Bank's survey of regional economic conditions. She also produces articles for various bank publications. Kerr holds a bachelor's degree in economics and an MS in economics from Baylor University.

Timothy O. Kestner, Economist, Virginia Employment Commission
Tim is the Director of the Economic Information & Analytics (EIA) Division of the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) where he leads the operations of Virginia’s official source of labor market information. 

Tim has authored numerous articles and routinely participates in the public discussion regarding industrial changes in Virginia. He tracked and reported on the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) for more than a decade, working alongside a U.S. and Virginia Congressional delegation.

Along with serving as former senior executive staff member to the Virginia Board of Workforce Development, he is a member of the of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s BLOC, member of the Local Employment Dynamics steering committee at U.S. CENSUS and Chair of the Labor Market Information Institute board. He is past president of both the Virginia Association of Economists and the Richmond Association of Business Economists. Tim is a former adjunct professor of International Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he received his undergraduate degree. He holds a graduate degree from the University of Richmond.

Kenneth Kim, CBE, Senior Economist, KPMG
Kenneth Kim is a Senior Economist of KPMG LLP, where he works closely with Chief Economist Constance Hunter.  Ken brings his depth and knowledge to help KPMG leadership and clients to assess the constantly evolving U.S. and international economic environment. Ken has more than 20 years of experience advising multinational clients on global macroeconomic developments including the path of central bank policy, economic growth and inflation.  Prior to joining KPMG, Ken served as an economist at Merrill Lynch.  His primary responsibility was Fed-watching where he helped forecast the path for interest rates.  He next joined a startup, becoming a founding member of Stone & McCarthy Research Associates, the first independent economic research service on the Bloomberg terminal.

Ken’s additional experience includes working as a U.S. trading desk economist at RBC Capital Markets and serving as a senior economist at Huawei Technologies USA, where he focused on global growth, interest rates, foreign exchange and formulating risk scenarios. In June 2014, Ken discovered a market-roiling error in the widely-followed ISM manufacturing survey, the first error in the +80 year history of the survey.  Ken foresaw the approaching housing crisis in 2007 and correctly forecast the zero lower-bound for U.S. short-term interest rates. Ken graduated with a BS in Economics, Minor in Computer Science, from the State University of New York at Albany. 

He holds the Certified Business Economist (CBE) from the National Association for Business Economics.  He is a member of the National Association for Business Economics, New York Association for Business Economics, Money Marketeers of NYU.  Ken volunteered his time and served as a judge on many occasions for the collegiate and high school level Fed Challenge competition sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, an annual event that tests students’ knowledge of economic principles and central bank policy.

Jack E. Kleinhenz, CBE, Chief Economist, National Retail Federation
Jack Kleinhenz, Ph.D., is chief economist for the National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail trade association. He also serves as principal and chief economist of Kleinhenz & Associates, an economic, financial consulting and wealth management firm headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.  He is an adjunct professor of economics at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management. Formerly with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Kleinhenz is a past president of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE). He is a fellow of NABE.  He is a contributing forecaster to the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, AP, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. He also participates as a panelist for NABE’s Economic Outlook, Business Conditions and Policy surveys. Kleinhenz serves as a board director to the National Bureau of Economic Research and  a member of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Data Users Advisory Committee.  He is a member of the Governor of Ohio’s Council of Economic Advisors. Kleinhenz received a M.A. & Ph.D. in economics from the University of Notre Dame, and a B.A. from John Carroll University.

Jessica Lautz, Deputy Chief Economist and Vice President of Research, National Association of REALTORS®
Dr. Jessica Lautz is Deputy Chief Economist and Vice President of Research at the National Association of REALTORS®. The core of her research focuses on analyzing trends for both NAR members and housing consumers. Through the management of surveys, focus groups, and data analysis, she presents new and innovative ways to showcase results. She effectively utilizes Research data to educate and impact policymakers on the state of the housing market and discusses research findings in major media outlets and international presentations. In 2021, Dr. Lautz was named one of Housing Wire’s Women of Influence, a list representing 100 of the most influential women in leadership in the housing industry. In 2022 and 2023, Dr. Lautz was named a RISMedia Newsmaker in the Influencer and the Crusader categories, respectively. She also volunteers at Nottingham Trent University as an industry fellow mentoring real estate graduate students.

