Zeke Hernandez
April 7, 2025
Max & Bernice Garchik Family Presidential Professor, The Wharton School
Author of The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers
Zeke Hernandez is the Max and Bernice Garchik Family Presidential Professor at The Wharton School and the author of The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers. His pioneering research linking immigration to investment and economic growth has won multiple prizes, including three emerging scholar awards from the top academic associations in his field.
Zeke is one of the highest-rated teachers at Wharton, one of Poets & Quants world’s best 40 under 40 business professors, and one of the youngest recipients of a presidential professorship at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota. Outside of work, he loves his family, soccer, and meeting people from all over the world.
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Kevin Brady
March 12, 2025
Senior Consultant, Akin
Recipient of the 2024 Bill Frenzel Champion of Free Trade Award
Former U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) advises clients on a range of public policy and government relations issues, with a special focus on tax, healthcare, energy, and trade matters. He served for more than 25 years as a member of Congress representing the 8th congressional district of Texas, including northern Houston, as well as The Woodlands.
Throughout his career, Rep. Brady played a pivotal role in shaping economic policy in the United States. As Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee (2015 – 2019), he led the Committee’s efforts to deliver a detailed blueprint for comprehensive, pro-growth tax reform, the first in 30 years, resulting in the passage of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). Rep. Brady also chaired both the Health Care and Trade Subcommittees, where he led efforts to make permanent the research and development tax credit, incentivizing American-led research in crucial medical advancements and technologies. He also played a leadership role in Medicare modernization and health care innovation. In the energy sector, Rep. Brady negotiated an end to the 40-year ban on selling U.S. crude oil overseas. Additionally, he helped secure approval of 13 of America’s 15 free trade agreements and played a key role in the historic passage of the U.S.-Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA).
Rep. Brady served as Chairman of the Joint Committee on Taxation and Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress and has earned a reputation as a highly regarded leader within the Republican caucus in both the House and Senate. His extensive experience has allowed him to cultivate strong relationships with policy-makers and staff members in both parties. A dedicated advocate for pro-growth policies, tax reform and free trade, Rep. Brady is committed to shaping a favorable business environment for his clients.
Prior to serving in Congress, Rep. Brady worked as a Chamber of Commerce executive for 18 years and served for six years in the Texas House of Representatives, where he was named a Top Ten Legislator for Families & Children and one of Five Outstanding Young Texans.
Brian Sikes
February 26, 2025
Board Chair, President, & CEO, Cargill
Brian Sikes was elected to serve as Board Chair of Cargill in Jan. 2024 and has served as President and Chief Executive Officer since Jan. 2023. He is the 10th CEO in Cargill’s 160-year history. During his more than 30 years with the company, Brian has been known for his relentless focus on people and culture, as well as customer-driven transformation and growth.
Brian began his career with Cargill in 1991 and joined the executive team in 2019. Previously, he served as Chief Operating Officer, where he was instrumental in constructing the company’s long-term strategy. With broad experience across multiple businesses, cycles, and geographies, Brian has held leadership roles in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. He brings proven experience leading operations, commercial teams, and talent management, as well as a strong record of business operational rigor.
Prior to serving as COO, Brian led Cargill’s global Protein and Salt enterprise, growing the business into an industry leader. He previously led the transformation of its North America protein business, delivering expanded offerings in line with shifting demand for value-added protein, sustainable supply chains, and alternative proteins. He also led Cargill’s protein business in Europe and was President of Cargill’s Foodservice team.
From his time on the floor of Cargill’s beef plant in Plainview, Texas, and throughout his three decades with the company, Brian has been a passionate advocate for workers on the front lines of the food system. He is known in the industry for developing a deep bench of leaders and mentoring people with unconventional career paths.
In addition to his leadership role at Cargill, Brian serves on the Board of Directors of the U.S.-China Business Council and is a member of the World 50. He holds a bachelor’s degree in agriculture economics from Texas Tech University.
Major Garrett
December 18, 2024
Chief Washington Correspondent, CBS News
For 30 years Major Garrett has reported from the front lines of the nation’s pressing issues, doggedly chasing and breaking news stories. He began his illustrious journalism career as a police and general assignment reporter and has since covered Congress for two major magazines and served as White House correspondent for three television networks. He is now the Chief Washington Correspondent for CBS News and was the network’s chief political reporter covering the 2016 Republican race for the White House. In 2020 he was one of the first national correspondents to focus on voting procedures, voting integrity, and voter turnout. He led the most comprehensive CBS coverage of this topic in history, educating voters before the election and in real-time during extensive Election Night and Election Week coverage. On January 6th, 2021, Major covered the assault on the US Capitol alongside CBS Evening News Anchor Norah O’Donnell – logging nearly 10 hours of continuous live coverage. Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, Major also hosts two CBS News podcasts: The Takeout and The Debrief. The Takeout is a rare multi-platform interview show carried on all podcast platforms, more than 70 radio stations, SiriusXM, and CBSN. The Debrief is a nationally recognized weekly documentary podcast.
A truly non-partisan reporter, Major is available to speak and moderate panels on the state of politics today, the inner workings of Congress, and the role of the media. His humorous, direct, and dynamic speeches call upon personal anecdotes from his time on the Hill, well-built relationships with top political players, as well as tales from the presidential campaigns he’s crisscrossed the country covering. He breaks down complex hot-button policy issues and is universally recognized as balanced, having worked for the White House teams of both CNN and Fox News.
Known for asking tough questions of all political actors regardless of party lines, Major’s extensive and award-winning print and television work is well-known and has drawn the public wrath of Presidents Obama and Trump, among others. He has worked with outlets including U.S. News and World Report, The Washington Times, The Weekly Standard, and Mother Jones.
Major has written four books. His third, Enduring Revolution, was hailed as one of the best non-fiction political books of all time. His most recent book, Mr. Trump’s Wild Ride, was dubbed “an early draft of our current history” by The Washington Post.
