Best Forecaster, BE Award Winners, Fellows Honored

D. Sanford “Sandy” Batten of JP Morgan received NABE’s Outlook Award as the most accurate forecaster of gross domestic product and Treasury note yields for 2007-2008.  The presentation was made at the 50th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., in early October.

 The NABE Outlook is a quarterly survey that provides forecasts of macroeconomic variables made by a panel of professional economic forecasters. The first NABE Outlook award was delivered at the 2000 NABE Annual Meeting, and the award has been given every year since.

Abramson Awards For Exceptional Articles in Business Economics

John Silvia, chief economist, Wachovia Bank NA, Charlotte, N.C., received the 2008 Adolph Abramson Award for his article “Subprime Credit: The Evolution of a Market,” published in the July 2008 issue of Business Economics.

Three co-authors were awarded Abramson Scrolls:  Ana Aizcorbe, chief economist at the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA); Stephen D. Oliner, senior adviser in the Division of Research and Statistics at the Federal Reserve Board; and Daniel E. Sichel, deputy associate director in the Division of Research and Statistics at the Federal Reserve Board, for their article “Shifting Trends in Semiconductor Prices and the Pace of Technological Progress,” published in the July 2008 issue of Business Economics.

Established in 1986, the Abramson Awards and Scrolls confer special recognition on exceptional feature articles published in Business Economics. This year’s winning articles were selected by the Editorial Board of Business Economics from those published between October 2007 and July 2008. The awards are given in honor of Adolph Abramson, the founder and first president of NABE, and are presented by the NABE board of directors.

Hughes-Cromwick, Kleinhenz Named Fellows

Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, chief economist at Ford Motor Company and NABE’s immediate past president, and NABE Foundation Board Chairman Jack Kleinhenz, chief executive officer of Kleinhenz & Associates in Cleveland, were named NABE Fellows for 2008. 

NABE Fellows are selected on an annual basis by NABE’s board of directors, based on criteria that include service as a professional business economist, contributions to the field of business economics, and outstanding contributions to NABE.

Hughes-Cromwick joined Ford in 1996, and now directs the corporate economics group with major responsibility for the company’s global economic and automotive industry forecasts. She also recently served on the Congressional Budget Office Panel of Economic Advisers. Prior to her work at Ford, she was a senior economist at Mellon Bank (1990-96). Before joining Mellon, she was an assistant professor of economics at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., and served for two years on President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers. Her NABE service includes co-chairing the organizing committees for the 2004, 2005, and 2006 NABE Economic Policy Conferences. Completing her term as NABE president at the end of the 50th Annual Meeting, she will remain on the board for the coming year.

Kleinhenz founded Kleinhenz & Associates, a Cleveland-based economic business and consulting firm, in 1998. The firm specializes in industry studies, regional economics, labor market issues, strategic planning, and business plan development. Formerly with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, he recently served as chief economist and consultant to the Greater Cleveland Growth Association, and currently teaches economics at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management. His previous faculty appointments include the University of Notre Dame and John Carroll University. A former NABE board member, he is chairman of the NABE Foundation. His other NABE activities include serving as a NABE Outlook Survey panelist and a member of NABE’s Statistics Committee.