Mark Vitner is a managing director and senior economist at Wells Fargo, responsible for tracking U.S. and regional economic trends. Based in Charlotte, N.C., he also writes
for the company’s Monthly Economic Outlook report, the Weekly Economic & Financial Commentary, and provides regular updates on the housing markets, commercial real
estate, regional economies, and inflation.

Mark joined Wachovia (then First Union) in 1993. Before that, he spent nine years as an economist for Barnett Banks in Jacksonville, Fla. Mark’s commentary has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and many other publications.

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Wednesday, October 13, 2010

James L. Connaughton

Speaker:

The Honorable James L. Connaughton, executive vice president, corporate affairs, public and environmental policy, directs Constellation Energy’s environmental and energy policy matters, as well as public and government affairs. He leads a comprehensive public and environmental policy agenda as the company leverages the strength of its low-emitting merchant fleet, expanding renewable portfolio and energy efficiency services, and its position as a leader in advancing the critical renaissance of emission-free nuclear energy.

Prior to joining Constellation Energy in February 2009, Mr. Connaughton served as chairman, White House Council on Environmental Quality from 2001-2009. In this capacity, he served on President Bush’s senior staff as senior environment, energy and natural resources advisor, and as director of the White House Office of Environmental Policy.

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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Aaron Zitner

Speaker:

Aaron Zitner is the national politics editor for The Wall Street Journal. He is based in the Journal’s bureau in Washington, D.C. In this position, he works with reporters who cover the White House, Congress and national politics.

Previously, Mr. Zitner was deputy chief of the Washington Bureau for the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other Tribune newspapers. He helped lead the 2008 presidential campaign coverage for The Los Angeles Times and served as the paper’s White House and Washington economics editor.

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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Governor Kevin M. Warsh

Speaker:

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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Alex Pollock - Politics and Finance in 2011

Speaker:

Alex J. Pollock has been a resident fellow at AEI since 2004, focusing on financial policy issues, including financial cycles, government sponsored enterprises, housing finance, banking, retirement finance, corporate governance, and accounting standards. He has written and spoken extensively on the housing bubble, the financial crisis, and the ensuing political responses.

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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Antoine van Agtmael

Speaker:

Mr. van Agtmael is a Founder, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Emerging Markets Management, L.L.C (EMM), one of the world's leading investment management firms for emerging market equities, based in the Washington DC area, with approximately $12 billion under management for institutional clients around the world. He is also a Director of the Strategic Investment Group. Before founding EMM in 1987, Mr. van Agtmael was Deputy Director of the Capital Markets department of the International Finance Corporation ("IFC"), the private sector oriented affiliate of the World Bank, a Division Chief in the World Bank's borrowing operations, Managing Director of Thai Investment and Securities Ltd. ("TISCO"), Thailand's leading merchant bank, and Vice President at Bankers Trust
Company.

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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Jason Trennert

Speaker:

Mr. Trennert is the Managing Partner of Strategas and the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Firm’s broker-dealer subsidiary, Strategas Securities, LLC. Also the Firm's Chief Investment Strategist, Mr. Trennert has been ranked consistently by Institutional Investor magazine as one of the top Strategists on Wall Street and has been named to SmartMoney magazine's Power 30 list of the most influential people in the world of investing. He has earned a reputation as a keen market observer and for his regular, and often humorous, essays on investing. Widely quoted in the domestic and foreign press, he is a regular guest host on CNBC's Squawk Box. He is the author of the popular investment book, New Markets, New Strategies, published in 2005 by McGraw Hill.

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Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Chuck Akre

Speaker:

Chuck has been in the securities business since 1968 and continues to be the primary person responsible for Akre Capital Management's (ACM) investment advisory services and investment selection. Prior to managing the Akre Focus Fund, Mr. Akre was the sole portfolio manager to the FBR Focus Fund from its inception in December 1996 through August 2009.

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

John Ryding - RDQ Economics LLC

Speaker:

John Ryding is the Chief Economist and a founding partner of RDQ Economics LLC—a New-York based independent macroeconomic consulting, advisory, and research firm. John formed RDQ Economics with Conrad DeQuadros following the merger of Bear Stearns and JPMorgan in 2008. Prior to the merger, John was the Chief U.S. Economist for Bear Stearns, where he worked since 1991. During his time at Bear, John was frequently recognized in the Institutional Investor polls for his work on economics and monetary policy.

RDQ Economics LLC continues in the tradition of John and Conrad’s economic and market analysis at Bear. The hallmark of this analysis was the consistent application of classical economic and monetary principles and this discipline has produced superior anticipation of changes in the stance of monetary policy and movements in economic growth, inflation, equity prices, and bond yields. Their approach to economics pays close attention to market prices, such as commodities, gold, and foreign exchange rates, that they believe capture shifts in the stance of monetary policy, as well as to the incentive effects of shifting tax rates. In 2003, John was invited to meet with the President of the United States to advise on changes to the tax treatment of dividends. He also served on New York Governor George Pataki’s Tax Reform Commission in 2005 and is currently an advisor to New York State on the economy and tax revenues.

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Wednesday, June 15, 2011

James Lee

Speaker:

James Lee, CFA, Senior Securities Analyst. University of Pennsylvania, BA Economics. He has 20 years of experience in High Yield and High Grade investments. Mr. Lee is responsible for investment decisions for High Yield and Crossover corporate credits. James also manages the Calvert High Yield Bond Fund.

Prior to joining Calvert in June 2008, he was a Director and Senior Fixed Income Analyst for Deutsche Asset Management, New York, where he was responsible for credit and relative value investment decisions for multiple sectors ( Basic Industries, Healthcare, REITs, Homebuilders) within Deutsche’s global client portfolios.

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