Sheree Anne is the head of the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) representing more than 10,000 industry professionals worldwide. ACCE serves the community via professional development, innovative problem solving, best practices, and industry thought leadership. Under her leadership, the association has expanded services, grown membership, increased revenue and built dozens of new strategic partnerships.

Previously, Sheree Anne was senior vice president of the Public Affairs Council and executive director of their foundation. During her 16 years at the global association, she served as chief public affairs expert, and oversaw thought leadership, professional development, consulting and benchmarking. During her tenure, she opened the Council’s first international office in Brussels.

Prior roles include positions in government affairs at the National Association of Home Builders, and on the corporate development and corporate relations teams at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Sheree Anne holds an MBA from Georgetown, a Master of Arts in Government from Johns Hopkins and a Bachelor of Arts from Bucknell University. She is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Chamber Committee of 100.

Katy Brooks is the CEO and President of the Bend Chamber of Commerce. Her vision for the chamber is to catalyze an environment where businesses, their employees and the community thrive. The chamber supports a collaborative business environment and leads efforts to resolve on tough issues like the affordable housing and childcare shortage, assisting businesses with resources, and advocating for business at the local and state level.

Katy’s background in economic development, coalition-building and government relations enables her to understand public policies and issues in order to advocate for the businesses of Bend as well as forming partnerships and alliances that support a growing business community.

Her career has included over 20 years working in public affairs and economic development for the ports of Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. She has been a public affairs and strategic planning consultant for public and private organizations in Oregon, Washington and Alaska, and managed community relations for the Oregon Department of Transportation. Katy is a member of the Oregon State Early Learning Council and has served on numerous regional, state and city boards and committees. Prior to coming to Bend, Katy served on the public affairs committee of the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, and the board of directors for the Washington State Business Association.

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden is the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, senior member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and the longest-serving member of the Select Senate Committee on Intelligence. Throughout his time in the Senate, he has been a committed champion for climate action, data privacy, lowering health care costs, and overhauling the tax code to level the playing field for working families.

Always citing the need to “throw open the doors of government,” he holds an open-to-all town hall meeting in each of Oregon’s 36 counties each year. Thus far he has held more than 1,000 meetings. Wyden’s dedication to hearing all sides of an issue and looking for common sense, non-partisan solutions has won him trust on both sides of the aisle.

Wyden began college at the University of California-Santa Barbara where he won a basketball scholarship and played in Division I competition for two seasons before transferring to Stanford University, where he completed his Bachelor’s degree with distinction. He earned his law degree from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1974, after which he taught gerontology and co-founded the Oregon chapter of the Gray Panthers, an advocacy group for the elderly.

Damon Runberg is the Economist at Business Oregon, the State of Oregon’s economic development agency. He supports the statewide economic development goals by tracking and analyzing economic indicators critical to Oregon’s workers and businesses. He also evaluates the effectiveness of Oregon’s economic development strategies and incentives. Prior to working with Business Oregon Damon was a Regional Labor Economist with the Oregon Employment Department for the East Cascades of Oregon for nearly 12 years.

Mike Kingsella is the founder and chief executive officer of Up for Growth, a Washington DC based organization whose mission is to achieve housing equity, eliminate barriers, and create more homes. Mike earned a Bachelor of Science in Community Development and Real Estate Development from the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, and has worked in real estate development and housing policy since 2003.

Tim is the Founder and Chief Economist at Access/Macro, a consultancy dedicated to helping executives and leaders build economic solutions that drive better business decisions. A/M works across industries, helping businesses improve financial forecasts and analysis. They also specialize in crafting proprietary economic research and thought leadership to grow external executive communication and messaging.

Before starting Access/Macro Tim was a senior economist at KPMG where he regularly discussed the economic outlook with executives, Boards, and senior leaders at companies both large and small. He also served as the chief of staff to the President and Chief Operating Officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco—a role that gave him unique insight into how to build strategies and solutions that create impact at the organizational level.

Tim has co-authored articles published by the FRBSF, IMF, and Bloomberg outlets, conducted economic forecasting at the IMF and the Federal Reserve, and has gained a reputation for synthesizing complex economic developments for business and community leaders. His research covers a wide range of topics, but he specializes in inflation and monetary policy. His work is regularly cited in the press and remains influential with policymakers.

Before joining the FRBSF, he was an economist at Bloomberg LP where he appeared on television and radio to discuss economic conditions and the outlook. He has also worked as an economist and analyst at the International Monetary Fund and Citibank in New York.

He has a B.A. in international affairs, a B.S. in economics from George Washington University and an M.A. in Economics from San Diego State University. He is fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese.