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Session 1: Dealing with the Media
Come learn how to present and market yourself to the press with this superstar panel of public relations and reporters. Learn how to put you best foot forward with a nationally acclaimed reporter and media training expert, find out how best to market yourself and build relations with the press with a top public relations expert, and hear first hand what reporters are looking for when they call from one of the country's most experienced and well-known economic reporters.
Presentations
Links of Interest
Bloomberg Television and Radio
Speakers
Diane Swonk
Chief Economist
Mesirow Financial
Diane Swonk is a senior managing director and chief economist for Mesirow Financial, a diversified financial services firm based in Chicago. As one of the most sought-after economists in the world, Diane is called upon by policymakers and business leaders from Washington to Tokyo. Diane joined Mesirow Financial after 19 years with Bank One Corporation and its predecessors, most recently as director of economics/chief economist and senior vice president. She started her career with the legacy First Chicago Corporation in 1985 and quickly moved up the ranks, proving herself as a regional economist with her forecast for a renaissance in the Industrial Midwest just one year later. During her tenure there, Diane designed the bank's regional model, published several nationally acclaimed studies, managed the Bank One Corporate Economics Group and published her first book: The Passionate Economist: Finding the Power and Humanity Behind the Numbers. In addition, she serves as a Clinical Professor for DePaul University's highly rated evening MBA program.
Diane sits on several advisory committees to the Federal Reserve Board, its regional banks, and the Council of Economic Advisers for the White House. Most recently, she was appointed to serve on the Congressional Budget Office's panel of economic advisers. She is among the most quoted economists in the financial press. Diane is seen regularly on national and international television and her commentary can be read in top financial news publications throughout the world. In fact, Chicago magazine once commented, "her name seems the very heartbeat of the business pages."
Diane has served on several boards including the National Association for Business Economics (NABE), the Finance Committee for the Executive Club of Chicago, and the Board of Trustees for the Illinois Council on Economic Education. She is a past president of NABE, a title that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and several Federal Reserve presidents have also shared. Diane was the youngest to serve as president in the association's history and continues to dedicate much of her time to improving the quality and timeliness of economic data, a critical aspect of policymaking.
Diane has earned many awards over her career. She was designated "Business Leader of the Year" by the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago, named a "Fellow" of NABE for her outstanding contributions to the field of business economics, and listed as one of the top forecasters in the country by the Wall Street Journal. Today's Chicago Woman named her the "Top Woman in Finance in Chicago" and the Chicago Sun Times recently crowned her one of the most influential women in business in Chicago.
Diane earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees in economics with top honors from the University of Michigan. She also received a master's degree in finance and strategic planning with top honors from the University of Chicago. Diane has two children, ages 11 and 8.
Deborah Krieps
Chief Marketing Officer
Mesirow Financial
Debbie Krieps is the Chief Marketing Officer of Mesirow Financial, and manages the firm’s Marketing and Strategic Sales department. She oversees marketing strategy, positioning and branding initiatives for Mesirow Financial, a diversified financial services firm in Chicago. She works closely with the firm’s professionals to create and execute value-added and results-oriented programs aimed at effectively targeting, reaching and communicating with clients and prospects. Debbie joined Mesirow Financial nearly 13 years ago, and has assisted with the integration of more than 20 acquisitions over that time. She’s also been actively involved in the development and launch of over 15 new products and services.
Prior to joining Mesirow Financial, she was a public relations consultant at Lesnik Public Relations, and she created and implemented programs to build media visibility for corporate executives, investment strategists and analysts for several financial, investment services and insurance companies. She began her career in investor relations, working several years at The Financial Relations Board, Inc.
Debbie is actively involved with the Securities Industry Association’s Marketing Roundtable. She is also a past board member of the Chicago Chapter of the Better Business Bureau, and served as public relations chair for several of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s annual galas. She has also been a guest lecturer at Northwestern University. Debbie earned her bachelor’s degree in management from Western Illinois University
Mike McKee
Economics Editor, Bloomberg,
and Anchor, “After the Bell”
MICHAEL MCKEE is an economics and political editor for Bloomberg Television and News, covering political developments, economic trends and central banks in the United States and around the globe for Bloomberg's international wire service, and Bloomberg Television news.
McKee coordinates Bloomberg's coverage of the Treasury Department, U.S. economic policy, and the Federal Reserve, including Chairman Ben Bernanke.
He also serves as the anchorman for Bloomberg Television's After the Bell program at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time each day, wrapping up the day's political, market, and economic developments, and interviewing political, corporate, and business leaders.
At Bloomberg, McKee has covered Congress, the White House, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department. He is 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, 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 covering presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton.
In addition to his day-to-day duties, McKee is a contributor to Bloomberg's radio network and magazines.
Hampton Pearson
Senior Washington Correspondent
CNBC
Hampton Pearson is CNBC's Washington, D.C., reporter, covering economic, financial and political news from the nation's capital.
Since joining CNBC in the summer of 1995, Pearson has reported extensively on the Microsoft anti-trust trial, provided the first live reports of the Capital Hill shooting of two police officers, and provided in-depth coverage of the nationwide United Parcel Service strike. In addition, Pearson regularly reports on the White House, Congress, Federal Reserve and a host of legislative and regulatory issues of vital concern to CNBC viewers.
Prior to joining CNBC, Pearson was chief political reporter for WBZ-TV in Boston from 1987 to 1995, covering local, state and national politics, as well as world events. Additionally, he has been a reporter/producer for the Washington bureau of CBS News and reporter/bureau chief for KRON-TV, San Francisco, where he won a local Emmy Award for Best News Feature in 1984. Pearson has also been a weekend anchor in Milwaukee and San Francisco. He has been covering key presidential news events, including campaigns, inaugurations and summit meetings since 1976.
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