Wednesday, May 23, 2012
U.S. and Global Economy: A Marriage of Equals?
Speakers
- Rajeev Dhawan, Economic Forecasting Center, Georgia State University
- Kurt Kuehn, chief financial officer, UPS
- William Strauss, senior economist and economic advisor, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
- Brian Olasov, managing director, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP
Conference Program
8:00 a.m. | Registration & Breakfast |
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8:30 a.m. | Words of Welcome | Fenwick Huss Dean J. Mack Robinson College of Business Georgia State University |
8:35 a.m. | Global Growth Markets and Trade » Kurt Kuehn will discuss how he views the global economic outlook from his perspective as the Kuehn, CFO of UPS, one of the world’s largest logistics companies. He will discuss inventory as an economic indicator in the new era of e-commerce, with the emergence of business to consumer (B2C) and business to retail (B2R) marketplaces served through new logistics products such as UPS My Choice. Kurt also will describe Europe as a global growth market and the strategy behind UPS’s recent agreement to acquire TNTtalks about U.And he’ll talk about the future of manufacturing in North America, which is becoming a more attractive market for factories with the discovery of new energy supplies and stagnant wages relative to other parts of the worldS. All of these trends have implications for UPS, other businesses, exports, logistics, and international economic forecasters. |
Kurt Kuehn Chief Financial Officer UPS |
9:00 a.m. | The Renaissance in Manufacturing - Job Savior? » The manufacturing sector's recovery has been impressive with growth more than double historical trends and jobs being added. Mr. Strauss will review the state of the manufacturing recovery with a focus on the sectors that are leading the turnaround. He will also highlight the importance of determining the health of manufacturing based upon output rather than labor. |
William Strauss Senior Economist and Economic Advisor Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago |
9:25 a.m. | The Use (and Abuse) of Appraisals in Real Estate Finance » Appraisals have always been at the core of real estate investing and financing. After the real estate shocks of the last five years, we can now consider hard, empirical evidence as to how appraisals have performed under pressure. With the success or failure of banks driven largely by changes in real estate values, with mortgage securitization underperforming from a collapse in values, Brian Olasov analyzes the evidence from thousands of commercial real estate liquidations to determine how much reliance markets, lenders, investors and regulators should place on valuations and whether declining appraisals crimp lending activity generally. The dynamics that adversely affect national markets play an even more punishing role in Georgia real estate and banking. |
Brian Olasov Managing Director McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP |
9:50 a.m. | Q & A | |
10:05 a.m. | Refreshments Break | |
10:30 a.m. | Forecast of the Nation, State and Region For many years, the conventional wisdom was that if the US sneezes, the world catches a cold. But one may wonder how does “sneezing” around the world affect the US economy? Will an economic slowdown in Asia impact the manufacturing recovery in the U.S.? What are the implications of European malaise on American corporate and real estate outlook? | Rajeev Dhawan Director Economic Forecasting Center J. Mack Robinson College of Business Georgia State University |
11:40 a.m. | Q & A Conclusion | |
11:50 a.m. | Light Lunch & Networking |
Industry Speakers