Do you want to know what the Federal Reserve Bank does? Are you passionate about reducing economic inequality? Or are you curious about monetary policy? If so, book a Fed expert to speak to your group and share insights on these and many other related topics. We welcome the opportunity to share our expertise with civic groups, nonprofits, academic institutions, businesses, and professional and trade associations in the Ninth District.
Select a topic of interest or browse a list of our speakers and complete our request form (see restrictions here, including some dates).
Due to the number of speaking requests that President Kashkari receives, we ask that you first consider our Speakers Bureau of other Minneapolis Fed leaders and experts who may be able participate in your event. If you would still like to proceed with an invitation, please visit his speaking request page.
First Vice President
Ron J. Feldman
Ron Feldman is first vice president and chief operating officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, where he leads Bank operations, including finance and budgeting, strategic planning, workforce and talent development, and performance against strategic objectives. Read Ron's full profile.
Topics: Bank regulation and oversight | Monetary policy | Too Big to Fail
Senior Vice President, Supervision, Regulation, and Credit
Christine Gaffney
Christine Gaffney is a senior vice president for Supervision, Regulation, and Credit. She oversees the consumer and safety and soundness supervision of state member banks and bank holding companies in the Ninth District. She is also responsible for the Bank’s lending to Ninth District depository institutions and for managing the resulting credit risk. Read Christine's full profile.
Topics: Bank regulation and oversight
Director, Regional Outreach
Erick Garcia Luna
Erick Garcia Luna is a Regional Outreach director at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Before joining the Fed, he was the director of community and local government relations at the University of Minnesota. Prior to that, he served as senior policy aide for Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges and as outreach director for U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar. He was also director of economic development for the Northeast Community Development Corp. in Minneapolis, where he worked directly with business owners, providing them with technical assistance.
Erick studied economics at the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana in Mexico City and obtained his degree in economics from the University of Minnesota.
Read Erick's full profile.Topics: Economic inequality and opportunity | History & Functions of the Federal Reserve | Regional economy
Senior Policy Analyst, Community Development and Engagement
Ben Horowitz
Ben Horowitz works on policy development efforts in Community Development and Engagement. Ben identifies and investigates interventions that can support the economic well-being of low- and moderate-income households. His work focuses on early childhood development, affordable housing, and other priorities within the department. Ben worked for a labor union and in the nonprofit sector before coming to the Bank. Read Ben's full profile.
Topics: Community & economic development | Economic inequality and opportunity
Vice President, Director of Center for Indian Country Development
Casey Lozar
Casey Winn Lozar is a Minneapolis Fed vice president and director of our Center for Indian Country Development (CICD), a research and policy institute that works to advance the economic self-determination and prosperity of Native nations and Indigenous communities. Before assuming leadership of CICD, Casey was assistant vice president/outreach executive in the Bank’s department of Public Affairs, and the leader of our Helena Branch. A Montana native, Casey was raised on the Flathead Indian Reservation and is an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Read Casey's full profile.
Topics: Center for Indian Country Development | Community & economic development | Regional economy
Director, Regional Outreach
Joe Mahon
Joe Mahon is a regional outreach director. Prior to that, he served as a regional economist and as a staff writer and analyst for Bank publications The Region and fedgazette. Mahon’s primary responsibilities involve tracking several sectors of the Ninth District economy—an area that covers Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Montana, and portions of Wisconsin and Michigan—for the Fed. Sectors he follows closely include agriculture, manufacturing, energy, and mining. He holds degrees in economics and journalism from the University of Minnesota. Read Joe's full profile.
Topics: History & Functions of the Federal Reserve | National economy | Regional economy
Vice President, Research
Benjamin A. Malin
Ben Malin is a senior economist in the Bank’s Research Division. In this role, he conducts independent research and advises the Bank’s president on monetary policy and related matters. Prior to coming to the Bank, Malin was an economist at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Read Benjamin's full profile.
Topics: History & Functions of the Federal Reserve | Monetary policy | National economy
Assistant Vice President, Regional Outreach and Public Programs
Karmi Anna Mattson
Karmi is responsible for the Bank’s outreach and public education programs across the Ninth District. In this role, Karmi oversees regional economic data gathering, production of the Beige Book, the Bank’s facility tour program, and public events, such as the Bank’s Minnesota State Fair booth, Doors Open, and other forms of community engagement. Read Karmi Anna's full profile.
