IHS World Economic Outlook Conference 2011

Rafael Amiel

Regional Manging Director, Latin America & Caribbean

Amiel is Regional Managing Director for Latin America and the Caribbean in the Country Intelligence Group. He is responsible for coordinating the analysis and forecasts of IHS economists and analysts who cover 42 countries in this region, including the Caribbean islands. He holds a PhD in economics from Florida International University (FIU), where he also served as adjunct professor of economics and was a research associate in FIU's Latin American and Caribbean Center.

Dan Balz

Chief Correspondent, The Washington Post

Mary Barcella

Director, North American Natural Gas, IHS CERA

Nariman Behravesh

Chief Economist, IHS

Dr. Nariman Behravesh is Chief Economist of IHS and author of Spin-Free Economics: A No-Nonsense, Nonpartisan Guide to Today's Global Economic Debates (McGraw-Hill). Directing the entire economic forecasting process at IHS, he is responsible for developing the economic outlook and risk analysis for the United States, Europe, Japan, China and other emerging markets. He oversees the work of over 400 professionals, located in North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa who cover economic, financial and political developments in over 200 countries.

Behravesh is a "Bloomberg Best" and ranked as one of Bloomberg's Top-10 economists for 2009 and 2010. MarketWatch designated IHS Global Insight "Forecaster of the Year" in 2009 and has bestowed several Forecaster of the Month accolades since. He and his team were designated #1 in USA Today's 2004 ranking of top economic forecasters, and in Reuters' 2004 survey of major currency exchange rate forecasters. In 2008, he was ranked #2 by USA Today. In The Wall Street Journal's annual ranking of US forecasters, Behravesh was ranked #3 (out of 56) for 2006 and was the only forecaster to place in the top six for 2003, 2004 and 2006. As the chief economics spokesperson at IHS, Behravesh is quoted extensively in the media on such topics as the outlook for the US and global economies, exchange rates, the budget deficit, the trade deficit, globalization, country risk and sovereign debt crises. He is cited frequently in leading business publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Financial Times, USA Today, Investor's Business Daily, Business Week, Newsweek, Fortune, Forbes and US News and World Report. He also regularly appears on national radio and television programs including BBC World Business Report, NBC Nightly News, CNN Headline News, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer (PBS), Fox News, CNBC, Bloomberg TV and Radio, and All Things Considered and Market Place on National Public Radio.

Behravesh was the host of the PBS television series "Inside the Global Economy." In addition to his recent book, he has authored numerous articles in such publications as European Affairs and Credit Week, co-authored two books-Economics U$A (now in its 8th edition) and Microcomputers, Corporate Planning and Decision Support Systems-and was a contributing author to a book on scenario analysis, entitled Learning From the Future. His op-ed pieces have also appeared in the Financial Times, Newsweek International, London Times and the Boston Globe.

Before joining IHS, Behravesh was chief economist for Global Insight (now an IHS company). Prior to that, he was chief international economist for Standard & Poor's. He also held a number of other positions, including president and CEO of Oxford Economics U.S.A. and Group Senior Vice President of WEFA. Early in his career Behravesh worked at the Congressional Budget Office and the Federal Reserve. He has been covering the global economy for over 35 years.

Behravesh holds PhD and MA degrees in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has lived in Europe and the Middle East and is fluent in several languages. He travels extensively to Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Karen Blanford

Senior Manager, Construction Sector

James Burkhard

IHS CERA Managing Director

James Burkhard, Managing Director of the IHS CERA Global Oil Group, leads the team of IHS CERA experts that analyze and assess upstream and downstream market conditions and changes in the oil and gas industry’s competitive environment. A foundation of this work is detailed short- and long-term outlooks for global crude oil and refined products markets that are integrated with outlooks for other energy sources, economic growth, geopolitics, and security. Mr. Burkhard’s expertise covers geopolitics, industry dynamics, and global oil demand and supply trends.

Mr. Burkhard also leads the IHS CERA Global Energy Scenarios, which combines energy, economic, and security expertise across the IHS Insight businesses into a comprehensive, scenarios-based framework for assessing and projecting global and regional energy market and industry dynamics. Previously he led Dawn of a New Age: Global Energy Scenarios for Strategic Decision Making—The Energy Future to 2030, which encompassed the oil, gas, and electricity sectors. He was also the director of the IHS CERA Multiclient Study Potential versus Reality: West African Oil and Gas to 2020. He is the coauthor of IHS CERA’s respected World Oil Watch, which analyzes short- to medium-term developments in the oil market. In addition to leading the IHS CERA oil research, Mr. Burkhard served on the US National Petroleum Council (NPC) committee that provided recommendations on US oil and gas policy to the US Secretary of Energy. He led the team that developed demand-oriented recommendations that were published in the 2007 NPC report Facing the Hard Truths About Energy. Mr. Burkhard has also testified several times before US Congress on oil and energy issues. Before joining IHS CERA Mr. Burkhard was a member of the United States Peace Corps in Niger, West Africa. He directed infrastructure projects to improve water availability and credit facilities.

