Pub. 5 2015 Issue 2

Barbara Bennett, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Chris Camacho, Greater Phoenix Economic Council President Mike Kelly of Harland Clarke and Darrin Quillen of Synergy by Association Jim Glassman, Chase Bank Economist and Keynote Speaker with Curtis Reed, Chase Bank Arizona/Nevada Market Manager once again showed their support for the AzBA by providing all the recent updates on the ever important topic of anti-deficiency. The new President of GPEC (Greater Phoenix Economic Council), Chris Camacho, gave an enlightening and quite positive road map on job growth in Phoenix and an analysis of how “we” compare to major U.S. cities. We ended the first day with a quantitative and qualitative analysis of banking on a national level from Jef- ferson Harrelson of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW). The highpoint of the entire conven- tion (besides the fun comradery at the cocktail parties and dinners) was the Tuesday morning session comprised of two well-known and highly revered economists. We were graced with a rather dynamic duo: Doug Holtz- Eakin, President of American Action Forum and Former Director of The Congressional Budget Office; and Dr James Glassman, Senior Economist for JPMorgan Chase and Co. While Glass- man gave insights on economic growth opportunities, Holtz-Eakin stressed the instability of federal budget deficits. “The speakers were terrific,” com- mented Gerrit van Huisstede, Regional President of Wells Fargo Bank. “The choice in speakers and the pace of the program was excellent,” noted Craig Robb, Vice President at National Bank of Arizona. “…all round top notch con- vention. Everything was exceptional,” stated Associate Member, Julie Rystad of Gallagher and Kennedy. We want to, once again, sincerely thank all our sponsors. Without their support there would not be an Annual Convention. The AzBA and all member banks value your commitment to the Arizona banking industry. w n Annual Convention — continued on page 16 15 SPRING 2015