America's Fiscal Challenges
November 21, 2024
Featuring:
- Maya MacGuineas, President, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
- Chris Farrell , Senior Economics Contributor, Marketplace, American Public Media
Maya MacGuineas is the president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Her areas of expertise include budget, tax, and economic policy. As a leading budget expert and a political independent, she has worked closely with members of both parties and serves as a trusted resource on Capitol Hill. MacGuineas testifies regularly before Congress and has published broadly, including regularly in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Atlantic, and numerous other outlets. She also appears regularly as a commentator on television.
MacGuineas oversees a number of the Committee’s projects including the grassroots coalition Fix the Debt; the Committee’s Fiscal Institute; and FixUS, a project seeking to better understand the root causes of our nation’s growing divisions and deteriorating political system, and to work with others to bring attention to these issues and the need to fix them. Her most recent area of focus is on the future of the economy, technology, and capitalism.
Previously, MacGuineas worked at the Brookings Institution and on Wall Street, and in the spring of 2009 she did a stint on The Washington Post editorial board, covering economic and fiscal policy. MacGuineas serves on a number of boards and is a native Washingtonian.
Chris Farrell is senior economics contributor at Minnesota Public Radio and Marketplace, American Public Media’s nationally syndicated public radio business and economic programs. Chris is a columnist for PBS Next Avenue and the Minnesota Star Tribune. He is also host of Office Hours podcast for the Heller-Hurwicz Economics Institute at the University of Minnesota.
He has written for Bloomberg Businessweek, New York Times, Kiplinger’s, and other publications. The author of five books, including The New Frugality, Unretirement, and Purpose and a Paycheck.
Economic Ecosystem of Minnesota Healthcare
October 9, 2024
Moderated by Jeannine Rivet, Retired EVP, UnitedHealth Group; Director & Secretary, Economic Club of Minnesota
Featuring:
- Rahul Koranne, President & CEO, Minnesota Hospital Association
- Andrea Walsh, President & CEO, HealthPartners
Rahul Koranne, M.D., MBA, FACP, is president and CEO of the Minnesota Hospital Association. Dr. Koranne joined MHA in 2015 as SVP of clinical affairs/CMO and was named president and CEO in 2020. Before joining MHA, Dr. Koranne was a VP with HealthEast Care System. From 2000 to 2005, he served as a primary care physician at the state’s smallest critical access hospital in Starbuck, Minnesota.
Dr. Koranne received his MBA from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management in 2008. He earned his medical degree at the University of Delhi in India, completed his residency in internal medicine at the State University of New York, Brooklyn, and completed his fellowship in geriatrics at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Koranne is active in the community and currently serves on the Minnesota Zoo Board of Directors.
Andrea Walsh is president and chief executive officer of Minnesota-based HealthPartners, a non-profit, integrated health system providing health plan coverage to 1.7 million members and health care to 1.3 million patients. She leads a team of more than 27,000 colleagues dedicated to a vision of health as it could be, affordability as it must be, through relationships built on trust.
Walsh has served as president and CEO since 2017. During her tenure, HealthPartners has continued to deepen its reputation as a national leader in high-quality, affordable care and coverage. She’s led with a focus on building healthy and high-performing teams and forging partnerships to improve health equity, children’s health, mental health, and other important areas of community health and well-being. Prior to serving as CEO, Walsh was executive vice president and chief marketing officer at HealthPartners for nearly 15 years, and prior to that served as corporate counsel leading legal, compliance and public affairs.
Walsh began her career as a lawyer in private practice. In the early 90s, she was appointed assistant commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Health and led health reform efforts to increase access to affordable health care coverage, known today as MinnesotaCare. She graduated cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School and has degrees in business and English from the University of Kansas.
Walsh is active in the community and currently serves on the Y of the North board as the immediate past chair. In 2020, she was named Executive of the Year by the Minnesota Business Journal and for the past four years has been named among the Top 100 Most Influential People in Health Care by Modern Healthcare.
Jeannine Rivet is an active board member, advisor, mentor, and coach. Retired Executive Vice President of UnitedHealth Group, Jeannine Rivet worked with and on behalf of all business segments in areas focused on strategic business relationships, clinician advancement, culture, and social responsibility. Previous roles at UnitedHealth Group include CEO of UnitedHealthcare, CEO of Ingenix and CEO of Optum. Prior to joining UnitedHealthcare Corporation, Jeannine held various other managed care and nursing positions.
Jeannine received a Masters in Public Health from Boston University. She also holds a B.S. in Nursing from Boston College and practiced as a registered nurse for several years prior to entering the managed care industry. She is on numerous business boards and advisory councils and is a mentor to men and women in business. She has been recognized by AAHP, Boston University School of Public Health, Fortune magazine, Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys, Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal, Minnesota’s City Business, Minnesota Women’s Health Leadership TRUST, Twin Cities Business magazine, Linkage, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, and the American Heart Association – Twin Cities. She also is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She is a driving force in challenging the industry to enhance health and well-being through information, collaboration, and advancement of optimal healthcare.
Michael Sheldrick
September 12, 2024
Author of From Ideas to Impact and Co-Founder of Global Citizen
Michael Sheldrick is a policy entrepreneur, author, and a driving force behind the efforts of Global Citizen to end extreme poverty. As a Co-Founder and Chief Policy, Impact, and Government Affairs Officer, he leads the organization’s campaigns to mobilize support from governments, businesses, and foundations.
With a career that spans the world of pop and policy, Michael has worked with an impressive roster of international artists such as Beyoncé, Coldplay, Idris and Sabrina Elba, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Priyanka Chopra, Rihanna and Usher, as well as prominent political leaders including Brazilian President Lula da Silva, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and former Australian Prime Ministers Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd. He has co-produced some of the world’s most impactful social campaigns and events, including the annual Global Citizen Festival in New York, the Guinness World Record-winning virtual concert One World: Together At Home, and the Nelson Mandela 2018 centennial celebration, Mandela 100. These initiatives have reached millions of people in over 150 countries and helped secure over $40 billion in support for local and regional organizations working to provide access to essential resources such as healthcare, education, and climate resilience.