Jessica received her Doctorate of Real Estate from Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom. She also holds a Master’s in Public Policy from American University and undergraduate degrees in Political Science and Law and Justice from Central Washington University.

Rosemary D. Marcuss, Economist
Rosemary Marcuss has extensive federal-government experience in positions of responsibility for undertaking data-based research; for combining economic insights, data, and effective exposition to support public-policy decision-makers; and for designing, implementing, and making accessible to the public large-scale federal-government databases and creating public-private research programs. An economist, she served as Director, Research, Analysis and Statistics, of the Internal Revenue Service until 2015.  While there, she re-designed and expanded the “TaxStats” research program. She served for 15 years as Assistant Director of the Congressional Budget Office for Tax Analysis where she put in place the CBO tax estimation models. She was Deputy Director of the Bureau of Economic Analysis for 12 years, where she was instrumental in creating the BEA research program and re-designing the “production” analytics for the GDP statistics.  Ms. Marcuss has served as President of the National Association of Business Economics. She is a recipient of the Presidential Rank Award and of the Davie-Davis Public Service Award of the National Tax Association.

Lisa Mataloni, Economist, US Bureau of Economic Analysis
Lisa Mataloni is an economist at the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). She prepares a variety of communication products for BEA's GDP, personal income, and corporate profit statistical releases. She has served for many years as the point of contact for technical questions about the GDP estimates. Lisa earned her BA in Economics from the University of Mary Washington and her MA in Economics from George Mason University.

Michael McKee, International Economics and Policy Correspondent, Bloomberg TV and Radio
Michael McKee is the International Economics and Policy Correspondent for Bloomberg TV and Radio, covering market and political developments, economic trends and central banks in the United States and around the globe.

He was formerly co-host of Bloomberg Radio's daily "Surveillance" program, and the weekly political program "Bloomberg View." 

McKee covered Congress, the White House, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department for Bloomberg News, and has written for Bloomberg Markets, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Bloomberg.com.  He's been a regular at many international economic gatherings, including meetings of the G-7, the World Bank and IMF, APEC, and the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Prior to joining Bloomberg in January 1995, McKee covered politics for 20 years for a variety of news organizations, including Newsweek. He covered Capitol Hill and spent 10 years at the White House reporting on presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton.

Angelica Menchaca, Demographer, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau
Angelica Menchaca is a demographer in the Population Division at the U.S. Census Bureau. As a member of the International Migration Branch, she assists with the production and evaluation of official annual population estimates for national, state, and county geographies. She is the team lead for the Puerto Rico Commonwealth and Municipio estimates. She is skilled in demographic data analysis and statistical modeling using both administrative and survey-based data sources.  While at the Census Bureau, she completed the Data Science Program and has experience with data visualization, and data management.

She received her Ph.D. in Sociology with a focus on international migration and demography from Texas A & M University. Her research focuses on international migration, hard to count populations, and record linkage. She is a member of the Measuring Racial and Ethnic Diversity Working Group, and the Historically Undercounted Population Working Group. She started working at the Census Bureau in the summer of 2019.

Martha Gilchrist Moore, CBE, Chief Economist & Managing Director, Economics & Statistics, American Chemistry Council
Martha Gilchrist Moore is the Chief Economist and Managing Director for Economics and Statistics at the American Chemistry Council. Ms. Moore analyzes the impact of various policy initiatives and energy trends on the chemical industry. In addition, she produces forecasts for the economy and chemical industry. She also directs the Council's research on the direct and indirect economic contributions of the business of chemistry and the benefits to consumers. Ms. Moore has worked on chemical industry issues for more than 25 years and is an authority on the market dynamics for the chemical industry and its end-use customer industries. Ms. Moore holds a master's degree in economics from Indiana University and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a member of the National Association for Business Economics and the US Association for Energy Economics (USAEE) and serves on the board of the National Capital Area Chapter of USAEE.

