Kermit Baker

Senior Research Fellow
Joint Center for Housing Studies

Kermit Baker is a Senior Research Fellow at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, and is the Project Director of the Remodeling Futures Program. This research effort, which began in 1995, is the first comprehensive analysis of U.S. remodeling activity ever undertaken by the Joint Center. Its goal is to develop an improved understanding of the dynamics of the U.S. repair and renovation industry so that businesses can better take advantage of the opportunities that this market offers.

Kermit also is the Chief Economist for the American Institute of Architects in Washington, D.C. In this capacity he analyzes business and construction trends for the U.S. economy, and examines their impact on AIA members and the architectural profession.

Prior to joining the Joint Center, Kermit was vice-president and director of the economics department at Reed Business Information where he was responsible for industry forecasting. During his ten years at Reed Business Information he developed the Top U.S. Construction Market Report and served as editor of the Building and Construction Market Forecast newsletter.

Kermit received his master’s degree in urban planning from Harvard University, and holds a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the same field. In 2006, Kermit was inducted into the National Remodeling Hall of Fame by the National Association of Home Builders

Danielle DiMartino

Financial Analyst
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Danielle DiMartino is a Financial Analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas where she briefs policymakers, researches, writes and speaks about the interaction of the economy and the financial markets. DiMartino speaks to audiences nationwide about the origins of the housing and credit crises. Her current speech focuses on the implications of the interruption of the housing market correction.

Prior to joining the Dallas Fed, DiMartino worked for the Dallas Morning News from 2003 to 2006 as a business columnist. Her daily column on the economy and financial markets, with a particular emphasis on the housing market, gained a global audience.

Before moving to Dallas, DiMartino was a Vice President at Credit Suisse in New York City from 1996 to 2002 where she worked in the fixed income, equity and private equity markets.

DiMartino was a College of Business Scholar at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she earned her BBA. She also holds an MBA in Finance and International Business from the University of Texas at Austin and an MS in Journalism from Columbia University.

DiMartino’s most recent written work is Fed Policy in the Financial Crisis: Arresting the Adverse Feedback Loop. In addition she has written Fed Intervention: Managing Moral Hazard in Financial Crises and From Complacency to Crisis: Financial Risk Taking in the Early 21st Century, co-authored with Dallas Fed Director of Research Harvey Rosenblum, as well as The Rise and Fall of Subprime Mortgages and Fed Confronts Financial Crisis by Expanding its Role as Lender of Last Resort, co-authored with Dallas Fed Senior Policy Advisor, John Duca.

Dinner Speaker

James M. Olson

Born in LeMars, Iowa. B.A. (mathematics and economics), University of Iowa. J.D. (international law), University of Iowa. Member of Iowa Bar. U.S. Navy (attained rank of Lieutenant Commander, USNR).

James Olson was a career officer in the Directorate of Operations of the Central Intelligence Agency, serving mostly overseas in clandestine operations. He served as Chief of Counterintelligence at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. James was the recipient of multiple honors during his tenure at the CIA, including the Intelligence Medal of Merit, the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal, the Counterintelligence Excellence Medal, the Donovan Award, and several other distinguished achievement awards.

James currently works as liaison with the State Department, Treasury Department, FBI, Pentagon, NSC, NSA, DEA, INS, and U.S. Congress. He is also a senior intelligence advisor to several U.S. ambassadors. James is experienced in international affairs, economics, trade negotiations, intelligence support to the military and the law enforcement community, counterintelligence, counterterrorism, counternarcotics, and technical collection systems.

James was assigned by the CIA to the George Bush School of Government and Public Service in College Station, Texas, as an officer-in-residence in December 1997 where he taught courses on Cold War Intelligence, U.S. National Security, and International Crisis Management. Currently, he is a Senior Lecturer and Director of the Certificate in Advance International Affairs Program at Texas A&M University.

Author of "The Ten Commandments of Counterintelligence," Studies in Intelligence (Unclassified Edition), Fall-Winter 2001. Author of Fair Play: The Moral Dilemmas of Spying (Potomac Books, September 2006).