Welcome Aboard, New NABE Members!
Please join the NABE Board of Directors and staff in welcoming new members who joined over the last two months. Since March 2006, 533 persons have joined NABE. New members are added to the on-line registry at http://www.nabe.com/mem/search.html at the beginning of each month. The first issue of two IdeaLinks emailed to NABE members each month includes a listing of new members. Here are selections from brief interviews, conducted by e-mail, with four new members:
 Nancy Cappola
Deputy Director Business Development
Wayne County Economic Development
Detroit
What is your current position?
I joined Wayne County’s Economic Development Department in 2004 as Deputy Director of Business Development. In this capacity I manage the New Markets Tax Credit Program, and technology business attraction and development.
What is the main focus of the program that you manage?
The New Markets Tax Credit is a federal tax credit program administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for commercial business and real estate development in under-served communities. Through the program, Wayne County has allocated $27 million in tax credits. Wayne County government is focused on job creation and community re-building through real estate developments, business retention activities and national and international attraction efforts.
What are your career highlights and education before your current job?
Prior to my position with Wayne County, I worked in the private sector in Pittsburgh and the New York Metropolitan region, in commercial real estate finance, valuation and consulting at Mellon Bank, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Laureate Capital. I have an educational background in the life sciences and real estate finance.
Why did you join NABE?
I joined NABE because of the industry resources provided by the expert membership. I had heard about NABE’s first-rate conferences, where leaders in the field are presenting their insights on current topics of concern to business and government, supported by data and high-level experience. As a public official, I find that having access to leaders in the field is critical to our decision-making process when considering, for example, the funding of alternative energy companies or how to target job creation in urban areas where over 25 percent of the adult population hasn’t completed high school.
What drew you to economics?
I enjoy economics because it provides tools to measure the outcomes of our choices.
 Eric Sanscartier
Director of Economic Analysis
Natural Resources Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
What is your current position?
I am the Director of Economic Analysis at Natural Resources Canada, the government department responsible for the sustainable development and use of Canada's natural resources. Since joining the department in 2003, I have worked on key issues of importance to Canada's natural resources such as the impact of commodity prices on Canada's exchange rate, the innovative capacity of the industry, the shortage of skilled labour, and the emergence of countries such as China, India and Brazil.
What are your career highlights and education--before your current job?
After completing a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree in Economics at the University of Montréal, I joined the Government of Canada where I worked as an economist in several departments, including the department of Industry and the Privy Council Office (the department that advises the Prime Minister).
Why did you join NABE?
When attending the Allied and Social Science Associations' annual meetings, I participated in sessions sponsored by NABE, and I found them to be most informative and relevant to my professional interests. NABE gives me access to information and a network that provides me with opportunities to "think outside the box" and get a sense of current economic and policy issues in the United States.
What drew you to economics?
The application process in some Canadian universities requires students to apply for a second option, as a fallback in case their application is rejected in their program of choice. After carefully reviewing all programs offered at the University of Montreal, I found that economics looked quite interesting. Although I was accepted in my program of choice (biology), I decided to take economics, mainly because of my newfound interest in the field and promising career prospects. I never looked back!
 Sylwia Czajkowska
Product Coordinator
Strategic Learning & Research
The Risk Management Association
Philadelphia
What is your current position?
For the last six months, I have been a product coordinator at The Risk Management Association. The job involves work on two publications: the Statement Studies Financial Ratio Benchmarks and its companion publication Industry Default Probabilities and Cash Flow Measures. Also, this position supports all aspects of surveying and benchmarking activities, including survey design, data collection, data analysis and presentation, and sales of data oriented products.
What is the main focus of your company or organization?
Founded in 1914, The Risk Management Association (RMA) is a nonprofit, member-driven professional association whose sole purpose is to advance the use of sound risk principles in the financial services industry. With headquarters in Philadelphia, RMA has 3,000 institutional members that include banks of all sizes as well as nonbank financial institutions. They are represented in the association by 18,000 risk management professionals who are chapter members in financial centers throughout North America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific.
What are your career highlights and education--before your current job?
My education includes a Master’s Degree in economics-finance at School of Business and Business Administration in Warsaw (Poland), and an MBA in Global Management at University of Phoenix in Philadelphia.
Why did you join NABE?
NABE is great source for obtaining accurate information, and ideas that can help "translate" any changes in industry behaviour. It also provides an opportunity to learn from some of the most respected economic leaders.
What drew you to economics?
Economics provides a logical way of looking at a variety of society’s most challenging issues. To fully understand business decisions, politics, social reforms, or international relations, one needs to understand their economic bases.
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