REMI’s 40th Annual Users’ Conference

Speakers

• 

  Fred Treyz, Ph.D.

  Chief Economist & CEO

  REMI

  Frederick R. Treyz, Ph.D. is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Economist at Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI), a leading provider of dynamic economic and demographic modeling software and consulting. He is an authority on analyzing public policies and their regional macroeconomic and population impacts. Under Dr. Treyz’s leadership, REMI has shaped public policy debates by helping clients evaluate economic development, transportation, energy, immigration reform, and other topics. The company’s clients include federal, state, and regional agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, leading national associations, universities, and consultants who seek to analyze the implications of public policy. Dr. Treyz holds an A.B. in Economics from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Regional Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

• 

  Kiwhan Choi, Ph.D.

  Senior Economist

  Massachusetts Department of Revenue

  Dr. Choi serves as a senior economist at the Office of Tax Analysis (OTA) within the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. His responsibilities encompass a wide range of tax policy analyses, including estimating the revenue impacts of tax law modifications, initial forecasting of tax revenue, writing tax expenditure evaluation reports, monitoring economic trends, etc. During his Ph.D. study, Dr. Choi explored the economic effects of land value taxation in an urban area, which was featured in Land Economics in 2015. He thinks that the efficiency and other positive impacts of land value taxation should be more widely spread in the country. Although he has some working papers in progress, they await publication. In addition to his role at the OTA, Dr. Choi imparts his knowledge as an online instructor in economics at the Liberty University Business School. A native of Korea, Dr. Choi relocated to the U.S. in 2000. He achieved his Ph.D. in economics from Georgia State University in 2006. Prior to his joining the team of the OTA, he contributed as a postdoctoral researcher at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has a lovely wife and two grown-up daughters and one son in college.

• 

  Seth Boswell

  Data Intelligence Coordinator

  Region 1 Planning Council

  Seth Boswell is a Data Intelligence Coordinator and an analyst at Region 1 Planning Council in Northern Illinois. He leads a range of high-impact analytics and software engineering projects, including economic impact analyses, program evaluations, and housing development initiatives. Seth is currently obtaining a Master of Science in Analytics from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a specialization in machine learning and computational data science. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Middlebury College.

• 

  Jinju Lee

  Associate Director of Research

  the University of Nevada, Las Vegas

  Jinju Lee is the Associate Director of Research at the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). With over ten years of experience at the center, Ms. Lee has been involved in numerous projects that extend beyond state and local economic analysis to include areas such as transportation. Her work includes the Annual Clark County Long-term Population Forecasts, the UNLV Impact Study, the Southern Nevada Regional Industrial Study, and Clark County Complete Streets Opportunities. She received a BS in Economics from Seoul Women’s University, an MA in Applied Economics and a Graduate Certificate in Management Information Systems from the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

• 

  Parrish Ballard

  Economist

  Alaska Department of Revenue

  A graduate of Wake Forest University with dual bachelor’s degrees in Economics and French, Parrish serves as an economist with the Economic Research Group, where his work centers on modeling Alaska’s corporate economy. His work focuses on using macroeconomic models to evaluate how policy changes and investment decisions shape Alaska’s economic landscape and regional outcomes.

• 

  Peter Gunther

  Senior Research Fellow

  the University of Connecticut

  Peter’s impact analyses have covered enhanced exports of electricity from Canada to the United States, (for Atomic Energy of Canada). Connecticut economic impacts include scaling offshore wind developments (Vinelands), and, increased electricity demand from accelerated adoption of electric vehicle with and without peak pricing by Connecticut census districts including differential timing of required capital appropriations (Regional Economic Model Inc’s. seminars). He is currently expanding CCEA’s Connecticut studies to cover types of EVs being adopted extended to market saturation. His and Fred Carstensen’s work on the expansion of UConn’s Medical School assisted in making the case resulting in its catalytic expansion of medical technologies in Connecticut. In previous positions, Peter instigated policies that have shaped Canada and Sudan. As a member of Health Canada’s committee evaluating research into the non-medical use of drugs at the University of Waterloo, he convinced Health Canada to initiate it’s funding of impacts from secondhand tobacco smoke which resulted vast legislative and regulatory changes to curtail cancer causing impacts. As Chief of Contentious Issues on the Canadian Constitution, he undertook the R&D and later wrote, the soon to be, Prime Minister’s St John’s speech that resulted in Federal legislation awarding revenues from offshore resources to the provinces. For Africa’s International Government Authority on Development, he advised its panel on the Division of Wealth between North and South Sudan at the Sudanese Peace Negotiation, including heated pipeline and ocean tanker transportation of highly viscose crude oil from Southern wells across the North via Port Sudan to China.

• 

  Indraneel Kumar, Ph.D.

