Association for University Business and Economic Research

Speaker Bios

Esmael Adibi
Director
A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research and
Anderson Chair of Economic Analysis
Chapman University

Dr. Adibi joined the Chapman faculty in 1978 and was appointed director of the A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research in 1985. His research interests center on analyzing key economic indicators for the U.S. and California economies. He is widely quoted in the media and regularly appears as a guest speaker at various professional meetings. Dr. Adibi previously served as president of the Association for University Business and Economic Research and currently serves on the board of managers of the OCTFCU Mortgage Company. He is a member of the Western Blue Chip Economic Forecast panel.

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Patrick M. Barkey
Director
Economic and Policy Studies
Ball State University

Patrick Barkey is an economist in the Miller College of Business at Ball State University. In his position as director of Economic and Policy Studies, he oversees and participates in a wide variety of projects in labor market research, and state and regional economic policy issues. His recent research has been on the educational attainment of the Indiana labor force, the effect of smoking on the state economy, and the potential for high-technology development in central Indiana. His newspaper column appears in a dozen newspapers throughout the state, and his weekly statistical publication, the Indiana Business Bulletin, is relied on by banks, newspapers, and other businesses who need timely and comprehensive economic information on the state and its regions.

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Todd Behr
Director
Business and Economics Research Group
East Stroudsburg University

Todd Behr is the director of the Business and Economics Research Group and an associate professor of economics at East Stroudsburg University. In this position, he works with others to oversee the publication of a bimonthly newsletter (E-News) primarily written by student researchers and made available to the university community and the local community. In addition, he actively engages in business and economic research projects, participates in academic conferences, and publishes in professional journals. Prior to joining the faculty at East Stroudsburg State University, Dr. Behr served on the faculties of Moravian College, Colby College, and Lehigh University.

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Keith Bernard
Senior Vice President
Telecommunications Management Group, Inc. (TMG)

As an economist, Dr. Bernard has more than 20 years' experience in the telecommunications industry, having held both corporate and government positions. His responsibilities at TMG include providing economic analysis of regulatory issues and project management. Prior to earlier work in the telecommunications industry, he was a professor or economics at St. Vincent College in Pennsylvania.

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Scott Berridge
Economist
Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Office of Publications and Special Studies

Scott Berridge is originally from Los Angeles, California, and is a graduate with a degree in economics from california State University. His career history also includes hotel management and conference sales, and production design for stage and television.

Robert L. Brown
Division Chief
Regional Economic Measurement Division
Bureau of Economic Analysis

Robert L. Brown has been chief of BEA's Regional Economic Measurement Division since 1995. He has spent his 31-year career at BEA working on state and county estimates of personal income and employment, including serving many years as a branch chief in charge of producing state quarterly personal income. He is coauthor of several articles on state and local area personal income for the Survey of Current Business, including the reliability study "Evaluation of State Personal Income" in 1990. More recently, Rob led the Division's successful effort to speed up the release of BEA's national comprehensive revision to counties by 12 months. He currently is overseeing several satellite research projects, as well as the acceleration of the current estimates of metropolitan area and county personal income employment.

Semoon Chang
Director
Center for Business and Economic Research
University of South Alabama

In addition to being a professor of economics at the University of South Alabama and director for the Center for Business and Economic Research, Dr. Chang is an authority on the economy of the Gulf Coast. He has presented his views to clubs and associations throughout the region; advised federal, state, and local governments on economic matters; and served as an expert consultant for U.S., state, and private attorneys. Dr. Chang was president of the national Association for University Business and Economic Research in 1999; president of the Korea-America Economic Association also in 1999; president of the Planning Division for Human Services, United Way of Southwest Alabama during 1994 and 1995; president of the Homeless Coalition of Mobile for year.

Jeffery Collins
Director
Center for Business and Economic Research
University of Arkansas

Dr. Collins's research and teaching interests are in the areas of environmental economics and public finance. He has conducted funded research for the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Science Foundation. Collins has taught extensively at the undergraduate and graduate level, most recently at Lincoln Memorial University, where he also served as dean of the Business School.

