Chris Oakley

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta


Chris Oakley is vice president and coordinating regional executive of the Bank’s Regional Economic Information Network (REIN). In this role he serves as the lead regional executive, assuming responsibility for coordinating the REIN strategic plan, outputs, and talent pipeline for the Sixth District. He also works with the Research director to determine REIN engagements and priorities, consolidate inputs from the REIN team for monetary policy deliberations, and provide guidance to the REIN team on performing their
responsibilities.

He is responsible for the Jacksonville Branch’s board of directors and the District’s Advisory Council on Trade and Logistics and provides regional input into the Atlanta Fed’s monetary policy process

Outside of the Bank, he is involved in a number of activities, including having roles on the Florida Council on Economic Education, the Disability: IN First Coast, and the JaxUSA Partnership. He is a member of the Leadership Jacksonville Class of 2010.

He joined the Jacksonville Branch in 1988 as a management intern in the Cash Services Department and has held various management positions, including operational and administrative oversight in cash services, payment services, and human resources. Mr. Oakley was promoted to financial services director in 1992 and then to assistant vice president in 1996. He was named assistant branch manager in 1997, vice president and branch manager in 2002, vice president and regional executive in 2007, and was previously responsible for branch support services, law enforcement, cash services, check processing, and check adjustments.

A native of Hendersonville, North Carolina, and raised in Dalton, Georgia, Mr. Oakley received his bachelor’s degree in management and a certificate in industrial and organizational psychology from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has also participated in the executive education curriculum at the University of Virginia and the Federal Reserve System’s Senior Officer Development program

Omar Nashishibi

The Franklin Partnership


Omar Nashashibi is a Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist and strategic consultant. Omar uses his over twenty years’ experience lobbying in our nation’s capital and contacts developed with government officials to help clients navigate the challenges and risks of public policy actions and how they impact a business or industry. Omar works with manufacturers, producers, distributors, and others to identify vulnerabilities in the supply chain and risks to customers caused by the imposition of tariffs or new trade agreements while also providing real time analysis of how new regulations and laws on taxes, OSHA, EPA, and others could cause disruptions or create opportunities.

Omar represents small and middle market businesses, hospitals, municipalities, non-profits, and others promoting their interests before the U.S. Congress, White House, and countless federal agencies and departments. Omar is able to use the real time intelligence he gathers from top decisionmakers in Washington to help clients develop a strategic plan to minimize risk and maximize opportunities. Whether working with senior executives to create a long-term growth strategy to assisting a company’s sales team to minimize vulnerabilities in their production and distribution process, Omar’s experience working with top policymakers and industry leaders is matched by few inside, or outside, Washington, D.C. 

Having worked with five Presidential administrations, with policymakers, politicians, and the media, he helps position clients to stay ahead of the competition by providing insight directly from the nation’s capital few others can. Prior to entering full time consulting in 2005, Omar worked for the Office of Management and Budget, part of the White House, a large multi-state law firm, and a non-profit public policy foundation. Omar graduated from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where he studied Political Science and International Affairs.

John Guzik

The Franklin Partnership


John Guzik is a founding partner of the Franklin Partnership with over 20 years of Capitol Hill and campaign experience. Previously, John served as Chief of Staff for Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp.  He was the top legislative strategist working on tax, trade, health care, transportation and agriculture issues.  John also works closely with the Senate Finance Committee on health care, tax, trade, and many other issues important to his clients.

John has a diverse clientele including physicians, hospitals, manufacturers, defense contractors, Native American tribes, non-profit groups, and municipalities. John’s clients have testified before Congress and various federal agencies. He has worked extensively building coalitions of like-minded organizations to further his client’s legislative goals. John also specializes in securing economic development and R&D federal funding for his clients, through grants and congressional projects. Throughout his career, John worked with members of Congress, the House and Senate Appropriations Committee and his clients to secure more than $40 million in federal appropriations for economic development purposes. Since entering the private sector, John has developed vital relationships with the Executive Branch, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Office of the US Trade Representative, Departments of Interior, Treasury, Commerce, and Health and Human Services as well as the Army Corps of Engineers. In addition, John develops and implements comprehensive legislative and contribution strategies, to further expand his client’s political footprint in Washington.

Larry J. Sabato

University of Virginia Center for Politics


Dr. Larry Sabato is a New York Times bestselling author, recipient of four Emmy awards, and one of the nation’s most respected political analysts. He is the author or editor of more than two dozen books on American politics, including the editor and lead author of the recent book, A Return to Normalcy?, which examines the 2020 election, the aftermath, and how these events will impact American politics moving forward, and The Blue Wave, which explores the 2018 election and its outcome. Dr. Sabato appears multiple times per week on national and international news including CNN, BBC, and CNN International. A Rhodes Scholar, Dr. Sabato is the founder and director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, and has had visiting appointments at Oxford and Cambridge universities in England. He has taught over 20,000 students in his career, and the University of Virginia has given him its highest honor, The Thomas Jefferson Award. In 2020-21, Sabato is celebrating his 50th year of association with the University of Virginia. 

Dr. Sabato is exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, and provides expert knowledge of what is coming down the pike politically, prepares audiences for the changing of the guard in Washington and across the nation, and showcases how politics and the American voting psyche come together to produce our nation’s next batch of leaders. 

Professor Sabato heads up Sabato’s Crystal Ball, which has won numerous awards. The Pew Charitable Trust recognized the Crystal Ball as the #1 leader in the field of political prediction, and The Daily Beast designated it as one of the top political sites on the web. A thorough statistical analysis of all 2018 prognosticators found that the Crystal Ball was the best (Nate Silver of 538.com was second). Harvard Politics just named the Crystal Ball as #1 in predicting the Electoral College in 2020, getting 49 of 50 states correct as well as the two separate congressional districts that have one electoral vote each (NE-2 and ME-2): “While crystal balls may not exist in real life, Larry Sabato’s editorial team might be the next best thing.” 

Dr. Sabato has received four Emmys for the PBS television documentaries “Out of Order,” which highlights the dysfunctional U.S. Senate, “The Kennedy Half-Century,” which examines the life, assassination, and lasting legacy of President John F. Kennedy, “Feeling Good About America,” which looks at the 1976 presidential election, and “Charlottesville,” which looks at the events in the titular city during August 11 and 12, 2017.

Jack Buffington

Supply Chain Management


Jack Buffington is the Program Director/Professor for the Supply Chain Management program at the University of Denver, and the Director of the Supply Chain and Sustainability practices for First Key Consulting, a global consulting firm in the brewing industry.  Prior, Jack held various leadership roles in manufacturing and supply chain for Molson Coors.  Buffington received a Ph.D. in Supply Chain Management from Lulea University of Technology in Lulea, Sweden, and a Post-Doc at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.  Jack has published over twenty peer-reviewed journal articles and seven non-fiction business books, winning various awards.  His next book releases are “Reinventing Supply Chain: A 21st Century Covenant for America” (Georgetown University Press, April 2023), and “21st Century Sustainability: Economic Growth and a Green Planet by 2050” (Rowman & Littlefield, April, 2024).

Alex Chausovsky

Bundy Group

 Alex Chausovsky is a highly experienced market researcher and analyst with more than twenty years of expertise across subjects including economics, industrial manufacturing, automation, talent and workforce issues, and advanced technology trends. For the last two decades, he has consulted and advised companies throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia, and his insights and analysis have been featured on NPR, the BBC, and in the Wall Street Journal.

 

Alex has delivered hundreds of keynote presentations and webinars to small businesses, trade associations, and Fortune 500 companies across a spectrum of industries. He is currently overseeing a suite of analytics products focused on talent for the Miller Resource Group. Alex is also consulting with companies to help them become better at attracting, hiring, and retaining the impact players in their industry.

Anne Smart

Generation6 Advisor

All of Anne’s personal and professional roads led to her work with business owning families.

Anne grew up in Iowa in a large extended family and married into a mid-market, second generation family business, where her son holds a leadership role.  She began her career in financial services marketing and transitioned into a ten-year career in higher education advancement where she discovered her love of helping others develop their professional potential.

Her career path includes executive and career coaching before she joined the Loyola Family Business Center in 2009.  The values of family unity, the importance of community and respect for family businesses economic and societal impact became the foundation for her career in family business.  

Anne worked with middle market, multigenerational family business at the Loyola Family Business Center Chicago for 13 years, becoming director in 2019 until her retirement from Loyola in November 2022.  Her extensive work with family businesses includes mentoring and coaching individuals, family owners and stakeholders and developing family education supports and processes. She has supported the development and execution of Loyola’s Family Business Institutes, led the peer group program, and provided coaching and advising to family members and other stakeholders in the membership. 

Through her consulting work, she has helped large family businesses perpetuate sustainability and growth for their enterprises and the families that own and operate them. Anne is certified in TMP, Hogan, LVI assessments, and holds a certificate in Family Business Advising from FFI. She has a BA in Communications from St. Xavier University and completed additional graduate coursework in organizational behavior at Benedictine University. She has four young adult children and lives with her husband in a suburb of Chicago, IL.