May 2010 Conference

The Housing Market Reset: The Good, The Bad and The Outcome »

How are the companies taking advantage of the reset, what sectors have taken the worst hit, where are the opportunities, and why did we experience specific downturns & when will we get back to equilibrium.

Financial Market Update and the Business of Investment Management »

• Where do equities go from here, and how risky is the path we're on?
• How much should investors care about the dollar and its likely return?
• Inflation or deflation: what should we expect?
• What will the business of investing look like tomorrow?

Role of Commercial Real Estate in Atlanta's Economic Recovery »

Commercial real estate is one of the drivers of growth within the metro Atlanta area. The deep and long-lasting recession negatively impacted the commercial real estate market in 2009 as weakened demand and continued development activity yielded increased vacancy rates and expanding downward pressure on rental rates for real estate in Atlanta. Even as the nation enters the early stages of a tenuous economic recovery period, it's clear that Atlanta's commercial real estate sector will play an important role in the depth and breadth of recovery witnessed in Atlanta. Mr. Shaner will examine current and historical trends in the market while touching on the expanding concerns faced by landlords and owners on the debt-side of the market.

Steve Palm is the President and CEO of Smartnumbers, a residential housing research and consulting firm specializing in tracking and analyzing statistical data on home, lot and land sales in the Southeast. Smartnumbers data and studies are utilized to evaluate and optimize the feasibility and marketability of proposed or current real estate development projects. Major past projects include the Mall of Georgia Growth Analysis and Atlantic Station Marketing Analysis. Smartnumbers clientele include major builders, developers, financial institutions, utilities and governmental agencies.

Steve is regularly sought out for his views on real estate topics and trends by many publications including the Wall Street Journal, Atlanta Journal and Constitution and Atlanta Business Chronicle and has appeared on CNN and Atlanta affiliates of CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX television.

Steve is the keynote speaker at Smartnumber's very popular "Housing Market Summit" presented twice a year for Atlanta's real estate, developer and banking professionals. Steve earned a BS in Management from Northern Illinois University and an MBA in Marketing from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Max Darnell has served as First Quadrant's chief investment officer since 2002.   Mr. Darnell is responsible for overseeing the firm's investment products, particularly with respect to strategic research and development initiatives. He is a member of the firm's Partner Board and Executive Office. Mr. Darnell began his career with First Quadrant in 1991, and managed the firm's derivatives research through the latter half of the 1990s. In 2000 he was named director of research, overseeing both equities and derivatives products. Mr. Darnell earned a master's degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1991.

First Quadrant is an investment manager that specializes in managing portfolios for large corporate and public institutional investors, and manages over $17 billion in actively and passively managed assets and overlays invested using its own proprietary investment strategies. These strategies are quantitative, relying upon objective analysis of market conditions and asset value rather than subjective inferences about future trends to form the basis for its investment decisions.

Chris Shaner is a senior associate in Cushman & Wakefield's Atlanta office where he serves as director of the local research department. Mr. Shaner brings ten years of real estate experience to the office with extensive experience in the analysis and research of Atlanta's commercial real estate markets.

With an extensive background in market research and analysis and current work on Cushman & Wakefield's award-winning MarketBeat series, Mr. Shaner is well-equipped to provide expert analysis of the commercial real estate market. Mr. Shaner joined Cushman & Wakefield in 2005 after working as an analyst with The Dorey Companies, a local company specializing in commercial real estate information services. While at Cushman & Wakefield, Mr. Shaner has worked extensively with all service lines within the company and provided extensive market insight to various clients. In his capacity as director of research, his primary responsibilities include the analysis of the commercial markets and production of the quarterly MarketBeat reports, site selection analysis and a variety of related client and broker support functions.

Mr. Shaner earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.