Jerry N. Conover
Director
Indiana Business Research Center
Indiana University's Kelley School of Business

After 18 years at Northern Arizona University, Jerry Conover became director of the Indiana Business Research Center (IBRC). The IBRC is involved in a variety of studies focusing on such topics as the advanced logistics industry, property taxes and local government efficiency, school enrollment projections, and the impact of a new mode of transportation on local economies. The IBRC is also continuing development of sophisticated, user-friendly online databases and tools for economic and demographic analysis.

Rajeev Dhawan
Director
Economic Forecasting Center
Georgia State University

Ranked one of the "most accurate" forecasters in the nation by the Bank One Economic Outlook Center at Arizona State University, Dhawan has been listed among Georgia Trend magazine's "100 Most Influential Georgians" for three consecutive years. Dhawan is frequently seen on CNN and CNBC, and is quoted in national and regional publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Dhawan also regularly contributes his U.S. forecast to national surveys, such as the Blue Chip Indicators, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Livingston Survey and the Professional Forecaster's Survey.

Mark Doms is a senior economist in the Applied Microeconomic and Regional Research section of the Economic Research Department. Prior to moving to San Francisco, he worked as an economist for the Department of Commerce, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, France, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C. Additionally, Mark has published articles on a wide variety of topics, including foreign direct investment, technological change, productivity, consumer sentiment, and the relationship between technology and labor.

Elsie Echeverri-Carroll
Director
Economic Development at the Bureau of Business Research
University of Texas

Dr. Elsie Echeverri-Carroll is director of Economic Development at the Bureau of Business Research of the McCombs School of Business and Visiting Professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. She has published on the topics of maquiladoras, trade in the Americas, high technology in industrialized and developing countries, women in in business, and income inequalities in high-tech regions. She teaches international trade policy at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and has taught manufacturing strategy in the global economy in the MBA Program at the Red McCombs School of Business, both at the University of Texas. She serves on several faculty committees at the Institute of Latin American Studies and the McCombs School of Business. She is part of the editorial board of the Journal of International Business Education.

Bengte Evenson
Associate Director
Center for Business and Economic Research
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Dr. Evenson is an assistant professor in the Economics Department, where she specializes in urban and regional economics, statistics, and public economies. Dr. Evenson recently completed an analysis of local land use and regulation that was published with the Brookings-Wharton Paper on Urban Affairs. She is a member of the American Economic Association, the Regional Science Association, and the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association.

Thomas M. Fullerton, Jr.
Professor
Wells Fargo Bank Professor of Economics and Finance
University of Texas at El Paso

Dr. Fullerton is in the College of Business Administration at the University of Texas at El Paso. In addition to conducting research on borderplex business conditions, Dr. Fullerton teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in econometrics, regional economics, urban economics, business forecasting, Latin American political economy, and international country risk analysis. His analysis has been cited in articles appearing in Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Barron's, USA Today, Investor's Business Daily, and U.S. News & World Report. Dr. Fullerton's research has been published in academic journals in North America, Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

Soumen N. Ghosh
Director
Office of Business and Economic Research
Tennessee State University

Dr. Soumen N. Ghosh is currently the director of the Office of Business and Economic Research at Tennessee State University (TSU). Prior to coming to TSU, Dr. Ghosh was an associate professor of economics at New Mexico State University. He has consulted with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the United States Agency for INternational Development, United Nations Development Program, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of Energy, and many private corporations. His primary areas of consulting include economic analysis of policies, private sector initiative and macroeconomic restructuring, environmental economics, market research, mental health outcome evaluation, database development, and expert testimony.

Lee Grehan
Assistant Director
Bureau of Business and Economic Research/Center for Manpower Studies
The University of Memphis

Dr. Lee Grehan is assistant director of the bureau and specializes in economic policy and program evaluation, labor market analysis, and workforce development and training. He coordinates administration of all SBBER/CMS projects with sponsor organizations. Dr. Grehan also serves as liaison to state and local governments, participates in evaluations of workforce development programs, and acts as technical advisor to the State of Tennessee. Annual projects include evaluations of welfare and workforce development programs.

