MEA 2010 Annual Conference

Speakers

The MEA Annual Conference will be held on Friday, October 29, at Hamline University. Speakers include:

  • Jean AbrahamJean Abraham, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota

    Jean Abraham is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health’s Division of Health Policy & Management. She focuses the majority of her time on analyzing the access to and cost of employer-based health insurance for workers and families. She also examines the behavioral effects of employee wellness programs and hospital market competition issues. Her current research interests include household decision-making with respect to employer-based health insurance, welfare analysis of health care choice, and employer health benefit design. She is also well-versed in various national health care reform initiatives. Abraham graduated from the University of Arizona with a B.A. in economics and political science and earned a Ph.D. in public policy analysis and management from Carnegie Melon University.

  • Colleen Flaherty ManchesterColleen Flaherty Manchester, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota

    Colleen Flaherty Manchester is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. She is currently researching employer-provided tuition reimbursement (and general investments in human capital by employers), the role of stigma versus time costs in the decision to participate in welfare, and the effect of HR practices on the labor market outcomes of women. Manchester earned a B.A. in economics, a B.A in public policy and a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University.

  • Terry J. FitzgeraldTerry Fitzgerald, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

    Terry J. Fitzgerald is a senior economist and assistant vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. He conducts research on national and regional economic issues, advises the bank president and board of directors on economic policy and current macroeconomic conditions, and contributes articles to bank publications The Region and fedgazette. His research interests include macroeconomics, economic growth, and the economics of education. His work has appeared in professional journals and in publications of the Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago, Cleveland, and Minneapolis. Fitzgerald holds a B.S. in economics from the University of Iowa and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Minnesota.

  • Stephen ParenteStephen Parente, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota

    Stephen Parente is a Minnesota Insurance Industry Professor of Health Finance in the Carlson School of Management and the Director of the Medical Industry Leadership Institute at the University of Minnesota. As a professor in the finance department, he specializes in health care economics, information technology, and health insurance. He has been the principal investigator for funded studies on consumer-directed health plans since 2002. He was also a health policy adviser for the McCain 2008 presidential campaign and served as a legislative fellow in the office of West Virginia Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV in 1992-93. He has a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University.

  • Art RolnickArt Rolnick, Human Capital Research Collaborative, University of Minnesota

    Art Rolnick serves as a co-director for the Human Capital Research Collaborative at the University of Minnesota. He previously served at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis as a senior vice president and director of research and as an associate economist with the Federal Open Market Committee—the monetary policymaking body for the Federal Reserve System. He is a board member of several Minneapolis nonprofit firms, including the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation and Ready 4 K, an advocacy organization for early childhood development. A recipient of numerous awards for his work in early childhood development, he was named Minnesotan of the Year by Minnesota Monthly magazine in 2005. Rolnick holds degrees in mathematics and economics from Wayne State University and has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Minnesota.

  • Joel SlemrodJoel Slemrod, University of Michigan

    Joe Slemrod is a Paul W. McCracken Collegiate Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business, where he studies and writes about tax policy. In 1984-85 he was a senior staff economist at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and he has been a consultant to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Canadian Department of Finance, the South African Ministry of Finance, the World Bank, the OECD, and several corporations. He is a member of the Congressional Budget Office Panel of Economic Advisers and has testified before Congress on domestic and international taxation issues. Slemrod is co-author with Jon Bakija of Taxing Ourselves: A Citizen’s Guide to the Great Debate over Tax Reform and is editor of Does Atlas Shrug? The Economic Consequences of Taxing the Rich.

  • Andrea WalshAndrea Walsh, Executive Vice President, HealthPartners

    Andrea Walsh is the chief marketing officer and executive vice president for HealthPartners. Prior to joining HealthPartners, she practiced law and served as the assistant commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Health, where she was a leader in the public policy development of MinnesotaCare. She currently serves on the boards of directors for the Metropolitan Minneapolis YMCA, the Minneapolis Downtown Council, and the Citizens League. Accolades include CityBusiness’ “40 Under 40 business leader recognition award in 1998 and recognition by the Health Care Forum as an “International Emerging Leader in Health Care” in 1999.