Dr. Gary Adams

Vice President of Economic and Policy Analysis, National Cotton Council of America

Dr. Gary Adams serves as the NCC’s Vice President of Economic and Policy Analysis. His responsibilities include economic outlook for global cotton markets, as well as analyzing the impacts of farm and trade policies as they relate to the U.S. cotton industry.

Adams also represents the cotton industry on USDA’s Advisory Committee on Trade and the USDA/NASS Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics. Prior to joining the Council in 2002, Dr. Adams spent 13 years with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI), located at the University of Missouri.

Adams has B.S. and M.A. degrees in Applied Mathematics from the University of Alabama and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri.

Adams and his wife, Carol, have four children.

Jeff Thredgold

Economic Futurist; President, Thredgold Economic Associates; and Author, econAmerica

Economic futurist Jeff Thredgold has been helping people understand the tangled maze of the economy and financial markets for over three decades. With a unique ability to "cut though the fluff," he leads his audience on a slightly irreverent, up-to-the-minute "tour" of the economy, financial markets, education, government and a sneak preview of the future.

Thredgold is president of Thredgold Economic Associates, an economic consulting and professional speaking company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is the only economist in the world to have ever received the international designation of CSP, or Certified Speaking Professional, the highest earned designation in professional speaking. He has spoken more than 1,500 times during the past 22 years, traveling more than two million miles in the process.

His latest book, econAmerica, was released by major publisher Wiley & Sons. In econAmerica, Thredgold explains in detail the four key factors, or Silver Bullets, that will drive the American economy for years to come.

Customizing his remarks specifically to the industry or group that he is addressing, he can present whatever length program is desired, from 30 minutes to four hours, and will always finish according to your schedule, not his. He uses humor to keep things light, while also providing a great deal of substance for audience members.

He has served the past 14 years as economic consultant to $55 billion Zions Bancorporation, which has banks in 10 states. His career also includes 23 years with $100 billion banking giant KeyCorp, where he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Economist.

He is a member of five national forecast panels, including Blue Chip Financial Forecasts and those of USA TODAY and The Associated Press. Thredgold has appeared dozens of times on CNBC-TV…the nation’s business network, as well as numerous appearances on CNN.

Thredgold has been writing a weekly economic and financial newsletter, now titled The Tea Leaf, for 36 years. He is the monthly economic columnist for Business Issues, one of Asia’s newest business publications.

In addition to econAmerica, he is the author of Economy by Thredgold, A Parent's Letter to My Children in School and On The One Hand…The Economist’s Joke Book. The company also produces quarterly economic reports and a monthly small business index for various clients.

He served as an adjunct professor of finance at the University of Utah for 16 years and served as President of the National Association for Business Economics Utah Chapter. He is a former member of the Economic Advisory Committee of the American Bankers Association and the Economic Policy Committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Luke Williams

Professor of Innovation and Design, New York University Stern School of Business; Fellow, Frog Design; and Author, Disrupt: Think the Unthinkable to Spark Transformation in Your Business

Luke Williams is an internationally recognized authority on Innovation Leadership. He is a Fellow at Frog, one of the world's most influential innovation companies, and Professor of Innovation at NYU’s Stern School of Business. He has worked with industry leaders like American Express, GE, Sony, Crocs, Virgin, Disney, and Hewlett-Packard, to create breakthrough product, service and business model solutions. Williams has been invited to speak worldwide, and his views have been featured in BusinessWeek, Fast Company, The Atlantic, and The Wall Street Journal. He is the author of Disrupt: Think the Unthinkable to Spark Transformation in Your Business (FT Press, 2011).