Hart Hodges
Director
Center for Economics and Business Research
Western Washington University

Hart Hodges is the director of the Center for Economic and Business Research and assistant professor of economics at Western Washington University. Dr. Hodges prepares a regular economic outlook for the region and directs a variety of research projects, including impact and trend analyses, surveys, and other work for public agencies in the region. In addition, the center publishes the Northwest Journal of Business and Economics and in 2005 will be hosting the Pacific Northwest Regional Economic Conference. Hart received his Ph.D. in Economics in 1994 from the University of Washington, and began his teaching career at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington.

Phyllis W. Isley
Director
Bureau of Business Research and Economic Development
Georgia Southern University

Dr. Isley supervises and coordinates research in broad areas of interest to southeast Georgia. She is responsible for the administration of the Regional Intellectual Capital Assistance Partnership Program, Regional ICAPP, and economic development initiative in the University System Board of Regents. She is the founding editor of Applied Research in Economic Development. In addition to her work at the bureau, Dr. Isley was the founding director of the Coastal Rivers Water Planning and Policy Center and is currently an analyst with the center. She served on the Advisory Council to the Joint Comprehensive Water Plan Study Committee and was a member of the subcommittee on Inter-basin transfers.

Dolores James
Economist
Office of Publications at the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Dolores is a member of the press team that is responsible for responding to questions from reporters’ minutes before the release of the major economic indicator to the general public. She is team leader for the Customer Service Guide, which is one of the bureau’s most widely disseminated products. Dolores staff exhibits for professional conferences and oversees the organization and management of equipment and materials for BLS’ outreach programs. She is also a recruiter for BLS.

Leslie Johnston
Senior Graphic Designer
The University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program

Prior to Leslie’s current position, she worked for other University of Arizona departments, starting in 1979; the Sea World - Orlando marking the permit in Florida; advertising agencies in Iowa, Florida, in Arizona; and the marketing department of the Rotterdam Zoo in the Netherlands, to name a few. Her primary skill is creating design “systems” that reach over all aspects of a brand.

Jack Kleinhenz, Ph.D., is chief executive officer of Kleinhenz & Associates, a business and economic consulting firm based in Cleveland, Ohio. The firm specializes in industry studies, regional economics, labor market issues strategic planning and business plan development. Formerly with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Jack recently served as chief economist and consultant to the Greater Cleveland Growth Association, the nation’s largest chamber of commerce. He currently teaches at CASE’s Weatherhead School of Management. Previous faculty appointments include the University of Notre Dame and John Carroll University. Jack is a member of the Governor of Ohio’s Council of Economic Advisors, board member of Notre Dame College, a corporate director for Beverage Distributors, Inc, Cleveland, Ohio and board member of National Association for Business Economists (NABE). He is a member of NABE’s statistics committee that meets regularly with federal policymakers and statistical agencies. A contributing economic forecaster to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Economic Outlook Panel, he was recognized for forecasting excellence in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003.

James A. Kurre
Associate Professor of Economics and
Co-Director, Economic Research Institute of Erie
Penn State Erie

A native of Cincinnati, Dr. Kurre, Ph.D., is an associate professor of economics at Penn State Erie, and codirector of the Economic Research Institute of Erie. He works in the areas of regional economics and economic development, and has also measured philanthropy in Erie and Reading. Recent research projects have involved measuring the “brain drain” from Erie County, estimating the cost of living in all 67 of Pennsylvania’s counties for the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, and measuring productivity of Erie’s workers compared with those elsewhere in the nation. He often does presentations in the Erie area about the local economy, and has recently created a web site (www.ERIEdata.org) for the Erie area that contains more economic data about Erie than you’d ever want to know.

Dottie Larson
Director
The University of Arizona Identification Program for Graphic Standards

Prior to Dottie’s current position, she was a graphic designer and then director for UA graphics, and has been at UA since 1977. She has won national awards for the graphics she designed. Presently, Dottie is mostly concerned with helping desktop users at UA develop more consistency in their publications, so their brochures do not look like “ransom notes!”

