August 2004 Conference

BIO- Ronald J. Henry has been in his current position as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Georgia State University since July 1994.

Dr. Henry is involved extensively in state and national education policy and action committees, including University System of Georgia, state and local P-16, NASULGC Chief Academic Officers, Committee on Undergraduate Science Education of the National Research Council, NCATE Appeals Board, and SREB National Leadership Council.

Professor Henry is the principal investigator for the Quality in Undergraduate Education project funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the ExxonMobil Foundation.  He is also the principal investigator on a Standards-based Teacher Education Project funded by CBE, AACTE and by a Title II grant for the University System of Georgia.

Henry holds a Ph.D. degree in applied mathematics from Queens University of Belfast, North Ireland.

BIO- An economist by training, Prakash Loungani is Assistant to the IMF's External Relations Director. He also serves as an editor for the IMF's publications Finance & Development andIMF Survey. His work experience includes stints at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington D.C, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and the University of Florida.

His research interests include: assessment of macroeconomic forecasting performance; understanding trade linkages among nations and regions; modeling the impact of oil prices on the macroeconomy. This research has been published in both academic journals (including Journal of Monetary Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics and International Journal of Forecasting) and in various policy outlets and newspapers (such as Financial Times).

Loungani received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Bombay (India) and a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Rochester.

BIO- Duncan Meldrum is the Chief Economist for Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., a $5.5 billion industrial gas and chemicals company serving customers in over 30 countries. As Chief Economist, he serves as the company's economics spokesperson and assesses the impact of the economic environment on the company's performance.

Meldrum joined the company in 1979 as an analyst in the management sciences department, and assumed his present position in 1992. Prior to joining Air Products, Meldrum served on active duty in the U.S. Navy as an aviator and operations research specialist.

He received a B.S. degree from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1973, a M.S. degree in Operations Research from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1974, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Lehigh University in 1992.

Meldrum was elected President of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) for the year beginning September 2003.

BIO- Michael Charles Bates was appointed Her Majesty's Consul General in Atlanta in June 2001. Mr. Bates was previously the British Deputy High Commissioner in Mumbai, India, since 1996.

Apart from a spell as Assistant Press Secretary to Prime Minister Thatcher (1987-89), Mr. Bates has spent his whole career in the British Diplomatic Service. He entered the Foreign Service in 1966. Since then he has served in New Delhi (1971-74), Moscow (1974-77), Singapore (1979-83), Brussels (1983-87), Riga (1991-93) and Bratislava, where he was Charge d'Affaires and later Ambassador (1993 –95). Mr. Bates was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) for his services to the Diplomatic Service in 1994.

BIO- Donald "Don" Dalton is president of the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, which represents the U.S. poultry and egg industry with a focus on research, education, communication, and product promotion.  He is responsible for the administration of all association programs and activities.Previously, Dalton served as general manager of Darragh Foods Egg & Poultry Division in central Arkansas and was employed for 15 years by Valmac Industries, now a part of Tyson Foods. He also served as an independent consultant to poultry and related food companies.

Dalton has had an extensive military career serving on active duty and with the reserve. He retired in 1999 with the rank of Brigadier General.

Dalton earned a B.S. degree in marketing from the University of Arkansas. He is also a graduate of Harvard PMD.