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.