Chad Moutray, CBE, Chief Economist, National Association of Manufacturers
Chad Moutray is chief economist for the National Association of Manufacturers, 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 and has appeared on various news outlets. In addition, he is the director of the Center for Manufacturing Research at The Manufacturing Institute, the workforce development and education partner of the NAM, where he leads efforts to produce thought leadership, data and analysis of relevance to business leaders in the sector.

Prior to joining the NAM, Dr. Moutray was the chief economist and director of economic research for the Office of Advocacy at the U.S. Small Business Administration 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, Dr. Moutray was the dean of the School of Business Administration at Robert Morris College in Chicago (now part of Roosevelt University). 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.

Dr. Moutray is the chair of the Conference of Business Economists, and he is a former board member of the National Association for Business Economics, where he is the co-chair of the Manufacturing Roundtable. 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 EIU, and in 2015, he accepted the Alumnus Achievement Award from Lake Land College in Mattoon, Illinois, where he earned his associate degree in business administration. He serves on the external economics advisory board for the SIUC’s School of Analytics, Finance and Economics.

Kathleen Navin, CBE, Senior Business Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Kathleen Navin is a Senior Business Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis in the division of Supervision. Kathleen’s responsibilities pertain to analyzing and presenting on economic and banking conditions in the United States and regionally.

Prior to joining the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Navin held the position of Economics Executive Director in US Economics at S&P Global Market Intelligence, joining the firm through the acquisition of Macroeconomic Advisers. In this role, she produced analysis on economic data and forecasts related to the US economic outlook and developed alternative macroeconomic scenarios for use in bank stress testing. She was previously a Research Associate at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in the division of Macroeconomics and Monetary Policy. Navin graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics in 2007 from the University of Missouri, where she went on to earn a Master of Arts degree in Economics in 2008.

Navin is an active member of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE), currently serving a three-year term as Director on the Board of Directors. She became a member of NABE’s inagural class of Certified Business Economists in 2015.

Dragana Ostojic, International Monetary Fund
Dragana Ostojic is the Deputy Division in the Balance of Payments Division at the IMF, where she is supervising capacity development activities of the division, and work on remittances and external debt. She has held various posts in the IMF over the last 14 years and worked on countries in Middle East, Central Asia and Europe. Prior to joining the IMF, she served as an Advisor to the Executive Director in the World Bank and consultant on financial sector uses. Before joining the World Bank, Ms. Ostojic served as Chief Economist in the Central Bank of Montenegro.

Mark Palim, Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist, Fannie Mae
Dr. Mark Palim is Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist at Fannie Mae. He oversees the teams responsible for Fannie Mae’s macroeconomic and housing forecasts and the National Housing Survey. His team has won the Lawrence R. Klein Award for Blue Chip Forecast Accuracy and, on two occasions, the NABE Outlook Award. In addition, Mark leads a team of economists who conduct in-depth research on issues affecting housing affordability, including the first work at the company on climate change. This research has informed Fannie Mae strategy and resulted in publications in peer-reviewed journals. 

Dana M. Peterson, Executive Vice President & Chief Economist, The Conference Board
Dana M Peterson is the Chief Economist and Leader of the Economy, Strategy & Finance Center at The Conference Board. Prior to this, she served as a North America Economist and later as a Global Economist at Citi, the world’s largest investment bank. Her wealth of experience extends to the public sector, having also worked at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C. Dana’s wide-ranging economics portfolio includes analyzing global themes having direct financial market implications, including monetary policy; inflation; labor markets; fiscal and trade policy; debt; taxation; ESG; consumption, and demographics. Her work also examines myriad US themes leveraging granular data. Peterson's research has been featured by US and international news outlets, both in print and broadcast. Publications and networks include CNBC, FOX Business, Bloomberg, Thomson-Reuters, CNN Finance, Yahoo Finance, TD Ameritrade, Barron’s, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal. She is member of the Board of Directors of NBER, NABE, and the Global Interdependence Center, Chair of the New York Association for Business Economics (NYABE), and a member of NBEIC, the Forecasters Club, and the Council on Foreign Relations. She received an undergraduate degree in Economics from Wesleyan University and a Master of Science degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Kate Pinard, Senior Corporate Profits Analyst, Bureau of Economic Analysis
Kate Pinard is the senior Corporate Profits analyst at the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  She is responsible for estimating and analyzing quarterly and annual estimates of corporate profits and dividends.  Prior to her current position she was the Inventories analyst at BEA. Kate earned her BS in Mathematics from Salisbury University and her MS in Statistics from Columbia University.

