Speakers

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Patrick L. Anderson, Principal & CEO, Anderson Economic Group, LLC

Patrick L. Anderson founded Anderson Economic Group in 1996, and serves as a Principal and Chief Executive Officer in the company. Anderson Economic Group is one of the most recognized boutique consulting firms in the United States, and has been a consultant for states such as Michigan, Kentucky, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Ohio; the Province of Ontario; manufacturers such as General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Honda; retailers such as Meijer and Kmart; telecommunications companies such as SBC and AT&T; utilities like ITC;  the University of Michigan, University of Chicago, and other colleges; and the franchisees of Anheuser-Busch, Molson, Coors, Miller, Harley-Davidson, Mercedes-Benz, Suzuki, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford, Lincoln, and Avis products. Mr. Anderson has written over 100 published works, including the Economics of Business Valuation from Stanford University Press. Four of his articles, “Pocketbook Issues and the Presidency”, “The Value of Private Businesses in the United States”, “Policy Uncertainty and Persistent Unemployment”, and "Business Strategy and Firm Location Decisions: Testing Traditional and Modern Methods" have each been awarded for outstanding writing from the National Association of Business Economics.  Mr. Anderson has taken a leading role in several major public policy initiatives in his home state. He was the author of the 1992 Term Limit Amendment to the Michigan Constitution, and the 2006 initiated law that repealed the state's 4-decade-old Single Business Tax. His firm’s work resulted in a wage increase for Home Help workers in 2006, the creation of a Michigan EITC in 2008, and the repeal of the item pricing law in 2011. Before founding Anderson Economic Group, Mr. Anderson was the deputy budget director for the State of Michigan under Governor John Engler, and Chief of Staff for the Michigan Department of State. Anderson is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he earned a Master of Public Policy degree and a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. He is a member of the National Association for Business Economics and the National Association of Forensic Economists. The Michigan Chamber of Commerce awarded Mr. Anderson its 2006 Leadership Michigan Distinguished Alumni award for his civic and professional accomplishments. The University of Michigan, Ford School of Public Policy awarded him its Neil Staebler Award for civic participation in 2014. 

David Autor, Professor of Economics, MIT
David Autor is Ford Professor in the MIT Department of Economics. His scholarship explores the labor market impacts of technological change and globalization, earnings inequality, and disability insurance and labor supply. Autor has received numerous awards for both his scholarship—the National Science Foundation Career Award, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Sherwin Rosen Prize for outstanding contributions in the field of Labor Economics—and for his teaching: the MIT MacVicar Faculty Fellowship for contributions to undergraduate education, the James A. and Ruth Levitan Award for excellence in teaching, the Undergraduate Economic Association Teaching Award, and the Faculty Appreciation Award from the MIT TPP program. He was recognized by Bloomberg as one of the 50 people who defined global business in 2017. Autor is an elected Fellow of the Econometrics Society, the Society of Labor Economists, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Faculty Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab. He is co-director of the NBER Labor Studies Program, Co-Director of the MIT School Effectiveness and Inequality Initiative, and Scientific Advisor to the NBER Disability Research Center. Autor earned a B.A. in Psychology from Tufts University and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in 1999. Prior to graduate study, he spent three years directing computer skills education for economically disadvantaged children and adults in San Francisco and South Africa. Autor is the captain of the MIT Economics hockey team, which is reputed to be one of the most highly cited teams in the MIT intramural league. 

Manuel Balmaseda, Chief Economist, CEMEX
Manuel Balmaseda is the Chief Economist at CEMEX, a leading global building materials corporation. Previously he served as Chief Economist for Spain and Europe at BBVA, Chief Economist for Capital Markets at BBV, professor of economics at CEMFI and visiting researcher at the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis. He has also taught at the IESE Business School in Madrid, the EOI (School of Industrial Organization) in Madrid and the Helsinki School of Economics. He collaborates with the IMF, the EU Commission, the OECD, the Secretaría General Sudamericana and other private organizations on topics related to the economics perspectives and policy action in the US, the Euro zone, Latin America and Spain, and particularly, issues related to the construction sector, real estate markets and fiscal and monetary developments. Mr. Balmaseda holds a Ph.D. and a Master’s degree in economics from Northwestern University and a B.A. in Economics, Government and Mathematics-Computer Science from Colby College. He is a member of several international organizations: the ECB Shadow Council, ICBE (International Conference of Business Economists), EMNET (Emerging Market Network), the Global Interdependence Council, NBEIC (National Business Economic Issues Council),  the Board of Directors of  NABE (National Association of Business Economics) in the US and Grupo de Expertos de Coyuntura in Spain, among other economic organizations. His current professional interests focus on international economic developments, construction and real estate market evolution, economic impact of fiscal consolidation, crisis resolution, and institutional and market reform. Mr. Balmaseda participates in conferences on these and other topics and has published numerous articles in academic journals and books and in the press.


Nariman Behravesh, Chief Economist, IHS Markit
Dr. Nariman Behravesh is Chief Economist of IHS Markit and author of Spin-Free Economics: A No-Nonsense, Nonpartisan Guide to Today's Global Economic Debates (McGraw-Hill). Directing the entire economic forecasting process at IHS Markit, he is responsible for developing the economic outlook and risk analysis for the United States, Europe, Japan, China and other emerging markets. He oversees the work of over 400 professionals, located in North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa who cover economic, financial, and political developments in over 200 countries. Behravesh and his team were awarded the 2017 Lawrence R. Klein Blue Chip Forecast Accuracy Award. They were also ranked as top forecasters by Consensus Economics for their 2013 predictions for the United States, China, Australia and Estonia and for their 2014 projections for Canada, Romania, Slovenia and Ukraine. Behravesh is also a "Bloomberg Best" and ranked as one of Bloomberg's Top Forecasters for 2009, 2010 and 2011. MarketWatch designated IHS Markit "Forecaster of the Year" in 2009 and has bestowed several Forecaster of the Month accolades since. He and his team were designated #1 in USA Today’s 2004 ranking of top economic forecasters, and in Reuters' 2004 survey of major currency exchange rate forecasters. In 2008, he was ranked #2 by USA Today. In The Wall Street Journal’s annual ranking of U.S. forecasters, Behravesh was ranked #3 (out of 56) for 2006, and was the only forecaster to place in the top six for 2003, 2004 and 2006. As the chief economics spokesperson at IHS Markit, Behravesh is quoted extensively in the media on such topics as the outlook for the U.S. and global economies, exchange rates, the budget deficit, the trade deficit, globalization, country risk, and sovereign debt crises. He is cited frequently in leading business publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Financial Times, USA Today, Investor's Business Daily, The Boston Globe, Business Week, Newsweek, Fortune, Forbes and U.S. News and World Report. He also regularly appears on national radio and television programs including BBC World Business Report, NBC Nightly News, CNN Headline News, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer (PBS), Fox News, CNBC, Bloomberg TV and Radio, and All Things Considered and Market Place on National Public Radio. Behravesh was the host of the PBS television series "Inside the Global Economy." In addition to his recent book, he is the author of Economics U$A, now in its 8th edition. His Op-Ed pieces have appeared in the Financial Times, Newsweek International, London Times and the Boston Globe. Dr. Behravesh is a featured speaker at many of the top global conferences each year, including IHS Markit CERA Week and the World Economic Forum in Davos. Before joining IHS Markit, Behravesh was chief economist for Global Insight (now an IHS Markit company).  Prior to that, he was chief international economist for Standard & Poor's. Early in his career Behravesh worked at the Congressional Budget Office and the Federal Reserve. He has been covering the global economy for over 40 years. Behravesh holds Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in economics from the University of Pennsylvania (where Nobel Laureate Lawrence R. Klein was his dissertation advisor), and a B.Sc. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has lived in Europe and the Middle East, and is fluent in several languages. He travels extensively to Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

George Beranek, ‎Head, Corporate Economics Department, ‎Marathon Petroleum Company
Mr. Beranek has been the head of Marathon Petroleum’s corporate economics department since late 2013, working in its Findlay, Ohio headquarters.  The Economics group is responsible for short- and long-term price forecasts, policy analysis, project support and senior executive requests. Prior to coming to Findlay, George had worked for six years with Tesoro in San Antonio in its economics group playing several roles, including price forecasting, project support and trader support. Before Tesoro, Mr. Beranek worked for several different consulting firms in the Washington, D.C. area in roles including global oil markets fundamentals analysis and forecasting, natural gas project evaluation, fuel consulting for international independent power project developers and refining analysis. Mr. Beranek has a Masters in Economics from George Washington University, and his Bachelors in Economics is from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Molly Boesel, CoreLogic
Molly Boesel holds the title principal, economist for CoreLogic in the Office of the Chief Economist and is responsible for analyzing and forecasting housing and mortgage market trends. She has more than 20 years of experience of expertise in mortgage market analysis, model development and risk analysis in the housing finance industry. Molly previously worked at both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. While at Fannie Mae she provided Fannie Mae’s official monthly forecast for the economy, housing market, and mortgage market stocks and flows, and provided analyses on trends in the mortgage market, including characteristics of borrowers, homeowners, and mortgage products.


