Economic Forecast

Description

The Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce the 2025 Economic Forecast scheduled for Friday, April 25th starting at 7:30am.

Join us to the "Drilldown Economic Outlook 2025" -Gain expert insights into the U.S., Connecticut, and Greater Danbury economies with a focus on consumer fundamentals, labor market conditions, and growth prospects. Key topics include inflation, interest rates, demographic trends, regional challenges, and risks to continued expansion in 2025.

Presenting Sponsor - Newtown Savings Bank

Our speaker, (Don Klepper-Smith, Chief Economist and Director of Research, DataCore Partners LLC). Don Klepper-Smith has been a professional economist for over forty years and served as Chairman of Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell’s Economic Advisory Council between 2007 and 2010. He has been a long-time observer of the region's economy, and is regularly quoted by various media sources for his perspective and insights on the domestic and Connecticut economies, being a frequent Economics Commentator on WTNH Television in New Haven, Connecticut.

Don is also a long-time professional researcher, developing and directing strategic planning initiatives on behalf of clients in order to help them make better business decisions.

Between 1982 and 1996, Don was Corporate Economist with Southern New England Telephone in New Haven, providing economic analysis and forecasts of national and state business trends.

Today, Don specializes in evaluating consumer markets, assessing the generators of consumer wealth, while also providing valuable perspective on business conditions as they relate to credit markets and employment growth. A technician by trade, Don's reliable forecasts of the changing U.S. and New England economic landscapes have kept him in demand.

In addition to chairing Governor Rell’s Economic Advisory Council, he also served as an Economic Advisor to the Governor of Connecticut during the Weicker Administration, and is presently an Economic Advisor to Liberty Bank in Middletown, Connecticut.

Don has chaired numerous economic outlook conferences over the last three decades, and has served as President of both the Economic Club of Connecticut and the Hartford Area Business Economists, two organizations which explore economic issues of importance to Connecticut with a focus on business, government and education.

Don earned his Masters Degree in Public Administration from Stony Brook University in New York in 1978, focusing on economics, econometric modeling, statistics and forecasting theory. In 1975, he received his B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Stony Brook University, as well.

Don is now semi-retired and now lives in Hilton Head, South Carolina, with his wife Marcia.