Patrick S. Duffy, Founder and Managing Principal, MetroIntelligence
Patrick Duffy is the Founder of MetroIntelligence and has forged the various alliances with the firm's partners in the fields of economics, finance and data collection. For over 20 years, Patrick has consulted on over $50 billion of various development projects throughout North America with the country's leading market research firms, homebuilders, land developers, investors and lenders on residential, mixed-use, commercial and industrial projects. He has also written extensively on real estate issues for The Los Angeles Times, Builder & Developer magazine, Inman News, Multi-Housing News, California Builder magazine, The Housing Chronicles Blog and various titles published by local BIA groups.
As a Managing Director of Consulting with Hanley Wood Market Intelligence (formerly The Meyers Group), he was instrumental in a statewide alliance with the California Building Industry Association which included monthly press releases and analysis on statewide housing trends.
Prior to that he was a Vice President of Consulting with MarketPointe Realty Advisors and has also worked with The Concord Group, Robert Charles Lesser & Co. and managed the internal market research activities for a public homebuilder with operations in California, Arizona and Nevada.
As an expert on real estate markets, he has been frequently quoted by the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and the Los Angeles Times as well as many other newspapers throughout the U.S. He has also been featured on American Public Media's Marketplace, KTIE NewsTalk AM590, local news programs on K-CAL9 and ABC7 in Los Angeles and twice on "L.A. Business Today," a TV news program broadcast by the City of Los Angeles.
As a speaker he has presented at the International Builders Show, PCBC, BIS, Big Builder, the Great Valley Conference, UCLA Extension, First American Title's Real Estate and Economic Outlook Conference Series, Hanley Wood Market Intelligence's Executive Housing Seminar and various BIA Chapter events.
In late 2007 he launched The Housing Chronicles Blog, which is currently featured on sites produced by Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Forbes magazine, CNN, The Washington Post, the Chicago Sun-Times and is also part of the Demand Media network.
Heidi Gothard, Senior Consultant, MetroIntelligence
With over 15 years of experience as an independent real estate research consultant for residential developers, market research firms and investors, Heidi Gothard has worked on many large-scale projects and master plans throughout the southwestern United States. Prior to joining MetroIntelligence, Heidi worked with other regional consulting firms including MetroStudy, The Meyers Group (now Hanley Wood Market Intelligence), MarketPointe Realty Advisors, Real Estate Economics, and Market Profiles as well as directly for builders and developers including Pulte Homes, Western Pacific Housing (now part of D.R. Horton), Playa Vista LLC and The Irvine Company.
As a Marketing Research Manager for the Irvine Company, Heidi led a team of analysts to offer pricing recommendations for existing and future projects on the Irvine Ranch to use in various pro-formas critical for land sale negotiations, oversaw the in-house databases and provided all aspects of housing research (including both new construction and resale data) to the senior management team.
Heidi also brings an extensive background in technology to each consulting assignment, having served as a Client and Industry Relations Manager for Cox Communications to create some of the country's first wired broadband communities -- including high-speed Internet access, digital telephone and digital television -- for the master-planned communities Ladera Ranch and Newport Coast.
Christopher Thornberg, Principal and Co-Founder, Beacon Economics
Christopher Thornberg is a founding partner of Beacon Economics. Dr. Thornberg is an expert in the study of regional economies, real estate dynamics, labor markets and business forecasting. He has been involved in a number of special studies measuring the impact of important events on the economy, including the NAFTA treaty, the California power crisis, port security, California water transfer programs and the September 11th terrorist attacks.
Prior to launching Beacon he worked with the UCLA Anderson Forecast where he regularly authored the outlooks for California, Los Angeles and the East Bay as well as performing a number of specialized forecasts for regions and industries. Dr. Thornberg lectures on a regular basis at a variety of public and private events, has appeared on CNN, Fox News and CNBC and is widely quoted in the press.He received his Ph.D in Business Economics from The Anderson School and his B.S. in Business Administration from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He specializes in International and Labor Economics. Dr. Thornberg continues to teach in the MBA program in the new Rady School of Business at UCSD and previously held a faculty position in the economics department at Clemson University.
Brad Kemp, Director of Regional Research, Beacon Economics
Brad Kemp is director of regional research at Beacon Economics. A well-known expert on California labor markets, Mr. Kemp has amassed singular expertise in the collection, reliability, and applicability of labor market statistics in the state.
At Beacon, he specializes in working with clients to define their research questions and deliver customized analyses that meet individual needs. With a keen understanding of the state’s regional diversity, he develops and authors Beacon Economics’ Regional Intelligence Reports, customized research briefs that help local leaders understand the key components, trends, and emerging issues facing their regional economies.
A sought-after speaker, Mr. Kemp regularly presents on the economic conditions that affect local markets at conferences and meetings across the state. He is known for his ability to explain complex economic concepts - including the events that have lead to the current downturn - in easy-to-understand and entertaining language. He is a trusted media source and is widely quoted in major California dailies such as the Los Angeles Times and The Press Enterprise, and on radio and television in Southern California.
Prior to joining Beacon Economics, Mr. Kemp was a labor research analyst for the California Employment Development Department (EDD). He was responsible for releasing the monthly employment estimates and unemployment rate for Los Angeles County, and worked on special reports that detailed the effects of major events, such as the Southern California wildfires, on regional labor markets.
Mr. Kemp is also a veteran who served with distinction for six years in the U.S. Navy, where he focused on electronics, computers, and weapons systems. He graduated at the top of his class in each of the Naval schools he attended, and developed discipline, leadership, and attention to detail while serving his country. He received his B.A. in Communication from the University of Delaware.
Jordan Levine, Director of Economic Research, Beacon Economics
Mr. Levine specializes in forecasting key economic indicators such as real output, employment, demographics, home prices, consumer spending, and new construction. He has extensive background and experience analyzing the national economy including gross domestic product, international trade, the money, credit and banking sectors, employment and labor force, and real estate markets.
Prior to joining Beacon Economics, Mr. Levine was an analyst with Quant Economics Inc., where he studied and predicted the economic effects alleged in business disputes for a wide variety of clients. Projects he managed while at Quant helped to discover hundreds of millions in monetary damages for his clients.
Mr. Levine’s academic background includes an emphasis in international trade, monetary economics, and micro/macroeconomic analysis. His research on the manufacturing industry resulted in an innovative technique to measure the effect of global trade on U.S. employment. He is a member of the American Economics Association, the Econometrics Society, and the National Association of Business Economics.
Mr. Levine holds an M.A. in International Economics with Merit from the University of Sussex and a B.A. in Business Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.