Beth Ann Bovino, Chief U.S. Economist/Managing Director, S&P Global Ratings
Beth Ann Bovino is the U.S. Chief Economist at Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, based in New York. In this position, she develops S&P’s U.S. economic forecasts and authors the monthly U.S. Economic Forecast, the quarterly U.S. Risks To The Forecast, the weekly Financial Notes and the Weekly Economics Call. Beth Ann has created Industry Drivers reports for analyst research. She is quoted regularly in the press and has appeared on many major television programs. Further, she has written many articles for popular and professional publications. Before joining Standard & Poor’s in February 2004, Beth Ann spent over ten years doing economic and market research with Sungard Institutional Brokerage, UBS Warburg, and the Federal Reserve. The Wall Street Journal recognized Beth Ann as the most accurate forecaster of the U.S. economy in 2013. Beth Ann holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, a master's degree in International and Development Economics from Yale University and a Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University.

Alex Brill, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Alex Brill is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he studies the impact of tax policy on the US economy as well as the fiscal, economic, and political consequences of tax, budget, health care, retirement security, and trade policies. He also works on health care reform, pharmaceutical spending and drug innovation, and unemployment insurance reform. Brill is the editor of Carbon Tax Policy: A Conservative Dialogue on Pro-Growth Opportunities (2017) and the coauthor, with Alan D. Viard, of The Real Tax Burden: More Than Dollars and Cents (2011). He has testified numerous times before Congress on tax policy, labor markets and unemployment insurance, Social Security reform, fiscal stimulus, the manufacturing sector, and biologic drug competition. Before joining AEI, Brill served as the policy director and chief economist of the House Ways and Means Committee. Previously, he served on the staff of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. He has also served on the staff of the President’s Fiscal Commission (Simpson-Bowles) and the Republican Platform Committee (2008). Brill has an M.A. in mathematical finance from Boston University and a B.A. in economics from Tufts University.

Jeffrey R. Brown, Professor of Business and Dean, College of Business, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Jeffrey Brown is the Josef and Margot Lakonishok Endowed Professor of Business and Dean of Gies (geese) College of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. He also serves as a professor of finance and was the founding director of the Center for Business and Public Policy. Dr. Brown is the director of the Retirement Research Center at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in Cambridge, MA; a trustee and chair of the Audit Committee for TIAA; a member of the Governing Board of the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ); vice chair of the Board of Managers of UI Singapore Research LLC; and a member of the Advisory Board of the Urban Institute/Brookings Institution’s Tax Policy Center. Previously, Dr. Brown has served as a senior economist with the White House Council of Economic Advisers. He earned his PhD in economics from MIT, his MPP from Harvard, and his BA from Miami University (Ohio). 

Ben Caldecott, Director, Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme
Dr Ben Caldecott is the founding Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme at the University of Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. He is concurrently an Academic Visitor at the Bank of England and a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University. He is also a Senior Advisor at SYSTEMIQ and Highmore LLC, as well as a Policy Associate at the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), where he is a director-level secondee in the Strategy Directorate providing advice on a range of policy issues, many of which are related to finance, investment, and market design Ben specialises in environment, energy, and sustainability issues and works at the intersection between finance, government, civil society, and academe, having held senior roles in each domain. Ben has authored and edited a substantial number of publications related to sustainability and is an experienced media commentator and public speaker. He is also a regular peer reviewer and has a number of board and advisory panel appointments, including with the City of London Green Finance Initiative, UK Green Finance Institute, University of Oxford Socially Responsible Investment Review Committee, The Prince of Wales's Accounting for Sustainability Project, ATLAS Infrastructure Partners Ltd, the British Standards Institution (BSI), the Natural Capital Finance Alliance, and the Green Alliance.


Mike Cammisa, President, Michael Cammisa Consulting, LLC
Michael Cammisa is President of Michael Cammisa Consulting, LLC.  Mike has worked in the area of transportation policy for over 20 years, first in the research department at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, then as Senior Director for Safety and Connected Vehicles at the Association of Global Automakers, and most recently as the Vice President for Safety Policy, Connectivity & Technology for the American Trucking Associations.  In these roles, Mike has worked with passenger vehicle and truck manufacturers, vehicle component and technology suppliers, federal regulators, state DOTs, and other stakeholders on safety and technology policies and regulations affecting motor vehicles. Mike holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia, a Master of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina and a Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University.


Julia Coronado, Founder and President, MacroPolicy Perspectives LLC
Julia Coronado founded MPP because she believes independent research can provide the most objective and relevant analysis to inform decision making in an uncertain world. Julia is also an Executive in Residence and blogger for Rutgers Business School. She has more than a decade of experience as a financial market economist including serving as Chief Economist for Graham Capital Management and BNP Paribas, and as a Senior Economist at Barclays Capital. After receiving her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin, Julia worked for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington D.C. for eight years. She regularly briefed the Board and contributed to the FOMC forecasts, and represented the Federal Reserve at meetings of the OECD’s Committee on Financial Markets. Julia has published a number of scholarly articles on issues related to pension finances, social security, and retirement saving adequacy and behavior. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of MTGE Corporation and the Pension Research Council at the Wharton School. She is a member of the Economic Advisory Panel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a member of the Economic Studies Council at The Brookings Institution and until recently served on The New York Fed's Treasury Markets Practices Group. 

Yael Cosset, Group Vice President & Chief Digital Officer, The Kroger Co.
Yael Cosset is Chief Digital Officer for The Kroger Co., where he leads the company’s overall digital strategy, e-commerce expansion, and Vitacost. Yael focuses on establishing differentiated and personalized experiences for Kroger customers across all digital platforms using technology and innovative customer analytics as key levers. In 2009, Yael joined dunnhumby as Executive Vice President of consumer markets and was later named Global Chief Information Officer, leading technology and product innovation. During his tenure at dunnhumby, he also served as Chief Executive Officer of KSS Retail, a dunnhumby company and global enterprise software provider of price modeling and optimization solutions for retailers worldwide. In 2015 he was named Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Information Officer of 84.51°, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Kroger Co., where he drove the digital and media teams, and overall commercial expansion. Prior to joining dunnhumby, Yael served as Vice President - West Region at MicroStrategy, where he worked with Safeway, The Gap, Nordstrom, Intel, Disney, Universal Studios, American Express, and Visa, among others. Throughout his career, he has leveraged his experience and strategic leadership to drive innovation around customer insight and personalization of consumers’ experience.

Lou Crandall, Chief Economist, Wrightson ICAP
Lou Crandall is Chief Economist of Wrightson ICAP and author of the firm’s newsletter, The Money Market Observer.  Mr. Crandall began his career on the reserve forecasting team at the New York Fed in 1980 before joining Wrightson in 1982.  The firm specializes in the analysis of the U.S. money markets, Federal Reserve operations and policy, and Treasury financing activity.  Mr. Crandall is a former Bloomberg News U.S. Economic Forecaster of the Year, and.is also a past member of the Research Advisory Committee of the Treasury’s Office of Financial Research


Helen Currie, Chief Economist, ConocoPhillips
With over 25 years of experience in business, government and academia, Dr. Helen Currie brings unique perspectives to corporate strategy, planning and portfolio risk management. In her current role as ConocoPhillips' Chief Economist, Currie manages strategic planning initiatives, oversees long range plan development, and advises on investment analyses & political risk. At BG Group, she built and led the Americas Market Analysis research team, advised on M&A opportunities with Strategy & BD and developed Gas and Power Trading strategies. Her academic faculty roles provided opportunities to coach MBA's and undergraduates through finance and economics curricula and to develop student leadership organizations. Dr. Currie is a frequent speaker at industry venues and guest lecturer for training programs and universities. She has published research in finance, economics and management journals in addition to industry journals.

Gregory Daco, Chief US Economist, Oxford Economics
Gregory Daco is Chief US Economist at Oxford Economics where he is responsible for producing the US economic outlook using Oxford Economics’ proprietary Global Economic Model. Greg directs thematic research on the economy, the Fed and fiscal policy, and leads a team of high caliber economists producing intraday economic, financial market and technical analysis. He conducts regular briefings on the global economy for corporate boards, trade associations and policymakers at all levels. Greg is often quoted in national and global publications and is a frequent guest of CNBC, Bloomberg and NPR.  Prior to joining Oxford Economics, Greg was Director of US Macroeconomics at IHS Global Insight. He also worked in the Economic Affairs Department of the Belgian Embassy in Australia and the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the UN in Geneva. Greg is a Member of the Board of Directors of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE), former President of the New York Chapter of NABE as well as co-founder and former President of the Boston Chapter of the NABE. He holds a Master of Arts in economics from Boston University, and a Master in Business Administration from Université de Louvain in Belgium. 


David Deming, Professor of Public Policy, Education and Economics, Harvard Kennedy School
David Deming is a Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He co-directs the Harvard Inequality and Social Policy program. David's research focuses broadly on the economics of skill development, education and the labor  market. He recently won the David Kershaw Prize for distinguished contributions to the field of public policy and management by a scholar under the age of 40. Along with Raj Chetty and John Friedman, he started the CLIMB (Collegiate Leaders in Increasing MoBility) initiative, a partnership between researchers, policymakers and a diverse group of U.S. colleges and universities. CLIMB's goal is to understand the role of higher education in fostering social mobility. CLIMB is linking data from hundreds of institutional partners to data on earnings and other long-run outcomes. The kickoff conference was on October 30th on the campus of UT-Austin.  Deming is also a coeditor at the AEJ: Applied. Here is a tweetstorm about his perspective on journal editing.


Doug Elmendorf, Dean and Don K. Price Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Douglas W. Elmendorf began his tenure as dean of Harvard Kennedy School in January 2016. He had been a visiting fellow at Brookings after serving as the director of the Congressional Budget Office from January 2009 through March 2015. Before being at CBO, he spent two years at Brookings, where he was a senior fellow, the Edward M. Bernstein Scholar, and the director of The Hamilton Project. He was previously an assistant professor at Harvard University, a principal analyst at CBO, a senior economist at the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, a deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department, and an assistant director of the Division of Research and Statistics at the Federal Reserve Board. In those positions, Elmendorf worked on budget policy, health care issues, macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy, Social Security, income security programs, financial markets, macroeconomic analysis and forecasting, and other topics. He earned his PhD and AM in economics from Harvard University, where he was a National Science Foundation graduate fellow, and his AB summa cum laude from Princeton University.

Constance Everson, Managing Director, Capital Markets Outlook Group, Inc.
Constance Everson co-founded Capital Markets Outlook Group and has conducted capital markets research since 1981. Capital Markets Outlook Group provides analytic guidance to institutional investors in 10 countries. They translate the economic situation into recommended portfolio strategy, and have identified all major turning points for the economy, equity, bond and credit markets since their founding in 1992. They have maintained a demonstration portfolio since 2003. Ms. Everson is a graduate of Smith College and Harvard Business School. She worked for Data Resources (now IHS Global Insight,) and Charles River Associates before joining The Boston Company, from whom she and her colleagues acquired their firm. Ms. Everson serves on the investment committee of Mass PRIM (Pension Reserves Investment Management) in Boston, and is a director of the Weredale Foundation in her native Montreal. She serves on the program committee of the Boston CFA Society, and is a past-President of the Boston Economic Club.

Lisa Emsbo-Mattingly, CBE, Director of Research - Global Asset Allocation, Fidelity Investments
Lisa Emsbo-Mattingly is a director of research in the Global Asset Allocation (GAA) group at Fidelity Investments. Fidelity Investments is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing and other financial products and services to more than 20 million individuals, institutions and financial intermediaries. In this role, Ms. Emsbo-Mattingly is responsible for leading the Asset Allocation Research Team (AART) in conducting economic, fundamental, and quantitative research to develop asset allocation and macro investment recommendations for Fidelity’s portfolio managers and investment teams. AART is responsible for combining empirical research with foundational principles to execute a comprehensive, global, and forward-looking approach to asset allocation across temporal segments of the economy and asset markets. Prior to assuming her current position, Ms. Emsbo-Mattingly was head of economic research. In this capacity, she built a winning track record of combining economic insight with investment recommendations. Previously, she served as an economic analyst responsible for developing econometric models of industry performance in the market. Before joining Fidelity in 1996, Ms. Emsbo-Mattingly was an economic analyst at Eastern Research Group and an economic analyst in the international forecasting division at DRI/McGraw-Hill (now IHS Global Insight). She has been in the financial industry since 1990. Ms. Emsbo-Mattingly earned her bachelor of arts degree in economics and government from Oberlin College as well as her master’s degree in economics from Boston University. She is the former President of the National Association for Business Economics and of the Boston Economic Club. 

Jeffrey Flier, former Dean, Harvard Medical School
Jeffrey S. Flier became the 21st Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard University on September 1, 2007. His term as Dean ended in 2016 after nine years.  Flier, an endocrinologist and an authority on the molecular causes of obesity and diabetes, is the Caroline Shields Walker Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Previously he had served as Harvard Medical School Faculty Dean for Academic Programs and Chief Academic Officer for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard teaching affiliate.  Flier is one of the country’s leading investigators in the areas of obesity and diabetes. His research has produced major insights into the molecular mechanism of insulin action, the molecular mechanisms of insulin resistance in human disease, and the molecular pathophysiology of obesity.  Flier was born in New York City. He received a BS from City College of New York in 1968, and an MD from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 1972, graduating with the Elster Award for Highest Academic Standing. Following residency training in internal medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital from 1972 to 1974, he moved to the National Institutes of Health as a clinical associate. In 1978, he joined the faculty of medicine at Harvard Medical School, serving as chief of the diabetes unit at Beth Israel Hospital until 1990, when he was named chief of the hospital's endocrine division.  In 2002, Flier was named Chief Academic Officer of Beth Israel Deaconess, a newly created senior position responsible for research and academic programs. He worked with hospital academic department chairs to ensure the quality and breadth of academic programs at Beth Israel Deaconess, through which most HMS students pass. He also served as the formal liaison to HMS, sitting on the Council of Academic Deans.  Flier has authored more than 200 scholarly papers and reviews. An elected member of the Institute of Medicine and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, his honors also include the Eli Lilly Award of the American Diabetes Association, the Berson Lecture of the American Physiological Society, and honorary doctorates from the University of Athens and the University of Edinburgh. He was the recipient of the 2003 Edwin B. Astwood Lecture Award from the Endocrine Society and, in 2005, he received the Banting Medal from the American Diabetes Association, its highest scientific honor.  The father of two daughters, Flier lives in Newton, Mass., with his wife, Eleftheria Maratos-Flier, MD, who is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and with whom he has collaborated on research in the area of neuroendocrine control of body weight. 

Tim Gill, CBE, Chief Economist, American Iron & Steel Institute
Timothy J. Gill, CBE, is chief economist of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). Based in Washington, DC, he provides economic analysis in support of AISI’s market research, market development, communications, and public policy efforts. Among his responsibilities, Tim oversees AISI’s industry statistics program, serves as staff director of its commercial research committee, acts as its economic forecaster, and represents the U.S. steel industry on the Worldsteel Association’s economics committee.  Tim has more than 20 years of experience in business economics and industry analysis. He speaks frequently on the business environment and has contributed to outlook surveys compiled by Bloomberg, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and The Wall Street Journal, among others. He was a key member of the team whose forecasts of the U.S. economy were cited by The Wall Street Journal as among the most accurate of 2011, 2012, and 2013. He holds a B.A. from John Carroll University, an M.A. in economics from Miami University, and is a Certified Business Economist™ (CBE), receiving the designation as a member of the inaugural CBE class of 2015. 

Ed Glaeser, Professor of Economics, Harvard University
Edward Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1992. He regularly teaches microeconomics theory, and occasionally urban and public economics. He has served as Director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, and Director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. He has published dozens of papers on cities economic growth, law, and economics. In particular, his work has focused on the determinants of city growth and the role of cities as centers of idea transmission. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1992.

Robert Gordon, Stanley G. Harris Professor of the Social Sciences, Northwestern University
Robert Gordon is a macroeconomist with a particular interest in unemployment, inflation, and both the long-run and cyclical aspects of labor productivity. He is the author of a textbook in intermediate macroeconomics, now in its 12th edition, and has completed a new book, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, published by the Princeton University Press in January, 2016. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2014 he was elected as a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association.  In 2016 he was named by Bloomberg as one of the 50 most influential people in the world.  For more than three decades, he has been a member of the National Bureau of Economic Research's Business Cycle Dating Committee, which determines the start and end dates for recessions in the United States.

Robert Graboyes, Senior Research Fellow and Health Care Scholar, Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Dr. Robert Graboyes is a Senior Research Fellow and Health Care Scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Author of “Fortress and Frontier in American Health Care,” his work asks, “How can we make health care as innovative in the next 25 years as information technology was in the past 25?” Previously, he was health care advisor for the National Federation of Independent Business, economics professor at the University of Richmond, regional economist/director of education at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, and Sub-Saharan Africa economist for Chase Manhattan Bank. His work has taken him to Europe, Africa, and Central Asia. An award-winning teacher, he holds faculty appointments at Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia. Previously he taught at George Mason University and the George Washington University. His degrees include a PhD in Economics from Columbia University; master’s from Columbia University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the College of William and Mary; and a bachelor’s from the University of Virginia. He has chaired the National Economists Club, Richmond Association for Business Economics, and National Association for Business Economics Healthcare Roundtable. He won the Reason Foundation’s 2014 Bastiat Prize for Journalism, an international competition for “writing that best demonstrates the importance of individual liberty and free markets with originality, wit, and eloquence.”

Megan Greene, Manulife
Megan E. Greene is Global Chief Economist at Manulife Asset Management, responsible for forecasting global macro-economic and financial trends and analyzing the potential opportunities and impacts to support the firm’s investment teams around the world. Megan is also a Member of the Board of Directors of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) and serves on the advisory board of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard’s Kennedy School and Econofact. She is also on the external advisory board of the Irish government’s Public Budget Office, which offers consulting on all fiscal issues, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, Megan ran her own London-based economics consulting practice, Maverick Intelligence, serving clients who leveraged her analysis of economic, political, policy and social developments and the impact these were likely to have on the global economy. Prior to Maverick, she was director of European Economics at Roubini Global Economics and the euro crisis expert at the Economist Intelligence Unit.  Education: Princeton University, BA in Political Economy, 2001; Oxford University, Nuffield College, MSc in European Studies, 2006 Joined Company: 2014 Began Career: 2001

Peter Hall, Professor of European Studies, Harvard University
Peter A. Hall is Krupp Foundation Professor of European Studies in the Department of Government and at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, as well as Co-Director of the Program on Successful Societies for the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Hall is editor of Successful Societies: How Institutions and Culture Affect Health (with Michèle Lamont), Changing France: The Politics that Markets Make (with P. Culpepper and B. Palier), Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage (with David Soskice),The Political Power of Economic Ideas: Keynesianism across Nations, Developments in French Politics I and II (with A. Guyomarch and H. Machin), European Labor in the 1980s and the author of Governing the Economy: The Politics of State Intervention in Britain and France and more than seventy articles on European politics, policy-making, and comparative political economy. He serves on the editorial boards of many journals and the advisory boards of several European institutes. He is currently working on issues in the methods of political science, the political response to economic challenges in postwar Europe, and the impact of social institutions on inequalities in population health. In Fall 2010, Hall is on leave at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg in Delmenhorst, Germany.


Shay Har-Noy, VP of Platform, DigitalGlobe
Dr. Shay Har-Noy serves as Vice President, General Manager of our Platform business -- our fast pace, high growth effort to get DigitalGlobe’s 15 year digital library in the cloud and available for processing. Before joining DigitalGlobe, Shay (Shy) was founder and CEO of Tomnod, an innovative company combining crowdsourcing and machine learning to create new applications for satellite imagery. Tomnod was acquired by DigitalGlobe in early 2013 and is now a critical component of our Geospatial Big Data portfolio. Shay was previously at ViaSat where he worked on the deployment and market positioning of satellite communication systems around the globe. Shay graduated summa cum laude from Rice University with degrees in Economics and Electrical Engineering and received a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering with research in image processing from UC-San Diego.


Azhar Iqbal, Director and Econometrician, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC

Azhar Iqbal is a director and econometrician at Wells Fargo Securities, responsible for providing quantitative analysis to the Economics group and modeling and forecasting of macro and financial variables. He is based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before joining Wells Fargo in 2007, he was an economist and course instructor at the Applied Economics Research Center at the University of Karachi in Pakistan, teaching econometrics, microeconomics, and urban economics. He has also worked as an economist at the United Nations, at Arif-Habib Investment Bank, and for projects funded by the government of Pakistan. Azhar received his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Punjab and has three master’s degrees. He earned his master’s degree in economic forecasting from the University at Albany, State University of New York, where he also earned a Certificate of Graduate Study in economic forecasting. He also has master’s degrees in applied science and applied economics from University of Karachi, and in econometrics and mathematics from the University of the Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan. Azhar won the 2012, 2014, and 2016 NABE Contributed Paper Award as well as the 2010 and 2016 Edmund A. Mennis Contributed Paper Award for best papers from the National Association of Business Economics (NABE). A strong supporter of education, Azhar teaches a graduate course, Advanced Business and Economic Forecasting, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Azhar’s co-authored book, Economic and Business Forecasting: Analyzing and Interpreting Econometric Results, was published by Wiley in March 2014. His second book, Economic Modeling in the Post Great Recession Era, was published by Wiley in March 2016. His interests focus on forecasting, time series, panel data, and macroeconomics. Azhar has presented research papers at the American Economic Association, Econometric Society meetings, the Panel Data Conference, and other international conferences. He has published over two dozen papers in the Canadian Journal of Economics, Global Economy Journal, Business Economics, Journal of Business Forecasting, and others listed in the Journal of Economic Literature. 

Roger Josefsson, Chief Economist, Macrobond Financial
Roger Josefsson is the Chief Economist at Macrobond Financial, a leading provider of data and analytics platforms for economists and financial analysts. Roger has an MSc in Financial Economics from Gothenburg University. He has held various positions at Sweden’s central bank, the Riksbank, and the Swedish Ministry of Finance. As Chief Economist for Danske Bank, Roger and his team were ranked amongst the top in independent client surveys ever since he took the helm 15 years ago. Before joining Macrobond, Roger was named Best Forecaster by Sweden’s biggest financial newspaper, Dagens Industri. When not at work Roger is perfecting his risotto and painstakingly trying to shed its effects through outdoor activities.

Bar Kafri, VP of Product, SpaceKnow
Bar Kafri is the Vice President of Product at SpaceKnow, a company that uses artificial intelligence to carve insights from satellites' imagery. Bar holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and he is the former Managing Director of the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition.  In addition, he holds a Masters degree in Engineering from Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, with a specialization in Renewable Energy and Computer Simulations.   Prior to arriving in the U.S. he served as a lead product manager and an officer in the IDF Elite Technology Unit. He is experienced in leading cross-functional teams under stressful conditions and high technological uncertainty. He specializes in the development of innovative and creative solutions for complex problems.   

Mark Killion, Director, U.S. Industry Services, Oxford Economics

Jack Kleinhenz, Chief Economist, National Retail Federation
Jack Kleinhenz, Ph.D. is chief economist for the National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail trade association. As a professional economist with more than 35 years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies, banking firms, regulators, planners, universities, airports, manufacturers, chambers of commerce, trade associations, non-profit organizations and state and local government agencies, Kleinhenz is known for translating economics into clear and concise explanations and action. A frequent speaker on business and regional economic issues, Jack is regularly called upon for his expertise by the local, national and international media. These include The Financial Times, Bloomberg News, CNBC, Fox News, National Public Radio, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and The Washington Post. Formerly with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Kleinhenz is a contributing forecaster to the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. He also participates as a panelist for NABE’s Economic Outlook, Business Conditions and Policy surveys. He is the immediate past president of the National Association for Business Economics, the largest international association of applied economists, strategists, academics, and policy-makers committed to the application of economics. Dr. Kleinhenz serves as a board director to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the nation's leading nonprofit economic research organization. Appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Labor in 2015, .Jack is a member of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Data Users Advisory Committee.  He is a member of the Governor of Ohio’s Council of Economic Advisors and the Northeast Ohio Council of Economic Policy Advisors. He also serves as principal and chief economist of Kleinhenz & Associates, an economic, financial consulting and wealth management firm headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio as well as adjunct professor of economics at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management.

Emily Kolinski Morris, CBE, Chief Economist, Ford Motor Company
Emily Kolinski Morris joined Ford Motor Company in 1997 and during that time has conducted economic analysis in varying roles for all of Ford’s major global markets, before becoming Ford’s chief economist in 2014.  In this capacity, Emily manages the corporate economics group with major responsibility for the Company's global economic and automotive industry forecasts supporting business strategy, finance, and planning. Prior to joining Ford, Emily spent four years as a fiscal analyst with the Michigan House of Representatives.  In this non-partisan position, she provided council to House members on program funding and performance, testified regularly before the House Appropriations committee, and interacted with stakeholders at all levels of state government. Emily holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan, and a B.A. in Economics and International Studies from the University of Michigan-Dearborn.  She is active in various professional organizations, currently serving on the board of the Council for Economic Education.  She previously served a three-year term as an elected board member of the National Association for Business Economics, and is also a past president of the Detroit chapter of that organization.

Mike Luca, Lee J. Styslinger III Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Michael Luca is Lee J. Styslinger III Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Professor Luca works closely with companies and cities to help them become more data-driven, and has ongoing collaborations with Yelp, Facebook, the UK government, and the City of Boston, in addition to other partners.  Professor Luca teaches The Online Economy, an elective course about the strategic and operational decisions faced when designing and launching an online platform. He also teaches an elective course in which student teams develop behavioral interventions and experimental designs for government and company clients, called IFC: Behavioral Insights. Professor Luca's current work focuses on digital data and platforms, analyzing a variety of companies including Yelp, Amazon, and Airbnb. Professor Luca also works on issues related to the design of information disclosure. Focusing on the behavioral foundations of how people make decisions, he has done work on rankings, expert reviews, online consumer reviews, and quality disclosure laws, among other types of information provision. His work has been written about in a variety of media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Guardian, Telegraph, Huffington Post, Harvard Business Review, Atlantic, Quartz, Vox, and Forbes.

Susan Lund, Partner, McKinsey Global Institute
Dr. Susan Lund is a partner of McKinsey & Company and a leader of the McKinsey Global Institute. As a Ph.D. economist, her research focuses on technology, labor markets, and globalization. Her current research is assessing how automation and artificial intelligence will change the skills that employers require and how education and training models must change. Recent research analyzed the impact of robots and automation on the future of work and the workforce; measured the size of the independent workforce (or “gig economy”) in the United States and Europe; examined how digital flows are transforming globalization and the winners and losers; assessed the potential for digital finance to boost growth and financial inclusion in developing countries; and documented the continuing accumulation of debt in countries around the world, with a focus on China. Susan has an active travel schedule, discussing research findings with CEOs and other executives at global Fortune 500 companies and is a frequent speaker at global conferences. She has authored numerous articles in leading business publications that include Harvard Business Review, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Foreign Affairs. Susan is a board director of the National Association of Business Economists and serves on the Economic Advisory Council of the International Financial Corporation. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bretton Woods Committee, and the Conference of Business Economists. She holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and a B.A. from Northwestern University. She has lived and worked in Africa and Asia, and currently resides in Washington, DC.

