2014 - 2015 Speakers

Speaker:

David F. Gordon is Eurasia Group's head of research and director of global macro analysis. He is a member of the firm's management committee, and is based in Washington, DC.

Before joining Eurasia Group, David spent more than ten years working at the highest levels of US foreign and national security policy processes. From June 2007 to January 2009, David served as the director of policy planning under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He played a leading role in developing policy ideas for Rice on issues ranging from Afghanistan and Pakistan to US engagement in East Asia to the multilateral response to the international financial crisis. He also led the department's strategic policy dialogues with more than 20 countries around the globe

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Speaker:

Ed Clissold, CFA, is the U.S. Market Strategist for Ned Davis Research Group. He and his team are responsible for the firm�s U.S. equity, asset allocation, style, and equity theme analysis. They do so via a combination of a top-down analysis of the macroeconomic and fundamental environments and a bottom-up analysis of factors specific to the asset class, market cap, style, or theme. He and his team also provide in-depth macro research on fundamental topics such as earnings, dividends, and cash flow.

Ed writes several U.S. Strategy publications, which provide an intermediate-term outlook on U.S. markets via a combination of top-down and bottom-up analyses. In addition, he writes the Styles Allocation section of the firm�s monthly Investment Strategy publication.

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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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Speaker:

Scott founded the Aegis Value Fund (AVALX) and has served as Portfolio Manager since its inception in 1998. He is also the owner of Aegis Financial Corporation and the Portfolio Manager for the Aegis High Yield Fund (AHYFX).

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Speaker:

Laurie Goodman is the Center Director for the Housing Finance Policy Center at the Urban Institute. This Center is dedicated to providing policy makers with data-driven analysis of housing finance policy issues that they can depend on for relevance, accuracy, and independence.

Prior to joining Urban in 2013, Laurie spent 30 years as an analyst and research department manager at a number of Wall Street firms. From 2008-2013, Laurie was a Senior Managing Director at Amherst Securities Group, L.P., a boutique broker dealer specializing in securitized products. Her strategy effort became known for its analysis of housing policy issues. From 1993-2008, Laurie was head of Global Fixed Income Research and Manager of U.S. Securitized Products Research at UBS and predecessor firms.

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Speaker:

Leigh George is director of marketing and communications. She is developing a new brand for the company and is responsible for building and managing URAC�s omni-channel marketing ecosystem and content marketing strategy. George has over fifteen years of experience helping clients develop, implement, and track marketing strategies for brand awareness, customer acquisition, relationship management, online engagement, and community management. Before joining URAC, George was vice president in Ogilvy�s Social@Ogilvy practice, where she led branding, digital and social strategy for public and private sector clients, both locally and nationally, including Five Guys, Enroll America and the FDA.

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Speaker:

Dan Keeler is the editor of WSJ Frontiers, the Wall Street Journal�s editorial section devoted to coverage of the world�s frontier markets. Launched in 2014, WSJ Frontiers brings together a broad range of news and analysis, providing readers with a deeper understanding of some of the world�s most dynamic and fast-growing economies.
Prior to joining the Journal Dan was the Editor and subsequently Editor-at-Large of Global Finance magazine, where he steered the magazine�s coverage toward corporate responsibility and emerging markets.

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Speaker:

Marko Papic joined BCA Research in September 2011 and is the Chief Strategist of BCA�s Geopolitical Strategy service. Marko launched Geopolitical Strategy in March, 2012, a service that blends BCA�s macroeconomic research with the geopolitical methodology, with the goal of avoiding bias and providing investment-relevant forecasts. The GPS service is the financial industry�s only dedicated geopolitical strategy.

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Speaker:

Paul Michael Wihbey is president and founder of GWEST LLC. (Global Water and Energy Strategy Team), a Washington-based consulting firm specializing in the geopolitics of strategic resources such as oil, gas and water.

In May 2003, GWEST and FirstEnergy Capital Corp. of Calgary (a leading investment bank in the Canadian energy sector) announced their partnership for the publication of FirstCommentary/FirstInsight, a private-sector analytical quarterly of the global oil, gas and water markets. Issues covered include; Canada�s rise as an energy superpower.

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Speaker:

Kyle Isakower serves as vice president for Regulatory and Economic Policy at the American Petroleum Institute. In this role, Mr. Isakower manages API�s review of U.S. tax policies and the development of economic analyses pertaining to public policies affecting the oil and natural gas industry. He also oversees API programs that review proposed environmental rules and energy regulations, the development of industry standards for use domestically and abroad, and the creation of statistical products covering the industry and markets.

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Speaker:

Derek Scissors is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he studies Asian economic issues and trends. In particular, he focuses on the Chinese and Indian economies and US economic relations with China and India. Mr. Scissors is author of the China Global Investment Tracker.

Scissors is also an adjunct professor at George Washington University, where he teaches a course on the Chinese economy.

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