Emily Pollard, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

Emily Pollard is an Assistant Economist in the macroeconomics and monetary policy research group at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. She has been with the bank since 2016. Her research interests are primarily in the field of labor economics, and she has run the Kansas City Fed’s Labor Market Conditions Indicators (LMCI) model for almost seven years. She has a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Mathematics from Carleton College.

Steve Reed, Economist, Information & Analysis Branch, CPI, Bureau of Labor Statistics
Steve Reed is an economist in the information and analysis branch of the Consumer Price Index. He has been with the Bureau of Labor Statistics since 1998, after receiving a B.A, in Economics from the College of William and Mary and a M.A. in Economics from the University of Maryland. He has authored several research papers related to the CPI and writes the monthly press release.

Dick D. Rippe, CBE, Managing Director, Evercore ISI
Richard D. Rippe is Managing Director and Economist at Evercore ISI, which he joined in 2008.  He contributes to the firm’s daily and weekly economic reports, both for the      U. S. economy and for international economies. Prior to joining Evercore ISI, Mr. Rippe was Managing Director and Chief Economist at Prudential Securities Inc., a subsidiary of Prudential Financial.  His first job on Wall Street was with Baker, Weeks, Inc., which was acquired by Reynolds Securities, Inc., which in turn merged with Dean Witter to form Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc.  Mr. Rippe was Senior/ Chief Economist at each of these firms.  Mr. Rippe began his career teaching at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. Mr. Rippe has been active in professional organizations.  He is a past President of the National Association for Business Economics and a past Chairman of the Conference of Business Economists.  He currently serves on the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee (a group of outside experts who advise the U. S. statistical agencies on their programs) and the Economic Advisory Panel of the New York City Office of Management and Budget. Mr. Rippe serves on the Board of Directors of The African Dream Academy, a free school for impoverished children in Liberia. Mr. Rippe holds a Ph.D. in Business Economics from Harvard University and an A.B. in Economics (magna cum laude) from Harvard College.

Robert Santos, Director, US Census Bureau
Robert L. Santos is the 26th director of the U.S. Census Bureau. He was sworn in on January 5, 2022. Santos’ career spans more than 40 years in survey research, statistical design and analysis, and executive-level management. He previously served for 15 years as vice president and chief methodologist at the Urban Institute and directed its Statistical Methods Group. He was executive vice president and partner of NuStats, a social science research firm in Austin, Texas. Santos has held leadership positions in the nation’s top survey research organizations, including the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, where he served as vice president of statistics and methodology and director of survey operations; the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, as director of survey operations; and Temple University’s Institute for Survey Research, as senior study director and sampling statistician. Santos specializes in quantitative and qualitative research design, including program evaluation, needs assessments, survey methodology and survey operations. He also has expertise in demographic and administrative data, decennial censuses, social policy research and equity issues in research. Santos served as the 2021 president of the American Statistical Association (ASA) and is an ASA Fellow and recipient of the ASA Founder’s Award in 2006. He was the 2014 president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) and received the 2021 AAPOR Award for Exceptionally Distinguished Achievement. Santos is also an elected member to the International Statistical Institute, and he served from 2017 to 2020 as a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He was a longtime member of the editorial board of Public Opinion Quarterly. Santos was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He graduated from high school at Holy Cross of San Antonio. He earned a B.A. in mathematics from Trinity University in San Antonio and an M.A. in statistics from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Dana A. Saporta, CBE, Economist
Dana Saporta is a former Director on the NABE Board.  Before her retirement in 2019, she was a Director at Credit Suisse in the Chief Risk Officer division. She led the Macroeconomic Risk team, developing recession scenarios for internal risk management, business planning, and regulatory stress tests. Previously, as a member of the Credit Suisse Economics Research group from 2010-2016, she specialized in the analysis of Federal Reserve policy, money markets, and financial flows. Ms. Saporta has over 30 years of experience analyzing the US economy, including 14 years as an economist at Stone & McCarthy Research Associates in Princeton, New Jersey. She also worked as an economist at the former Dresdner Kleinwort Investment Bank and at Citicorp (now Citigroup) in New York. Ms. Saporta received B.A. degrees in Economics and Spanish from Rutgers University and an M.A. in Economics from New York University, where she completed her Master's thesis under the direction of Dr. Mark Gertler. She also earned the CFA and CBE designations. Still active in several New York-area financial clubs, Ms. Saporta served as president of the Money Marketeers of NYU (2007-2008) and of the New York Association for Business Economics (2013-2014).

