| Business, Financial
The 16th annual Economic Outlook Conference, sponsored by the Sulphur Springs-Hopkins County Economic Development Corporation, will be Dec. 12, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Hopkins County Regional Civic Center. Economist Ray Perryman will be the featured speaker.
Tickets may be purchased for $25 each rom Hopkins County Chamber of Commerce, by calling 903-885-6515 or sending an email to info@hopkinschamber. org. Those planning to attend are asked to RSVP by Dec. 4 for planning purposes. The session includes a catered lunch.
Dr. Ray Perryman is president and CEO of The Perryman Group, an economic research and analysis firm based in Waco.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Baylor University and a PhD in economics from Rice University.
Perryman indicated he always felt that the BS would have been somehow more appropriate for economics. He took his first economics course on a coin flip between economics and psychology. If it had gone the other way, he noted ruefully, there might be some really messed up people in the world.
In addition to his earned degrees, Perryman received an honorary doctorate from the International Institute for Advanced Studies.
Continued from Page 1 Perryman has held numerous academic positions throughout his career, including 10 years as Herman Brown professor of economics and five years as university professor and economist-in-residence at Baylor University, and five years as business economist-in-residence at Southern Methodist University.
He has authored several books and more than 400 academic papers, and served as president of both the Southwestern Economic Association and the Southwestern Society of Economists.
His current academic roles include senior research fellow of the IC2 Institute of the University of Texas and institute distinguished professor of economic theory and method at the International Institute for Advanced Studies.
He lives in Odessa while working in Waco, is the father of five Texans ages 3541 — although some temporarily reside elsewhere, and the grandfather of five.
In the professional arena, Dr. Perryman has authored more than 3,000 trade articles, publishes a subscription forecasting service and a monthly newsletter, writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column, hosts a daily radio commentary, and appears regularly on National Public Radio. His firm engages in a broad range of complex projects for major corporate and governmental interests and has served the needs of more than 3,000 clients, including 12 cabinet departments, over half of the Fortune 100, twothirds of the Global 25, and the 12 largest technology firms, six largest energy companies, and the five largest financial institutions in the world. In his words, he is an obsessive-compulsive workaholic.
Dr. Perryman has received hundreds of prestigious awards for his academic and professional efforts. He has been named the Outstanding Young Economist and Social Scientist in the US, the Outstanding Young Person in the World in Business and Economic Innovation, one of Ten Outstanding Young Americans and Ten Outstanding Young Persons in the World. He notes that It is highly unlikely that he will ever receive another award with the word “young” in it, or even “middle- aged” for that matter.
He has been honored by The Democracy Foundation for his role in promoting capitalism in China, The Asia and World Institute for promoting international trade and academic exchange, and the Systems Research Foundation for his contributions to the field of economic modeling. He has also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Institute for Advanced Studies. He was skeptical about that one, thinking it was something you received just before you croaked.
He received citations from governments around the world, presidents, governors, Congress, and national and state administrative and legislative bodies, and has been nominated for the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics).
Perryman indicated some of his most gratifying work has been in the field of economic development, where he played a key role in the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs. He stated how pleased he is that, at long last, some of his kids actually hold some of those jobs. He devotes a substantial portion of his time to pro bono efforts, seeking solutions to major social problems such as poverty, hunger, indigent health care, and child maltreatment. He is a past recipient of the Outstanding Texas Leader Award and has been honored by the Texas Legislature for his “tireless efforts in helping to build a better Texas.”
Dr. Perryman was selected as the 2012 Texan of the Year by the Texas Legislative Conference, received the 2013 Baylor University Distinguished Service Medal, was inducted into the Texas Leadership Hall of Fame in 2014, received the 2016 Cesar E. Chavez Legacy Award for his humanitarian efforts, was named the Most Dynamic Economic Researcher in the US in 2018 by Global Business Insights, received the 2019 Chairman’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in Economic Development from the International Economic Development Council, was selected for the 2019 “Go Global” Award from the International Trade Council as the outstanding global economic analyst for his work on trade, energy, the environment, and other international issues, and named the Best Economic Research Service in the US in 2021 by Corp Today Magazine.