Day One Morning Keynote
8:15am Thursday, November 19

James Chessen
Chief Economist
American Bankers Association

James Chessen is the Chief Economist for the American Bankers Association.  In this capacity, Mr. Chessen oversees two departments:  Economic & Policy Research which monitors the financial performance and condition of the banking industry and studies legislative and regulatory issues as they pertain to the banking industry and the Benchmarking and Survey Research group that conducts primary research and publishes comprehensive industry survey reports to meet members' information needs.

Mr. Chessen writes on banking issues and he appears regularly in the print and broadcast media.  He has also testified before Congress and federal regulatory agencies on economic and banking issues.

Prior to joining the ABA in March 1988, Mr. Chessen worked as a financial economist at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and was an assistant professor of economics at Lake Forest College in Lake Forest, Illinois.

Chessen has a Ph.D. and an MA in Economics from Virginia Tech and a BA from the University of Puget Sound.

Luncheon Address
1:15pm Thursday, November 19
 

Pamela F. Olson
Partner
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Pamela F. Olson is a Partner in the Tax Group at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Ms. Olson formerly was an assistant secretary for tax policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Since rejoining Skadden, Ms. Olson has represented clients in a broad range of matters, including IRS audits, appeals and litigation; congressional investigations; private letter ruling requests and other administrative guidance; and in the submission of comments on proposed regulations. She also has advised clients on tax and social security reform, legislative matters and the structuring of transactions. She is a frequent speaker on tax, economic and federal budget matters and has testified before several congressional committees.

As assistant secretary for tax policy, Ms. Olson had supervisory responsibility for providing the secretary of the treasury with policy analysis and recommendations for all domestic and international issues of federal taxation, including legislative proposals, regulatory guidance, and tax treaties, and for providing the official estimates of all government receipts for the president’s budget and treasury cash management decisions. Ms. Olson held positions with the chief counsel’s office of the Internal Revenue Service as special assistant to the chief counsel, as an attorney-advisor in the Legislation and Regulations Division and as a trial attorney in San Diego District Counsel. In 2000 and 2001, she was the first woman to serve as chair of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation.