Amira Alghumgham

Dr. Amira Alghumgham is an Economist specialized in Fiscal & Tax policy. Dr. Alghumgham is currently a fiscal and tax policy consultant at the World Bank Group. Provides advisory services & analytics for governments & international organization around the world as part of the Global Tax Team.

Prior to working at the World Bank, Dr. Alghumgham was an affiliate researcher from 2015- 2019 at the Office of Revenue Analysis conducting research projects to explain and understand economic and fiscal trends in the District of Columbia. Also, analyzed public policy issues that is on interest to the District policymakers.

One of the papers Dr. Alghumgham produced, “Do Publicly subsidized Economic Development Projects Help their Neighborhoods to Grow Faster?”, using a differences-in-differences model, examines whether income and property values grew faster in DC neighborhoods with public investment than in comparable neighborhoods without public investments. This paper was well-received by her academic peers as well as public policy practitioners and won an award from the Economic Club of Washington DC, an influential civic organization focused on maintaining a vibrant business environment in the Washington, DC area.

Dr. Alghumgham, taught at undergraduate economics classes as an adjunct professor at Howard University and Bowie State University in 2018.  Dr. Alghumgham earned her Ph.D in Economics from Howard University in (2019), M.S. in Industrial Engineering in (2013) and M.A. in Economics in (2011) from New Mexico State University, and B.S in Economics in (2002) from King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia.

Aparna Mathur

Board of Governors

Aparna Mathur is a Senior Research Manager in Economics at Amazon and a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government. At Amazon, she tracks and conducts research to help identify labor and employment related challenges faced by Amazon’s domestic and global workforce, with a view to informing best policy. At the Kennedy School she is focusing on the COVID-19 safety net response. Prior to Amazon, she spent a year as a Senior Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers. She joined the Council as part of the COVID-19 response task force at the peak of the crisis in April 2020 and worked with epidemiologists on the health aspects of the crisis, while also tracking the economic downturn that came with the lockdowns. Prior to joining CEA, she was a resident scholar in economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. At AEI, she directed the AEI-Brookings Project on Paid Family and Medical Leave, building bipartisan momentum on paid leave, for which she was recognized in the Politico 50 list for 2017. Her academic research has focused on income inequality and mobility, tax policy, labor markets and small businesses. She has published in several top scholarly journals including the Journal of Public Economics, the National Tax Journal and the Journal of Health Economics, testified several times before Congress and published numerous articles in the popular press on issues of policy relevance, including on her own blog at Forbes. Her work has been cited in leading news magazines such as the Economist, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. She has regularly provided commentary on prominent radio and television shows such as NPR’s Marketplace and the Diane Rehm Show, as well as CNBC and C-SPAN. She has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. She received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2005, and is currently serving on the University of Maryland Economics Leadership Council. She is also on the Board of the National Academy of Social Insurance, Simply Green as well as the National Economists Club.

Michael Chow

Ex Officio, Board of Governors

Michael was recently Research Director for the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and Venture Forward, splitting his time between the two organizations and focusing on producing leading edge research that investigated the role and impact of venture capital on the economy. He also managed the production of the NVCA Yearbook and quarterly PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor, the industry’s leading trade publications, and advised the NVCA policy team on key issues. Before working at NVCA and Venture Forward, Michael was Lead Data Analyst and Economist at the National Federation of Independent Business, the nation’s leading small business trade association, where he directed the organization’s cost-benefit analysis program and led research projects focused on finance, tax, health care, labor, and regulatory policy. He has previously worked for the Office of Economic Policy and Analysis at the Department of Labor and for the President’s Council of Economic Advisers in the White House.

In recent years, Michael has Chaired or Co-Chaired the Small Business Roundtable for the National Association for Business Economics (NABE), the nation’s premier professional association for business economists. Michael has also served as past president and chair for the National Economists Club (NEC), a non-profit, nonpartisan professional organization founded in 1968 comprised of leading economists based in Washington, DC. He is the recipient of the NABE Abramson Scroll and the NABE Contributed Paper Award, both awarded by NABE for outstanding papers in the field of business economics.

In his spare time, Michael contributes his energy to a variety of volunteer activities which currently include serving on the Board of Trustees of the Treatment and Learning Centers, a private, non-profit organization dedicated to annually serving 2,000 individuals with special needs in the DC/MD/VA area, the Board of Advisors of the Asian American Alumni Association of Princeton, and the NEC’s Board of Governors.

Michael received an M.A. in Applied Economics from the Johns Hopkins University, an M.Sc. in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics from the London School of Economics, and a B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University.

Cliff Waldman

Chairman, Board of Governors

Cliff Waldman, 2019 National Economists Club President, is the CEO of New World Economics, a consulting firm that offers a range of forecasting and data creation services to manufacturing companies, trade groups and governments. He is also the host of “Cliff Notes on the Global Manufacturing Picture”, a podcast show on Manufacturing Talk Radio. Cliff is an active and in-demand public speaker on topics ranging from the U.S. and global economic outlooks to productivity and automation.

Cliff served as Chief Economist of the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI) research foundation. His primary responsibility during his 15-year tenure at MAPI was to write and speak on the global economic outlook. Cliff’s career has also included positions with a state government policy research unit as well as with a small business research team in Washington, D.C. He has won three national research awards for his published work on the Chinese economy, productivity, innovation, and demographics.

Cliff served as co-chair of the NABE Manufacturing Roundtable in 2019. In 2018 he was awarded the Certified Business Economist (CBE) designation by NABE.

Scott Condren

VP Communications

Scott is currently a senior analyst in the Export-Import Bank of the United States’ Office of Policy Analysis and International Relations. His work focuses on the economic impact of EXIM supported transactions on the U.S. economy. Via NEC, he was a 2017 Kakehashi scholar and traveled to Japan in February of that year with other NEC members. Prior to moving to D.C., Scott served as an equity analyst with CT Mason in Boston. He served on the board of the Boston Chapter of the National Association for Business Economics as secretary and membership chair. In those roles he was responsible for both managing membership, and marketing events via email and social media. Scott is a CFA Charterholder. He previously served as NEC’s VP of Communications.

Peter Davis

Senior VP Programs

Pete Davis advises Wall Street money managers on Washington policy developments that affect the financial markets.  President of his own consulting firm since 1992, Davis Capital Investment Ideas, Pete draws on 11 years of experience as a Capitol Hill economist with the Joint Committee on Taxation (1974-1981), the Senate Budget Committee (1981-1983), and Senator Robert C. Byrd (1992).  Pete served as NEC President in 1984 and earned his B.A. Economics from the University of Rochester in 1972.  Pete has served as the Co-Vice President for programming in 2014, 2015 and 2017, and served as Senior VP for programming from 2018-2020.  

Emily Sanchez

President

Emily Sanchez is an Economist and Director of Data Analytics at the American Chemistry Council where she uses data analytics and economic analysis to make sense of the chemical industry, end-use industries, global trade, and distribution and logistics issues. Her formal training is in statistics and economics. Emily also has extensive experience in developing and managing surveys, metrics programs and benchmarking studies. A Virginia native, she holds a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Statistics from James Madison University and an M.S. in Applied Statistics and an M.A. in Economics from George Mason University. Emily has previously served as the National Economists Club President and as Vice President of Programs.