David R. Malpass, Under Secretary for International Affairs, U.S. Department of the Treasury
David R. Malpass is Under Secretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In this position, he is the principal advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on international economic issues. Under Secretary Malpass oversees policies in the areas of international finance, trade in financial services, investment, economic development, and international debt policy. He also coordinates financial market policy with the Group of Seven industrialized countries. He previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under President Ronald Reagan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State under President George H. W. Bush, and Chief Economist at Bear Stearns. In 2008, he founded Encima Global, an economic research firm.  In 2010, Mr. Malpass ran for the U.S. Senate in New York. During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Mr. Malpass served as an economic advisor to then-candidate Donald J. Trump. Malpass has been a frequent contributor to the op-ed section of The Wall Street Journal and wrote a regular column in Forbes magazine. During the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, Malpass worked for Secretary James A. Baker on an array of economic, budget, and foreign policy issues, including the 1986 tax cut and the Latin American debt crisis. In addition to his Treasury and State Department positions, Malpass served as Senior Analyst for Taxes and Trade at the Senate Budget Committee and Republican Staff Director of the U.S. Congress’s Joint Economic Committee. From 1977 to 1983, Mr. Malpass worked in Portland, Oregon. He was a CPA with Arthur Andersen’s systems consulting group, the controller at Consolidated Supply Co., and a contract administrator at Esco Corporation, a steel foundry. Mr. Malpass is a former Board Member of the National Committee on United States–China Relations, the Council of the Americas, the Economic Club of New York, the Manhattan Institute, the Gary Klinsky Children's Centers, UBS Funds, and New Mountain Finance Corp (ticker NMFC). He holds a Bachelor's degree in physics from Colorado College, an MBA from the University of Denver, and studied international economics at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.

Catherine L. Mann, Global Chief Economist, Citi
Catherine L. Mann is the Global Chief Economist at Citi, a position she started in 2018. She was also the Chief Economist at the OECD. Mann has worked as an Economist in the Bush Administration's Council of Economic Advisers where she advised on the European Monetary Union, Latin American economies and the transition economies of the former USSR. She worked as an Economist at the Federal Reserve mainly in the Bank's International Finance division. Starting in 2006, Mann was a lecturer at Brandeis University - and since 2010, she was appointed Barbara ’54 and Richard M. Rosenberg Professor of International Economics and Finance at Brandeis University. She left for the OECD in 2014. Between 2014 and 2017, she was appointed as Chief Economist and Head of Economics Department at the OECD.

Dinny McMahon, Fellow, MacroPolo, The Paulson Institute
Dinny McMahon spent ten years as a financial journalist in China, including six years in Beijing with The Wall Street Journal, and four years with Dow Jones Newswires in Shanghai, where he also contributed to the Far Eastern Economic Review. In 2015, he left China and The Wall Street Journal to take up a fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a think tank in Washington DC, where he wrote China's Great Wall of Debt: Shadow Banks, Ghost Cities, Massive Loans, and the End of the Chinese Miracle. He is currently a fellow at MacroPolo, the Paulson Institute’s think tank, where he writes about China’s efforts to clean up its financial system. 

Steve Melman, National Association of Home Builders
Melman is a spokesman for NAHB’s forecast of new housing trends and the analysis of the home building industry. He has published numerous research articles on topics including industry structure and publicly traded builders. Before taking his current position, Melman was responsible for NAHB’s multifamily and federal housing program initiatives. Prior to NAHB, Melman was an appeals officer for the U.S. Civil Service Commission in Washington, D.C. He is a former president of Sinai House, a non-profit that provides transitional housing for homeless families in the D.C. region. Melman earned a J.D. from St. Louis University School of Law, a master’s in city and regional planning from Rutgers University, and a bachelor’s in economics from Washington University in St. Louis.

Brian W. Nagel,  Managing Director and Senior Analyst, Oppenheimer & Company
Brian W. Nagel is Managing Director and Senior Analyst covering the Consumer Growth & eCommerce sectors. Brian has worked as a sell side equity research analyst covering various areas of the retail and consumer economies for more than 20 years. Prior to joining Oppenheimer, Brian worked as an analyst at UBS and, before that, at Credit Suisse. Clients value the market and stock specific insights of Brian and leverage his strong relationships with senior managements. Brian is quoted often in the financial press and serves frequently as a quest expert on various financial news channels, such as CNBC and Bloomberg. Brian graduated from Creighton University with a B.S.B.A and is a CFA charterholder.

Gleb Nechayev, Senior Vice President, Head of Economic & Market Research, Berkshire Group
In his position, Mr. Nechayev leads the development of original real estate research at Berkshire Group. He joined the firm in December 2014. Mr. Nechayev is a recognized real estate economist specializing in multifamily markets, with nearly two decades of industry experience counseling institutional and private clients.  Prior to joining Berkshire, he was Senior Managing Economist for CBRE Econometric Advisors (formerly Torto Wheaton Research), where he provided expert economic outlook in the multifamily, retail and hotel property sectors.   Previously, Mr. Nechayev held senior research positions with Lend Lease Real Estate Investments, and KAI Technologies.  He holds a Masters in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is a graduate of the National Economic University of Kiev, Ukraine.  Mr. Nechayev is a member of both the Urban Land Institute and National Multifamily Housing Council.

Tom Orlik, Chief Economist, Bloomberg Economics
Tom Orlik is the chief economist for Bloomberg Economics. He's the author of "Understanding China's Economic Indicators" - a guide to China's economic data. He is based in Washington DC., following more than a decade in Beijing.

Athanasios Orphanides, former Governor, Central Bank of Cyprus; Professor of the Practice of Global Economics and Management; MIT Sloan School of Management
Athanasios Orphanides is a Professor of the Practice of Global Economics and Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management.  Orphanides is also a Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, a Senior Fellow of the Center for Financial Studies, a Research Fellow of the Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability and a member of the Shadow Open Market Committee. His research interests are on central banking, finance, and political economy and he has published extensively on these topics. He has also contributed to the ongoing debate on the euro area crisis. From May 2007 to May 2012, Orphanides served a five-year term as governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus and was a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank.  Following the creation of the European Systemic Risk Board in 2010, he was elected a member of its first Steering Committee.  Earlier, he served as senior adviser at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, where he had started his professional career as an economist.   Athanasios Orphanides obtained his undergraduate degrees in mathematics and economics as well as a PhD in economics from MIT.

Mark Palim, Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist, Fannie Mae

Dr. Mark Palim is a Director in the Economic and Strategic Research group at Fannie Mae. His work focuses on the impact of trends in the financial services sector on the economy and on Fannie Mae. Prior to working at Fannie Mae, Dr. Palim worked as an economic consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers and for LECG. His practice was focused on applying economic and financial theory to a variety of business disputes and policy questions. He has been a consulting and testifying expert in antitrust cases and disputes in the financial services industry. In addition, Dr. Palim led a team of 75 adjudicators charged with valuing claims for the Department of Justice and the Special Master administering the Federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Dr. Palim was first involved with economic forecasting and mortgage securities in 1988 when he was as a portfolio manager and also reported to the Chief Economist at Mercantile Safe Deposit and Trust Company. Subsequently he continued his work on macroeconomic and policy issues as a staff economist for the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU). Dr. Palim has a Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University and a B.A. in international studies from the Johns Hopkins University. In addition to his academic training, Dr. Palim is a Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder (CFA). Dr. Palim is married to an attorney and has four children. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland and grew up in Brussels, Belgium. Dr. Palim is fluent in French. 

Christina Paxson, President, Brown University
Christina Paxson is the nineteenth president of Brown University and Professor of Economics and Public Policy. She assumed the role of president on July 1, 2012. Paxson worked with students, faculty and staff to develop Building on Distinction, a 10-year strategic plan launched in 2014 that is shaping the growth and progress of a University committed to addressing the defining challenges of the 21st century. She is leading Brown in its increased emphasis on teaching, research and scholarship that spans disciplines in such areas as bioengineering, environmental security, data sciences and addressing societal issues through humanistic inquiry. Key areas of focus of her presidency include empowering collaboration and cultivating entrepreneurship among educator-scholars and students; expanding Brown’s rich research environment being developed in Providence’s Jewelry District; and creating engaged learning programs that integrate teaching with community-based research and real-world experiences. Under her leadership, Brown opened a new School of Public Health, the University launched the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, and Brown is experiencing a renaissance in social sciences in connection with the Watson Institute for Public and International Affairs. President Paxson has sustained undergraduate financial aid as the fastest growing area of Brown’s budget. She has lead Brown in increasing scholarships for low-income students and accelerating support for middle-income families, while also improving support for graduate students. In the fourth year of her presidency, President Paxson led an inclusive, campus-wide effort to create more just, diverse and inclusive communities in support of Brown’s mission of education and discovery. In February 2016, Brown released Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion: An Action Plan for Brown University. Prior to her appointment at Brown, President Paxson was dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs and the Hughes Rogers Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University. While at Princeton, she was the founding director of a National Institute on Aging Center for the Economics and Demography of Aging. In 2000, she founded the Center for Health and Wellbeing in the Woodrow Wilson School, for which served as the director until 2009. President Paxson is nationally recognized as a leader in higher education and a respected economist and public health expert. Her most recent research is focused on the relationship of economic factors to health and welfare over the life course, particularly on the health and welfare of children. She has been the principal investigator on a number of research projects supported by the National Institutes of Health, authored or co-authored numerous journal articles, was elected vice president of the American Economic Association in 2012, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In January 2016, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston named Paxson to its board of directors. President Paxson is a 1982 honors graduate of Swarthmore College, Phi Beta Kappa, and earned her graduate degrees in economics at Columbia University (M.A., 1985; Ph.D., 1987).