  Director for the Purdue Center for Regional Development

  Indraneel Kumar is the Director for the Purdue Center for Regional Development (PCRD). Indraneel has been at PCRD since its inception in 2005. He focuses on regional demographics, economic and workforce analysis, identification of new sources of data, GIS databases, spatial analysis, and quantitative methods. Indraneel earned a Ph.D. in Transportation and Infrastructure Systems from the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering at Purdue University in 2014. He has been a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners since 2006. He serves as the principal investigator in federal-sponsored research projects on economic competitiveness, evaluation of technology hubs, and technical assistance to regional organizations.

• 

  Jerry Hayes

  Senior Vice President of Research & Development

  REMI

  Jerry Hayes is Vice President of Research & Development at REMI, where he oversees the Research and Development department. He is the Project Manager for all model developments, helping to design new software features and products and make programming changes to the model structure and interface. Since joining REMI in 2002, Mr. Hayes has contributed to most areas of software development, including improving and optimizing existing model code and processes, designing and implementing new features, working on new products, and managing software development. He has also been involved in analyzing and processing data, testing, and troubleshooting. Mr. Hayes received a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

• 

  Peter Evangelakis, Ph.D.

  Senior Vice President of Economics & Consulting

  REMI

  Peter Evangelakis, Ph.D. is Senior Vice President of Economics & Consulting at REMI. After joining REMI in September 2017, he has served as Principal Investigator on all consulting projects and published papers, managed REMI’s team of economists and analysts, provided comprehensive technical and advisory support to clients, contributed to economic modeling software development, made multiple presentations on behalf of the company, and contributed to business development from our Washington, D.C. office. Dr. Evangelakis is an experienced Economic Researcher and Analyst. Highlights of his published work include a review of the non-pecuniary benefits of professional sports stadiums, a municipal-level revenue analysis of Florida property tax reform, an exposition of novel macroeconomic measures of the digital economy, and an economic and demographic analysis of the U.S. immigrant population. Dr. Evangelakis holds Ph.D. and Master’s degrees in Economics from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Mathematics from Swarthmore College.

• 

  Scott Nystrom

  Director of Research and Analytics for the Climate Leadership Council

  Scott Nystrom is the director of research and analytics for the Climate Leadership Council. In this capacity, he provides oversight and guidance to research initiatives and policy development across all major focus areas of the organization. He leads the Council’s quantitative modeling of economic impacts, energy markets, international trade, and fiscal policy. Scott comes to the Council after a five-year software career and seven-year consulting career. In these roles, Scott conducted studies related to climate policy, demographics, economic development, the energy sector, fiscal policy, healthcare policy, international trade, labor relations, scope emissions, and transportation. Prior to the Council, Scott worked for FTI Consulting. He was the co-lead and lead economist of its impacts and policy analysis practice. Prior to his time at FTI Consulting, Scott worked for Regional Economic Models, Inc. (“REMI”). He holds a B.A. in History, B.S. in Economics, and M.A. in Economic History from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

• 

  Hector Vielma, Ph.D.

  Senior Economist

  Illinois Department of Revenue

  Dr. Hector M. Vielma is a Senior Economist with the Office of Fiscal and Economic Research at the Illinois Department of Revenue. He specializes in developing and applying econometric models to forecast Individual Income Tax revenue and assess the fiscal impacts of tax policy changes. His work includes analyzing the effects of state tax legislation using a statewide tax micro-simulation model, as well as conducting state and regional economic trend analysis as they relate to tax revenue. Prior to joining the Illinois Department of Revenue, Dr. Vielma taught undergraduate and graduate courses in macroeconomics and microeconomics as a lecturer in the Department of Economics at the University of Illinois Chicago. Earlier in his career, he served as an auditor for one of the largest banking institutions in Chile.

• 

  Mike Petko, Ph.D.

  Senior Research/Policy Analyst with the National Education Association

  Dr. Petko is currently a Senior Research/Policy Analyst with the National Education Association. His areas of research include education finance and state and local tax and economic policy. He was the principle developer of NEA’s T.E.F. (Tax Policy, Economic Policy and Funding for Schools) Project, which focuses on the effects that tax and economic policy have on school funding and how school funding can be used as an economic development tool. Dr. Petko has authored several reports on education funding for the NEA. He is a member of several education finance and economic associations.

• 

  Ted Egan, Ph.D.

  Chief Economist

  the City and County of San Francisco

  Dr. Ted Egan is the Chief Economist of the City and County of San Francisco, and directs the Office of Economic Analysis in the City Controller’s Office. The office prepares independent economic analysis of major new city legislation. Since he joined in 2007, his office has published over 100 economic impact reports on policy issues like the minimum wage, affordable housing, business taxes, land use planning, sporting events, and short-term rentals. During this time at the City, he has served as an expert witness on the economics of same-sex marriage, and won a Good Government award for his work redesigning the City’s business tax. Before joining the City, he spent ten years working for ICF International, managing economic development strategy projects across North America, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. He received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, and lectured in the Economics and City Planning departments at Berkeley for more than ten years.