This year, the Economic Outlook Conference lunch at the Business Journal’s WilmingtonBiz Expo features three speakers as part of UNCW’s Swain Center yearly economic outlook program.
 

Fed Expert
Tom Barkin

Tom Barkin is the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. He has held this position since 2018.

Barkin serves as a voting member on the Fed’s chief monetary policy body, the Federal Open Market Committee and is also responsible for the Richmond Fed’s bank supervision and the Federal Reserve’s technology organization. He is on the ground continually in the Fed’s Fifth District, which covers South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, D.C., West Virginia and Maryland.

Before joining the Richmond Fed, Barkin was a senior partner and CFO at McKinsey & Co., a worldwide management consulting firm, where he also oversaw McKinsey’s offices in the southern United States.

He earned his bachelor’s, MBA and law degrees from Harvard University.
 

Regional perspective
Mouhcine Guettabi

Mouhcine Guettabi joined the University of North Carolina Wilmington in August 2021. He is serving as an associate professor and as the regional economist. Guettabi monitors the area’s economic indicators and produces economic impact analyses and forecasts. He also speaks to private and public organizations about the area’s economic health and policy decisions facing the community.

Before joining UNCW, he was an associate professor of economics at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

 On the academic front, he is an applied microeconomist with two main streams of research: the effect of natural resources on households and communities and the socioeconomic impacts of unconditional cash transfers. His research can be found in leading economic journals such as the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, the Journal of Regional Science and the Journal of Health Economics.

He earned his Ph.D. in economics with an emphasis on urban and regional economics from Oklahoma State University in 2012.
 

Global expertise
Ben Shoesmith

Ben Shoesmith monitors and analyzes the international economy, focusing on Asia, and leads KPMG Economics’ global macroeconomic forecasting process.

He regularly speaks with corporate board directors, executives and senior leaders “to help them gain a deeper understanding of the economic landscape and effectively manage economic risks,” his biography states.

While Shoesmith’s expertise covers aspects of the domestic macroeconomy, he has developed a specialization in international economics, focusing on Southeast Asia.

“His in-depth knowledge of this region allows him to offer unique perspectives and guidance to KPMG’s clients,” according to his biography.

Before joining KPMG, Shoesmith held several positions in the field of economics. He worked as a foreign exchange analyst at VF Corp., where he analyzed and managed international currency exposures through hedging strategies. He also served as a quantitative analyst at BB&T, forecasting portfolio revenues and losses under various economic scenarios as part of the Federal Reserve’s Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review stress tests.