Economy and Finance

    Dr. Dambisa Moyo Speaker

    Dr. Dambisa Moyo

    Global Economist, Author, Distinguished Scholar, and Investor in the Future

     About

    Dr. Dambisa Moyo is a pre-eminent thinker, who influences key decision-makers in strategic investment and public policy. She has earned a strong reputation as a top-tier opinion-former and trusted advisor on Macroeconomics, Geopolitics, Technology and Millennial themes. She is respected for her unique perspectives, her balance of contrarian thinking with measured
    judgment - and her ability to turn economic insight into investible ideas.

    Dambisa is a Board member of Barclays Bank. She holds a PhD in Economics from Oxford, a Masters from Harvard - and is recognized for fresh and innovative ideas as the author of four New York Times best-selling Books: Edge of Chaos: Why Democracy is Failing to Deliver Economic Growth and How to Fix It (2018), Winner Take All: China’s Race for Resources and What it Means for the World (2012), How the West Was Lost: Fifty Years of Economic Folly and the Stark Choices Ahead (2011), Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africa (2009).

    Dambisa was named to the list of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World; has published in the Financial Times, WSJ, Barrons, Harvard Business Review and has travelled to 80 countries. In her spare time, she runs marathons, practices Pilates - and is an amateur boxer.

    Dr. Frank Murtha Speaker

    Dr. Frank Murtha

    Speaker and Expert on Investor Psychology & Behavioral Finance, Coaching and Strategy for Traders & Investors

     About

    • Speaker and Expert on Investor Psychology & Behavioral Finance
    • Co-author of  MarketPsych: How to Manage Fear and Build Your Investor Identity, honored as one of the "3 Best Financial Books of 2010" by Kiplinger's Personal Finance.
    • Interviewed frequently by news and print media outlets and has been featured countless times on National Public Radio, Nightly Business Report, CNBCand World Business Review
    • Distinguishes himself from other speakers is his ability to take the weighty scientific and academic subjects of his training and communicate them in a practical, and often humorous way

    Dr. Frank Murtha began his career at the New York-based consulting firm of RHR International Company, where he developed senior executives and pioneered a specialty in the emerging field of behavioral finance. In 2001, he co-founded MarketPsych LLC, the first Behavioral Finance consulting firm in North America, where he has specialized in helping financial professionals apply behavioral finance and strategies to build better relationships, gain referrals, increase assets under management and improve investment returns. Over the last decade, Dr. Murtha has presented hundreds of speeches and workshops for many of the world’s leading financial institutions. What most distinguishes Dr. Murtha from other speakers is his ability to take the weighty scientific and academic subjects of his training and communicate them in a practical, and often humorous way.

    An investing psychology content expert, Dr. Murtha is interviewed frequently by news and print media outlets and has been featured countless times on National Public Radio, Nightly Business Report, CNBC and World Business Review. He works as a consultant, speaker, and writer based out of the New York City area. An award-winning author, his book, MarketPsych: How to Overcome Fear and Build Your Investor Identity was honoured by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance as one of “Three Best Financial Books of 2010”.

    Chandran Nair Speaker

    Chandran Nair

    Author of Consumptionomics and speaker on Asia and the world.

     About

    Keynote speaker Chandran Nair leads what he believes is a first - an organisation focused on the relationship of Asian society and values with those of the rest of the world. He is the founder of the Global Institute for Tomorrow (GIFT), an independent social venture think-tank dedicated to advancing an understanding of the impacts of globalisation through thought leadership and positive action to effect change. Nair is a renowned international speaker, writer and facilitator and leading expert on globalisation and development in Asia.

    Since 2004 Chandran has led GIFT to becoming a leading provider of experiential learning for the private, public and academic sectors. His role as Chairman of the Asia-Pacific region of Environmental Resource Management Consultancy, a position he held for over a decade, and his reputation as a provocative speaker, has attracted corporations and governments to seek his advice on a variety of leadership and business challenges in Asia. He has addressed many of these issues at forums around the world, and is a popular panelist on economic policy and sustainability platforms such as the World Economic Forum in Davos, APEC Summit and the Women's Forum for the Economy and Society.

    He has served as an adjunct professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology where he taught MBA students and continues to provide strategic management advice and coaching to business leaders. In addition, he is co-founder and Chair of Avantage Ventures, a boutique social investment advisory firm based in Hong Kong and author of Consumptionomics: Asia's role in reshaping capitalism and saving the planet.

