Reaser, Wobbekind Top Slate of Officers Proposed for 2009-2010

Lynn Reaser, currently vice president of NABE, has been nominated for president of NABE for the coming year.  Richard Wobbekind, associate dean of the University of Colorado-at Boulder’s MBA and Executive Programs, has been nominated for vice president.

If elected, Reaser would succeed Chris Varvares and Wobbekind would succeed Reaser to serve as NABE’s top officers for the 2009-2010 term. Varvares is president of Macroeconomic Advisers LLC in St. Louis, and has served as NABE president since last October; his term will end at the conclusion of the 51st Annual Meeting in October. By tradition the new officers and board take office at the close of the annual meeting.

Members can vote online on or before Friday, July 17.  Instructions are provided, including directions for the requirement to include your name on the ballot.  Candidates’ biographical sketches and candidacy statements are available online as well. 

Past President Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, on behalf of the nominating committee she chaired, also announced one candidate for a two-year term on the Board of Directors and seven candidates for four seats on the board that carry three-year terms.

The link to the online ballot has been sent to members both via email, and enclosed with a paper ballot sent by regular mail.

Rajeev Dhawan, director of Georgia State University’s Economic Forecasting Center, is running unopposed for a two-year term.  He was appointed to the board earlier this year to fill a seat vacated by Paul Bennett, who resigned due to new professional responsibilities.

The seven candidates for four board seats with three-year terms are: Lisa Emsbo-Mattingly, senior economic analyst at Fidelity Investments in Boston; Shawn Dubravac, economist, Consumer Electronics Association in Arlington, Va.; Tom Higgins, chief economist, Payden & Rygel Asset Management in Los Angeles; Adolfo Laurenti, senior economist, Mesirow Financial in Chicago; Stuart P. M. Mackintosh, executive director, The Group of Thirty in Washington, D.C.; Chad Moutray, chief economist, U.S. Small Business Administration in Washington, D.C.; and Kevin Swift, chief economist, American Chemistry Council in Stafford, Va.

Seven current board members will return for the 2009-2010 term.  They are:  Parul Jain, chief investment strategies, MacroFin Analytics; Kim Flood, economist, Bank of Canada; Richard DeKaser, Woodley Park Research; William Strauss, senior economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago; Doug Duncan, chief economist, Fannie Mae; Paul Thomas, chief economist, Intel Corporation; and Robert Fry, senior associate economist, DuPont Corporation.

The following members will be retiring from the board:  past NABE President Carl Tannenbaum, vice president, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago; Charles Steindel, senior vice president, Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Rich Brown, chief economist, FDIC; and Sara Johnson, managing director, Global Insight, Inc.

Nominating committee chairman Hughes-Cromwick, chief economist of Ford Motor Company, thanked members of the nominating committee:  Chris Varvares, Richard Berner, Maurine Haver, and Carl Tannenbaum.

The link to the online ballot has been sent to members both via email, and enclosed with a paper ballot sent by regular mail.