Meet the Speakers - 2016 Economic Forecast Breakfast

Presentations from Dr. Richard Wobbekind, Peter Adams and Jane Miller can be viewed here:
EconomicForecast Breakfast_Presentations2016

This event provides actionable insights into the Colorado economy for local businesses and entrepreneurs.  It also provides a valuable marketing opportunity for companies seeking to elevate their visibility in the south metro Denver business community.

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​Tickets can be purchased at the following rates: $50/Member; $75/Non-member; $650/Corporate Table Sponsorship (10 seats). To register please visit: https://www.regonline.com/BestForecast2016.

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​The program will feature the following speakers:

Jane Miller – Keynote – Leadership for a Changing Workforce in a Startup Eonconomy

Jane is the CEO and President of ProYo, a high protein natural food and ingredient start-up based out of Santa Barbara, CA. Previously, she was the CEO and President of Charter Baking Company, a private-equity backed rollup of organic and natural bakeries. Hired to turn around the performance of the business, she divested an unprofitable division and doubled the sales and profitability of the premier brand, Rudi’s Organic. That division was successfully sold to Hain-Celestial Group in April 2014.

Prior to Charter, Jane had twenty-five years of experience in consumer products. She was part of an executive team that brought Hostess out of bankruptcy. She worked for HJHeinz as the Chief Growth Officer and then the President of the UK & Ireland Division. She ran the Western division of Bestfoods Baking. The first fourteen years of her career were at PepsiCo, where she rose to be the President of the Central division of Frito-Lay.

Jane is the founder of a career advice website, Janeknows.com, and the author of Sleep Your Way to the Top (and other myths about business success). She is deeply engaged as a mentor at the University of Colorado and with the Blackstone Entrepreneurial Network. She serves as a board member and lecturer at the Leeds Business School at the University of Colorado-Boulder. She is also a board member at Justin’s Nut Butter, Natural Foodworks Group, Eldorado Springs Artesian Water, Madhava Sweeteners and Rework. Her involvement as a mentor for young professionals and start-ups resulted in her being named the Lifetime Achievement Award Winner for the Denver Business Journal in 2013 and the Boulder Chamber of Commerce’s Women Who Light the Community in 2015.
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Jane has a Russian Studies degree from Knox College in Galesburg, IL and an MBA from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.

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Dr. Richard L. Wobbekind – 2016 Economic Outlook for Colorado

Dr. Wobbekind is Executive Director of the Business Research Division and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Programs at the University of Colorado Boulder. He joined the faculty at the Leeds School of Business in 1985, and has served as Associate Dean since 2000.
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As Executive Director of the Business Research Division his responsibilities include developing an annual consensus forecast of the Colorado economy and performing various economic impact assessments of the Colorado economy. Wobbekind also produces the quarterly Leeds Business Confidence Index for Colorado.

Rich is currently the president of the National Association for Business Economics. He also participates annually in the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank Regional Economic Roundtable and is a contributor to the Western Blue Chip Economic Forecast newsletter.

He is a member of the Governor's Revenue Estimating Advisory Committee, the Denver Regional Council of Governments’ Forecast 2035 Advisory Committee, the Colorado Tourism Office Education and Research Committee, the Boulder Urban Renewal Authority and the Boulder Economic Council.
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For his efforts in community development and outreach, Wobbekind was awarded the 1997 University of Colorado Bank One Community Outreach Award. In 2006 he was awarded the Robert L. Stearns award for lifetime contributions in teaching, research and service.
Wobbekind teaches MBA students in macroeconomics, public policy, entrepreneurship and managerial economics. He has received three awards for teaching excellence from the students of the Leeds School.Wobbekind has lived in Colorado for more than 34 years and has spent much of his time studying the development of the Colorado and regional economies. He received a BA in economics from Bucknell University and an MA and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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Peter Adams – Startup Economy Forecast & Business Opportunities for 2016

Peter is the Executive Director of the Rockies Venture Club. His role includes creating deal flow of 500+ firms per year, screening for investable companies, developing best practices for due diligence and negotiation, and providing education for angel investors in the areas of valuation, term sheets, negotiation, syndication, and portfolio strategies. Adams has over twenty five years of business experience beginning in the 1980s with a technology company responsible for fulfilling a sole-source contract for all personal computers for the Colorado state government including universities, agencies and related offices.

Adams is a serial entrepreneur, having founded five companies and he has also served over a dozen years as Economics Director and as CIO of an international professional services firm. Adams is also the CEO for BizGirls.org, a non-profit summer camp for high-school girls to learn entrepreneurship and Omniportraits, a for-profit e-commerce venture. Adams is a co-author of “Venture Capital for Dummies,” John Wiley & Sons, 2013.