    Peter Ricchiuti Speaker

    Peter Ricchiuti

    Investment Expert, Professor of Finance and Keynote Speaker

     About

    Peter Ricchiuti has taught finance at Tulane University since 1986. His humor and insight have earned him numerous teaching awards at Tulane University where he created and runs the nationally acclaimed Burkenroad Reports (www.burkenroad.org) student stock research program.

    Peter is a graduate of Babson College and began his career with the investment firm of Kidder Peabody in Boston. He later managed Louisiana’s $3 billion investment portfolio while serving as the assistant state treasurer.

    In 1993, Peter created the nationally acclaimed Burkenroad Reports Stock Research Program.

    Peter has addressed more than 1500 groups in 47 states and several countries. He has been featured in BARRON’S, Kiplinger’s, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He also hosts a popular weekly business show on National Public Radio in New Orleans called “Out To Lunch.”

    Peter is a husband, dad and author who has attended baseball games at all 30 current major league ballparks

    Jeremy Rifkin Speaker

    Jeremy Rifkin

    Futurist, Best-selling Author and Speaker on Economic Changes & Trends, Renewable Energy Transition & Green Economy

     About

    Jeremy Rifkin is an American economic and social theorist, writer, public speaker, political and geopolitical advisor and activist. Rifkin is the author of 20 best-selling books about the impact of scientific and technological changes and trends on the economy, the workforce, society and the environment. The books have been translated into more than 35 languages. His most recent books include the international best-sellers, The Zero Marginal Cost Society (2014), The Third Industrial Revolution (2011), The Empathic Civilization (2010), The European Dream (2004), The Hydrogen Economy (2002), The Age of Access (2000), The Biotech Century (1998), and The End of Work (1995). His latest book was released in the U.S. on 10-September-2019: The Green New Deal: Why the Fossil Fuel Civilization will Collapse by 2028, and the Bold Economic Plan to Save Life on Earth  (St. Martin's Press). The German, French, Italian and Spanish translations are expected in October - followed by Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other translations into the new year.

    Jeremy Rifkin has been an advisor to the leadership of the European Union since 2000. He has advised three presidents of the European Commission: Romano Prodi, Jose Manuel Barroso and the current President, Jean-Claude Juncker - as well as the European Parliament, and numerous EU heads of state, including Germany's Angela Merkel, on the ushering in of a smart green Third Industrial Revolution economy.

    Mr. Rifkin’s New York Times bestselling book, The Third Industrial Revolution, provided the blueprint for the economic transition to a post-carbon ecological society across the EU. According to The European Energy Review, "perhaps no other author or thinker has had more influence on the EU's ambitious climate and energy policy than the famous American 'visionary' Jeremy Rifkin." In the words of Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister of Germany, Sigmar Gabriel, Jeremy Rifkin "is the economic and ecological worldwide ambassador of the energy transition… Rifkin presents a grand scenario for the future: a visionary approach unlike anyone has dared to put forward in the last fifty years that will boost our thinking and help with our orientation.”

    Mr. Rifkin is also advising the leadership of the Peoples Republic of China on the build out and scale up of the Internet Plus Third Industrial Revolution infrastructure - to usher in a sustainable low-carbon economy. The Huffington Post reported from Beijing on October 29th 2015 that "Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has not only read Jeremy Rifkin's book, The Third Industrial Revolution, and taken it to heart - he and his colleagues have also made it the core of the country's thirteenth Five-Year Plan..." The Huffington Post goes on to say that "this blueprint for China's future signals the most momentous shift in direction since the death of Mao and the advent of Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening up in 1978."

    Mr. Rifkin is President of the TIR Consulting Group, LLC - comprising many of the leading renewable energy companies, electricity transmission companies, engineering companies, construction companies, architectural firms, ICT and electronics companies, transport and logistics companies, advanced manufacturing companies, and economic modelers.

    Mr. Rifkin is ranked 123 in the WorldPost/HuffingtonPost 2015 global survey of "The World's Most Influential Voices." Mr. Rifkin is also listed among the top 10 most influential economic thinkers in the survey. The survey was prepared at Massachusetts Institute of Technology - and used collective intelligence to correlate the rankings.

    Since 1995, Rifkin has lectured at the Wharton School’s Executive Education Program at the University of Pennsylvania - where he instructs CEOs and senior management on transitioning their business operations into sustainable economies.

    Marci Rossell Speaker

    Marci Rossell

    CNBC Chief Economist and keynote speaker on finance.

