Do you wonder where the economy is going and why?  Do you wonder what is going on in other countries that can affect you both financially and politically?  The annual Economic Forecast event, sponsored by the Chicago Booth DC Alumni Club, will be the evening of February 3, 2011, in Washington, DC.   After a reception and sit down dinner, three distinguished panelists will provide their views on the world political and financial situation. 

Where

The Reagan Building
Rotunda Room
1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, District of Columbia

Driving Directions:It is located at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 14th Street. Parking under the building for $10. Federal Triangle metro stop on both the Green and Blue lines just outside the Reagan Building.

Event Details

After their remarks, there will be time for questions and discussion from the audience.  The panelists are of world renown and include Dr. Robert Aliber, Dr. Marvin Zonis, and Bernard Aronson, AB'68, with Karen Gibbs, '78 serving as the moderator.

Cost

$98 until January 23.  No refunds will be offered for canceled reservations. The event will take place regardless of weather.

For reserved tables (of 10) at $1000 - email or call Les Johnson at Les@lesjohnsona.com or 202.486.4915.

 

 

Registration

Register Online
Register By Phone: 202.486.4915
Tables are available for your company or group to purchase and reserve. Contact Les Johnson at les@lesjohnsona.com or 202-486-4915.

Sponsorships are available for the speakers and other costs providing good exposure for your company

(Email or call Les Johnson at  Les@lesjohnsona.com  202-486-4915). 

Sponsors as of January 5 are:

 

Crowell & Moring LLP - is an international law firm with nearly 500 lawyers representing clients in litigation and arbitration, regulatory, and transactional matters. The firm is internationally recognized for its representation of Fortune 500 companies in high-stakes litigation, as well as its ongoing commitment to pro bono service and diversity. The firm has offices in Washington, DC, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County, Anchorage, London, and Brussels. Visit Crowell & Moring online at www.crowell.com

 

Les Johnson & Associates – is a Washington, DC based firm that serves as a bridge for Chinese companies and individuals that wish to do business or obtain services in the US.  It also advises US organizations on doing business in China. (les@lesjohnsona.com)

Highline Wealth Management, based in Bethesda, is an SEC-registered Investment Advisor that manages over $1 billion for both families and institutions. www.HighlineWealth.com 

 

Companies that have purchased tables are:  

Equity Corps 

Crowell & Moring, LLC

Chevy Chase Trust

Les Johnson & Associates 

Deadline: 2/1/2011

Program

6:00 PM-6:45 PM: Registration and Reception

6:45 PM-9:15 PM: Opening Remarks, Dinner, and Panel

Speaker Profiles

Robert Z. Aliber (Panelist)
Professor Emeritus of International Economics and Finance, Chicago Booth

Bob Aliber received the Ph.D degree from Yale University in 1962 and Bachelors Degrees from Williams College and Cambridge University. He joined the faculty of the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago in 1965 and retired in 2004 as Professor of International Economics and Finance.  Prior to joining the Chicago faculty, Aliber was Senior Economic Advisor, Agency for International Development, Department of State.

 

Bob was the National Westminster Professor of International Finance at the London Business School in 1978, the Bundesbank Professor at the Free University of Berlin in 1997, and a visiting Professor at the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in the early 1980s and again in 2004; he was also a visiting professor at Brandeis University and at Williams College. Bob was the Houblon-Norman fellow at the Bank of England in 1996. He was the JPMorgan Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin in 2003 and a visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington in 2004.  Aliber has been a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and a consultant to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and a various think tanks in Washington and London.

 

Aliber has written extensively about international financial issues, including changes in cross-border capital flows and changes in currency values; and the efficiency of the currency market. Hi publications include The New International Money Game; the seventh edition is scheduled for publication in 2010.   The Multinational Paradigm. was published in 1991, He brought out fifth edition of Manias, Panics, and Crashes in 2005; the previous editions were authored by Charles P. Kindleberger—the sixth edition will be out at the end of 2010  In the early 1980s he wrote a book on personal finance, Your Money and Your Life; a much more comprehensive book on personal finance with the same title is scheduled for publication by Stanford University Press in November  2010. He is the co-editor of a collection of papers and reports that were published prior to the Iceland’s financial crisis—this book will be published in Decemmber 2010. 