Mr. Burkhard holds a BA from Hamline University and an MS from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Susan Collins

Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan

Steve Zinger

Director, Product Management Chemicals, IHS

Steve Zinger is Director of Product Management for IHS Chemicals with responsibility for revenue management, commercial strategy, and product development for the Chemicals assets of IHS. He has over 20 years experience in the petroleum and petrochemical industries. 

Zinger began his career as a process engineer at the refinery and petrochemical complex of Shell Oil Company in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.  He was promoted through various job assignments of increasing responsibility including technical support to operations, capital project engineering, process supervision, and management of planning & economics, and a special assignment to lead the asset acquisition of several refineries. 

Zinger joined Chemical Market Associates, Inc’s (CMAI’s) Houston, USA office in 1996 as a market study consultant for the ethylene and propylene industries in North America.  In 2006, he relocated to CMAI’s Singapore office to be the Managing Director of all of CMAI’s Asia Operations and led private studies for clients in the areas of commercial analyses, transaction support, and strategy development. In 2010, Zinger relocated back to CMAI’s Houston, USA office to manage CMAI’s global olefins consulting business.  CMAI was acquired by IHS in May 2011. 

Zinger has a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech in the U.S. and a Masters degree in Business Administration from Tulane University in the U.S.  

Nigel Gault

Chief US Economist

Gault is Chief US Economist, responsible for overseeing all aspects of the IHS macroeconomic forecasts and analyses of the US economy. His expertise in the US economy includes short- and long-term economic outlook, government economic policies, the Federal Reserve, monetary policy, and trade, labor, and consumer market issues.

Gault has more than 20 years' experience in economic analysis and forecasting. He holds an M.A. in economics from Cambridge University and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

Sara Johnson

Senior Research Director, Global Economics

Sara Johnson is Senior Research Director of Global Economics with IHS Global Insight.  In this role, she helps clients assess worldwide business and financial opportunities and risks. Ms. Johnson co-authors the Global Executive Summary, manages the Executive Strategy Council and presents the IHS economic outlook to international conferences. She was previously North American Research Director and Chief Regional Economist with Standard & Poor’s DRI, a predecessor of IHS Global Insight. 

Ms. Johnson holds a BA in economics and mathematics from Wellesley College and an MA in economics from Harvard University with concentrations in finance and macroeconomic theory.

Ms. Johnson is a director of the NABE Foundation and a former director of the National Association for Business Economics. She is a member of The Boston Economic Club and American Economic Association. 

Nicholas Lardy

Anthony M. Solomon Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics

George Magliano

Senior Principal Economist

Magliano is Senior Principal Economist, where he is responsible for overseeing the impact of the U.S. and global economies on the North American automotive industry, including sales and production forecasts, trends and analyses. He has more than 20 years' experience as an automotive analyst and holds an MBA from Fordham University.

Sebastian Mallaby

Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies and Paul A. Volcker Senior Fellow for International Economics, The Council on Foreign Relations

Simona Mocuta

Senior Manager, Asia Pacific Economics

Mocuta is Senior Manager of the Asia Pacific Group at IHS, overseeing the group's analytical content and forecasts for the entire Asia region while retaining direct responsibility for Southeast Asia. She has more than 12 years of experience in economic and risk analysis and macroeconomic forecasting. Mocuta regularly contributes to various special reports and other pan-Asia analytical pieces, and participates in consulting work and pan-IHS initiatives such as the Global Scenario Project. She has a Master's Degree in International Economics from Suffolk University and an undergraduate degree in International Economic Relations from the West University in Timisoara, Romania. She is fluent in English and Romanian and has working knowledge of French.

John Mothersole

Senior Principal Economist, IHS Global Insight

Peter Orszag

Vice Chairman, Institutional Client Group, Citigroup, Inc.

Jan Randolph

Director of Sovereign Risk

Randolph is head of the Sovereign Risk Group. He is an experienced international economist and country risk manager.

Randolph has held positions in a variety of international financial risk management firms in financial services and has over six years of international economics experience with IHS.

He holds graduate degrees from the Universities of London and Bristol.

David Wessel

Economics Editor, The Wall Street Journal