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 October of 2006, 562  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 e-mailed to NABE members each month includes a listing of new members.   Here are selections from brief interviews, conducted by e-mail, with three new members:

Audra Nowosielski
Director, Economic Studies
Ways and Means Committee
New York State Assembly                                                         
Albany, N.Y.

What is your current position?
I am currently the director of economic studies for the Ways and Means
Committee of the New York State Assembly. My group works on a variety of
research issues pertaining to the national and New York State economies. The group provides national and state economic forecasts, gives technical support to the committee staff, builds and maintains econometric/statistical models for revenue and expenditure projections, and analyzes regional economic trends. I have been working for Ways and Means for five years and in my current position for the last year and a half.

What is the main focus of your company or organization?
The Ways and Means Committee is the fiscal committee of the New York State Assembly.

What are your career highlights and education before your current job?
I completed my undergraduate degree in business and computer information
systems at Russell Sage College in Troy, N.Y.  I received a Ph.D. in ecological economics in August 2002 from Resselaer Polytechnic Institute, also in Troy.  After completion of my Ph.D., I started work at Ways and Means as a staff economist.

Why did you join NABE?
I thought it would provide a great opportunity to meet more people working in the field of economics.

What drew you to economics?
I think the most attractive part of economics to me is the versatility of the subject, as economic choices are apparent in everyday life from the simplest decision to the most complex. I also enjoy the challenge of studying in a field that can be greatly impacted on a daily basis by current events.

Stephen Gray
Director of Commodity Risk
J.R. Simplot Company                                                         
Boise, Idaho

What is your current position?
I am director of commodity risk at the J.R. Simplot Company.  In this job, I am responsible for ensuring we have adequate risk management programs in place to address market price risk for key purchased and sold commodities, including energies, cattle, grains, forex, and cooking oils.  I have been in this position since the summer of 2004.

What is the main focus of your company or organization?
We are an agribusiness company with sizeable segments participating in frozen food production, fertilizer manufacturing and marketing, cattle feeding, and ranching and farming. We have operations throughout North America and Australia, as well as
China, and market our products throughout North America, Asia Pacific, and Europe.

What are your career highlights and education before your current job?
I started with Simplot's Food Group in 1984, spending 13 years in transportation, logistics, and purchasing, followed by two years as our corporate chief purchasing officer, then to our mineral and chemical group as vice president of logistics, planning, and purchasing, and most recently into my present position. I earned a Bachelors in business and in economics at California State University, Chico, in 1978; and an MBA, at Indiana University in 1981.  I have also worked for First Interstate Bank of Oregon and Burlington Northern Railroad.

Why did you join NABE?
We are building a small economics group at the corporate level to assist the company’s other groups as they address the macro-economic picture in their planning efforts.  I believe extending our access to the kind of information and support NABE provides will enable us to emerge with a quality effort suited to the groups' needs.  I also feel that NABE membership will provide exposure to other members that can help us better benchmark our effort with those of other companies.

What drew you to economics?
Early on, I understood economics provided much of the basic science behind business decision making, and that the more one understood economic theory the better choices one could expect to make.  I also appreciate the breadth of economics and the usefulness
its tools contribute to most all aspects of good strategic planning, measurement, and execution.

Allison Powell
Vice President
Director of Strategic, Financial Planning                                
Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston
Boston

What is your current position?
I am the vice president and director of strategic and financial planning at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston.  It is my job to develop and sustain an ongoing advantage for the bank in its marketplace.  I challenge existing processes, identify and prioritize potential new markets, new products, and new business models for strategic execution and formulate ideas to enhance performance.  I also provide financial management, decision analysis, financial reporting, profit optimization and financial analysis in the development and implementation of activities.  I have held this position for about two years, and the remaining 25 years of my banking career have been in the fields of treasury, finance, and risk management.

What is the main focus of your company or organization?
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston is cooperatively owned by more than 450 New England financial institutions.  We provide members and other qualified customers with reliable access to low-cost wholesale funds, liquidity, a competitive outlet for the sale of loans, special lending programs, and other products and services.  While consumers cannot get a loan directly from us, it is very likely that the community bank nearest them is a member that can meet their credit needs.

What are your career highlights and education before your current job?
I started my banking career in England, and moved to the United States in 1987.  Until joining the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston in 2002, I worked for three retail banks in Connecticut in various finance-related fields.  I have a B.Sc. in finance/business administration, and I am a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Why did you join NABE?
A key part of my job is to keep abreast of historical trends in the economy and get a sense of future trends in areas such as unemployment, inflation, economic growth, productivity, and investment. As a banker, it is equally as important to stay well versed in monetary policy and general economic factors that influence the financial markets.  With the information and data provided by NABE, I am able to synthesize how the economic environment may affect the bank’s ability to create value, and act accordingly.

What drew you to economics?
Economics is one of the few fields of expertise that can be found in a variety of settings. For instance, economics is used in equity research, the financial services sector, demographic studies, equity research, and in the formulation of economic analysis and policies. Where else can such a diverse group of people get together and have so much in common?