Association for University
Business and Economic Research

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Patrick Barkey has served as Director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research since 2008. He has been involved with economic forecasting and policy research for more than 30 years in both the private and public sectors. Before coming to Montana, he served as Director of the Bureau of Business Research at Ball State University in Indiana for 14 years.   View full bio here.

John Deskins serves as Assistant Dean for Outreach and Engagement, Director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research, and as Associate Professor of Economics in the College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University. He leads the Bureau’s efforts to provide rigorous economic analysis and macroeconomic forecasting to leaders across the state.  View full bio here.

Juliette is the director of economic and public policy research at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, specializing in Utah’s economy, economic forecasting and modeling, fiscal policy analysis, and economic impact studies. Tennert holds a master’s degree in economics from UNLV and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Chicago and has been honored as one of Utah Business Magazine’s annual “30 Women to Watch.”

Rob Godby serves as the Deputy Director of the University of Wyoming’s Center for Energy Regulation and Policy. He is also an associate professor in the Economics Department at UW and an adjunct faculty member with the MBA program at Pforzheim University in Germany. In addition to academic duties, he was appointed in 2019 to serve on the State of Wyoming’s Consensus Revenue Estimating Group.

Jennifer Green is director of the Center of Economic Development and Business Research where she has worked for 10 years. She is responsible for leading the center’s community and economic development activities and outreach to 11 counties in Jacksonville State University’s regional footprint. She is also responsible for cultivating grants and contracts to fund economic development research opportunities.

Andrew Hait is an economist and serves as the Data Product and Data User Liaison in the Economic Management Division at the U.S. Census Bureau.  With over 30 years of service at the Bureau, Andy advises on economic data products and conducts data user training and outreach for the Economic Census and the Census Bureau’s other monthly, quarterly, and annual economic survey programs. He also is the lead designer and coordinates development of Census Business Builder, an innovative data tool that presents selected demographic, business, and other data in a user-friendly, map-based interface.

Mervin Jebaraj is the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. Jebaraj earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and international relations and a Master of Public Administration in public policy from the University of Arkansas. He was previously the assistant director at the center, where he has worked since 2007.

Bruce Kellison is director of the Bureau of Business Research, an applied economic research unit of the IC2 Institute at The University of Texas at Austin. He is former editor of Texas Business Review, a bi-monthly journal that disseminated business research to a wide readership of policymakers and business leaders. Under his leadership, the Bureau has won a number of research grants and contracts from a variety of sponsors, including the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the State of Texas.

Brian Lewandowski is Associate Director of the Business Research Division at the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder. Brian provides regional business and economic information and education, including economic and revenue forecasts, policy studies, economic impact analyses, and data workshops. Brian has 13 years’ experience conducting economic studies at CU Boulder. Prior to CU, he worked in both the private sector and government. He is currently the president of the Denver Association of Business Economists.

James McCafferty serves as co-director for Western Washington University’s Center for Economic and Business Research. He seeks to broaden the connections between the university, the College of Business and Economics, and the community through student internships, classroom-based projects, and consultative projects. James has an MBA from Western Washington University, a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism/Public Relations from University of Oregon.

Valorie Rice is the business information specialist for the Economic and Business Research Center at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management. She is involved with many of the department’s research projects including the Making Action Possible (MAP) Dashboard. Valorie’s forte is demographic and economic data for Arizona, particularly Census Bureau information, and writes articles on demographic issues for the Center’s publications.

Frederick R. Treyz is CEO of Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI). Dr. Treyz holds a Ph.D. in Regional Science from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in economics from Princeton University. He has more than 15 years of experience in applied urban and regional economics, including work in transportation, productivity, tax analysis, and economic impact analysis. View full bio here.