In 2021, Michael served as a ‘friend of the COP26 Presidency’ in Glasgow, securing commitments from 17 major companies including American Express, Cisco, Starbucks etc… for the UN’s Race to Zero campaign. During the same year, he facilitated pledges from businesses and regional governments to protect and restore 157 million trees. Since 2022, he’s been a member of Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s Bridgetown Initiative, focusing on unlocking finance for climate resilience.
A sought-after speaker and author on policy advocacy, sustainable development, and corporate responsibility, Michael has shared his insights at conferences and summits worldwide. His insights have also featured in leading outlets including Forbes, The Guardian, The Hill, HuffPost, Nikkei and Fairfax Media, and his voice heard on major news networks such as ABC, BBC, France 24, Sky News and CNN.
Michael serves on the board of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens, the Benjamin Franklin House in London, the Steering Committee of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the Advisory Boards of the Elba Hope Foundation and the Nigerian Solidarity Support Fund. He is also a co-host of the Global Town Hall, a North-South, East-West meeting featuring world leaders and leading minds to connect with global citizens.
Austan Goolsbee
May 10, 2024
President & CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Austan D. Goolsbee is president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. In this capacity, he serves on the Federal Open Market Committee—the Federal Reserve System’s monetary policymaking body—and leads the Chicago Fed, which conducts research and monitors local economic conditions in support of the formulation of monetary policy, supervises and regulates banking organizations, and provides financial services to banks and similar institutions, as well as to the U.S. government.
Prior to becoming president of the Chicago Fed in January 2023, Goolsbee served as the Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business where he first joined the faculty in 1995. He is known for his empirical research on many different industries and on economic policy. He has been a Fulbright Scholar and an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow.
Goolsbee served as a member and then chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from 2009 through 2011 and was a member of the President’s cabinet. He has also served on the Board of Education for the City of Chicago, the Economic Advisory Panel to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Panel of Economic Advisers to the Congressional Budget Office, the U.S. Census Advisory Committee, the Digital Economy Board of Advisors to the Commerce Department, and the External Advisory Group on Digital Technology for the International Monetary Fund.
Goolsbee has a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BA and MA in economics from Yale University. He is married and has three children.
Alan Gogbashian
April 23, 2024
His Majesty’s Consul General for Chicago
Alan Gogbashian has been a member of the British diplomatic service since 2008. His most recent roles have included Deputy Ambassador to Morocco and Mauritania, Deputy Director Americas, and Head of International Human Resources.
Before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Alan worked in corporate law in London and Paris, international development in Eastern Europe, and the life sciences sector. He studied law at King’s College London and is an MBA graduate. He speaks French, Armenian and Russian. Alan is married with two daughters.
Senator Pat Toomey
March 19, 2024
2023 Bill Frenzel Champion of Free Trade Awardee
Senator Toomey represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate from 2011 to 2023, serving as Ranking Member on the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; and a member of the Budget and Finance Committees, as well as the Joint Economic Committee and the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. He also chaired the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection. Senator Toomey previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1999-2005, where he was a member of the House Budget Committee. He began his career in financial services at Chemical Bank and then Morgan, Grenfell & Co. Senator Toomey has a B.A. in political science from Harvard University.
Ginni Rometty
February 12, 2024
Former Chairman, President, and CEO of IBM
Ginni is a leader, innovator, and convener who believes that how we work and lead is as important as what we achieve. As the ninth Chairman, President, and CEO of IBM, Ginni transformed the 100-year-old company, reinventing 50 percent of its portfolio, building a $25 billion hybrid cloud business, and establishing IBM’s leadership in AI and quantum computing. She drove record results in diversity and inclusion and supported the explosive growth of an innovative high school program, P-TECH, to prepare the workforce of the future in more than twenty-eight countries. Through her work with the Business Roundtable, she helped redefine the purpose of the corporation.
Today, she is a champion of SkillsFirst learning, hiring, and advancement—a movement to connect more people without college degrees with good jobs. In 2020, she co-founded OneTen, a coalition of companies and educators committed to upskilling, hiring, and promoting one million Black Americans without four-year degrees by 2030 into family-sustaining jobs and careers.
She is the author of the bestselling book Good Power: Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World (Harvard Business Review Press), a moving combination of memoir, leadership lessons, and big ideas. The book shares milestones from her life and career while redefining power as a way to drive meaningful change in positive ways for ourselves, our organizations, and for the many, not just the few—a concept she calls “good power.”
Ginni serves on multiple boards, including JPMorganChase and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and was named Fortune’s #1 Most Powerful Woman three years in a row. She has been honored with the designation of Officier in the French Légion d’Honneur and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Her bestselling book, Good Power: Creating Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World, offers leadership lessons through the lens of her life and career.
Navigating U.S. – China Strategic Competition
December 15, 2023
Zongyuan Zoe Liu, Maurice R. Greenberg Fellow for China Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations
Sahra English, Managing Director, Global Government Affairs, Citi
Mark Kennedy, Director, Wahba Institute for Strategic Competition
Sahra English is Managing Director of Global Government Affairs at Citi. She is responsible for policy development and advocacy strategy on a broad range of international trade and investment issues, including digital trade, cyber security, fintech, regulatory cooperation, and geopolitical trends and risks. She advocates on behalf of Citi and its clients in the numerous international business and finance fora in which Citi engages and represents Citi in its relations with senior officers of the US Government as well as the 100 host governments where Citi has a presence.
Prior to her role at Citi, Ms. English was Vice President of Global Public Policy at Mastercard. In this role, she was responsible for leading the company’s global trade agenda, and leading international government advocacy strategies for major trade negotiations, including TPP, TiSA, USMCA, and other investment treaties. Since joining Mastercard in 2000, she held several positions of increasing responsibility across the organization in strategic communications, business development, risk, policy, and government relations. Prior to joining Mastercard, she started her career at America Online (AOL) as a financial analyst.
She holds an M.A. in International Political Economy & Development (IPED) from Fordham University and a B.A. in Finance from Pace University. Ms. English serves as a member of the U.S. Government’s Industry Trade Advisory Committee (ITAC)on Services.
