073 ATLANTA FEDERAL RESERVE CEO TO KEYNOTE MTSU CONFERENCE SEPT. 28

ATLANTA FEDERAL RESERVE CEO TO KEYNOTE MTSU CONFERENCE SEPT. 28 Jennings A. Jones Champion of Free Enterprise Award will be presented

Sept. 5, 2007
CONTACT: Tom Tozer, 615-898-5131
Dr. Jim Burton, 615-898-2764

MURFREESBORO, TENN—Dennis P. Lockhart, 14th president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, having assumed the position in March of this year, will be the keynote speaker at the 15th annual Economic Outlook Conference at Middle Tennessee State University, which will be held Friday, Sept. 28, in the James Union Building.
Registration at the door will begin at 8:15 a.m. The no-fee conference will adjourn at 1:15 p.m.
“The Economic Outlook Conference has become an MTSU tradition because it delivers what it promises—substance, expertise, and an opportunity for business and industry professionals to share common concerns," commented Dr. Jim Burton, dean of MTSU’s Jennings A. Jones College of Business.
Burton said the conference is targeted especially to bankers, business owners and managers, community officials and leaders, as well as business and economics faculty and students—and to anyone interested in economic growth in the region and nation.
Lockhart, who will speak at 9:00 a.m., is responsible for the bank’s monetary policy, supervision, regulation, and payment services. From 2001 to 2003, he was managing partner at the private equity firm Zephyr Management, based in New York, with reaches into Africa and Latin America. Prior to that, he served as executive vice president and director at Heller Financial and as president of Heller International Group, which conducted business in North and South America, Europe and Asia. Previously, he worked at Citicorp/Citibank (now Citigroup) and once served in Iran as COO of a banking joint venture between Citibank and an Iranian affiliate.
Lockhart earned a B.A. in political science and economics from Stanford University and an M.A. in international economics and American foreign policy from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve from 1968 to 1974.
At 10:30, Dr. David Penn, director of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center, will provide a mid-state/regional economic update. The BERC maintains significant databases of regional, national and international information and provides research resources and databases for the MTSU community. Penn received his B.A. degree from Northeastern Oklahoma State University, his M.A. from the University of Denver, and his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma.
Following the presentation of the Jennings A. Jones Champion of Free Enterprise Award, Dr. Donald Ratajczak, Regent's Professor of Economics Emeritus at Georgia State University and nationally known economic forecaster, will address the noon luncheon audience.
Ratajczak served as director of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State
University for 27 years. In 1994, he received the Blue Chip award for forecasting accuracy during the four previous years. He appears regularly on CNBC and writes a weekly column for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Business Week has cited Ratajczak for his accuracy in predicting national trends. He received his undergraduate degree from Haverford College and his Ph.D. from MIT.
Those interested in attending should register by Sept. 21 to guarantee lunch by calling 615-898-2764.
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TO MEDIA: Media are welcomed to attend and stay for lunch. We are hoping (but not yet confirmed as of this writing) that Mr. Lockhart will have a few minutes during the break at 10:15 immediately following his presentation to take your questions. If you plan to attend, we would appreciate advanced notice. Call Tom Tozer at 615-898-5131 (feel free to leave a message and contact info) or ttozer@mtsu.edu.

If you require a special phone line (at a cost of $200), you will need to notify Tozer at the above number absolutely no later than Thursday, Sept. 13. And we will need a name and billing address.

If you need directions to campus and the James Union Building, please contact Tozer. You will be able to get into the facility at 7:30 a.m. Central Time. MTSU is about 50 minutes south of Nashville on I-24 East; a half hour or so from Nashville International Airport, depending on traffic.

A head and shoulders of Lockhart is available by e-mailing ttozer@mtsu.edu. Thank you.

Visit http://business.web.mtsu.edu.