     About

    • Talks about the nexus of economics, politics, culture, and the media.
    • Audiences get an expert analysis of America’s current and future role in the global economy, factors responsible for recessions, how Washington influences Wall Street and the markets, and the specific forecast for the U.S. economy over the course of the next 18-24 months. She is also well-versed in the stock market, investor behavior, consumer confidence, and what accountable capitalism looks like this year and beyond.
    • Expert economic forecaster who drove some of the highest ratings in the history of CNBC
    • Past clients include: American Resort Develop Manulife Financial, The Newport Group, San Diego State University

    Marci Rossell electrifies audiences nationwide, speaking on the nexus of economics, politics, culture and the media. Her animated style was honed when she served as the popular, lively Chief Economist for CNBC in the months immediately following September 11th. She takes complex economic issues, often dull in the button-down business press, and makes them relevant to people's lives, families and careers.

    Prior to her career in broadcast journalism, Marci served as Corporate Economist and Investment Spokesperson for OppenheimerFunds, one of the nation's largest mutual fund companies. Before moving to Wall Street, she was an expert witness for Deloitte and Touche in court cases involving economic issues. Marci began her career as an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. She currently serves as a senior economic advisor to Delphin Investments, an investment firm based in Stamford, CT.

    Marci earned a PhD in Economics from Southern Methodist University. She brings a world of experience-from Main Street to Wall Street-when discussing the U.S. economy, international events and movements in capital markets.

    Rebecca Ryan Speaker

    Rebecca Ryan

    Innovator, Speaker, Author, Futurist and Economist

     About

    Rebecca Ryan is a human sparkplug - part futurist, part economist. She is always engaging - and is one of America’s most influential and innovative thought leaders who helps cities and companies think around the corner to what’s next. Rebecca is the Resident Futurist at the Alliance for Innovation, a Senior Advisor at the Governing Institute, a faculty member at the Institute for Zen Leadership, the Founder of Futurist Camp, the inventor of Futures Labs - and the owner of NEXT Generation Consulting, Inc.

    What is Strategic Foresight? "Strategic foresight" is a bland term for a great idea: to look into the future - and figure out what’s coming, so you can be ready. Rebecca is one of a few hundred people in the world who hold the designation of "APF" - conferred to full members of the Association of Professional Futurists. Her peers call her "one of the world's leading futurists" - and she has led foresight projects for Fortune 500 companies and many of America's most innovative cities.

    She is the author of The Next Big Things: The Future of Local Government (2015), ReGENERATION: A Manifesto for America’s Future Leaders (2013), and Live First, Work Second: Getting Inside the Head of the Next Generation (2007).

    As Founder of Next Generation Consulting, Rebecca leads the team that best-selling author Richard Florida calls, “One of the most reliable sources for leaders who want to attract and retain the next generation of creative workers." Rebecca has also been named: Top 100 Most Influential People by Accounting Today and Entrepreneur of the Year by U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

    Jacob L. Shapiro Speaker

    Jacob L. Shapiro

    Distinguished Geopolitical Analyst and Speaker on International Affairs

     About

    Jacob Shapiro is Partner and Director of Geopolitical Analysis at Cognitive Investments. Jacob oversees geopolitical analysis at CI, working with the CI research team to integrate geopolitics into CI’s investment strategies. He also authors the “Global Situation Report,” a weekly intelligence brief on the world’s most important developments.

    Jacob hosts CI's podcast series, "Cognitive Dissidents," which features interviews with a diverse array of foreign policy, technology, and global business experts. Jacob is a prolific writer and frequent keynote speaker at conferences and events, known for challenging consensus views whilst retaining a healthy sense of irony.

    In addition to CI, Jacob is the founder and Chief Strategist of Perch Perspectives. Perch is a business and political risk consulting firm that works directly with global businesses, helping them to identify and plan for key global risks to their supply chains, with special focus on the technology, agriculture, energy, and apparel industries.

    Prior to joining CI, Jacob was Director of Analysis at Geopolitical Futures, which he co-founded with famed geopolitical strategist George Friedman. Before co-founding GPF, Jacob was Director of the Operations Center at Stratfor, the geopolitical intelligence firm. He received a master’s degree with distinction from Oxford University and a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in Near Eastern studies.

    When he doesn’t have his head buried in a book, you can find Jacob at a random pick-up basketball game somewhere in New Orleans doing his best Larry Bird impersonation.

