Jeff Thredgold - Introduction

The future course of the US economy, the value of education, the direction of interest rates, and the competitive position of US companies are just some of the topics that will be addressed today by our speaker.

Jeff Thredgold is President of Thredgold Economic Associates, an economic consulting and professional speaking company based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Jeff is the only economist in the world to have ever received the designation of CSP, or Certified Speaking Professional, the highest earned designation in professional speaking.

His career includes 23 years with $95 billion banking giant KeyCorp, where he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. He now serves as "economic consultant" to $50 billion Zions Bancorporation, which has banks in ten states. He also serves as economic consultant to various other clients.

Jeff has appeared dozens of times on CNBC-TV - the nation's business network, as well as numerous appearances on CNN, and is quoted regularly in the nation's financial press. He is a monthly contributor for the national publication Blue Chip Financial Forecasts and quarterly USA TODAY economic forecast surveys.

Jeff has been writing a weekly economic and financial newsletter, now titled the Tea Leaf, for 32 years. He is the author of four books, econAmerica: Why the American Economy is Alive and Well: and What that Means to Your Wallet (published by Wily and Sons in July 2007), Economy by Thredgold, A Parent's Letter to My Children in School, and On The One Hand - The Economist's Joke Book. The company also produces quarterly economic reports and a monthly small business index for various clients.

He served as an adjunct professor of finance at the University of Utah for 16 years. He is a former member of both the Economic Advisory Committee of the American Bankers Association and the Economic Policy Committee of the US Chamber of Commerce.

Ladies and Gentlemen - May I introduce - Jeff Thredgold