Ms. English is a co-chair of the Meridian International Center Corporate Council, a board member of the Coalition of Services Industries, and a frequent speaker at industry events including at the WTO, UNCTAD, USITC, and Harvard Business School, among others.
Dr. Zongyuan Zoe Liu is a fellow for international political economy at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Her work focuses on international finance, industrial policies, supply chains of critical minerals, and the nexus of energy-climate-food security. Her regional expertise is in East Asia and the Middle East. Dr. Liu is the author of Can BRICS De-dollarize the Global Financial System? (Cambridge University Press, February 2022) and Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances its Global Ambitions (Harvard University Press, June 2023). She is also a columnist at Foreign Policy.
Prior to joining CFR, Dr. Liu was an assistant professor at Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government and Public Service in Washington, DC, where she taught courses on the global economy, economic statecraft, and Chinese foreign policy. She joined the Bush School after post-doctoral fellowships at the Columbia-Harvard “China and the World Program” and the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at the Fletcher School at Tufts University.
Dr. Liu was a research fellow at the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies and a research associate at the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business. She was also a visiting research fellow at the Institute for International Monetary Affairs in Tokyo, Bank of Mitsubishi-UFJ, and the Delma Institute in Abu Dhabi. She taught courses on Asian energy security and political risk analysis at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Liu received her PhD in international relations from Johns Hopkins University and she is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.
Leadership in Uncertain Times
November 3, 2023
Bill George, Executive Fellow, Harvard Business School, Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Medtronic
Neel Kashkari, President & CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
In conversation with CNN Anchor, Poppy Harlow
Bill George is an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, where he has been a Professor of Management Practice and Senior Fellow teaching leadership since 2004. He is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Medtronic. Earlier in his career, he was a senior executive with Honeywell and Litton Industries and served in the U.S. Department of Defense.
He has served on the boards of numerous organizations, including Target, and the Mayo Clinic, the Guthrie Theater, YMCA of the North. He has served on the board of World Economic Forum USA.
Bill is a frequent contributor to CNBC, Fortune Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal and makes frequent appearances on television and radio.
He received his BSIE with high honors from Georgia Tech, his MBA with high distinction from Harvard University, where he was a Baker Scholar, and honorary PhDs from Georgia Tech, Mayo Medical School, University of St. Thomas, Augsburg College, and Bryant University.
Bill is the author of: Emerging Leader Edition of True North, Discover Your True North and The Discover Your True North Fieldbook, Authentic Leadership, True North, Finding Your True North, 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis and True North Groups.
Neel Kashkari took office as president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis on Jan. 1, 2016, following a national search conducted by the Bank’s independent board of directors.
In this role, he serves on the Federal Open Market Committee, bringing the Ninth District’s perspective to monetary policy discussions in Washington, D.C. In addition to his responsibilities as a monetary policymaker, Kashkari oversees all operations of the Bank, including supervision and regulation, Treasury services, and payments services.
Kashkari leads the Bank’s many initiatives. Among them, he was instrumental in establishing the Opportunity & Inclusive Growth Institute, whose mission is to ensure that world-class research helps to improve the economic well-being of all Americans.
In addition, he directed Minneapolis Fed economists to examine Minnesota’s education achievement gaps. This research revealed deep, persistent disparities across race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, and has helped inform efforts to close these gaps and ensure every child receives a quality public education. This work supports the Fed’s mandate to achieve maximum employment, with education being a key to obtaining a good job.
Under Kashkari’s leadership, the Minneapolis Fed also released an action plan on ending too big to fail, which calls for tighter bank regulations to avoid future taxpayer bailouts of large financial institutions.
Committed to increasing transparency at the Fed, Kashkari has published in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Financial Times and is active on Twitter and Instagram. He serves on the boards of the Economic Club of Minnesota and the Urban Institute and is a member of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group.
Kashkari began his career as an aerospace engineer at TRW (now Northrop Grumman) in Redondo Beach, California, where he developed technology for NASA space science missions. Following graduate school, he joined Goldman Sachs in San Francisco, where he helped technology companies raise capital and pursue strategic transactions.
From 2006 to 2009, Kashkari served in several senior positions at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In 2008, he was confirmed as assistant secretary of the Treasury. In this role, he oversaw the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) during the financial crisis. Kashkari received the Alexander Hamilton Award, the Treasury Department’s highest honor for distinguished service.
Following his tenure in Washington, Kashkari returned to California in 2009 and joined PIMCO as managing director and member of the executive office. He left the firm in 2013 to explore returning to public service and, in 2014, ran for governor of California on a platform focused on economic opportunity.
Raised in Ohio, Kashkari earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
He lives with his wife, Christine, children, Uly and Tecumseh, and Newfoundland dog, Webster, in Orono, Minnesota.
Balancing In-Person & Remote Work
October 18, 2023
Moderated by Jeanne Crain, President & CEO, Bremer Financial Corporation
Featuring:
- Kelly Baker, Executive Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer, Thrivent
- Steve Cramer, President & CEO, Mpls Downtown Council & Downtown Improvement District
- Doug Fulton, Principal, Avison Young
Kelly Baker is executive vice president, chief human resources officer of Thrivent, a Fortune 500 diversified financial services organization. In her role, Baker is responsible for providing strategic human resources advice and enterprise support for talent acquisition, benefits and compensation, organizational design, diversity and inclusion, and workforce culture and effectiveness. Prior to joining Thrivent in 2021, Baker was executive vice president and chief human resources officer for Pentair. Before that, she served in various human resources roles at General Mills, including vice president of HR for the U.S. segment. She also led Global Diversity & Inclusion during her time at General Mills, strengthening diverse representation among the company’s leaders.
Baker has a bachelor of business administration in accounting from Howard University and earned an MBA from the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business. She serves as a board member of the Children’s Theater Company of Minnesota and The Blake School. She also serves as a non-executive director of Ferguson PLC. She lives in Golden Valley, Minnesota, with her husband, John, and her teenage son.