 

Bob founded Dorchester Capital Management in 1991, which provides asset management and financial planning services.   


Marvin Zonis (Panelist)
Professor Emeritus of Business Administration, Chicago Booth

At Chicago Booth, Zonis continues to teach course on International Political Economy and Leadership.  He was the first professor at the Business School to teach a course on the effects of digital technologies on global business. He also consults to corporations and professional asset management firms throughout the world, helping them to identify, assess, and manage their political risks in the changing global environment. He is a member of the Board of Advisers for the Comptroller General of the United States at the GAO, the Board of Directors of CNA Financial, a Fellow of PWC-Diamond Advisory Services, and also a member of the Board of Directors of the Fondation Etats Unis, Paris and the Board of Advisers of the Centre for Business Management, Queen Mary University of London.

 

Zonis has written extensively on globalization, digital technologies, emerging markets, Middle Eastern politics, the oil industry, Russia, and U.S. foreign policy. He is a leading authority on the Middle East, and has spent the last 50 years studying Islam, and the Middle East. He is the former director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago. He has lived in Iran, hitchhiked in Afghanistan in and Pakistan 1963, studied Islam in Iraq beginning in 1964, and has traveled extensively throughout other parts of the region, as well.

 

His writings have been published in numerous journals. His books include The Kimchi Matters: Global Business and Local Politics in a Crisis Driven World, The Eastern European Opportunity, Majestic Failure: The Fall of the Shah, Khomeini and the Islamic Republic of Iran, and The Political Elite of Iran.

 

He was educated at Yale University, the Harvard Business School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received a Ph.D. in Political Science, and the Institute for Psychoanalysis, Chicago, where he received psychoanalytic training.

Bernard Aronson, AB'68 (Panelist)
Founder and Managing Partner, ACON Investments

Bernard Aronson, is a founding partner of ACON Investments, a private equity firm based in Washington, DC which invests in the United States, Latin America and Europe.   Prior to founding ACON Investments, Mr. Aronson was International Advisor to Goldman Sachs  & Co. for Latin America. From 1989 through 1993, Mr.  Aronson served as Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs. At the close of his State Department service he was awarded the Department’s highest honor, The Distinguished Service Award, for his contributions to ending the wars in Central America and restoring democracy and economic growth to Latin America.  Mr. Aronson holds a B.A. with Honors from the University of Chicago.

Karen Gibbs (Moderator) '78
President and Founder, The Gibbs Perspective

Veteran Business Television Anchor and Correspondent, Karen Gibbs is President and Founder of The Gibbs Perspective, a company concerned with and dedicated to financial literacy and investor education (www.thegibbsperspective.com).  A noted speaker and moderator, Gibbs is now a host for The MoneyShow.com Video Network (www.moneyshow.com).  Most recently Gibbs was a contributor to Retirement Living Television’s The Prudent Advisor and Daily Cafe.  Before that, Gibbs was co-anchor of the weekly PBS business program, Wall $treet Week with FORTUNE from 2002 to 2005.

 

Prior to joining Wall $treet Week with FORTUNE, Gibbs spent five years as a senior business correspondent for FOX News Channel, contributing to and serving as substitute anchor on Your World with Neil Cavuto and Cavuto on Business where she was also a regular panelist.  From 1992 to 1997, she was an anchor at CNBC, where she specialized in the credit and futures markets, and hosted such programs as Money Wheel and Minding Your Business.

Prior to joining CNBC, Gibbs spent nearly ten years at Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc., where she was a Vice President and Senior Futures Strategist.  She began her career at the Chicago Board of Trade as a board marker and left as a member of the Office of Investigations and Audits.  She received an MBA in finance and marketing from the University of Chicago.  Gibbs currently resides in Maryland.

Questions

Les Johnson, '98 
Conference Coordinator
202.486.4915

Other Information

Sponsorships for both speakers are available. Your company will be given good visibility and will be able to sit with one of the speakers during the dinner. Contact Les Johnson at les@lesjohnsona.com or 202-486-4915.