2008 Business Forecast

The Fourteenth Annual Business Forecast was held on Friday, January 18, 2008 at the John Q. Hammons Convention Center in Rogers. The luncheon was a big success. Thank you to all who attended.

The video of the 2008 Business Forecast is available online for viewing.
[ video presentation ]

The Panelists

Warren A. Stephens is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Stephens Inc. Stephens became Senior Vice-President of the Stephens Inc. Capital Market Group after launching his career in the Corporate Finance Department at Stephens Inc. He serves on the Board of Directors of Alltel Corp. and Dillards, Inc. and is a member of the Board of Trustees at Washington & Lee University. He is chairman of the Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Board, and the Episcopal Collegiate School Foundation Board. He serves on the board of directors for the Little Rock Boys Club. In the past, Stephens served on the NASD District Conduct Committee concluding his service as chairman and has served as chairman of the board of the Arkansas Arts Center, and the Capital Campaign to renovate the current theatre for the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. Stephens is a graduate of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, where he received his BA in economics and his MBA from Wake Forest University.

David R. Kotok co-founded Cumberland Advisors and has been Chief Investment Officer since inception in 1973. His articles and financial market comments have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, and other publications. He has appeared on CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg. Kotok currently serves as a Director and Program Chairman of the Global Interdependence Center an is a member of the National Business Economics Issues Council, the National Association for Business Economics, the Philadelphia Council for Business Economics and the Philadelphia Financial Economists Group. He previously served as a Commissioner of the Delaware River Port Authority, on the Treasury Transition Teams for NJ and a board member of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and as Chairman of NJ Casino Reinvestment Development Authority. He holds a B.S. in Economics, an M.S. in Organizational Dynamics, and a Masters in Philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Carl E. Steidtmann is Chief Economist for Deloitte Research in New York. Steidtmann works with clients assessing business strategies. His research has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Women's Wear Daily, USA Today and The New York Times. Steidtmann has appeared on the MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour, CNBC, and the Nightly Business Report. Previously at PricewaterhouseCoopers, he authored or co-authored over 400 publications. He has served as Vice President with Nakagama & Wallace and as senior advisor and economist for the American Productivity Center where he acted as the technical adviser to the White House Conference on Productivity. Prior to that, he was an economics instructor at the University of Colorado, and worked with Mountain Bell and IBM. In 2003 Steidmann was selected by Consulting Magazine as one of the 25 most influential consultants. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics, a Masters in Statistics, and Bachelors in History from the University of Colorado.

Kathy Deck is the Director of the Center for Business and Economic Research in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. Her research interests include local economic development, industry market structure, and education and health care economics.

In providing applied economic research as part of the outreach mission of the Walton College, Deck has managed studies for a variety of clients including: Arvest Bank Group, Southwestern Energy, and the cities of Fayetteville, Bentonville and Lowell. Deck also acts as a media resource for economic analysis of current events and trends.

Deck earned a B.A. in economics from the College of William and Mary and a M.S. in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before joining the Center for Business and Economic Research, Deck was the antitrust economist for the Arizona Attorney General.