Steve Cramer is the president and chief executive officer of the mpls downtown council & downtown improvement district. He was a Minneapolis City Council member from 1984 to 1993. Steve also worked for the nonprofit organization Project for Pride in Living from 1994 through 1999, serving as the director of housing and development, chief operating officer and finally president and executive director. He then served as director of the Minneapolis Community Development Agency (known today as CPED) from 1999 to February 2002 and as director of the Hennepin County Department of Housing, Community Works & Transit from February 2002 to August 2003, when he rejoined Project for Pride in Living as their president and executive director until joining the mpls downtown council in December 2013.
Presently, Steve serves on the Boards of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce, Meet Minneapolis, Opportunity Partners, Green Minneapolis, Youthlink, Heading Home Hennepin, and the Minneapolis Club. He is a member of Lambda Alpha International’s Minnesota Chapter. Steve has a Bachelor of Science in Urban Planning from the University of Tulsa and a Master of Arts in Public Affairs from the Humphrey Institute of the University of Minnesota.
Corie Barry
September 22, 2023
CEO, Best Buy
Corie Barry is CEO of Best Buy Co. Inc., the leading provider of consumer technology products and services, with approximately 90,000 employees in North America and more than $46 billion in annual revenue. She also serves on the company’s board of directors.
Prior to becoming CEO in June 2019, Corie served in several other executive positions, playing a critical role in developing and executing the company’s Building the New Blue growth strategy and related transformation. Most recently, she was the company’s chief financial and strategic transformation officer, overseeing strategic transformation and growth, digital and technology, global finance, investor relations, enterprise risk and compliance, integration management, and Best Buy Health.
Corie joined Best Buy in 1999 and has held a variety of financial and operational roles across the organization, both in the field and at the corporate office. She became CFO in 2016 and, prior to that, served as chief strategic growth officer. She has also served as senior vice president of domestic finance and interim president of Best Buy’s services organization.
Before joining Best Buy, Corie started her career as an auditor at Deloitte & Touche. A Minnesota native, Corie holds bachelor’s degrees in accounting and management from the College of St. Benedict, where she now serves on the board of trustees. Additionally, she serves on the board of directors for Domino’s Pizza.
Members & Sponsors Only Webinar: MN's Future Economy - Post Legislative Session
June 21, 2023
Moderated by Blois Olson, Founder & Principal, Fluence Media
Featuring:
- Sen. Nick Frentz, MN Senate
- Rep. Lisa Demuth, MN House of Representatives
- Sen. Eric Pratt, MN Senate
- Rep. Aisha Gomez, MN House of Representatives
Senator Nick Frentz represents Senate District 18, the south-central area of Minnesota containing Mankato, St. Peter, and the surrounding cities, towns, and farmlands. He serves on six different committees within the Senate: Rules, Commerce, Finance, Pensions, Capital Investment, and Energy. He has the honor of serving as the Chair of the Energy, Utilities, Environment, and Climate committee, where he oversees legislation pertaining to the energy sector within MN. He chief authored the historic100% Clean Energy by 2040 bill this past session, which sets a goal to have Minnesota’s energy output be entirely carbon neutral by 2040.
Outside of the legislative session, he heads back home to North Mankato as soon as possible to spend time with his wife of 34years, Jill, and their four adult children. He also gets back to practicing law at his law firm of Maschka, Riedy, Ries & Frentz and visits his bagel shop in Mankato, Tandem Bagels. He enjoys a round of golf and a game of hockey when he is able. He graduated from Macalester College and received his JD from the William Mitchell College of Law. Some of his areas of particular legislative interest include support for public safety, agriculture, pensions, and small businesses.
Elected in 2018, State Rep. Lisa Demuth is a long-time resident of Cold Spring in District 13A. She and her husband, Nick, have four children and six grandchildren. Rep. Demuth is a small-business owner who is dedicated to serving her community and previously was a ROCORI School Board member for 11 years. In 2022, Demuth was elected by her colleagues to serve as the House Minority Leader. She is the first black lawmaker to serve as a caucus leader, and the first woman to serve as House Republican leader. Demuth was recently elected to her third term in the Minnesota House of Representatives. For the past two years she has served on the Education, Early Childhood, and Health Committees, as well as serving as an Assistant Minority Leader for the House Republican Caucus.
James Bullard
May 5, 2023
President & CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
James (“Jim”) Bullard is the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. In that role, he is a participant on the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which meets regularly to set the direction of U.S. monetary policy. He also oversees the Federal Reserve’s Eighth District, including activities at the St. Louis headquarters and its branches in Little Rock, Ark., Louisville, Ky., and Memphis, Tenn.
A noted economist and policymaker, Bullard makes Fed transparency and dialogue a priority on the international and national stage as well as on Main Street. He serves on the board of directors of Concordance Academy of Leadership, and he is a past board chair of the United Way U.S.A. He is an executive committee member of the Greater St. Louis Inc.’s chair’s council. In addition, Bullard is co-editor of the Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, a member of the editorial advisory board of the National Institute Economic Review and a member of the Central Bank Research Association’s senior council. He is an honorary professor of economics at Washington University in St. Louis, where he also sits on the advisory council of the economics department and the advisory board of the Center for Dynamic Economics. A native of Forest Lake, Minn., Bullard received his doctorate in economics from Indiana University in Bloomington.
Arancha González
March 8, 2023
2022 Bill Frenzel Champion of Free Trade Awardee
Dean, Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po
Arancha González is the third Dean of PSIA at Sciences Po and first woman to lead the world’s third school for Politics and International Studies.
Prior to joining PSIA, Ms. González served as Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation (2020-2021). She previously was Assistant-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (2013-2020). Between 2005 and 2013 she served as Chief of Staff to the Director-General of the World Trade Organization. Before that she held senior positions at the European Commission in the areas of international trade and development. Ms. González started her career as lawyer in the private sector.
A Spanish national, Ms. González holds a degree in law from the University of Navarra and a Master in European Law from the University Carlos III of Madrid.