    Richard Thaler Speaker

    Richard Thaler

    Foremost Authority and Speaker on Behavioral Economy

     About

    Richard Thaler won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2017 for his work on behavioral economics. Richard studies the psychology of decision-making which lies in the gap between economics and psychology. He investigates the implications of relaxing the standard economic assumption that everyone in the economy is rational and selfish, instead entertaining the possibility that some of the agents in the economy are sometimes human. Thaler is the director of the Center for Decision Research, and is the co-director (with Robert Shiller) of the Behavioral Economics Project at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

    Thaler is the co-author (with Cass R. Sunstein) of the global best seller Nudge in which the concepts of behavioral economics are used to tackle many of society’s major problems. In 2015 he published Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics. He has authored or edited four other books: Quasi-Rational Economics, The Winner's Curse: Paradoxes and Anomalies of Economic Life, and Advances in Behavioral Finance (editor) Volumes I and II. He has published numerous articles in prominent journals such as the American Economics Review, the Journal of Finance and the Journal of Political Economy.

    Thaler is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the American Finance Association and the Econometrics Society, and in 2015 will serve as the President of the American Economic Association.

    Before joining the University of Chicago faculty in 1995 Thaler taught at the University of Rochester and Cornell as well as visiting stints at The University of British Columbia, the Sloan School of Management at MIT, the Russell Sage Foundation and the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford.

    Originally from New Jersey, Thaler attended Case Western Reserve University where he received a bachelor's degree in 1967. Soon after, he attended the University of Rochester where he received a master's degree in 1970 and a PhD in 1974. He joined the Chicago Booth faculty in 1995.

    Mark Zandi Speaker

    Mark Zandi

    Chief Economist of Moody’s Analytics and Speaker on International Finance

     About

    Dr. Mark Zandi is a speaker on international finance and economics. He is the chief economist of Moody's Analytics, where he directs research and consulting. Moody's Analytics, a subsidiary of Moody's Corporation - is a leading provider of economic research, data and analytical tools.

    Mark's research interests include macroeconomics, financial markets and public policy. His recent research has focused on the determinants of mortgage foreclosure and personal bankruptcy, analyzed the economic impact of various tax and government spending policies - and assessed the appropriate policy response to bubbles in asset markets. Mark also conducts regular briefings on the economy. He is often quoted in national and global publications and interviewed by major news media outlets. He is the author of Financial Shock, an exposé of the financial crisis, and Paying the Price, which provides a roadmap for meeting the nation's daunting fiscal challenges.

    A trusted adviser to policymakers and an influential source of economic analysis for businesses, journalists and the public, Mark has frequently testified before Congress on topics including the economic outlook, the merits of fiscal stimulus, financial regulatory reform - and foreclosure mitigation.

    Dr. Zandi received his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania, where he did his research with Gerard Adams and Nobel laureate Lawrence Klein, and received his B.S. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

    Peter Zeihan Speaker

    Peter Zeihan

    Geopolitical Strategist; Global Energy, Demographic, and Security Expert

     About

    • Peter talks about the future of energy, agriculture, finance, and the role America will play in the world to come post-pandemic.
    • Audiences leave with insights on global trade and everything that comes from it — cheap Asian goods, international energy markets, global agriculture, stable finance — is about to unravel. Out of all this the Americans — cast in both the role of disruptor and survivor — are making decisions that will shape both themselves and the rest of the world for decades.
    • Peter Zeihan is an author, the Former Vice President of Analysis at STRATFOR and Founder of Zeihan on Geopolitics.
    • Past clients include: Brasada Capital Management, CFA Society, CoBank, CVC Advisers, Industrial Asset Management Council, North West Farm Credit Services, and Rimrock Capital.

    Peter Zeihan is a geopolitical strategist, which is a fancy way of saying he helps people understand how the world works. Peter combines an expert understanding of demography, economics, energy, politics, technology - and security to help clients best prepare for an uncertain future.

    Over the course of his career, Peter has worked for the US State Department in Australia, the DC think tank community - and helped develop the analytical models for Stratfor, one of the world’s premier private intelligence companies. Peter founded his own firm - Zeihan on Geopolitics - in 2012 in order to provide a select group of clients with direct, custom analytical products. Today those clients represent a vast array of sectors including energy majors, financial institutions, business associations, agricultural interests, universities and the U.S. military.

    Peter is a critically acclaimed author whose books - The Accidental Superpower and The Absent Superpower - have been recommended by Mitt Romney, Fareed Zakaria and Ian Bremmer. Peter is also a highly sought after public speaker. With a keen eye toward what will drive tomorrow’s headlines - his irreverent approach transforms topics that are normally dense and heavy into accessible, relevant takeaways for audiences of all types.