February 2014 Conference - Georgia State Economic Forecasting Center

2014: Expectations and Aspirations

Date: Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Time: 8:00 a.m. - 11:50 a.m.
Location: Speakers Auditorium, Student University Center, GSU

Speakers

Rajeev Dhawan,
- Professor & Director, Economic Forecasting Center
- J. Mack Robinson College of Business
Kenneth D. Simonson,
- Chief Economist, The Associated General Contractors of America
Joshua Goldfarb,
- Founder and Managing Partner, Multi Housing Advisors
John Hunt,
- Senior Analyst, Smart Numbers

Conference Program

8:00 a.m.	Registration & Coffee
8:30 a.m.	Words of Welcome	Irene Duhaime Senior Associate Dean J.Mack Robinson College of Business
8:35 a.m	Will ’14 Be Fortunate for Construction?	Kenneth D. Simonson Chief Economist The Associated General Contractors of America
9:00 a.m	The Investment Makeup of Atlanta’s Multifamily Market	Joshua Goldfarb Founder and Managing Partner Multi Housing Advisors
9:25 a.m	Is Atlanta’s Housing Market Heading Back to “Normal”?	John Hunt Senior Analyst Smart Numbers
9:50 a.m.	Q & A
10:05 a.m.	Refreshments Break
10:30 a.m.	Forecast of the Nation, State and Region	Rajeev Dhawan Director Economic Forecasting Center J. Mack Robinson College of Business
11:40 a.m.	Q & A and Conclusion
11:50 a.m.	Light Lunch & Networking

Industry Speakers

Kenneth D. Simonson Chief Economist The Associated General Contractors of America		Kenneth D. Simonson has been Chief Economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, the leading national construction trade association, since 2001. He provides insight into the economy and what it implies for construction and related industries through frequent media interviews, presentations and The Data DIGest, his weekly one-page e-newsletter that goes to 47,000 subscribers.Ken has 40 years of experience analyzing, advocating and communicating about economic and tax issues. Before joining AGC, he was senior economic advisor in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy. Earlier, he was vice president and chief economist for the American Trucking Associations. He also worked with the President’s Commission on Industrial Competitiveness, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board and an economic consulting firm. Ken was the 2012-13 president of the National Association for Business Economics, a 2400-member professional organization for people who use economics in their jobs. He was president of the National Economists Club, now the largest NABE chapter, in 2000. He is co-director of the Tax Economists Forum, a professional meeting group he co-founded in 1982; a former board member of the National Tax Association and Community Tax Aid; and a current board member of the Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington. Ken has a BA in economics from the University of Chicago, an MA from Northwestern University, and he has taken advanced graduate courses at the Université de Paris, Johns Hopkins and Georgetown Universities.
Joshua Goldfarb Founder and Managing Partner Multi Housing Advisors		Josh Goldfarb founded Multi Housing Advisors (MHA) in 2002, along with partner Marc Robinson. Together, they have overseen and led dramatic growth for all aspects of the company since its inception as Southeast Apartment Partners. Josh is based in the Atlanta office, overseeing corporate operations and the firm’s rapid growth emanating from “the capital of the South.” Josh is known for his hands on involvement in virtually every transaction that moves through the company’s offices across the Southeast. As Managing Partner, his attention to detail and focus on delivering value to clients has become a hallmark of MHA’s success and a leadership style for others in the firm to emulate.Josh’s day-to-day responsibilities include maintaining and cultivating client relationships, direct transaction management, infrastructure and market research support for brokers as well as management of regional offices. Prior to joining MHA, Josh’s brokerage career began with Moran & Company, a Chicago based boutique apartment brokerage firm specializing in institutional grade multi-family assets throughout the United States. Prior to his brokerage career, Josh worked as an acquisitions manager for United Dominion Realty Trust (NYSE:UDRT), an apartment REIT, acquiring apartment assets in markets throughout the Southeast. Joshua holds a BS in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the University of Arizona.
John Hunt Senior Analyst Smart Numbers		John Hunt is the founder and president of ViaSearch, Inc. and a Senior Analyst with Smart Numbers, Inc. Since 1995, ViaSearch has surveyed over a quarter of a million home buyers from Seattle to Washington DC and points in between. ViaSearch is the only company in the nation providing continuous, on-going consumer research for the housing industry. This allows for both short and long range trending on new home buyer demographics/motivation, product preferences and shopping habits.Smart Numbers provides residential real estate information, analysis and forecasting for brokers, builder/developers, and mortgage and banking professionals in six Southeastern markets. The data that Smart Numbers produces accurately predicted the housing downturn as early as September 2005, when letters went out to clients stating that a “Housing Downturn is Eminent!” Smart Numbers was the only company to provide data to the Senate Banking Committee in October of 2009, helping Senator Johnny Isakson successfully extend the Home Buyer Tax Credit. Smart Numbers is regularly quoted in publications such as the Wall Street Journal and the AJC. The company has also been featured many times as an expert in housing on CNN, FOX and all 3 local Atlanta networks. John has also co-produced the largest semi-annual event for the Atlanta Housing industry (The Atlanta Housing Summit) since 2006, with more than 500 leaders in Atlanta and national real estate in attendance. After graduating from Samford University with a BA in Finance/Economics, John worked as a marketing executive in the Atlanta housing industry until starting ViaSearch in 1995. He has been with Smart Numbers since 2001.

