Speakers
Kevin Dempsey is the president and chief executive officer of the American Iron and Steel Institute, a leading advocacy group representing electric arc furnace and integrated American steel producers. He previously served as senior vice president of public policy and general counsel to the Institute during which AISI achieved landmark policy successes on trade, tax and infrastructure, and successfully showcased the steel industry’s sustainability accomplishments and steel innovations in the auto and construction markets.
Dempsey is well known in industry and trade circles, on Capitol Hill and by government officials in the U.S. and globally. He is a regular speaker at industry, policy and media events, and has been featured in dozens of national, regional and trade media, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Reuters, Washington Post, Washington Examiner, Politico, CNBC and CNN, to name a few. Before joining AISI, Dempsey was a partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf where he led numerous international trade cases on behalf of American steel producers and other U.S. industries. He also served as counsel to former U.S. Senator John C. Danforth (R-MO) and the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Dempsey received his Juris Doctor Degree from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Washington University in St. Louis.
Jim Ellis is the creator of the Ellis Insight publication and Senior Political Analyst for the Business-Industry Political Action Committee (BIPAC). He analyzes electoral politics and reports upon trends, characteristics, and tendencies in American elections. As a 35-year veteran of politics at the state and national levels, he specialized in corporate grassroots lobbying, campaign management, and coalition building as President of the Ramhurst Corporation of North Carolina and as a manager of the Public Issues Department of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston-Salem, NC. Additionally, he formerly provided political consulting services to the House Republican majority through 2006, has run two national political action committees, and managed successful political campaigns.
Connor Lokar spoke at the Government Affairs Conference in 2022 and 2023, and presented an economic forecast that was entertaining and surprisingly comprehensible. You won't want to miss his 2024 update.
Few economists present their insights with the authority, accuracy, and humor that Connor brings to the stage, delivering practical economic intelligence with charm and candor. Connor has been giving economic keynotes, workshops, and webinars across North America since he joined ITR Economics in 2014. With his quick wit and knack for storytelling, he successfully educates his audiences while simultaneously captivating them. Thousands of business leaders have enjoyed his dynamic approach; Connor emphasizes the applicability of economic intelligence and calls his audience to action.
When not on stage, Connor contributes his economic expertise in the role of trusted advisor, consulting directly with management teams of firms large and small. ITR’s clients meet with Connor at critical planning junctures to ensure that their strategic plans, goals, and internal initiatives are in alignment with their tailored forecasts. As ITR Economics’ senior forecaster, Connor has a particularly keen understanding of how forecasts are derived. The resulting insights enable clients to make the most of their economic outlooks.
Connor specializes in construction but consults and presents to businesses across all industries, helping them grow revenue and remain profitable through an everchanging business cycle.
Cara Morrow is Senior Advisor for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. With more than two decades of U.S. trade policy expertise and negotiating experience across a wide range of multilateral, regional and bilateral trade issues, Cara Morrow has spent nearly the entirety of her career in U.S. federal government service, beginning as an intern in USTR’s Office of Europe and the Middle East in the summer of 2001. After formally beginning her career at Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA), she joined the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), serving in various roles over 14 years, including Director for Tariff Affairs, Director for Regional Trade Agreements, Deputy Assistant USTR for WTO and Multilateral Affairs, and Acting Assistant USTR for WTO and Multilateral Affairs, and represented the United States at the WTO, OECD and G20. Cara was appointed by the Biden-Harris Administration as Director of Policy at ITA in January 2021, where she successfully negotiated three international steel and aluminum agreements that protected U.S. national security, ensured the continued existence of America’s steel and aluminum industries, and eliminated more than one billion dollars per year in retaliatory tariffs against iconic American brands including Jack Daniels and Harley Davidson. Ms. Morrow grew up in public service as part of a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot family, moving eight times to different U.S. states and countries before graduating high school. She received her B.A. in International Relations from the University of California at Davis and a Master’s Degree in Commercial Diplomacy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Ms. Morrow is married with two sons and lives in Arlington, Virginia.