Jim Hegman has been the director of Minnesota’s unemployment insurance (UI) program since 2019. Prior to that, he served as the deputy program director and director of program performance.

Hegman ran the technology project that delivered the nation’s first fully integrated UI system in 2007 and before that managed adjudication and the UI call center. For most of his 32 years working with UI, he has focused on policy and process analysis with an emphasis on effective program administration and assessing the financial impact of changes in law and policy.

Leonidas Murembya is the state administrator for data analysis and reporting at the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency and an assistant professor of international development in the economics department at Michigan State University.

Murembya has served the State of Michigan as an economist for more than two decades, providing data and analysis to Michigan’s economic and workforce development agencies, including frequent presentations on state economic trends. In his current role with the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency, he manages the data analysis and reporting section and oversees more than 26 reports on unemployment benefits activities. Murembya has also worked on capacity-building efforts in Mali, including training graduate students on data analysis to inform agricultural economic issues.

Murembya received his undergraduate degree in economics and business administration from the National University of Rwanda and his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Michigan State University.

Ryan Nunn leads applied research in Community Development and Engagement at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. His team works to supply policymakers and practitioners with evidence that can inform decision-making and improve outcomes for low- and moderate-income communities.

Before coming to the Bank, Nunn was a fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution and policy director for the Hamilton Project. Prior to that, he was an economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Nunn’s work has focused on analysis of labor market trends and institutions. He has published research in journals including Labour Economics, the European Economic Review, and the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. In 2024, he served as a senior economist at the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Nunn received his undergraduate degree in economics from Case Western Reserve University and his Ph.D. in public policy and economics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Alene Tchourumoff is chief human resources officer of the Human Resources and Inclusion Division, senior vice president of the Learning Management Support Office, and senior vice president of the Community Development and Engagement Division, which includes the Center for Indian Country Development. In these roles she leads the Bank’s internal human resources as well as the Bank’s external engagement with communities throughout the Ninth District, with an emphasis on low- and moderate-income people and those living in Indian Country.

Prior to joining the Bank in December 2018, Tchourumoff served as chair of Minnesota’s Metropolitan Council, where she built strong partnerships with local governments and community groups to advance transit, housing, and other critical infrastructure. She has also held leadership roles in the executive branch of the State of Minnesota and Hennepin County.

Tchourumoff holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from George Washington University School of Business and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Tchourumoff was named a 2020 Women in Business honoree by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal and is chair of the Family Housing Fund Board and a trustee of the Minnesota Science Museum.

Till von Wachter is a professor of economics at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), faculty director of the California Policy Lab’s UCLA site, and director of the Federal Statistical Research Data Center at UCLA.

Von Wachter’s research examines how labor market conditions and institutions affect the well-being of workers and their families, including the role of unemployment insurance and the impact of unemployment and job loss on workers’ long-term earnings and health outcomes. Von Wachter’s research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute on Aging, the U.S. Social Security Administration, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Hilton Foundation, and Arnold Ventures.

Von Wachter has testified before committees of the U.S. Congress and has provided expert assistance to the City and County of Los Angeles, the State of California, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Canadian Labor Ministry, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nations, and the International Monetary Fund.