RESEARCH and EDUCATION
Sage Conference: Perspectives on the Future (Austin, Texas)
September 18th-20th, 2011
- Peter Zeihan, Stratfor
"The View From the Gallery: 2011"- Peter Zeihan is the Director of Global Analysis and leads the development of Stratfor's political and economic forecasts. Mr. Zeihan has been instrumental in Stratfor's coverage of a broad range of geographic and topical areas, at times directly overseeing the firm's efforts for Central Europe, the former Soviet Union and energy issues. Prior to joining Stratfor, Mr. Zeihan worked with the U.S. Embassy in Canberra, Australia, and was formerly Susan Eisenhower's office coordinator while with the Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Washington, D.C. Zeihan holds a Masters in Political & Economic Development from the Patterson School of Diplomacy at the University of Otago.
- Peter Zeihan
- Stratfor
- www.stratfor.com
- Maria Fiorini Ramirez, MFR, Inc.
- "The Cost of Regulation"
- Maria Fiorini Ramirez is President and CEO of Maria Fiorini Ramirez Inc. (MFR) an independent global economic and financial consulting firm formed in August 1992. Her firm is highly regarded for its consistently accurate, unbiased analysis of economic trends and other issues that affect markets and investment decisions. Maria is a frequent speaker at U. S. and international forums and is a regular guest on various media outlets. Before starting her own firm, Maria’s career in the financial industry include positions at American Express International Banking Corp., Merrill Lynch and Drexel Burnham. MFR Securities Inc., is the Broker–Dealer subsidiary, operating as its institutional brokerage firm specializing in taxable and municipal securities with offices in New York, Miami and San Francisco. Maria has utilized her economic and financial expertise to great advantage as a Director of a diverse group of private and public corporations as well as not-for profit organizations.
- Maria Fiorini Ramirez
- MFR, Inc.
- www.mfr.com
- Sean J. Egan, Egan-Jones Rating Company
- "Is the Rating Industry Broken?"
- Sean is a founding partner and Chief Credit Officer of the Egan-Jones Ratings Company. Mr. Egan earned a MBS from Harvard University and was an investment banker before founding Egan-Jones in 1995. Sean lives in Haverford PA.
- Egan-Jones Ratings Company is an NRSRO and identifies investment opportunities for equity and fixed income institutional clients before the majority of market participants through its forward looking, proven accurate, rules based performance driven credit ratings. Unlike most NRSRO ratings firm, Egan-Jones is not paid by issuers and has no conflicts of interest.
- Egan-Jones is known for providing early warning on Countrywide, E-trade, New Century, California utilities, Collins & Aikman, Delphi, Enron, Genuity, Global Crossing, WorldCom and many other failures well in advance of the majority of market participants. Egan-Jones regularly identifies strategic long / short opportunities across asset classes before the majority of market participants. Egan – Jones credit ratings have application for equity investors because: "Changes in Credit – Precede – Changes in Common".
- Sean J. Egan
- Egan-Jones Rating Company
- www.egan-jones.com
- Kinky Friedman, Keynote Speaker
- Like so many cool people in the boom generation, Kinky Friedman first saw the world through the Peace Corps in the sixties. Kinky did his PC time in Borneo as an agriculture extension worker and it was in Borneo that Kinky began to write the tunes that would propel the rest of his life.
- Kinky had formed his first band, King Arthur & the Carrots while a student at the University of Texas, prior to his Peace Corps stint, but when he returned to the states, he really got serious with his second band, Kinky Friedman and The Texas Jewboys, the unit for which he is most famous, musically.
- During the seventies, Kinky set several high water marks in his early performance career. In 1975, Friedman and the band taped an Austin City Limits show which was never aired. Kinky was a musical guest on Saturday Night Live in October 1976, the first year of SNL, and he claims to have been the first full-blooded Jew to take the stage at the Grand Ole Opry. Apparently, this is true.
- Starting in the early eighties, Friedman shifted his creative focus to writing detective novels, after a bizarre incident at an ATM machine. Kinky spotted a woman being robbed and dashed to her rescue. The episode unleashed Kinky Friedman the private detective and sparked a series of detective novels that have become world-famous.
- In 1986, Kinky took a break from writing and touring to try something new - politics. He ran for justice of the peace in his home town of Kerrville, Texas. Though he lost the race, he did discover a passion for politics. It would be another eighteen years, but he would revisit that arena.
- In 2004, the Kinkster returned to the political field, this time daring the state of Texas to think big and elect him governor in 2006. Running on a shoestring budget, with help from folks like Jess Ventura and his Minnesota team of political handlers, Kinky garnered over a half million votes - not good enough to win it, but good enough to influence Texas politics long into the future. Kinky was the first candidate in the history of the state to make it onto the November ballot as an Independent candidate - astounding, considering his campaign motto: "Why the hell not?"
- Though a second statewide campaign, this time for Texas Land Commissioner, would falter in 2010, Kinky has become a darling of the cable news set.
- As 2011 heats up and Kinky continues to "spit out books like sunflower seeds", Freidman will continue where he left off in 2010 - on tour, taking no prisoners. Meanwhile, the Kinkster, who has not officially ruled out another shot in the political arena, insists he be addressed by his proper and rightful title: 'Governor of the Heart of Texas.' The boot fits. And he’s wearing it.