Ambassador Marc Nathanson
February 3, 2023
U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Norway
Marc Nathanson was accredited as U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Norway on June 16, 2022. He was one of America’s leading communications entrepreneurs and is a noted environmentalist. He founded Falcon Cable TV in 1975, and in 1999, he became Vice Chairman of Charter Communications. Before his appointment as Ambassador, he was Chairman of Mapleton Investments, a holding company.
Nathanson was Chairman of the United States Agency for Global Media during the Clinton-Gore and Bush-Cheney Administrations. He was appointed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2012 as Representative to the Board of Governors of the East-West Center in Honolulu. Nathanson is the immediate past Co-Chairman of the Pacific Council on International Policy and Vice Chairman of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI).
He is a long time Trustee of the Aspen Institute and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Nathanson has been honored by several environmental organizations for his work on water conservation.
He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Denver and a master’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was a National Science Foundation Fellow. He has been married to Jane Nathanson, a psychologist, for 54 years.
The Current Business Conditions and Impact of U.S. Based Japanese Investment
January 18, 2023
Hiroyuki Nemoto, Chief Executive Director, Japan External Trade Organization Chicago
Ralph Inforzato, Special Advisor, Japan External Trade Organization Chicago
Hiroyuki Nemoto was appointed Chief Executive Director of the Chicago office of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO Chicago) in August 2022. As Chief Executive Director, he oversees JETRO Chicago’s activities designed to facilitate trade and investment between Japan and the 12 Midwestern states served by JETRO Chicago.
Prior coming to Chicago, Mr. Nemoto served as Director-General of JETRO Osaka Headquarters. He had the privilege of co-hosting along with the U.S. Embassy in Japan and the U.S. Consulate General Osaka-Kobe, the U.S.-Japan High-Tech Roundtable. The dialogue between U.S. Ambassador Rahm Emanuel and top business leaders from the Kansai Region of Japan, was about future collaboration and investment opportunities between the U.S. and Japan.
Mr. Nemoto joined JETRO in 1988 after graduating from Meiji University with a bachelor’s degree in commerce. He has a deep knowledge in international business through working in the Trade Fair Department, International Communications Department, Invest Japan Department, Trade and Investment Development Department at JETRO Tokyo, and the North American Affairs Bureau within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His previous overseas postings included JETRO offices located in Houston, Bangkok, and Johannesburg.
In his five years serving as Chief Executive Director of JETRO Chicago (2017 – 2022), Ralph Inforzato oversaw JETRO’s activities designed to facilitate trade and investment between Japan and 12 Midwest states served by JETRO Chicago. He was the first foreign person to be appointed to the leadership role of a JETRO office. Mr. Inforzato is currently a Special Advisor to the Chicago office of the Japan External Trade Organization.
Previously, Mr. Inforzato served as Executive Director, Business Development wherein he implemented JETRO’s team-based projects to assist U.S. business expansion to Japan. He initiated in-bound and out-bound technology collaboration for U.S. & Japanese companies, which resulted in numerous business agreements.
For 38 years, Mr. Inforzato was actively involved in significant JETRO related business development projects: Japan–U.S. Biotechnology Initiative, which has sent more than 500 representatives from North American life sciences companies, universities, and research institutes to Japan. Mr. Inforzato had direct involvement in working with numerous Midwest state and local government leaders and their economic development professionals in assisting them how to support and develop relationships with Japanese companies.
In August 2022, Mr. Inforzato received the prestigious Japan’s Foreign Minister’s Commendation for his promotion of economic relations between Japan and the U.S. and in September 2022 he received the Bridge of Friendship Award from the Japan American Society of Indiana for his commitment to developing the Indiana-Japan economic relationship.
Major Garrett
December 8, 2022
Chief Washington Correspondent, CBS News
For 30 years Major Garrett has reported from the front lines of the nation’s pressing issues, doggedly chasing and breaking news stories. He began his illustrious journalism career as a police and general assignment reporter and has since covered Congress for two major magazines and served as White House correspondent for three television networks. He is now the Chief Washington Correspondent for CBS News and was the network’s chief political reporter covering the 2016 Republican race for the White House. In 2020 he was one of the first national correspondents to focus on voting procedures, voting integrity, and voter turnout. He led the most comprehensive CBS coverage of this topic in history, educating voters before the election and in real-time during extensive Election Night and Election Week coverage. On January 6th, 2021, Major covered the assault on the US Capitol alongside CBS Evening News Anchor Norah O’Donnell – logging nearly 10 hours of continuous live coverage. Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, Major also hosts two CBS News podcasts: The Takeout and The Debrief. The Takeout is a rare multi-platform interview show carried on all podcast platforms, more than 70 radio stations, SiriusXM, and CBSN. The Debrief is a nationally recognized weekly documentary podcast.
A truly non-partisan reporter, Major is available to speak and moderate panels on the state of politics today, the inner workings of Congress, and the role of the media. His humorous, direct, and dynamic speeches call upon personal anecdotes from his time on the Hill, well-built relationships with top political players, as well as tales from the presidential campaigns he’s crisscrossed the country covering. He breaks down complex hot-button policy issues and is universally recognized as balanced, having worked for the White House teams of both CNN and Fox News.
Known for asking tough questions of all political actors regardless of party lines, Major’s extensive and award-winning print and television work is well-known and has drawn the public wrath of Presidents Obama and Trump among others. He has worked with outlets including U.S. News and World Report, The Washington Times, The Weekly Standard, and Mother Jones.
Major has written four books. His third, Enduring Revolution, was hailed as one of the best non-fiction political books of all time. His most recent book, Mr. Trump’s Wild Ride, was dubbed “an early draft of our current history” by The Washington Post.