Chris Sparks, Division Chief, Productivity Program Industry Section, Bureau of Labor Statistics
Chris Sparks is a Division Chief in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Productivity Program Industry Section. He worked his first 22 years in the BLS International Comparisons Program and developed international comparisons of productivity and hourly compensation statistics, authored several international comparisons articles, and conducted research during details at the International Labor Office and The Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training. Chris has an MBA from George Mason University and an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Missouri.

John Stewart, Economist, Bureau of Labor Statistics

John Stewart is an economist in the National Current Employment Statistics program. John currently heads the group in charge of annual revisions to the national payroll survey. He has 15 years of experience at BLS, having previously worked in the State and Area office of the Current Employment Statistics program. He has a master’s degree in economics from Florida Atlantic University.

Matt Streeter, Chief of the American Housing Survey Branch, Census Bureau
Matt Streeter is Chief of the American Housing Survey (AHS) Branch at Census. In this role, Matt is responsible for leading quality control operations and production covering all aspects of the AHS from data collection to publication. His team also provides data user support and develops products using AHS data. 

Ryan Sweet, Oxford Economics
Ryan Sweet is the Chief US Economist at Oxford Economics. He is responsible for forecasting and assessing the US macroeconomic outlook and how it will influence monetary policy and financial markets. Ryan is among the most accurate high-frequency forecasters of the U.S. economy, according to MarketWatch and Bloomberg LP.
Prior to joining Oxford Economics, Ryan led real-time economics at Moody's Analytics and was a member of the U.S. macroeconomics team. He was also head of the firm’s monetary policy research, following actions by the Federal Reserve and examining its potential impact on the U.S. economy.
Ryan is an adjunct professor in the Economics and Finance Department at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. He received a master’s degree in finance from John’s Hopkins University, a master's degree in economics from the University of Delaware, and a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington College.

Matt Streeter, Chief of the American Housing Survey Branch, Census Bureau
Matt Streeter is Chief of the American Housing Survey (AHS) Branch at Census. In this role, Matt is responsible for leading quality control operations and production covering all aspects of the AHS from data collection to publication. His team also provides data user support and develops products using AHS data. 

David Talan, Chief, Division of Admin Statistics Startup/Small Business Trends, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
David Talan completed both his Bachelors' and Master's degree in Economics at Bowling Green State University. After completing his Master's degree in 1993, he joined the Bureau of Labor Statistics where he worked in the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. During his seven years with the CES program, he developed seasonal adjustment models for state and area employment estimates. He then joined the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program in 2000, where he was a branch chief responsible for the development and publication of Business Employment Dynamics data. In 2015, he became the division chief responsible for the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program, the Business Employment Dynamics program, and the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) program.

William J. Wiatrowski, Deputy Commissioner, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

William J. Wiatrowski is Deputy Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the senior career employee in the agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, price changes, and productivity in the U.S. economy. Prior to his selection as Deputy Commissioner in June 2015, Bill was Associate Commissioner for Compensation and Working Conditions at BLS, responsible for the Bureau's Occupational Safety and Health Statistics Programs and the National Compensation Survey. He began his career at BLS in 1980 and served in a variety of positions of increasing responsibility in the areas of compensation and workplace safety.