Kenneth D. Simonson
Chief Economist
The Associated General Contractors of America

Kenneth D. Simonson has been Chief Economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, the leading national construction trade association, since 2001. He provides insight into the economy and what it implies for construction and related industries through frequent media interviews, presentations and The Data DIGest, his weekly one-page e-newsletter that goes to 47,000 subscribers.Ken has 40 years of experience analyzing, advocating and communicating about economic and tax issues. Before joining AGC, he was senior economic advisor in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy. Earlier, he was vice president and chief economist for the American Trucking Associations. He also worked with the President’s Commission on Industrial Competitiveness, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board and an economic consulting firm.

Ken was the 2012-13 president of the National Association for Business Economics, a 2400-member professional organization for people who use economics in their jobs. He was president of the National Economists Club, now the largest NABE chapter, in 2000. He is co-director of the Tax Economists Forum, a professional meeting group he co-founded in 1982; a former board member of the National Tax Association and Community Tax Aid; and a current board member of the Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington.

Ken has a BA in economics from the University of Chicago, an MA from Northwestern University, and he has taken advanced graduate courses at the Université de Paris, Johns Hopkins and Georgetown Universities.

Joshua Goldfarb
Founder and Managing Partner
Multi Housing Advisors

Josh Goldfarb founded Multi Housing Advisors (MHA) in 2002, along with partner Marc Robinson. Together, they have overseen and led dramatic growth for all aspects of the company since its inception as Southeast Apartment Partners. Josh is based in the Atlanta office, overseeing corporate operations and the firm’s rapid growth emanating from “the capital of the South.” Josh is known for his hands on involvement in virtually every
transaction that moves through the company’s offices across the Southeast. As Managing Partner, his attention to detail and focus on delivering value to clients has become a hallmark of MHA’s success and a leadership style for others in the firm to emulate.Josh’s day-to-day responsibilities include maintaining and cultivating client relationships, direct transaction management, infrastructure and market research support for brokers as well as management of regional offices. Prior to joining MHA, Josh’s brokerage career began with Moran & Company, a Chicago based boutique apartment brokerage firm specializing in institutional grade multi-family assets throughout the
United States. Prior to his brokerage career, Josh worked as an acquisitions manager for United Dominion Realty Trust (NYSE:UDRT), an apartment REIT, acquiring apartment assets in markets throughout the Southeast. Joshua holds a BS in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the University of Arizona.

John Hunt
Senior Analyst
Smart Numbers

John Hunt is the founder and president of ViaSearch, Inc. and a Senior Analyst with Smart Numbers, Inc. Since 1995, ViaSearch has surveyed over a quarter of a million home buyers from Seattle to Washington DC and points in between. ViaSearch is the only company in the nation providing continuous, on-going consumer research for the housing industry. This allows for both short and long range trending on new home buyer demographics/motivation, product preferences and shopping habits.Smart Numbers provides residential real estate information, analysis and forecasting for brokers, builder/developers, and mortgage and banking professionals in six Southeastern markets. The data that Smart Numbers produces accurately predicted the housing downturn as early as September 2005, when letters went out to clients stating that a “Housing Downturn is Eminent!”
Smart Numbers was the only company to provide data to the Senate Banking Committee in October of 2009, helping Senator Johnny Isakson successfully extend the Home Buyer Tax Credit. Smart Numbers is regularly quoted in publications such as the Wall Street Journal and the AJC. The company has also been featured many times as an expert in housing on CNN, FOX and all 3 local Atlanta networks.
John has also co-produced the largest semi-annual event for the Atlanta Housing industry (The Atlanta Housing Summit) since 2006, with more than 500 leaders in Atlanta and national real estate in attendance.
After graduating from Samford University with a BA in Finance/Economics, John worked as a marketing executive in the Atlanta housing industry until starting ViaSearch in 1995. He has been with Smart Numbers since 2001.

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2014: Expectations and Aspirations

Speakers

Conference Program

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