2002 Business Forecast

The Eighth Annual Business Forecast was held on Friday, January 18, 2002 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 2002 Business Forecast is available online for viewing.
[ video presentation ]

2002 Panelist

William R. Floyd is president, CEO and chef operating officer of Beverly Enterprises, Inc., the nation's largest nursing home company. He joined the company in April 2000. Prior to joining Beverly Enterprises, Floyd held senior management positions with industry leaders, including PepsiCo, Pillsbury and Gillette. Most recently, Floyd was chief executive officer of Choice Hotels International, the second-largest hotel franchise in the world, and senior vice president of Operations of Taco Bell Corporation. Floyd earned his B.A. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and its Wharton School of Business. He is a member of the Board of Trustees for Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayn, Pa.

Harvey Rosenblum is senior vice president and director of research of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, serving as economic policy advisor to the Bank's president and as associate economist for the Federal Open Market Committee. A recognized expert on the national economy, he has had articles in The Journal of Finance, New York Times, The Southwest Economy and The Handbook of Banking Strategy. He is visiting professor of finance and economics at SMU and the incoming president of the National Association for Business Economics. He received a B.A in economics from the University of Connecticut in 1965 and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1972.

Jesper Koll is chief economist of Merrill Lynch & Co. in Tokyo, Japan, where he became a resident in 1986. Previously, he was a managing director of Tiger Management L.L.C. and the chief economist for J.P. Morgan in Tokyo. Koll has been serving on several Japanese government advisory councils, including the MITI committee on"Big Bang 2001-Japans financial system reform". This summer, he was selected as a member of the administrations' project team of private sector analysts. He is the author of many articles and the Japanese language Towards a New Japanese Golden Age. A native of Germany, he graduated from the Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific in 1980 and holds a Master's degree from The John Hopkins University, SAILS.


Jeff Collins served as director of the Walton College's Center for Business and Economic Research from 1999-2006. He oversaw applied economic research as part of the College's outreach mission. Recent studies have been conducted for the City of Fayetteville, Arvest Bank Group, and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Further, Collins actively works with the economic development community of the state to build the Arkansas' capacity to create high-wage, high-skill employment. Currently, Collins is working with Accelerate Arkansas to benchmark the state's progress in building knowledge-based companies and employment. Collins has published in scholarly and applied journals, and he is regularly interviewed by national and local media. He earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Tennessee in 1996.