Sandy Pentland, Toshiba Professor of Media Arts & Science, MIT
Professor Alex "Sandy" Pentland directs the MIT Connection Science and Human Dynamics labs and previously helped create and direct the MIT Media Lab and the Media Lab Asia in India.  Forbes declared him one of the "7 most powerful data scientists in the world" along with Google founders and the Chief Technical Officer of the United States. He has received numerous awards and prizes such as the McKinsey Award from Harvard Business Review, the 40th Anniversary of the Internet from DARPA, and the Brandeis Award for work in privacy. He is a founding member of advisory boards for Google, AT&T, Nissan, and the UN Secretary General, a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded more than a dozen companies, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, a leader within the World Economic Forum, and his most recent books are `Social Physics,' published by Penguin Press, and 'Honest Signals', published by MIT Press.

Perc Pineda, Chief Economist, Plastics Industry Association

As the Chief Economist of Plastics Industry Association, Perc Pineda serves as the organization’s primary staff expert on economics, statistics and industry research. His views on the economy have been widely quoted in the media, and his works have been published in peer-reviewed economic and trade journals. Perc Pineda received his Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Philosophy in Economics from the New School of Social Research in New York, NY. He also holds a Master of Arts in Economics from the American University in Washington, D.C. and a Master in International Management from the University of Maryland.  Before joining PLASTICS, Perc Pineda was the Senior Economist of the Credit Union National Association, where he tracked macroeconomic trends, conducted economic research, wrote articles for industry publications, and interfaced with the media. His over 20 years of experience includes academia, international financial institution, and trade association work.  As an economics professor, he taught macroeconomics at the St. Francis College in New York, NY and microeconomics, finance, and economics of regulations and the law at the City University of New York. Prior to a stint in academia, he was at the International Monetary Fund, and the U.S. Dairy Export Council working on market access and regulatory affairs.

Jerome Powell, Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Jerome H. Powell took office as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on February 5, 2018, for a four-year term. Mr. Powell also serves as Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, the System's principal monetary policymaking body. Mr. Powell has served as a member of the Board of Governors since taking office on May 25, 2012, to fill an unexpired term. He was reappointed to the Board and sworn in on June 16, 2014, for a term ending January 31, 2028. Prior to his appointment to the Board, Mr. Powell was a visiting scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C., where he focused on federal and state fiscal issues. From 1997 through 2005, Mr. Powell was a partner at The Carlyle Group. Mr. Powell served as an Assistant Secretary and as Undersecretary of the Treasury under President George H.W. Bush, with responsibility for policy on financial institutions, the Treasury debt market, and related areas. Prior to joining the Administration, he worked as a lawyer and investment banker in New York City. In addition to service on corporate boards, Mr. Powell has served on the boards of charitable and educational institutions, including the Bendheim Center for Finance at Princeton University and The Nature Conservancy of Washington, D.C., and Maryland. Mr. Powell was born in February 1953 in Washington, D.C. He received an AB in politics from Princeton University in 1975 and earned a law degree from Georgetown University in 1979. While at Georgetown, he was editor-in-chief of the Georgetown Law Journal. Mr. Powell is married with three children.

Lou Pugliaresi, President, Energy Policy Research Foundation
Mr. Pugliaresi is President of the Energy Policy Research Foundation (EPRINC), a public policy energy think tank founded in 1944. He has led the organization’s research effort on the scope and benefits of the North American petroleum renaissance. EPRINC’s programs are focused on the intersection of petroleum economics and public policy. EPRINC publications on developments in U.S. and international petroleum markets are made available at the foundation’s website, www.eprinc.org. Mr.Pugliaresi has served in a wide range of government posts, including the National Security Council at the White House (Reagan Administration), Departments of State, Energy, and Interior, as well as the EPA. He has written extensively on energy and frequently testifies before various committees of the U.S. Congress. His career in the federal government included central policy roles in the development of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, decontrol of domestic crude oil and gasoline prices, nuclear nonproliferation, offshore oil and gas leasing on federal lands, U.S. trade policy, environmental regulations, energy security, and U.S./Soviet relations. 

Carmen Reinhart, Minos A. Zombanakis Professor of the International Financial System, Harvard Kennedy School
Carmen M. Reinhart is the Minos A. Zombanakis Professor of the International Financial System at Harvard Kennedy School. Previously, she was the Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for International Economics at the University of Maryland. Professor Reinhart held positions as Chief Economist and Vice President at the investment bank Bear Stearns in the 1980s.  She spent several years at the International Monetary Fund and as a member of the Congressional Budget Office Panel of Economic Advisers. She serves in the Economic Advisory Panel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and has been listed among Bloomberg Markets Most Influential 50 in Finance, Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers, and Thompson Reuters' The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds. Reinhart has written on a variety of topics in macroeconomics and international finance.  She has served on numerous editorial boards and has testified before congress. Her work has helped to inform the understanding of financial crises for over a decade. Her best-selling book (with Kenneth S. Rogoff)  entitled This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly  documents the striking similarities of the recurring booms and busts that have characterized financial history and has been translated to over 20 languages and won the 2010 Paul A. Samuelson TIAA-CREF Institute Award, among others.

Nela Richardson, Senior Investment Strategist, Edward Jones
Nela Richardson joined Edward Jones in 2018. As a senior investment strategist, she analyzes and interprets economic trends and market conditions, identifies risks and opportunities, and recommends strategies to help clients reach their long-term financial goals.  Prior to joining Edward Jones, Richardson was the chief economist at Redfin Corp., a national real estate brokerage and technology company, where she led a team of data scientists, economists and writers to track trends in the housing market. Richardson also served as a senior economist for Bloomberg, L.P., covering housing and financial markets, and has held research positions at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies and Freddie Mac. She also worked as an adjunct finance professor at the Carney School of Business at John Hopkins University.  Richardson earned a doctorate in economics from the University of Maryland-College Park with concentrations in financial economics, international finance and economic development.  She obtained a master’s degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University-Bloomington, where she was a triple major in mathematics, economics and philosophy.  Richardson regularly provides insight on the market, the economy, real estate trends and public policy to policymakers, consumers and media. She is a regular contributor to Marketplace from American Public Media and has frequently appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg, CNN, Yahoo Finance, the Wall Street Journal, FORTUNE magazine, The New York Times and other national and local media. Richardson serves on the board of directors for the National Association of Business Economists and is a member of the Council of Business Economists.

Dani Rodrik, Author, Straight Talk on Trade: Ideas for a Sane World Economy
Dani Rodrik is Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy at the Harvard Kennedy School. He has published widely in the areas of economic development, international economics, and political economy. His current research focuses on the political economy of liberal democracy and economic growth in developing countries. He is the recipient of the inaugural Albert O. Hirschman Prize of the Social Sciences Research Council and of the Leontief Award for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought. Professor Rodrik is currently President-Elect of the International Economic Association. His newest book is Straight Talk on Trade: Ideas for a Sane World Economy (2017). He is also the author of Economics Rules: The Rights and Wrongs of the Dismal Science (2015), The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy (2011) and One Economics, Many Recipes: Globalization, Institutions, and Economic Growth (2007).

Eric S. Rosengren, President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Eric Rosengren became the Boston Fed’s 13th president and chief executive officer on July 23, 2007, after holding senior positions in both the Bank’s economic research and bank supervision functions. Rosengren joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston as an economist in the Research department in 1985. He became assistant vice president in 1989, followed by vice president of the Banking and Monetary Policy section of the Research department in 1991. In 2000, he was named senior vice president leading the Supervision, Regulation, and Credit department. In 2003, he assumed the additional role of chief discount officer and in 2005 was named executive vice president. During his time in Supervision, Rosengren was active in domestic and international regulatory policy. Rosengren has written extensively on macroeconomics, international banking, bank supervision, and risk management, including articles in leading economics and finance journals. Much of Rosengren’s research, analysis, and public speaking have focused on how problems in the financial sector impact the real economy. He is a director of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay & Merrimack Valley, the chair of Colby College’s Board of Trustees, and a member of the University of Wisconsin's Economics Advisory Board. Rosengren graduated Colby College with a B.A. in economics and attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in economics. 