Topics: History & Functions of the Federal Reserve
Assistant Vice President, Community Development and Engagement
Ryan Nunn
Ryan leads applied research in Community Development and Engagement. Together with a team of CDE researchers, he looks for opportunities to improve outcomes for low- and moderate-income communities with the help of better evidence and analysis. Before coming to the Bank, Ryan was a fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution and policy director for the Hamilton Project. Read Ryan's full profile.
Topics: Community & economic development | Economic inequality and opportunity | National economy
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
LuAnne Kinney Pederson
LuAnne Kinney Pederson is the Vice President, Assistant General Counsel and Ethics Counsel in the Law Department, responsible for daily management of the Law Department. Her primary areas of practice are employment law and ethics, but she also provides advice on a wide variety of legal issues. In addition to her responsibilities in the Law Department, she serves as the Bank’s Corporate Secretary with responsibility for supporting the Bank’s board of directors and ensuring proper corporate governance of the Bank. LuAnne received her law degree from William Mitchell College of Law (now Mitchell Hamline) and her undergraduate degree from the College of St. Benedict. She resides in Roseville with her husband and three boys and volunteers for a number of community organizations in Roseville and the broader Twin Cities. Read LuAnne's full profile.
Topics: History & Functions of the Federal Reserve
Senior Counsel, Legal Division
Steve Powell
Steve Powell is a senior counsel in the Legal Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Steve’s legal work focuses on contracting, banking supervision and regulation, information technology, and intellectual property. Steve was formerly a manager in the Minneapolis Fed’s Supervision, Regulation, and Credit Division, where he oversaw the regulatory applications, small holding company supervision, and enforcement functions for financial institutions in the Ninth Federal Reserve District. Steve has taught courses on contract drafting and financial regulation as an adjunct law professor at the University of Minnesota Law school. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Minnesota Law School and studied economics and math at St. John’s University.
Topics: History & Functions of the Federal Reserve
Engagement Director, Center for Indian Country Development
Heather Sobrepena
Heather Sobrepena is the engagement director for the Center for Indian Country Development (CICD) based at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. In this role, Heather serves as a key point of contact for tribal governments and Native organizations and individuals seeking to partner with CICD to advance their research and data needs and inform economic policy decisions.
Heather is a citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and a descendant of the Crow Nation. She has 20 years of experience in state government and Native nonprofit economic and workforce development grantmaking and administration, with an emphasis on tribal private sector development. Heather holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Montana and a Bachelor of Applied Science in business from Montana Technological University. She is based in our Helena, Mont., Branch.
Read Heather's full profile.
Topics: Center for Indian Country Development
Senior Community Development Advisor, Community Development and Engagement
Libby Starling
Libby Starling is the Minneapolis Fed’s Community Development and Engagement manager. She is responsible for the Bank’s efforts to promote the economic resilience and mobility of low- to moderate-income individuals and communities across the Ninth Federal Reserve District. Read Libby's full profile.
Topics: Community & economic development | Economic inequality and opportunity
Senior Vice President, Community Development and Engagement
Alene Tchourumoff
Alene Tchourumoff, the senior vice president of Community Development and Engagement, leads the Bank’s engagement with communities throughout the Ninth District to promote economic opportunity for low- and moderate-income people and those living in Indian Country. Key focus areas include early childhood development and affordable housing. Prior to joining the Bank in December 2018, Alene served as chair of Minnesota’s Metropolitan Council. Read Alene's full profile.
Topics: Center for Indian Country Development | Community & economic development | Economic inequality and opportunity | History & Functions of the Federal Reserve
Director, Regional Outreach
Ron Wirtz
Ron Wirtz is a regional outreach director. His primary responsibilities involve tracking current business conditions, with a focus on employment and wages, along with sector-tracking in construction, real estate, consumer spending and tourism. In this role, Ron networks with local businesses in a six-state region, both in person and via various communication channels, and gathers other traditional and nontraditional sources of information to assess current business activity. Ron also gives customized speeches on regional economic activity, and handles advance planning for regular outreach trips to Ninth District communities by Bank President Neel Kashkari. Prior to this role, Ron was the long-time editor of the fedgazette, the Bank’s regional business and economics publication, where he conducted research on such topics as employment trends, health care pricing and consolidation, housing, entrepreneurship, public pensions, income mobility, the Bakken oil boom and other topics. Read Ron's full profile.
Topics: Community & economic development | History & Functions of the Federal Reserve | Regional economy