David Lenze
Economist
Regional Economic Analysis Division
Bureau of Economic Analysis

David Lenze recently joined the Regional Economic Analysis staff at BEA. He formerly served as an economist with the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Florida. For many years Lenze directed its long-term, regional, economic forecasting project. He has published research on transportation, regional economic modeling, and natural disasters and has conducted research for various organizations, including the Florida State Legislator, Nissan Motor Corporation, and Piedmont Environmental Council. Currently he is conducting research on teacher labor supply.

Rosemary Marcuss
Deputy Director U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
President of National Association for Business Economics

Marcuss has more than 30 years’ experience in the analysis of developments in the U.S. economy. Prior to joining the BEA, she served for 15 years as the assistant director for tax analysis of the Congressional Budget Office. In that role, she was responsible for the CBO projections of federal government tax receipts used in the congressional budget deliberations and for CBO analysis of federal tax policy. She has focused on explaining how the economy works, what’s behind current economic conditions, and how the state of the economy and taxpayer behavior interacts to produce federal government tax receipts.

Duncan Meldrum, Ph.D., is the chief economist for Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., a $6 billion industrial gas and chemicals company serving customers in more that 30 countries. As chief economist, he assesses the impact of the economic environment on the company's performance for the executive management team and develops global economic assumptions for the company's operating plans. He provides operating groups with pricing assistance, contract support and market analyses. He also serves as the company's economics spokesperson. Meldrum is the immediate past president of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) and has been a NABE board member since 1999. His other professional associations include the Philadelphia Council for Business Economics, the Conference of Business Economists, the National Business Economic Issues Council, and the American Economics Association. He serves on the U.S. Census Bureau Advisory Committee of Professional Associations. He also serves on the boards of the APCI Federal Credit Union and the nonprofit Parkette National Gymnastics Center.

Vera Pavlakovich-Kochi
Director
Regional Development Program in the Office of Economic Development
The University of Arizona

Dr. Vera Pavlakovich-Kochi is an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Geography and Regional Development at The University of Arizona. She has authored and co-authored numerous studies concerning economic impacts. One of her primary research interests concerns border economy and transboundary region building. Articles on various aspects of Arizona's economy and U.S.-Mexican border have been published in Arizona's Economy, Arizona's Review, Journal of Borderlands Studies, Revista de El Colegio de Sonara, and Geografski glasnik.

David A. Plane
Professor
Department of Geography and Regional Development
The University of Arizona

Dr. Plane is currently president of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, immediate past president of the Pacific Regional Science Conference Organization, and chair of the North American Regional Science Council. For more than a decade he has directed the Western Regional Science Association. He is a past president of the Population Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers and a past member of the Regional Science Association International Council. He is currently a member of the board of senior editors of theJournal of Regional Science and serves on eight editorial boards of journals in regional science, geography, and demography. Professor Plane has authored more than 50 refereed journal articles, a dozen chapters in scholarly books, and a variety of other works.

Paul E. Polzin
Director Bureau of Business and Economic Research
University of Montana

Paul E. Polzin is a professor in the Department of Management at the University of Montana. Professor Polzin has extensively studied the Montana economy during the past 30 years. He has published numerous studies of the long-term and short-term economic trends in Montana, and for certain areas within the state. He has also made economic projections for the future. Each year, Professor Polzin is a featured speaker at the Montana Economic Outlook Seminars, which are presented at various locations throughout the state. He is frequently quoted by newspapers and television and radio stations.

Kenneth E. Poole
Chief Executive Officer
Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness
George Mason University

In January 2000, Dr. Poole formed an independent nonprofit affiliated with George Mason University and ACCRA that is focused on developing a stronger understanding of how regional economies can compete effectively in the knowledge-based economy. As part of those efforts, Dr. Poole directs a national nonprofit membership organization (AACRA) serving economic and community development researchers in communities, states, academia, and the private sector. As CEO of the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness, Dr. Poole is undertaking organizational development, strategic planning, network building, and technical assistance efforts to foster knowledge-based economic development.

