Speakers

Speaker:

Dr. William Dunkelberg, champion of small business and entrepreneurship. Dr. Dunkelberg is a Professor of Economics at the School of Business and Management at Temple University, where he has served as both Dean and Director for the Center for the Advancement and Study of Entrepreneurship. He is also Chief Economist for the NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business).

Dr. Dunkelberg’s topic will be: “Why in the current expansion and in the face of rising interest rates has credit to small businesses been readily available compared to past business cycles, and the resulting effects of this “easy” credit on the global markets.”

Dr. Dunkelberg has been an advisor to many Cabinet officers, has testified numerous times before Congress on topics as varied as consumer credit, inflation, tax reform, the minimum wage, small business, health care, and monetary and fiscal policy. He is the past President and a Fellow of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE).

He holds a B.A, M.A., and PhD. in economics from the University of Michigan.

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Speaker:

Jeff Kleintop, PNC Advisor’s Chief Investment Strategist. His topic is “Market Evolution.” By this phrase he is referring to the fact that until 2000 for the eighteen years prior the markets delivered far above average returns. Consequently investors can probably expect below market returns, as we have had for the past six years, for years to come (reversion to the mean). He will give his outlook for the markets for the next few years and will discuss how an investor can adapt and thrive in these sub par market

Mr. Kleintop’s primary responsibility is to define asset allocation and portfolio strategy. He serves as Vice-Chairman of the Investment Policy Committee and is a co-manager of the Advantage Portfolio, PNC Advisor’s model portfolio of large cap U.S. stocks. He oversees some $50b in investments. He is also responsible for commenting on significant trends and areas of opportunity and risk in the capital markets vital to investment decision making.

Mr. Kleintop joined PNC Advisors in January of 2000, after serving as the Senior Investment Strategist for ARIS Corporation. He is a CFA. He earned an MBA from Penn State and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Delaware.

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Speaker:

Thornton Parker, author of:

Among other issues brought up in his book, Mr. Parker explores what will happen to equity values in the stock market as the Baby Boom Generation retires and liquidates their stock holdings for retirement income.

When this large number of equity buyers during the 1980s and 1990s all of a sudden becomes a large number of equity sellers beginning about 2015, the risk is that the selling drives share prices lower and the proceeds these sellers receive is well below their expectations and planned retirement needs.

Mr. Parker has experience in both the public and private sectors in strategic planning, finance, technology management and policy development. He has worked with the Air Force, General Electric, RCA, the Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Office of the President, and the Commerce Department.

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Speaker:

Our guest speaker will be Dr. Richard Peach, Vice President of Macroeconomic and Monetary Studies Function of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. One of his areas of concentration is housing and real estate financing. His topic will be:

It seems as if the majority of pundits currently are fretting over the recent housing boom and the Fed’s non-stop increasing of interest rates. Some of the properties were purchased as pure speculation, while many were bought with adjustable-rate mortgages which will adjust to much higher rates soon. Many real estate experts are predicting massive defaults in the hottest markets with dire consequences on home builders, banks, and savings and loans among others which could produce quite a jolt to economic growth.

Dr. Peach takes a contrary view. Prior to joining the New York Fed he was staff Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association and before that he worked for the National Associations of Realtors. He is a true expert on housing.

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Speaker:

Jason Trennett, Chief Investment Strategist and Senior Managing Director at the economic research firm International Strategy and Investment Group (ISI). Jason heads ISI’s Investment Strategy team, ranked among the top three Best Boutiques for Portfolio strategy by Institutional Investor. He works alongside Ed Hyman, perennial #1 II economist and co-founder of ISI. The firm is known for digging deeply into industrial sector and company numbers to discern economic trends. Their work is highly statistical and very thorough, and they have developed many of their own prescient indices.

Jason will be discussing the U.S. investment outlook for 2006. His main themes are: 1) The potential for multiple expansion; 2) The coming M&A Boom; and 3) The impact of hedge funds on the equity business.

Jason is seen and quoted regularly in major financial media, from the Wall Street Journal and Fortune to CNBC’s Squawk Box. He has written an investment book, New Markets, New Strategies, published last year by McGraw Hil

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Speaker:

Dr. Howard Schilit, author of the best-selling book Financial Shenanigans: How to Detect Accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in Financial Reports.

A former Accounting professor at American University, Dr. Schilit founded the Center for Financial Research and Analysis (CFRA), based in Rockville, MD, in 1994. Ever since then, he has been sounding the alarm about companies that use accounting tricks to inflate their stock prices. Even though many large accounting scandals like those at Enron and MCI have dominated the news, there always exists the intense pressure on CEOs of publicly traded companies to consistently deliver good earnings.

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Speaker:

William Dudley. Bill has been senior U.S. economist for Goldman Sachs since 1996. He joined Goldman in 1986, first spending eight years analyzing U.S. financial markets and working as senior economic advisor to then Goldman Chairman Robert Rubin, who later became Treasury Secretary under President Clinton. After that stint he produced Goldman’s foreign exchange outlook for two years before being named chief domestic economist.

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Speaker:

Kim Wallace, Managing Director and Chief Political Analyst for Lehman Brothers. Mr. Wallace will discuss the current Washington legislative scene and its potential impact on the financial markets. here is no shortage of topics challenging the President and the Congress: tax reform, Social Security, newfound budget discipline, a Supreme Court nomination, post-hurricane rebuilding, oil shocks, trade issues, and the continuing war in Iraq, to name just a few. What do they portend for the financial markets, and how will they impact the 2006 mid-term Congressional elections? Mr. Wallace will share his insights with us. Mr. Wallace directs Lehman’s Equity Research/U.S. Political Analysis Group, responsible for analyzing policy risk for institutional investors. He focuses on macroeconomics, tort reform, and trade policy.

Full Bio Available . . . [ READ MORE ]

Speaker:

Dr. Harvey Rosenblum, Executive Vice President and Director of Research for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Dr. Rosenblum will be discussing “The Outlook for Inflation and the Financial Environment: Back to the ‘50’s?” If you recall, the 1950s was a decade of low inflation and interest rates and healthy stock market returns. Dr. Rosenblum has recently updated his outlook to incorporate the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the U.S. economy.

Mr. Rosenblum serves as economic policy advisor to the Dallas Bank’s president and as an associate for the Federal Open Market Committee, which formulates the Fed’s and the nation’s monetary policy. His current research interests focus on monetary policy, inflation and the growing impact of globalization on the U.S. economy & businesses

Speaker:

Richard Cripps is a Managing Director of Equity Strategy and Marketing for the Research Department of Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets. As Chief Market Strategist for Stifel Nicolaus, Mr. Cripps is a member of the Investment Committee.
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