Kim Rueben, Senior Fellow and Director of State and Local Finance Initiative, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, Urban Institute
Kim Rueben, a senior fellow in the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute, is an expert on state and local public finance and the economics of education. Her research examines state and local tax policy, fiscal institutions, state and local budgets, issues of education finance, and public-sector labor markets. Rueben directs the State and Local Finance Initiative. Her current projects include work on state budget shortfalls, financing options for California, the fiscal health of cities, and examining higher education tax credits and grants. She serves on a Council of Economic Advisors for the Controller of the State of California and a National Academy of Sciences panel on the economic and fiscal consequences of immigration, and she was on the DC Tax Revision Commission in 2013. In addition to her position at Urban, Rueben is an adjunct fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). Before joining Urban, Rueben was a research fellow at the PPIC. She has served as an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute and the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley; as a visiting scholar at the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank; and as a member of the executive board of the American Education Finance Association. Rueben received a BS in applied math-economics from Brown University, an MS in economics from the London School of Economics, and a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Claudia Sahm, Section Chief, Consumer and Community Research, Federal Reserve Board
Claudia Sahm is currently the section chief for the Consumer & Community Research section in the Division of Consumer and Community Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board. Previously, she worked for ten years as an economist in the Division of Research & Statistics at the Federal Reserve Board, where her focus was on macro-consumption. Her policy work included current analysis and macro forecasting. Claudia was also a senior economist on a one-year detail at the Council of Economic Advisers, where she worked on macroeconomic developments and housing policy.  Her research focuses on household behavior and preferences, including responses to fiscal stimulus, income expectations, and the economic measurement. Prior to graduate school, she was a research assistant at The Brookings Institution. Claudia holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Michigan, and majored in economics, political science, and German during her undergraduate studies at Denison University.

Niraj Shah, CEO, Wayfair
Niraj Shah is CEO, co-founder and co-chairman of Wayfair. He co-founded the company with Steve Conine in 2002 and the pair rapidly grew the business to become one of the largest online destinations for home furnishings, housewares, home improvement goods and more, generating $5.7 billion in net revenue for the twelve months ended June 30, 2018. Before founding Wayfair, Niraj served as CEO and co-founder of Simplify Mobile, an enterprise software company which was sold in 2001. Prior to that, he served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Greylock Partners, COO and a member of the Board of Directors at iXL, a publicly traded global technology consulting firm, and the CEO and co-founder of Spinners, which was sold to iXL in 1998. Niraj has been included in Fortune Magazine's 40 Under 40, and has won the Ernst and Young's Entrepreneur of the Year award. He also serves on the board of Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Niraj holds a B.S. in engineering from Cornell University, and lives in Boston, Massachusetts with his wife and two children.

Jeremy Sporn, Partner, Retail & Consumer Goods, Oliver Wyman 
Jeremy is a Partner at Oliver Wyman, and leads our Retail & Consumer Goods Practice in North America, with most of his work focusing on global consumer packaged goods, apparel & footwear clients.  He advises his clients on a range of topics, including pricing, sales & marketing effectiveness, mergers, acquisitions and integration, and organizational transformation.

Kathleen Stephansen, CBE, Economic Advisor, Boston Consulting Group Henderson Institute
Kathleen Stephansen is a Senior Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group Henderson Institute Center for Macroeconomics. Her former positions were Chief Economist of Huawei Technologies, Chief Economist of the American International Group (AIG) and AIG Asset Management’s Senior Investment Strategist and Global Head of Sovereign Research. Prior to joining AIG in 2010, Kathleen was Chief Economist at Aladdin Capital Holdings, Credit Suisse’s Head of Global Economic Research, and Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette Securities Corporation’s co-head of Fixed Income economic research and Chief International Economist. She has served as the chair of AIG’s Parent Model Governance Oversight Committee and as member of AIG’s Investment Committee and AIG’s Retirement Investment Committee. She was also a Senior Advisor and task force member for the Asia Society in 2009-2010 and a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations advisory committee on the Reform of the International Monetary Fund in 2007. Kathleen serves on the boards of the Global Interdependence Center (GIC) and Economists for Peace and Security (EPS) and is a former board member of the National Association of Business Economics (NABE). She is a member of Chatham House.

Ariel Dora Stern, Health Economist,Harvard Business School
Ariel Dora Stern is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration and Hellman Faculty Fellow at Harvard Business School. Her research focuses on the management of innovation in health care, with a focus on the medical device and pharmaceutical industries. Ariel is particularly interested in the intersection of the regulation, firm strategy, and economics of health care. Her research has been cited by Bloomberg, The New York Times, and National Public Radio. Ariel received her Ph.D. from Harvard, where she was a National Bureau of Economic Research Predoctoral Fellow in the Economics of Health and Aging, and an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College, where she was a Presidential Scholar.

James Stock, Professor of Economics, Harvard University
James H. Stock is the Harold Hitchings Burbank Professor of Political Economy, Faculty of Arts and Sciences and member of the faculty at the Harvard Kennedy School. He received a M.S. in statistics and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley. His research areas are empirical macroeconomics, monetary policy, econometric methods, and energy and environmental policy. He is Co-Editor of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity and is a coauthor with Mark Watson of a leading introductory econometrics textbook and is a member of various professional boards. He previously served as Managing Editor of the Review of Economics and Statistics from 1992-2003, as Chair of the Harvard Economics Department from 2007-2009, as Co-Editor of Econometrica from 2009-2012, and as Member of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2013-2014.

Cass R. Sunstein, Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard University
Cass R. Sunstein is currently the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. Mr. Sunstein has testified before congressional committees on many subjects, and he has been involved in constitution-making and law reform activities in a number of nations. Mr. Sunstein is author of many articles and books, including Republic.com (2001), Risk and Reason (2002), Why Societies Need Dissent (2003), The Second Bill of Rights (2004), Laws of Fear: Beyond the Precautionary Principle (2005), Worst-Case Scenarios (2001), Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008), Simpler: The Future of Government (2013) and most recently Why Nudge? (2014) and Conspiracy Theories and Other Dangerous Ideas (2014). He is now working on group decisionmaking and various projects on the idea of liberty

Kevin Swift, CBE, NABE Vice President; Chief Economist, American Chemistry Council
Dr. Swift is the chief economist at the American Chemistry Council (ACC) where he is responsible for economic and other analyses dealing with markets, energy, trade, tax, and innovation, as well as monitoring business conditions, identifying emerging trends, and assessing the economic and societal contributions of the business of chemistry. Prior to joining the ACC, Dr. Swift held executive and senior level positions at several business information/database companies. He started his career at Dow Chemical USA. Dr. Swift is a member of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE), the Harvard Discussion Group of Industrial Economists, and the National Business Economics Issues Council (NBEIC). He is a member of The Wall Street Journal Forecasters’ Survey panel, NABE’s panel of forecasters, and a participant in the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's forecasters' survey. Dr. Swift is a graduate of Ashland College with a BA degree and a graduate of Case Western Reserve University with an MA degree in Economics. He is also a graduate of Anglia Polytechnic University with a doctorate in business administration (DBA) degree and has completed studies at Harvard University and the University of Oxford. Dr. Swift is an adjunct professor of business economics for the MBA program at the University of Mary Washington. He is also a member of the Heritage Council of the Chemical Heritage Foundation.

Diane Swonk, CBE, Chief Economist and Managing Director, Grant Thornton LLP
Diane Swonk is one of the most respected macroeconomists, who maintains a unique perspective on the inner workings of Main Street as well as Wall Street. She is an expert on the economics of the labor market, monetary policy and structural changes that are distinct from economic cycles. Her global network includes economists, industry leaders and geopolitical experts, which amplifies the breadth and reach of her analysis. She advises policy makers at all levels of government, including central bankers. Diane’s uniquely accessible approach to macroeconomic shifts has made her a highly sought-after expert quoted by local, national and international newspapers and broadcasters. For her outstanding contributions in the field of economics, Diane has been named a Fellow of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE). She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, serves on the Sitting Committee to the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago and advises the economics department at the University of Michigan. She has testified before Congress to improve the quality of economic data and on the causes and consequences of income inequalities. Diane has won many awards for excellence in forecasting and leadership in economics and the business community. She is deeply involved in nonprofit organizations focused on expanding access to education and increasing the quality and diversity of our country’s leadership. She earned her B.A. and M.A. degrees in economics with top honors from the University of Michigan. She received an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, also with top honors.

Ellyn Terry, Economic Policy Analysis Specialist, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Frederick Treyz, Chief Economist and CEO, REMI
Frederick R. Treyz, Ph.D., is the Chief Economist and CEO of Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI), a leading provider of dynamic economic policy analysis models. He is an authority on regional macroeconomic modeling research and application. Under Dr. Treyz’s leadership, REMI has remained at the forefront of regional modeling, and informs public policy debates through the use of REMI models to evaluate economic development, transportation, energy, taxation, and other topics. The company’s clients include federal, state, and regional agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, leading national associations, universities, and consultants. Dr. Treyz oversees the research and development of the REMI model.  He publishes in leading journals; this year he authored the paper “Immigration and United States Economic Growth,” in Business Economics, the journal of the National Association for Business Economics.  He holds an A.B. in Economics from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Regional Science from the University of Pennsylvania.  

