1:30-3:00 pm
Ticonderoga
Sponsored by the Corporate Planning Roundtable
Richard S. Mueller, presiding
Principal
R. J. Rudden Associates, Inc.
Ross C. DeVol
Director of Regional and Demographic Studies
Milken Institute
Ross DeVol's presentation, in Adobe Acrobat format (2 MB filesize- it may take a few minutes to download.)
Ross C. DeVol is the Director of Regional Studies at the Milken Institute. He oversees the Institute's research efforts on the dynamics of comparative regional growth performance, focusing on their implications for economic, business, labor, and political actors. His interests lie in the quantification of those factors that determine the relative economic success of regions, particularly in the United States. He is examining the effects of information technology, international trade, education and labor-force skills training, cost of doing business, and quality-of-life issues on the geographic distribution of economic activity. Utilizing his broad background, he guided the production of the Milken Institute's 1998 Global Conference Briefing Book, a compilation of economic data from 13 of the world's economies.Prior to joining the Institute, DeVol was senior vice president of WEFA, Inc. (formerly Wharton Econometric Forecasting), where he supervised their Regional Economic Services group. He was responsible for customized consulting, regional research projects, and general client support. DeVol supervised the respecification of WEFA's regional econometric models and played an instrumental role on similar work on its U.S. Macro Model. He was the firm's chief spokesman on international trade. He also served as the head of WEFA's U.S. Long-Term Macro Service and authored numerous special reports on behalf of the U.S. Macro Group.
DeVol was previously director of economic planning at CSX Transportation, where he was responsible for U.S. macroeconomic and industry analysis. He was also an economist at Chase Econometrics and an economic analyst at Union Pacific.
DeVol has appeared on national television and radio programs to discuss a variety of economic topics. He is frequently quoted in printed media such as The Wall Street Journal. DeVol received his M.A. in economics from Ohio University.
Sara L. Johnson
Chief Regional Economist
Standard & Poor’s DRI
Sara Johnson is Research Director, North America, and Chief Regional Economist with Standard & Poor’s DRI, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies. As Research Director, she is responsible for DRI’s U.S. Economic Service, Canadian Economic Service, Cost Information Service, U.S. Regional Economic Service, and U.S. Industry Service. As Chief Regional Economist, she supervises the economic modeling, forecasting, and analyses of states, metropolitan areas, and counties of the United States. She has led many of DRI’s research projects involving regional economic development, public policy analysis, and sales and market planning.
Ms. Johnson holds a B.A. degree 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 joined DRI in 1973 as a research economist in the U.S. Economic Service. After completing doctoral course work in economics at Harvard University in 1977, she became Director of Long-Term Studies and Senior Economist for the U.S. Economic Service. Ms. Johnson has served as the company's U.S. specialist in several fields, including international trade, state and local government finance, energy markets, prices and wages, business investment, and labor markets. She joined DRI’s Regional Economic Service in 1989 and became Chief Regional Economist in 1995 and Research Director in 1998.
Ms. Johnson is a member of the Boston Economic Club and a past President of the Boston Association of Business Economists, a regional chapter of the National Association of Business Economists.
Since 1991, Ms. Johnson has served on the Governor’s Council on Economic Growth and Technology, advising two Massachusetts governors on public policy and economic development. She chairs the Governor's Task Force on Tax Policy and Capital Formation and has served on governors’ special Task Forces on Financing Emerging Businesses and the Financial Services Industry.
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