Our Energy Future
November 18, 2022
Moderated by Blois Olson, Founder & Principal, Fluence Media
Featuring:
- Emma Bishop, Assistant Vice President, Venn Strategies
- Dr. Jim Bowyer, Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering
- Brittany Zwierzchowski Tisler, COO & Interim CEO, Conservative Energy Network
Emma Bishop is an Assistant Vice President at Venn Strategies, a nationally recognized, full-service government relations and public affairs firm based in Washington, D.C. Ms. Bishop works on policy priorities with clients in the energy and transportation sectors, including critical mineral supply chains, battery manufacturing, and heavy-duty electric vehicles. In this role, Ms. Bishop also manages the Battery Materials & Technology Coalition (BMTC), which unites companies behind a shared interest in growing a North American battery supply chain. Prior to joining Venn, she worked at a U.S. biomass energy company, Enviva, and in the office of Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA). She received her bachelor’s from Whitman College.
Jim Bowyer is Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, having served on the faculty there for over 36 years. He currently serves as a Senior Contributor with the Minneapolis-based Dovetail Partners environmental consulting firm. Bowyer is a specialist in wood-based bio-products and environmental life-cycle assessment, and an Elected Fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science. He has served as President of the Society of Wood Science and Technology and of the Forest Products Research Society, and as chairman of the Tropical Forest Foundation – an organization with major operations in Brazil, Guyana, Indonesia, and Gabon. He is also a co-founder of the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (CORRIM), a coalition of major North American Universities focused on life cycle environmental impacts of structural and non-structural construction materials.
Bowyer is author of The Irresponsible Pursuit of Paradise, coauthor of the leading textbook globally on forest products and wood science, and author of over 450 published articles on the topics of wood science and technology, life cycle assessment, carbon tracking and reporting, bioenergy, and environmental policy related to land management and raw materials procurement. With a long-time interest in global raw material trends, Bowyer has tracked consumption and international trade of basic materials for over four decades, linking that interest to study of environmental tradeoffs associated with material choices and sources of supply.
The Global Food Crisis
October 27, 2022
Moderated by Devry Boughner Vorwerk, Founder & CEO, DevryBV Sustainable Strategies, LLC
Featuring:
- Ambassador Ertharin Cousin, Founder & CEO, Food Systems for the Future
- Dan Glickman, Senior Counselor, International Advisory Council Chair, APCO Worldwide
- Peter Ceretti, Director, Geostrategy, Eurasia Group
Ertharin Cousin currently serves as the CEO and Managing Director of Food Systems for the Future, a nutrition impact investment fund; a Distinguished Fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs; a Bosch Academy, Robert Weizsäcker Fellow; and as a Visiting Scholar at the Stanford University, Center on Food Security and Environment.
From 2012 until 2017, Cousin led the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). As Executive Director, Cousin guided the 14,000-member WFP team feeding more than 80 million people each year; while she identified and championed longer-term, more sustainable solutions for global food insecurity and hunger.
In 2009, Cousin was nominated and confirmed as the US Ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture in Rome. Prior to her global hunger work, Cousin helped lead the U.S. domestic fight to end hunger including service as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of America’s Second Harvest – now Feeding America.
Cousin is currently a member of the Bayer AG Supervisory Board, the Mondelez International Board of Directors, the Royal DSM Sustainability Board, and a Trustee of the African agriculture thinktank Academia2063.
Cousin is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago; the University of Georgia Law School and the University of Chicago Executive Management Program-Finance for Non-Financial Executives. She has been listed numerous times on the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women List, as the Fortune Most Powerful Woman in Food and Drink, on Time’s 100 Most Influential People list, and as one of the 500 Most Powerful People on the Planet by Foreign Policy magazine.
Dan Glickman is a well-recognized leader in the fields of agriculture, nutrition, hunger, bipartisan politics, and public policy following a long career in the federal government, advocacy, the private sector, and non-profit arenas.
Glickman is a senior counselor and chair of the International Advisory Board at APCO Worldwide and is a long-time board member and former lead director and Chair of the Governance Committee of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME Group), senior advisor to the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, and recent past chairman. He is a distinguished fellow in Global Food and Agriculture at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and an adjunct professor at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston. Glickman also serves as a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a D.C- based think tank that fosters bipartisanship; and a strategic advisor and counselor at The Russell Group.
The first-time author has written his memoir, Laughing at Myself; my Education in Congress, on the Farm and at the Movies, published by the University of Kansas Press in 2021.
Glickman has been actively engaged in promoting bipartisanship in the U.S. Congress, retiring as vice president of the Aspen Institute and executive director of its Congressional Program in early 2021 after 10 years. The program is a public policy education and civility building program for members of the U.S. Congress.
He was a board member of the American Cancer Society Action Network; the domestic anti-hunger group Food Research and Action Center; Issue One, a cross partisan political reform group; World Food Program-USA; past chairman and now board member of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He serves on the Advisory Boards of Francis Renewable Energy, an electric vehicle charging company, and Good Meat, a subsidiary of Eat Just, a cellular based meat company.
Glickman served as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from March 1995 until January 2001 in the Clinton Administration. While at USDA, Glickman oversaw the administration of farm and conservation programs, Meat and poultry food safety and related inspection programs, global trade in food and agriculture, civil rights enforcement impacting employees and other stakeholders, and the US Forest Service. Before his appointment as Secretary of Agriculture, he served for 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives for the 4th Congressional District of Kansas. While in Congress, he was a senior Member of the House Agriculture committee and chair of the subcommittee on general farm commodities, the House Judiciary Committee and chairman of the subcommittee on Administrative Law and Government relations chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; and was a leading congressional expert on general aviation policy.
He served as chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) from 2004 until 2010. Prior to joining the MPAA, he was the director of the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics.
Before his election to Congress in 1976, Glickman served as president of the Wichita, Kansas School Board; was a partner in the law firm of Sargent, Klenda and Glickman; and worked as a trial attorney at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He received a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Michigan, and a J.D. degree from The George Washington University. In recognition of his service, Glickman has also received an honorary Doctor of Philosophy from Kansas State University and an honorary Doctor of Laws from The George Washington University Law School.
