Keynote Speakers

Tessa Conroy is jointly appointed to the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Center for Community and Economic Development with University of Wisconsin-Extension. She earned her PhD in Economics from Colorado State University in 2014. Her research and outreach focus on community economic growth and development with particular emphasis on small business dynamics. Much of her research is used to directly analyze the challenges and opportunities facing the Wisconsin economy. Her reports on women-owned businesses, job creation, entrepreneurship, and labor market trends have been featured in both state and national media, including recently on Wisconsin Public Radio/Television.

Adam Storeygard is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Tufts University. His research interests are in development and urban economics, and particularly in urbanization, transportation, and the economic geography of sub-Saharan Africa. Much of his work uses geographic data, including satellite data. Professor Storeygard's work has appeared in journals including the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Review of Economic Studies, Nature, and the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, and he is currently a co-Editor of Regional Science and Urban Economics.