- Kinky Friedman
- www.kinkyfriedman.com
- Paul Taylor, Pew Research Center
- "America is Changing"
- Paul Taylor is the Executive Vice President of the Pew Research Center, a non-partisan "fact tank" based in Washington, DC, that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. He also serves as director of two of the seven projects of the center - the Social and Demographic Trends project and the Pew Hispanic Center.
- Before joining the Pew Research Center, he had careers as a newspaper reporter and a public interest advocate. From 1996 through 2003, he served as president and board chairman of the Alliance for Better Campaigns, a public interest group he founded that seeks to improve elections by promoting campaigns in which the most useful information reaches the greatest number of citizens in the most engaging ways. The Alliance's honorary co-chairs were Walter Cronkite and former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.
- Prior to launching the Alliance, he was a newspaper reporter for 25 years, the last 14 at The Washington Post, where he covered national politics and served as a foreign correspondent. From 1992-1995, he was as the Post’s bureau chief in South Africa and reported on the historic transformation from apartheid to democracy. He also covered four U.S. presidential campaigns.
- He is the author of See How They Run (Knopf, 1990), a book about the 1988 presidential campaign, and co-author of The Old News Versus the New News (Twentieth Century Fund, 1992) about political journalism. He twice served as the visiting Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University, in 1989 and 1995. He has lectured at numerous colleges. Before joining the Post, he was a reporter and columnist at The Philadelphia Inquirer (1973-81) and the Twin City Sentinel in Winston-Salem, N.C. (1970-73) He graduated in 1970 with a BA in American Studies from Yale University, where he served as executive editor of the Yale Daily News. He attended public schools in Washington, DC. Paul was born in Brooklyn, New York and lives in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife, Stefanie. They have three grown children.
- Paul Taylor
- Pew Research Center
- www.pewresearch.org
- Ralph E. Lawson, Baptist Health South Florida
- "The Hunting Of The Snark"
- Mr. Ralph Lawson is the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Baptist Health South Florida, the largest private employer in Miami-Dade County. He provides overall financial and technical leadership for Baptist Health South Florida and all of its affiliates. He is also the Chief Acquisition Officer and negotiates all merger and acquisition opportunities. During his tenure, Baptist Health has grown from a single hospital to a six-hospital system and has issued over $1.4 billion of tax-exempt and taxable debt.
- Mr. Lawson began his career as a junior accountant in the Denver office of Haskins & Sells. He was admitted to the Firm as a partner nine years later. During his seventeen year tenure with Deloitte, Mr. Lawson obtained extensive experience in banking and financial services, health care and real estate.
- Mr. Lawson is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Catholic Health Services. He serves as a member of the Florida Institute of CPAs Healthcare Committee and is a former Chairman. Mr. Lawson is also a member of the American Institute of CPAs.
- Ralph E. Lawson
- Baptist Health South Florida
- www.baptisthealth.net
- James Sweeney, Credit Suisse
- "Learning to Recover"
- James Sweeney is a director in Credit Suisse's Global Strategy team, which is part of Fixed Income Research. He joined the team in 2000 in London and is now based in New York. James tracks global growth and linkages among asset classes in order to contribute to the firm's market and economic views. His work has also focused on understanding the role of the shadow banking sector, and he developed the concept of shadow money. James travels throughout North America, Europe, and Asia and his work appears frequently in the global media.
- James earned an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and a BS magna cum laude, from Florida State University. Before joining Credit Suisse he worked as a political speechwriter. He is a John C. Whitehead Fellow of the Foreign Policy Association and a member of the Economic Club of New York.
- James Sweeney
- Credit Suisse
- www.credit-suisse.com
- Dr. John Griffin, Ph.D., McCombs Business School
- "Do Hedge Funds Create Value for Their Clients?"
- Professor Griffin is currently a professor at the University of Texas. Following a Ph.D. in Finance from Ohio State University in 1997, he has previously been an assistant professor at Arizona State University and a visiting Associate professor at the Yale School of Management. Professor Griffin’s research has focused on understanding the nature and accuracy of stock market pricing. In terms of the typical distinctions in finance, his research has two main veins international stock market pricing and investor behavior in the stock market. He has examined the importance of pricing models, industry factors, exchange rates, price bubbles, agency conflicts, and aspects of individual and institutional investor behavior in stock market pricing both domestically and internationally. Some of his recent work is on understanding international stock market efficiency and domestic and international implications from the recent financial crisis.
- Dr. John Griffin, Ph.D.
- McCombs Business School
- www.utexas.edu
- Robert Williams, Sage Advisory Services & Leland Clemons, iShares
- "All Things ETF"
- Rob is a principal of the firm and a member of the investment committee. He serves as the Director of Research. He received his B.A. in Financial Management from the University of Colorado. Rob is a Chartered Financial Analyst Charterholder and member of the CFA Institute. Before joining Sage, Rob was a Fixed Income Strategist for UBS in New York. He was also a former Senior Wealth Management Strategist for Mutual of New York and a Research Analyst for Merrill Lynch. Rob brings over 10 years of experience in credit analysis and corporate finance to the firm.
- Leland leads the U.S. iShares Capital Markets Group which is responsible for delivering market insights, execution services and product structure expertise to iShares clients. The Capital Markets Group also works with other BlackRock investment teams to maintain the liquidity, tax efficiency and performance standards for iShares ETFs. Finally, the team supports iShares' efforts with US exchanges and regulatory agencies regarding ETF product and market structure issues to ensure clients' are represented in the face of industry change.
- Robert Williams, www.sageadvisory.com
- Leland Clemons, www.ishares.com