Coachella Valley Economic Forecast Conference

Robert J. Lowe is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lowe Enterprises, Inc., a real estate company active in property investment, management and development, and its affiliated companies. He is a Trustee and past-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles Metropolitan YMCA; a Director and Chairman Emeritus of the Board of the Real Estate Roundtable; Trustee of Claremont McKenna College and past Chairman of the Board; Chairman and Co-Founder of the Lowe Institute of Political Economy of Claremont McKenna College; and Director of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Lowe is past Chairman of the New Los Angeles Marketing Partnership; past member of the California Economy Strategy Panel; and past Director and member of the Executive Committee of the Economic Development Corporation of Los Angeles County.

Jerry Nickelsburg joined the UCLA Anderson Forecast in 2006 as a senior economist. At the Anderson Forecast he plays a key role in the economic modeling and forecasting of the Los Angeles, Southern California and California economies. He has conducted special studies into the future of manufacturing in Los Angeles, the distribution of income, the economic impact of the writer’s strike, the aerospace industry, the undocumented construction and manufacturing labor force, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the garment industry, focusing on the development of new data and the application of economic theory and statistical methods to sectoral issues. His current academic research is on organizational and individual learning in manufacturing, and the influence of power groups on the balance of trade. From 2000 to 2006, he was the Managing Principal of Deep Blue Economics, a consulting firm he founded. He has been the recipient of the Korda Fellowship, USC Outstanding Teacher, India Chamber of Commerce Jubilee Lecturer and is a Fulbright Scholar. He has published over 100 articles on monetary economics, economic forecasts and analysis, labor economics, and industrial organization and he is the author of two books on monetary economics and exchange rates.

Marc D. Weidenmier is the William F. Podlich Professor of Economics and the Director of the Lowe Institute of Political Economy at Claremont McKenna College. Professor Weidenmier is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and a member of the editorial Board of the Journal of Economic History. He has published papers in several leading economic journals including the American Economic Review, Economic Journal, Quarterly Journal of Economics, and the Journal of Financial Economics. Professor Weidenmier is currently constructing a consistent monthly industrial production index for the United States from 1830-2009 to more accurately measure and analyze the depth and duration of American business cycles. He has been a member of the nominating committee for the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Larry J. Kosmont is the President and CEO of Kosmont Companies, which he founded in 1986. He is the founder of the national publication, the Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey®. He has guided over one thousand projects for public agencies and private sector clients in obtaining approvals, structuring deal terms and securing public and private financing. He has assisted hundreds of local government agencies in project and policy decisions ranging from large-scale economic development to site-specific real estate strategies. Mr. Kosmont has served as City Manager, Director of Community Development, and Redevelopment Director in the cities of Santa Monica, Seal Beach, Bell Gardens and Burbank. He served as President of the City Managers Association in Southeast Los Angeles County, Commissioner of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, and on the Metropolitan Water District Board for four years (appointee of Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan). Mr. Kosmont was named Service Professional of the Year in the Los Angeles Business Journal's "Who's Who of Commercial Real Estate."

Seth Merewitz is a partner at Best Best & Krieger LLP and leads the Public-Private Partnership/Joint Venture Group. Seth provides advisory and transactional services to land developers, government agencies and private investors. His practice focuses on real estate development including zoning; land use and master-planned communities; municipal and redevelopment law; military reuse; and public-private partnerships. Seth is an active speaker and author on matters related to local economic development post-redevelopment. Mr. Merewitz is also involved with the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Los Angeles District Council and is an appointed member of the national ULI Residential Neighborhood Development Product Council.

Richard R. Oliphant is an acknowledged leader in the building industry. Dick is a firm believer in returning to the community what one has received from it. His record providing community service is extensive. He served two years as Planning Commissioner, six years as a City Councilman, two years as Vice Mayor, and eight years as Mayor for the city of Indian Wells. He has also helped found the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership, the Palm Springs Desert Resorts Conventions and Visitors Bureau, and the Lincoln Club of the Coachella Valley. He also served as president of the Indian Wells Rotary Club and the Coachella Valley Boy Scouts of America. He has been inducted into the Building Industry Association Hall of Fame, named a fellow at the University of California at Riverside and presented an honorary doctorate by California State University.

Andrew E. Busch is the Crown Professor of Government, George R. Roberts Fellow, and Director of the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College, where he specializes in American government and politics. Professor Busch also serves as Chairman of the government department of Claremont McKenna College. A very prolific writer, Dr. Busch is coauthor of Epic Journey: The 2008 Elections and American Politics with James W. Ceaser and John J. Pitney, Jr. published in 2011. Among his other works is Reagan’s Victory: The Presidential Election of 1980 and the Rise of the Right (American Presidential Elections), published in 2005.

John J. Pitney Jr. is the Roy P. Crocker Professor of American Politics at Claremont McKenna College. He received his B.A. from Union College and his Ph.D. from Yale. He has been a New York State Senate Legislative Fellow, a Congressional Fellow, and deputy director of research at the Republican National Committee. He has written articles for National Review Online, The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times, among others. He is coauthor of Epic Journey: The 2008 Elections and American Politics with James W. Ceaser and Andrew E. Busch, published in 2011.

Manfred W. Keil is an Associate Professor and the former Chairman of the Faculty at the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance at Claremont McKenna College. Professor Keil is a Fellow at the Rose Institute of State and Local Government and a Research Associate at the Lowe Institute of Political Economy at CMC. He has a history of working on various aspects of business cycles and comparative economic performance (Journal of Macroeconomics, Oxford Economic Papers, Southern Economic Journal, and Canadian Public Policy). More recently, Keil has written papers on the employment effects of minimum wages and the recession of 2009. Both papers were listed among SSRN’s top 10 downloads in their respective categories.