Micky Tripathi, Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative
Mr. Tripathi is the president and CEO of Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative. Mr. Tripathi has been a nationally recognized leader in health information technology since his founding leadership of the Indiana Health Information Exchange and the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative. Mr. Tripathi has advised statewide health information exchange projects in Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Missouri, and North Carolina. Micky led the deployment of a CCHIT certified (Change to ONC-ACB certified) Quality Data Center that now serves the quality improvement and reporting needs of several enterprise customers. At the national level Micky is the Chair of Information Exchange Workgroup of the Federal HIT Policy Committee, is involved with the Privacy & Security Tiger Team, and is the current Board Chair of the eHealth Initiative.


Bruce Van Saun, Chairman and CEO, Citizens Financial Group, Inc.
Bruce Van Saun is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. Van Saun joined CFG in October 2013 – after serving as Group Finance Director and as an executive director on the RBS Board from 2009 to 2013 – and led Citizens to a successful initial public offering in September 2014, and full independence from RBS in October 2015. He has more than 30 years of financial services experience. From 1997 to 2008, Van Saun held a number of senior positions with Bank of New York and later Bank of New York Mellon, including Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer. Earlier in his career, he held senior positions with Deutsche Bank, Wasserstein Perella Group and Kidder Peabody & Co. Van Saun has served on a number of boards in both the U.S. and the U.K. He is currently a director of Moody’s Corporation, sits on the Federal Advisory Council, and is a member of The Clearing House Supervisory Board. He is also a board member of the National Constitution Center, the Partnership for Rhode Island and Jobs for Massachusetts.

Hector Vielma, Office of Fiscal and Economic Research at the Illinois Department of Revenue
Dr. Hector M. Vielma is a senior economist at the Office of Fiscal and Economic Research at the Illinois Department of Revenue.    Dr. Vielma has developed and works with a number of econometric models and methodologies to forecast Individual Income Tax.   Some of his work include modeling the effects of tax legislation and policy change proposals using a statewide micro-simulation model developed for such purpose.   He also conducts fiscal impact analysis of individual income tax legislative proposals as well as state and regional analysis of economic trends as they relate to state tax revenue. Prior to working for the Illinois Department of Revenue, Dr. Vielma was an economic development consultant.   For several years, He was also a lecturer at the department of economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he taught macro and micro economics at the graduate and undergraduate level.   Dr. Vielma worked also as an auditor for the largest bank in Chile.   He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago, an MBA (Finance) from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a Bachelor degree in Business Administration from Universidad de Chile in Santiago, Chile.   

Guido Vildozo, Senior Manager - Americas Light Vehicles Sales Forecasting, IHS Markit
Holly Wade, Director of Research and Policy Analysis, NFIB
Holly Wade is the director of research and policy analysis for NFIB, where she provides analysis on public policy issues and economic trends affecting small business. She also produces the monthly Small Business Economic Trends survey with NFIB’s chief economist. She is a member of the National Association of Business Economics, National Economists Club, and the Department of Commerce’s Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Small and Minority Business. She has undergraduate degrees in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Washington and a Masters of Public Policy from the University of Denver.

Jevin West, Assistant Professor in the Information School, University of Washington
Jevin West is an Assistant Professor in the Information School at the University of Washington and co-founder of the DataLab. He is also an Adjunct Faculty in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, Data Science Fellow at the eScience Institute and Affiliate Faculty for the Center for Statistics & Social Sciences at UW. He develops data mining techniques for studying the Science of Science, where he investigates  the origins of scientific disciplines, the social and economic biases that drive these disciplines, and the impact the current publication system has on the health of science. With his colleague, Carl Bergstrom, he recently developed a new course on Calling BS for combatting misinformation in science, with a particular emphasis on data, figures, visualizations and statistics. The course is now being taught at universities around the globe. More details on his research and teaching can be found at: jevinwest.org

Martin L. Weitzman, Harvard University
Martin L. Weitzman is Professor of Economics at Harvard University. Previously he was on the faculties of MIT and Yale. He has been elected as a fellow of the Econometric Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has published widely in many leading economic journals and written three books. Weitzman's interests in economics are broad and he has served as consultant for several well-known organizations. His current research is focused on environmental economics, including climate change, the economics of catastrophes, cost-benefit analysis, long-run discounting, green accounting, biodiversity, and comparison of alternative instruments for controlling pollution.

Paul S. Willen, Senior Economist and Policy Advisor Research, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Paul S. Willen is a senior economist and policy advisor in the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Research Department. His research focuses on household financial management; he recently has spent much of his time studying mortgage markets. His research appears in the Review of Economics and Statistics, Economic Theory, the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Public Economics, the Journal of Urban Economics, the NBER Macro Annual, the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, and elsewhere. Willen's research on the origins of the subprime mortgage crisis has appeared in scholarly journals and has been cited in virtually every major newspaper in the United States. Prior to joining the Boston Fed in 2004, Willen was on the faculty at Princeton University and the University of Chicago. He is a visiting lecturer at Harvard University and has been a visiting member of the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Willen did his undergraduate work at Williams College and earned his PhD from Yale University.

Dean Wise, Principal, Dean Wise, LLC
Dean Wise formed Dean Wise LLC in February 2017 to provide strategic advisory services to the transportation, logistics and infrastructure sector, with an emphasis on transformational technologies.
Previously, he was vice president, Network Strategy at BNSF Railway, joining BNSF in February 2010, coincident with Berkshire Hathaway’s acquisition of the company. In this role, he oversaw BNSF’s strategy process, transformational technology initiative, regional franchise development including western Canada, shortline network (200 rail feeder lines), public-private partnerships (PPP), rail line sales and dispositions, and development of right-of-way for non-freight rail uses including fiber optics, cell towers, and electric transmission lines. He reported to the CEO and served on BNSF’s ten-member Executive Team. BNSF Railway is one of North America’s leading freight transportation companies operating on 32,500 route miles of track in 28 states and three Canadian provinces, integral to the global supply chains of mining, energy, utility, agricultural, industrial, and consumer products industries. The company is a technology leader in wayside detection, signaling (PTC), advanced analytics, optimization, and development of beyond visual line of sight (BLOS) unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for linear inspection, through a partnership with the FAA and its Pathfinder program. Prior to his 7 years at BNSF, Dean had 32 years of consulting and industry experience. From 1995 to 2010, he served as president and managing partner at Norbridge, Inc., a management consulting firm focusing on the freight transport and logistics industry, based in Concord, MA. Before joining Norbridge, he was a vice president at Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman) in Lexington, MA, (1983-1995). Dean’s prior experience also includes management positions at Conrail Corporation and Southern Pacific Transportation Company.

Mine Yücel, CBE, NABE President; Senior Vice President and Senior Research Advisor, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Mine Kuban Yücel is senior vice president and senior research advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. She joined the Bank in 1989 and has previously served as director of research, head of the micro/regional/energy group and director of publications. She is an expert on regional and energy issues and has published numerous articles on energy and regional growth. Yücel is president of the National Association for Business Economics. She serves on the board of the Global Interdependence Center, and the University of Texas at Dallas Energy Board. She was president of the International Association of Energy Economics (IAEE) in 2011 and president of the United States Association of Energy Economics (USAEE) in 2005. She has served on the executive boards of these two organizations, as well as Executive Women of Dallas, Dallas Area Business Economists, the Dallas Chapter of Women in Technology International, Inc. and the Greater Dallas Chamber’s Board of Economists. She received the USAEE Senior Fellow Award in 2007, the Energy Journal Best Paper Award in 2009 and the Outstanding Contributions to the IAEE Award in 2015. Before joining the Bank, she was an assistant professor of economics at Louisiana State University. She has a BS and MS in mathematics from Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey, and a PhD in economics from Rice University in Houston.

Melinda Zabritski, Senior Director, Automotive Financial Solutions, Experian
Melinda Zabritski is Senior Director for Experian automotive financial solutions team, where she is responsible for implementing products and services specific to the automotive credit and lending industry. She also serves as Experian’s primary analyst and spokesperson regarding key automotive finance trends. Throughout her career with Experian, Zabritski has overseen the product management for Experian Automotive’s lending channel, as well as the marketing strategy for the development of Experian’s automotive credit vertical sales channel. Prior to joining Experian in 2004, Zabritski held various product management and analyst positions in the credit industry, where she managed and developed credit risk models and market trending and forecasting tools. During that time, she also was responsible for managing prescreen and account management product lines. Zabritski holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix in Phoenix, Ariz., and a Bachelor of Science in political science and urban government from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La.

Ellen Zentner, Chief U.S. Economist, Morgan Stanley
Ellen Zentner is the Chief U.S. Economist and a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, joining the firm in 2013.  Ms. Zentner has been named to “Bloomberg Best” list of top forecasters of the U.S. economy and has more than 17 years’ experience as a Fed watcher and markets-based economist, with a keen eye toward early identification of market-moving trends. Ellen joined Morgan Stanley from Nomura Securities International, where she served as Senior Economist for Fixed Income. Previously, she served as the Senior Economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, LTD., and Senior Economist at the Texas State Comptroller. Ellen is the current president of the New York Association for Business Economics and sits on the Board of the Money Marketeers of NYU. She also serves on the Chicago Fed’s Academic Advisory Panel and the American Bankers’ Association Economic Advisory Committee. Ms. Zentner holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Colorado and is an avid fly fisherman.