Lee A. Reynis
Director
Institute for Applied Research Services and the Bureau of Business and Economic Research
University of New Mexico

Dr. Lee A. Reynis is currently the director of both the Institute for Applied Research Services and the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of New Mexico. Dr. Reynis has been a close observer of the New Mexico economy for some 20 years. Before joining the BBER staff, she was the city economist for the City of Albuquerque for 12 years. Prior to that, she worked as an economic analyst and then as chief economist for the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration in Santa Fe. Dr. Reynis has taught a number of courses over the years at the University of New Mexico and was formerly on the faculty at the University of Utah.

Mark Schweitzer
Assistant Vice President and Economist
Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Dr. Schweitzer manages the bank's regional economic research activities. His research has recently focused on the interplay between macroeconomic labor market conditions and disaggregated labor market decisions.

R. Keith Schwer
Director
Center for Business and Economic Research
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Dr. Schwer is a member of the UNLV Economics Department. Specializing in economic-impact analysis, econometric modeling, feasibility analysis, and survey research, he is an authority on the business and economic environment of Las Vegas, the region, and Nevada. Keith is a former president of AUBER and is currently a member of several professional organizations. He is executive director of Nevada KIDS COUNT and serves on the KIDS COUNT steering committee for The Annie E. Casey Foundation.

William A. Strauss
Senior Economist and Economic Advisor
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Strauss analyzes the current performance of both the Midwest economy and the manufacturing sector for use in monetary policy. He produces the monthly release of theChicago Fed Midwest Manufacturing Index and organizes the bank's annual Economic Outlook Symposium, as well as the Auto Outlook Symposium. Strauss also conducts several economic workshops and industrial roundtables throughout the year. He has taught both economics and statistics as an adjunct faculty member at Loyola University of Chicago and Webster University in Chicago. In addition to teaching, Strauss is active in many professional organizations and is past president of the Chicago Association of Business Economists.

Eric C. Thompson
Director
Bureau of Business Research
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Formerly the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research and a research associate professor of economics at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Thompson is currently the director of the Bureau of Business Research and an associate professor of economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His research fields include regional economics, economic forecasting, and state and local economic development, and his research has been published in Regional Science and Urban Economics, the Journal of Regional Science, Regional Studies, the Journal of Cultural Economics, and the Economic Review of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

Richard L. Wobbekind
Director
Business Research Division
Associate Dean for External Relations, Leeds School of Business
University of Colorado at Boulder

Dr. Richard L. Wobbekind is director of the Business Research Division and Associate Dean for External Relations in the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Wobbekind develops an annual consensus forecast of the Colorado economy and performs various economic impact assessments of the state economy. He produces a quarterly economic indicator series for Boulder County and contributes to numerous market research and strategic planning projects with public and private entities throughout Colorado. Wobbekind participates annually in the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank Regional Economic Roundtable and is a contributor to the Western Blue Chip forecast newsletter. He is a past president of AUBER and currently serves as the secretary-treasurer for the organization.

David A. Wyss, Ph.D., is chief economist at Standard & Poor's, based in New York. In this position, he is responsible for S&P's economic forecasts and publications. He is on the board of the National Association for Business Economics. Dr. Wyss joined Data Resources, Inc. in 1979 as an economist in the European Economic Service in London, which was acquired by McGraw-Hill. He came back to the United States in 1983 as chief financial economist for DRI/McGraw-Hill, and became chief economist for Standard & Poor's in 1999. Before joining DRI, Dr. Wyss was a senior staff economist with the President's Council of Economic Advisers, senior economist at the Federal Reserve Board, and economic advisor to the Bank of England. Dr. Wyss testifies regularly before Congress, is quoted regularly in the press, and has appeared on major television programs. He has also written many articles for popular and professional publications.

Mine K. Yücel
Vice President and Senior Economist
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

As an energy economist and head of the bank's regional group, Mine analyzes the regional economy and energy markets on an ongoing basis and has published numerous articles on energy and regional growth. She is currently the president of the United States Association of Energy Economics (USAEE), president of the Dallas Economists Club, member of the American Economic Association, ant the International Association of Energy Economics. She has served on the executive boards of the USAEE and the Dallas Chapter of Women in Technology International, Inc. Before joining the bank, she was an assistant professor of economics at Louisiana State University.