Session 10: NABE Outlook
Find out about the latest thinking on the economy from NABE’s panel of macroeconomic forecasters from NABE’s vice president. She will also present the eighth annual NABE Outlook Award.
Presentations
NABE Outlook text (NABE Members)
NABE Outlook slides (NABE Members)
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Speakers
Chris Varvares
President, Macroeconomic Advisers
NABE President
Chris Varvares is President of Macroeconomic Advisers, a company he co-founded with Joel Prakken and Laurence Meyer as Laurence H. Meyer & Associates in 1982. The firm became Macroeconomic Advisers in June of 1996 when Dr. Meyer left the firm to join the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Dr. Meyer returned to the firm in the summer of 2002 following his term at the Fed.
Mr. Varvares has over 25 years of experience in macroeconomic forecasting and policy analysis, both as a principal of Macroeconomic Advisers (1982 to present) and as a member of the staff of the President's Council of Economic Advisers (1981-1982). While at the Council, he served as a member of the U.S. delegation to the OECD in April 1982. Mr. Varvares is the Vice President (9/2007-9/2008) and a former director of the National Association for Business Economics, served as President of the St. Louis chapter, and is a member of the American Economic Association. He serves as a member of Time Magazine’s Board of Economists, is a member of the New York State Economic and Revenue Advisory Board, and has been a panelist for the World Economic Forum.
He and the other principals of Macroeconomic Advisers serve as consultants to key agencies of the U.S., Canadian, Japanese, and U.K. governments, major trade associations, and private corporations and are widely quoted in the business and financial media. The firm is recognized as among the most accurate forecasters of the U.S. economy. A 2006 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta found that Macroeconomic Advisers had the best forecasting track record of any forecaster in the Blue Chip Economic Indicators panel over the 19 years included in the study. The firm also won the 2006 Annual Forecasting Award of the National Association of Business Economics and twice has won the Annual Forecasting Award for the highest forecast accuracy among participants in the Blue Chip Economic Indicators, and would have been the only three-time winner of the award if not for a rule that precluded winning in two consecutive years. Macroeconomic Advisers is also a prominent participant in the debates over the macroeconomic effects of federal budget and tax policy, and monetary policy.
Mr. Varvares holds a B.A. in Economics from The George Washington University and received his graduate training in economics from Washington University in St. Louis.
Lynn Reaser
NABE Vice President
As a professional economist Dr. Reaser brings extensive experience in the financial services sector with an uncanny ability to translate complex economic issues into understandable language with relevant and actionable implications. She is skilled at analyzing economic data, modeling, and forecasting and brings an engaging, personal and practical approach to writing and speaking on economic issues to all audiences with a passion towards using economics as a tool to assist people personally and in their enterprises. In her role at PLNU she will be providing actionable economic counsel to the University and its stakeholders, guest lecturing, public speaking as well as working with a Task Force to develop a feasibility study looking into creating a San Diego regional Economic Institute.
From 1999 to 2009, she served as the Chief Economist for Bank of America Investment Strategies Group, and provided the global and U.S. economic framework for investment strategy for high net-worth, institutional, and brokerage clients, encompassing over $500 billion under management. In her Bank of America role, she delivered approximately 100 client presentations per year using highly developed quantitative models to analyze data, forecast various economic series, and project the relative performance of various sectors to maximize investment performance. A leading spokesperson for the bank, Dr. Reaser conducted 200-600 media interviews annually, including newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, wire services, and the Internet. She previously served as Barnett Bank’s and First Interstate Bank’s (Wells Fargo Corporation) Chief Economist. In these roles she furnished economic advice for all of the Bank’s various business lines, including consumer finance, commercial real estate, corporate, and wealth management, and built and led an extraordinarily cohesive team of professional economists that advised senior management on tactical and strategic strategies involving all aspects of the corporation.
Dr. Reaser is active in many professional organizations, including serving as the current Vice-President of the National Association for Business Economics, and in the past year as a member of the Boston Economic Club and the American Bankers’ Association’s Economic Advisory Council. Previously, she served on the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors for the State of California; Leadership Florida; was a fiscal advisor to cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco; California’s Economic Strategy Panel; Chairman of the Board of Economic Advisors to the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce; President of the Economic Roundtable of Jacksonville; President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Association for Business Economics; and member of the Editorial Advisory Board, Contemporary Economic Policy.. She holds a B.A. in Economics (cum laude) and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics, all from the University of California, Los Angeles.