Peter Ceretti covers cross-cutting, global themes such as the geopolitics of food security, trade, and sanctions for multinational corporate and financial clients. He began his career in political risk consulting as a researcher on Eurasia Group’s Europe team, where he covered Italian politics during the country’s 2011-2013 sovereign debt crisis. Pete has since worked as a political analyst and economic forecaster, focused on southern Europe and the broader EU at the Economist Intelligence Unit and Teneo Intelligence. Pete earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations and Italian studies from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in European political economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Supply Chain Panel Discussion
September 8, 2022
Where do we go from here?
Moderated by Kate Kelly, EVP & & Regional President, PNC Bank
Featuring:
- Julian Chase, Business Operations and Supply Chain, Chief Transformation Officer, Cargill
- Jacinth Smiley, EVP & CFO, Hormel Foods
- Phil Donaldson, EVP & CFO, Andersen Corporation
Julian Chase is the head of Cargill’s Business Operations and Supply Chain, leading a global team to provide a seamless approach to the way Cargill plans, sources, makes and delivers products and services to customers. In addition, Julian serves as Cargill’s first-ever Chief Transformation Officer, responsible for building a culture of continuous improvement as the company transforms and integrates to become more customer-driven and meet the changing needs of the dynamic marketplace. He also oversees Cargill’s Business Services.
Julian started his Cargill career as an intern at the Tilbury corn milling facility in England when he was only 20. Julian went on to work extensively in the U.S. and Europe, as well as in several global roles, where he has gained deep expertise in operations, supply chain, product line and P&L management. Previously, Julian led both commercial and functional areas within Cargill, including the global Starches, Sweeteners and Texturizers group with operations across North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Turkey and North Africa.
Julian holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Surrey and an MBA from Cranfield, both in the UK. Julian resides in Minnetonka, Minnesota, with his wife and two daughters.
Jacinth Smiley is an accomplished Senior Finance Executive with 25+ years of global leadership and Finance experience across multiple industries with large multinationals and has worked throughout the USA, Europe, Middle East and Asia.
Currently, as the Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer at Hormel Foods, Jacinth leads financial planning and analysis, financial reporting, corporate strategy, long-range planning, investor relations, treasury, tax, controllership and information technology. Jacinth serves on the board and audit committee of Donaldson Company. She is a graduate of the University of CT with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Phil Donaldson is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Andersen Corporation, Bayport, Minnesota. Phil was named Chief Financial Officer in 2004 and serves as a member of the company’s Executive Committee. Phil was elected to the Andersen Corporation Board of Directors in 2009. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Andersen Corporate Foundation. Founded in 1903 and privately owned, Andersen Corporation is the leading maker of windows and doors for residential and commercial markets. Andersen operates 34 manufacturing and distribution locations in North America and Europe with over 13,000 employees.
Phil also serves on several other boards, including:
– The HealthPartners, Inc. Board of Directors where he is vice chairman, chair of the Finance Committee, and serves on the Compensation and Leadership Development and Health Transformation Committees.
– The Simpson Manufacturing Co., Inc. (NYSE: SSD) Board of Directors where he chairs the Audit and Finance Committee and serves on the Corporate Strategy and Acquisitions Committee.
– The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies Policy Advisory Board.
Phil earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
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Gov. Chris Waller
May 10, 2022
Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System
Dr. Christopher Waller is Member of the Board of Governors. He was confirmed in December 2020 and his term expires in 2030. Prior to joining the Board, he was Executive vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis from 2009 to 2020. He began his career at Indiana University-Bloomington from 1985-1998. He then moved to the University of Kentucky, where he served as the C. M. Gatton Chair of Monetary Economics. In 2003, he joined the University of Notre Dame as the Gilbert F. Schaefer Chair of Economics. His research focuses on monetary theory and has been published in a variety of top scholarly journals such as the American Economic Review and the Quarterly Journal of Economics. He earned a BA from Bemidji State University (1981) followed by an MA (1984) and a PhD (1985) in economics from Washington State University.
The Rt. Hon. James Cleverly, MP
April 14, 2022
Minister of State (Minister for Europe and North America) in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
James Cleverly was appointed Minister of State (Minister for Europe and North America) in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) on 8 February 2022.
He was previously Minister for Middle East and North Africa at the FCDO. James was first appointed as a joint Minister of State in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development on 13 February 2020. He was first elected as the Conservative MP for Braintree in May 2015.
James was Minister without Portfolio from 24 July 2019 to 13 February 2020 and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union from April 2019 to July 2019.
Ambassador Jon M. Huntsman, Jr.
Recipient of the 2021 Bill Frenzel Champion of Free Trade Award
March 8, 2022
Vice Chair, Policy, Ford
Jon M. Huntsman Jr. was made Ford’s Vice Chair, Policy, effective May 1, 2021. He serves as advisor to Jim Farley, Ford’s President and CEO, and Executive Chair Bill Ford on strategic policy choices. Prior to joining Ford in that role, Huntsman was re-elected to the Ford board of directors in October 2020 after previously serving as a director from 2012 to 2017. He is a member of the board’s sustainability and innovation committee. Huntsman was recently appointed to the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board.
Huntsman stepped down from his first tenure as a Ford director to become U.S. ambassador to Russia under President Donald J. Trump, a position in which he served for two years. He was U.S. ambassador to China from 2009 to 2011 in President Barack Obama’s administration and ambassador to Singapore in the early 1990s under Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush.
Huntsman’s multiple federal trade assignments culminated in two years as deputy U.S. trade representative for President George W. Bush. Collectively, he has negotiated or brokered dozens of trade and investment agreements for the United States in Asia Pacific and Africa. His public career began as a White House staff assistant to President Ronald Reagan and included an appointment as deputy assistant secretary of commerce for Asia. In addition to his extensive federal roles, Huntsman was twice elected governor of the U.S. state of Utah.
Prior to entering public service, Huntsman was an executive of Huntsman Corporation. He has been chairman of both the Huntsman Cancer Foundation and the Atlantic Council of the United States; a founding director of the Pacific Council on International Policy; a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution; and a trustee of both the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Reagan Presidential Foundation. Huntsman is also a member of the board of directors of Chevron. Huntsman is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.