Board Member Year: 2022

Elliott J. Nethercutt is a Principal Economist at the National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI) where he specializes in state and federal energy policy issues. His previous work includes advancing market design enhancements at the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), developing reliability assessments at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and supporting transmission siting efforts and smart grid funding programs at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Elliott earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Colorado in Boulder and a master’s degree in applied economics from the Johns Hopkins University (Washington, DC campus).

Oguz Karasu graduated from Marmara University in Economics in 2013. He completed his masters degree at Istanbul Commerce University, Department of Economics and wrote his thesis on the “Analysis of Alternative Finance Instruments After the 2008 Global Financial Crisis”.

He is a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at Istanbul University, currently writing a thesis about the Outer Space Industry. Alongside his Ph.D. studies he is presently in the process of completing a second masters in Applied Economics at George Washington University.

He works in an international TV channel, TRT World, as a deputy news editor in the Washington D.C. office, where he follows and assigns world politics, business and economy news.

Oguz is additionally a poet and author.

Elliott Dubin, prior to his retirement in August of 2019, was the Director of Policy Research at the Multistate Tax Commission since March of 1999. At the Multistate Tax Commission, Dr. Dubin conducted and directed research and analysis related to: 1) the structure and operation of business enterprises and economic trends; 2) federal tax, regulatory, economic and trade policies and legislative proposals that affect state and local tax policy and administration. He developed recommendations for uniform state and local tax policies affecting interstate commerce, and provided staff support and technical assistance on complex tax policy and administrative topics as required for various committees of the Commission and working groups of states. Dr. Dubin edited and writes articles on topics related to the work of the Multistate Tax Commission in the Multistate Tax Commission Review; Journal of Multistate Taxation and Incentives; and, State Tax Notes. Dr. Dubin also made formal presentations to public officials and staff and private sector organizations on tax and economic subjects. Currently, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Hartwood Foundation; the Virginia College Savings (529) Plan; and, has served as an advisory member to the Board of Directors of the National Tax Association.

Prior to joining the Multistate Tax Commission, Dr. Dubin was a Senior Housing Policy Analyst at the National Association of Home Builders. At NAHB, Dr. Dubin conducted economic research related to housing policy issues and housing economics and serves as an internal consultant to all parts of NAHB. He was a member of an interdepartmental group that estimated the capitalization of locally imposed impact fees into the price of new residential units. Prior to joining NAHB, he was a public finance economist with the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations where he conducted research and provided policy analysis on topics of concern to the Commission, including: unfunded mandates, Medicaid, and state aid to local governments for elementary and secondary education. He also wrote articles for quarterly publication, Intergovernmental Perspectives. Dr. Dubin also served as an economist with the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture where he specialized in rural economic development policies and issues. Dr. Dubin holds M.Phil. and Ph.D. Degrees from the City University of New York.

Lucio Vinhas de Souza is currently an Advisor to the leadership of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU’s “Department of State”. Before that, he led the Economics Team at the European Political Strategy Centre, an internal advisory body to the European Commission President. Prior to that, he was Managing Director and Sovereign Chief Economist at Moody’s Investors Service, based at its headquarters in New York. Before joining Moody’s, he was a World Bank official based in Washington, D.C. His main work areas are global macroeconomics, finance and country risk.

Michael Kurtzig was an international economist with the US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service until 2000. He joined the department in the late 1960s as a Middle East expert, first as a country desk officer, then as Assistant Branch Chief and then Chief of the Africa and Middle East Branch. He travelled extensively in the Middle East, particularly Turkey, Israel, Iran, Cyprus, as well as an analyst for Jordan. His work centered on agricultural foreign policy, data, and US trade. He wrote extensively on those subjects. He led a number of missions for the USDA, the World Bank, and USAID to Iran, Jordan, Turkey and Israel, as well as Gaza and the West Bank. After retirement he taught in Congregational and Day schools in Philadelphia and Alexandria on the Holocaust, Anti-Semitism, Hebrew, Israel and Jewish Communities around the World. He has been a member of NEC for many years and values the comradeship and the many excellent interesting speakers who keep us up to date and contribute to the knowledge base of the industry. He lives in DC with his wife Barbara and his rescue dog, Bob.

Ed Kean serves as Senior Economic Policy Analyst and Chief Editor for the Observatory Group. He has worked as an economic policy analyst for the Observatory Group since 2007. In that capacity, Ed has analyzed developments regarding US monetary, fiscal, trade and financial regulatory policy. Prior to joining the Observatory Group, he served as a senior Fed analyst for the G7 Group. Ed also has held various positions with the National Economists Club, including serving as President of the Club in 2011.

Rickinder (Ricky) Chima has been in DC since August 2021 covering the US economy and fiscal policy at the British Embassy, having previously worked in various roles as an economist in the UK Civil Service. He studied Economics at the University of Bristol and, later, at Master’s level at University College London.

Troy Wittek is a Senior Economist at Inforum. Troy received an MBA at the University of Baltimore in 2020 and a masters degree in Applied Information Technology from Towson University in 2012. He joined Inforum in 2006 and became a full-time Research Assistant in 2009. Troy’s responsibilities include collecting and analyzing detailed industry data for use in policy analysis, business planning, and academic research. He helps produce reports for a variety of audiences in the academic, government, and private sector.

Desiree Maruca is the Associate Director at the Group of Thirty, an independent global body comprised of economic and financial leaders from the public and private sectors and academia. In this position, she heads various aspects of the organization’s program development, event planning, and fundraising, as well as coordinates the study groups and publications of the members. Desiree earned her Master of Arts in International Relations with a concentration in Global Business and Transatlantic Trade from The School of International Service at The American University in Washington, DC. She also holds a BA in International Studies from American University, studying abroad in Brussels, Belgium, and concentrating her work on the European Union. Last year she served as a Vice-President for Programming for The National Economists Club.

Danny Bachman is responsible for Deloitte’s quarterly U.S. Economic Forecast. Prior to coming to Deloitte, Dr. Bachman worked as a forecaster, economic analyst, and model expert at the US Commerce Department and for several economic consulting companies. He also taught economics at Temple University. Dr. Bachman’s first professional job was at Israel’s Ministry of Finance.

Dr. Bachman is a participant in the Wall Street Journal’s Economic Forecasting panel and the George Washington University’s H.O. Stekler Research Seminar on Forecasting. He is an active member of the National Association for Business Economics and the National Economics Club. Dr. Bachman has published a number of articles in peer reviewed economics research journals.

Dr. Bachman is a native of Philadelphia. He has a B.A. from Johns Hopkins and Ph.D. from Brown University. Dr. Bachman lives in Rockville, Maryland with his wife, but without his two millennial children, who—evidently defying the odds—have not returned home after college. Yet.