The Economic Club of Indiana

Marty Feldstein has been regarded as one of the top 10 economists in the world. Feldstein’s rare skill set generates bipartisan demand for the former chief economic advisor to Ronald Reagan. He has served presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama on top advisory boards. He is a long-time Harvard professor and a regula...r contributor to the Wall Street Journal and other publications. While other economists hedged their bets, Feldstein went on record and identified the U.S. as being in a recession two years ago. His expertise and advice on weathering the storm is regularly sought by governments and organizations both domestically and abroad. Read More

Gwen Ifill has a storied 33-year journalism career, working for several of the nation's largest newspapers and television news outlets. She currently hosts PBS' Washington Week in Review and is senior correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Ifill has moderated two vice presidential debates – in 2004 and 2008. P...rior to joining PBS, Ifill was chief congressional and political correspondent for NBC News. She is a best-selling author of “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama” and has covered six presidential campaigns. In addition to her work as a journalist, Ifill is a regular keynote commencement speaker at some of the nation’s most prestigious universities. She has a reputation for fairness and sharp political insights into the biggest issues of our time. Read More

Two-time presidential candidate Steve Forbes – once met with skepticism for his flat tax and health savings accounts agenda – has seen many of his ideas adopted by more mainstream politicians in recent years. Never a fan of government regulation, Forbes recently penned, “The Fed's punishment for its wretched doings is ...that Congress will likely give it more regulatory powers. That's the thing about government: The more it fails, the more power it accrues.” Forbes insists he is done running for high office but remains active as an advisor to policy think tanks and appears regularly on national news outlets. He serves as editor-in-chief for Forbes Magazine, which has a circulation of over 900,000 and combines with global editions to reach nearly 5 million readers.Read More

John Norquist's work promoting New Urbanism as an alternative to sprawl and antidote to sprawl's social and environmental problems draws on his experience as big-city mayor and prominent participant in national discussions on urban design and school reform. John was the Mayor of Milwaukee from 1988-2004. Under his lead...ership, Milwaukee experienced a decline in poverty, saw a boom in new downtown housing, and became a leading center of education and welfare reform. A leader in national discussions of urban design and educational issues, Norquist is the author of The Wealth of Cities, and has taught courses in urban policy and urban planning at the University of Chicago, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning, and at Marquette University.Read More

Angela Braly ranks forth on Forbes’ Most Powerful Women list. Fortune Magazine says she has, “one of the toughest jobs in business,” and The Wall Street Journal refers to her as, “Arguably the most powerful woman in corporate America.” Accolades for the CEO of Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. – the nation’s largest he...alth insurer – are well deserved. Braly orchestrated one of the largest acquisitions in health care industry history as WellPoint’s general council and pioneered a public and private effort to expand health coverage for the uninsured while serving as interim council for Blue Cross Blue Shield Missouri. She is currently working to improve health care experiences by bringing consumer feedback into the equation. WellPoint, Indiana and the entire industry are benefiting from her leadership and innovative ideas. Read More

Weather agreeing with his libertarian political philosophy or not, one thing is clear – John Stossel is his own man. Belief in drug legalization puts him at odds with conservatives; belief in deregulation at odds with many on the left. As co-anchor for ABC News’ 20/20 and the recipient of 19 Emmy’s, he has become famou...s for questioning popular beliefs and challenging the status quo. At the end of the day, Stossel believes, “All well-intended (government) regulation helps some but hurts many more.” His criticism of pharmaceutical regulation in particular has what many Hoosiers consider a positive impact on the large life sciences industry in Indiana.Read More

Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, was widely criticized by financial professionals and journalists for predicting a global financial crisis more than two years ago. Byrne, a native of Fort Wayne who received his education from Cambridge and Stanford, warned in 2007 of a market meltdown perpetrated by cheap credit an...d writing checks on the bank accounts of future generations. The man who took Overstock.com from a half-million dollars in revenue to nearly $1 billion annually, takes little pleasure in accurately predicting our current economic situation. Instead, he continues to advocate for what he feels are positive market reforms – specifically to the controversial practice of short selling stocks.Read More

Kevin Chavous is a national education reform leader who helped usher the charter school movement into Washington, D.C. – where more than 20% of public school children now attend charter schools. Chavous – a native of Indianapolis and graduate of Wabash College – favors parental choice as a critical factor in future edu...cation success. Blaming a lack of significant change in public education over the past 150 years for what he considers a currently broken system, Chavous insists, “If we are to participate in the world-class economy growing at our doorstep, we must do what others have done: We must demand, pay for and manage a sweeping re-construction of our public school system.”Read More

Thomas Snyder was a tremendously successful CEO of Delco Remy International – nearly tripling the firm’s sales in 11 years – before taking over the presidency of Ivy Tech Community College in 2007. Ivy Tech – Indiana’s largest institute of higher education – realized revenue increases of $3 million during Snyder’s firs...t year. His experience as a business leader provides him not only with the ability to manage the 23 campus system, but also with a unique understanding of the role education must play in the development of future workforce talent. Snyder’s current initiative of expanding education opportunities to urban and rural areas is improving workforce diversity and will have lasting benefits for Hoosier businesses and students alike. Read More

Brian Lamb – a Purdue alumni and native of Lafayette – has been one of the most influential people in political media for the past 30 years. His CSPAN cable network has forever changed the way government and politics are covered. The network he created and runs is legendary but many outside the industry don’t recognize... his name. Lamb revels in the personal obscurity he helped craft – having never mentioned his own name on air and telling US News and World Report, “No one knew who I was. If I failed, so what?” As a journalist, he is know for fairness, as a media CEO, for gaining unprecedented access to government proceedings – something he continues pushing for by advocating for cameras in federal courts. Read More