Corridor Business Journal Economic Forecast Luncheon 2009

On January 14, 2009, students in Professor Santhi Hejeebu's ECB 101 Macroeconomics course braved snow and ice covered roads to attend a luncheon at the Kirkwood Continuing Education Center.  The Corridor Business Journal was hosting the annual Economic Forecast Luncheon.  The keynote speaker was Gary Stern, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and co-author of Too Big to Fail: The Hazards of Bank Bailouts.  His presentation was followed by a panel discussion with business leaders, who addressed how the current economic situation was impacting the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids corridor.  Panelists included: Dawn Ainger ( CEO, Genova Technologies), Gary Rozek (Chairman, Centro, Inc.), Randy Ramlo (CEO, United Fire Group), Mike Gerdin (President, Heartland Express), and Marc Gullickson (President, Ryan Companies US, Inc.).

Student Perspectives

"It was very beneficial to attend the luncheon to see our economic study in action.  The presence of experienced professionals attending the luncheon was highly gratifying.  It was an amazing experience to see real economic theory and policy in action."  Will Dineen '12

"Attending this conference gave us a real example of the economy to apply what we have been learning about in class.  It also helped me to realize that what we read about isn't just made up facts about supply, demand, labor, quantity, price, etc. -- these are true and relevant topics."  Rachel Silverstone '12