Mr. Wiatrowski received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and the History of Art from Yale University and a Masters of Business Administration degree from the George Washington University.

As of March 2023, Bill has served as Acting Commissioner pending the confirmation of a new Commissioner of Labor Statistics.

Richard L. Wobbekind, CBE, Senior Associate Dean, University of Colorado
Richard L. Wobbekind is Senior Associate Dean for Academic Programs, Associate Professor of Business Economics and Finance, and Executive Director of the Business Research Division at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder.  He joined the faculty in the fall of 1985.  He assumed his current position as associate dean in July of 2000. As Executive Director of the Business Research Division his responsibilities include developing an annual consensus forecast of the Colorado economy which he has done since 1988.  The Business Research Division also produces a quarterly Business Leaders Confidence Index for Colorado and a quarterly new business formation and economic indicators report in conjunction with the Colorado Secretary of State. Rich also performs various strategic analyses and economic impact assessments of the Colorado economy. He participates annually in the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank Regional Economic Roundtable, and is a contributor to the Western Blue Chip forecast newsletter and the National Association of Business Economists Economic Outlook and Policy Surveys.  Rich is a member of the Governor’s Revenue Estimating Advisory Committee and the Boulder Economic Council. For his efforts in community development and outreach, Rich was awarded the University of Colorado Community Outreach Award in 1997.  In 2002 he was named a Member of Distinction by the Boulder Chamber of Commerce.  In 2006 he received the Robert L. Stearns award for lifetime excellence in research, teaching and service to the University of Colorado. In 2008 he was awarded the Thayne Robsen award from the Association for University Business and Economics Research for career achievement in regional economic analysis.  In 2010 he was named Key Contributor by the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. In 2011 he was named a Fellow by the National Association for Business Economics. Dr. Wobbekind teaches MBA and executive students in macroeconomics, public policy and entrepreneurship.  He has received four awards for teaching excellence. Richard Wobbekind is a member and active participant in numerous professional organizations at the local, state and national levels. He is past President of the National Association for Business Economics.   Other organizations include the Economic Developers Council of Colorado, Association of University Business and Economics Research (past president) , Denver Association of Business Economics (past president) American Economics Association, and the Western Regional Science Association. Richard Wobbekind has lived in Colorado for over 40 years and has spent much of his time studying the development of the Colorado and regional economies.  Rich and his wife Carol have raised three children.  Dr. Wobbekind received a BA in Economics from Bucknell University and an MA and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Sarah Wolfe, Morgan Stanley
Sarah Wolfe is an Economist on Morgan Stanley’s US Economics Research team, joining in 2019. She manages coverage of the consumer sector, publishing research on themes such as post-Covid household behavior shifts, the transmission of monetary policy and inflation to households, and demographics & the housing market. Her work leverages big data to track the health of the consumer and forecast inflections in consumer behavior.  
 
Sarah received her BA in International Studies and Economics from Johns Hopkins University and an MA in International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She worked at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. while completing her master’s. Sarah mentors and teaches financial literacy and career development skills to high school students in the Morgan Stanley JumpStart in Finance program.

Scott A. Wolla, Economic Education Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Scott Wolla leads a team of highly skilled economic educators that produce instructional resources and provide professional development for economics and personal finance instructors across the United States. He is responsible for overseeing the development of content for the Economic Education team, the Econ Lowdown website, and outreach and professional development efforts by the Economic Education team. Scott is a nationally recognized, award-winning economic educator with 14 years of classroom teaching experience. He has published articles in journals such as Journal of Economic Education, The American Economist, and Journal of Economics Teaching, and his work has been cited by media outlets such as National Public Radio and The Economist. He currently teaches economics as an adjunct at Washington University in St. Louis.

Anna Wong, Chief Economist, Bloomberg
Anna Wong is currently chief US economist at Bloomberg LP. Prior to that, she was principal economist at the Federal Reserve Board, Chief International Economist at White House Council of Economics Advisers, Deputy Director of Office of International Economics Analysis at US Treasury. She received her PhD in Economics from University of Chicago and BA from UC Berkeley.