SARASOTA, Fla. (Nov. 25, 2019) – Loretta J. Mester, PhD, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, will lead a distinguished lineup of speakers at the Fourth Annual Financial Literacy Day: Understanding Global Markets and Finance, scheduled for Feb. 14, 2020, at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, 8350 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota.

Other featured speakers include Jay Bryson, PhD, managing director and acting chief economist at Wells Fargo Bank; William A. Strauss, senior economic advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago; and Michael McKee, an international economics and politics correspondent on Bloomberg TV and Radio. Cumberland Advisors, the Global Interdependence Center (GIC) and USF Sarasota-Manatee are sponsoring the half-day event.

To register, visit www.interdependence.org/events/browse/fourth-annual-financial-literacy-day.Also featured will be:
Megan E. Greene, senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School
Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research, which produces the DataTrek Morning Briefing on investment and economic news
John R. Mousseau, president, CEO and director of fixed income at Cumberland Advisors
Dave Nadig, managing director of ETF.com, which provides news and analysis about exchange-traded funds Chris Hartshorn, chief commercial officer at risQ, Inc., which models financial risks posed by climate change
Christopher Whalen, chairman of Whalen Global Advisors, LLC, and the author of three books, including, Ford Men: From Inspiration to Enterprise (Laissez Faire Books, 2017)
Eddie Sanchez Jr., DBA, a professor of finance at USF Sarasota-Manatee 
David R. Kotok, chief investment officer and chairman of the board of Sarasota-based Cumberland Advisors, and
USF Sarasota-Manatee Regional Chancellor Karen A. Holbrook, PhD, will offer welcoming remarks.

“This year we plan to deeply discuss credit and debt markets with a worldwide perspective,” Kotok said. “We will examine payments systems, electronic and virtual. And we will hear a keynote from the member of the Federal Open Market Committee. We assembled a blockbuster speaker lineup for the region to hear, question and appreciate.”  Created in March 2017 to promote financial education, Financial Literacy Day is intended as a forum for investors, state and local officials, financial institutions, market analysts, pension trustees, policy makers and members of the general public to learn more about financial markets and economic issues and to pose questions of experts.

The Fourth Annual Financial Literacy Day: Understanding Global Markets and Finance will feature panel discussions focused on two chief topics: the bond market, which will explore categories of debt and debt influences, including budget deficits and central bank quantitative easing; and Real Time Payments (RTP), which will examine digital currencies, including Bitcoin and Libra, and mobile payment services such as Venmo.Mester, who became president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland in June 2014, will deliver the keynote speech. She is a distinguished and widely respected economist who participates on the Federal Open Market Committee in the formation of U.S. monetary policy. She oversees 1,000 employees in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh who conduct economic research, supervise banking institutions and provide payment services to commercial banks and the U.S. government.

For more information about the Fourth Annual Financial Literacy Day: Understanding Global Markets and Finance, including the agenda, speakers and speakers’ biographies, visit www.usfsm.edu/featured-events/financial-literacy-day/index.aspx.To learn more about USF Sarasota-Manatee, visit usfsm.edu.
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