CONFERENCE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Contributor
- Director of the UC Riverside School of Business Center for Economic Forecasting
- UCR School of Business Center for Economic Forecasting and Development Director
Christopher Thornberg is Director of the UC Riverside School of Business Center for Economic Forecasting and Development and an Adjunct Professor at the School. He founded Beacon Economics LLC in 2006. Under his leadership the firm has become one of the most respected research organizations in California serving public and private sector clients across the United States.
Dr. Thornberg is a contributor to consensus economic forecasts published by the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, the National Association of Business Economists, and the Seidman Research Institute at Arizona State University. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, is an Executive Member of the Central City Association (Los Angeles), and is a member of the California Association for Local Economic Development.
David A. Robinson '79 is a litigation attorney and the executive partner of Holland & Knight's Orange County office. He also serves as the Chair for the UCR School of Business Dean's Advisory Council. Mr. Robinson focuses his practice on complex business trials and arbitrations, as well as shareholder derivative actions.
Mr. Robinson is experienced as lead counsel in complex business trials and arbitrations and has appeared as counsel in more than 10 states. He has successfully prosecuted and defended numerous trade secrets, unfair competition, corporate governance, shareholder derivative, patent and trademark infringement, breach of contract, fraud, false arrest, defamation, product liability, wrongful death, real property, First Amendment, civil and voting rights, wrongful discharge, employment practices, Ponzi schemes, taxation and regulatory actions.
In addition, Mr. Robinson has extensive experience representing clients in shareholder derivative actions, particularly those involving shareholder voting rights, stock buyouts, mergers, acquisitions, corporate control issues and the appointment of provisional corporate directors.
Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Robinson founded and served as the president of a business law firm that focused in trial, appellate, transactional, labor and real estate matters. After completing law school, he interned with the Hon. Joseph R. Grodin of the California Supreme Court.
Job Titles:
- Manager of Sustainable Growth and Development at the UC Riverside School of Business Center for Economic Forecasting
Patrick Adler is Manager of Sustainable Growth and Development at the UC Riverside School of Business Center for Economic Forecasting and Development. He provides guidance on the Center's core projects surrounding workforce development and economic development strategy. In addition to his role at the Center, he is also the Sustainable Growth and Development Manager at Beacon Economics. His current work portfolio includes developing a growth action plan for the City of Industry's manufacturing sector, creating an economic development and revitalization study for the City of San Bernardino, and building an economic development plan that will deliver a roadmap for economic growth in the Walker River Corridor for the County of Lyon, Nevada.
Taner Osman is Manager of Regional and Sub-Regional Analysis at the UC Riverside School of Business Center for Economic Forecasting and Development. Dr. Osman plays a leading role in many of the Center's principal research projects, which currently include developing labor market analyses and industry profiles for a variety of regional economies. He is also a postdoctoral researcher at the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and an instructor in the Department of Urban Planning at the University of California, Los Angeles.