Speakers

Mark Skousen, Ph. D., is a professional economist, investment expert, university professor, and author of over 25 books.  He earned his doctorate in 1977 in economics from George Washington University. In 2014, he was appointed a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University in California, where he received “My Favorite Professor Award.”

In 2018, Steve Forbes presented him with the Triple Crown in Economics for his work in theory, history and education. He has the unique distinction of having worked for the government (CIA), non-profits (president of FEE), and several for-profit companies. In 2004-05, he taught economics and finance at Columbia Business School and Columbia University. He has also taught economics, finance and business at Barnard, Mercy and Rollins colleges, and Chapman University.

Since 1980, Skousen has been editor in chief of Forecasts & Strategies, a popular award-winning investment newsletter (www.markskousen.com), He was analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency, a columnist to Forbes magazine, chairman of Investment U, and past president of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) in New York. He is the editor of his own website, www.mskousen.com, and is the producer of FreedomFest, “the world’s largest gathering of free minds,” which meets every July in Las Vegas (www.freedomfest.com).  He has written for the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Journal of Economic Perspectives, and has made regular appearances on CNBC and C-SPAN Book TV.

His economics works include The Structure of Production (NYU Press), The Making of Modern Economics (Routledge), Economic Logic (Capital Press), and EconoPower (Wiley & Sons). His investment books include Investing in One Lesson (Capital Press), and The Maxims of Wall Street (Eagle Publishing). In 2006, he and his wife Jo Ann compiled and edited The Compleated Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin (Regnery). His latest book is A Viennese Waltz Down Wall Street: Austrian Economics for Investors (LFB Publishers).

Based on his work The Structure of Production, the federal government began publishing in Spring 2014 a broader, more accurate measure of the economy, Gross Output (GO), every quarter along with GDP.

He and his wife Jo Ann have lived in Washington, DC; Nassau, the Bahamas; London, England; Orlando, Florida; New York, New York; and North Tustin, California.  They have five children, and seven grandchildren.

Mark Skousen attributes much of his success in life to his partnership with his wife, Jo Ann, whom he married in 1973. Currently, associate editor of Forecasts & Strategies, she co-authored of several of his investment books, managed their home-based publishing business for several years, and is associate producer of FreedomFest. She is also the family travel manager, having decided three times that they should take advantage of sudden opportunities to move abroad: first to the Bahamas, then to London, and most recently to New York, all with less than a month’s notice.

Jo Ann learned the principles of money management at an early age when her parents put her in charge of their household budget at the age of 14. Those principles of hard work, frugality, saving, and debt avoidance eventually formed the foundation of the Skousens’ best-selling book, High Finance on a Low Budget. Jo Ann is also the former editor of Money Letter for Women, a newsletter directed at the particular needs and interests of women entering the investment world

In 1993 Jo Ann completed her graduate degree in English Literature and began teaching at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where the Skousens raised their five children on beautiful Lake Virginia. She taught English writing and literature at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York, just 20 miles north of Manhattan on the Hudson River, and served as a co-director of the Learning Center. She also taught in Mercy’s degree-seeking program for inmates at Sing Sing prison, where she has met the most dedicated and hardworking students of her career. Currently, Jo Ann teaches English literature and writing at Chapman University in Orange County, California.

An avid fan of all genres of fiction, Jo Ann spends much of her free time at Broadway shows and in darkened movie theaters. “Fiction provides a profound way to tell a true story,” she says. As the entertainment editor of Liberty magazine, she reviews movies, books and plays each month, using them as an opportunity to discuss human nature, philosophy, and current issues.

Jo Ann is also the founding director of the Anthem Libertarian Film Festival, the world’s only film festival dedicated to supporting filmmakers who create short and full length documentaries and narrative films with libertarian themes. The film festival is held every July in Las Vegas as part of FreedomFest, an annual non-partisan libertarian conference, of which Jo Ann is also a co-producer.

While the Skousens have collaborated successfully in the business world, they consider their family of five children and three grandsons to be their most important collaboration. Jo Ann has lived the philosophy espoused in her favorite quotation, “No success can compensate for failure in the home,” by being a full-time mom while working as a part-time business partner, writer, student, and eventually teacher. . She is justifiably proud of their children’s success in their chosen professions as a dancer, filmmaker, history professor, copy writer, and figure skater, and looks forward to seeing what they will do next.

Shawn is the Executive Director of the Lied Center for Real Estate and Associate Professor of Real Estate and Economics at UNLV’s Lee Business School. At Lied, he is responsible for leading the Lied Center’s mission to train, mentor and place students in the commercial real estate profession.

As a researcher, he specializes in the fields of real estate and housing economics, statistics and geographic information systems publishing extensively in the world’s highest ranked journals in his fields. Distinguished as a Lincoln Institute Scholar by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and in addition to his work that is featured frequently in local, national and international media, he has testified as an expert in real estate analytics and global climate risks to governments and public agencies spanning 39 different countries.

Steve Hawks received his real estate license in 1998. Steve finished in the top 1% 14 years in a row and received the Five Star Best in client satisfaction.

He has sold over 3000 homes. Steve can also be seen by millions of people on CNBC, FOX Business News, The Wall Street Journal, ABC World News, Business Week and several other national and local media companies regarding the Las Vegas real estate and global market.

He also spoke in Washington DC with the Dept of Treasury and major financial institutions on economic and real estate conditions.

Sean is the active co-author of the McConnell principles of economics textbook as well as the solo author of Economics for Dummies. 

Trained in behavioural finance he currently serves as the Chairman of the Economics Department at
Scripps College in Claremont, California.

His most recent book deals with healthcare reform and is titled, The Cure that Works—How to Have the World’s Best Healthcare at a Quarter of the Price. 

Sean is busy outside of his focus on Finance/Economics & has coached five students to national championships in the Japanese martial art of Aikido

Ira Victor has spent more than 25 years as a digital first
responder. He’s been called to work on cases involving contract disputes, embezzlement, medical malpractice, real estate fraud – even homicide. In recent years ransomware attacks have also occupied his time. 

Ira frequently serves as an expert in litigation. He’s advised Nevada legislators on data security, and helped craft a statute that offers market incentives for
stronger security, rather than increasing government red tape. He is a long-time independent investor, patent holder, and technology start-up founder.

Jim Woods is a 30-plus-year veteran of the markets with varied experience as a broker, hedge fund trader, financial writer, author and newsletter editor.

He’s the editor and investment director of Successful Investing, Bullseye Stock Trader, High Velocity Options, and The Deep Woods e-Letter (Jim also co-directs the Fast Money Alert trading service, alongside Dr. Mark Skousen.)

The independent firm TipRanks has rated Jim the #1 financial blogger in the world (out of more than 1,400 competing analysts), and has been ranked inside the Top 12 globally for more than a decade.

His books include co-authoring, “Billion Dollar Green: Profit from the Eco Revolution,” and “The Wealth Shield: How to Invest and Protect Your Money from Another Stock Market Crash, Financial Crisis or Global Economic Collapse.”

His Top Pick was the #1 Performing Stock out of 120 in the MoneyShow’s 2022 Top Pro’s’ Top Picks Report. His pick led the way out of the picks of the nation’s leading financial experts

His articles have appeared on many leading financial websites, including StockInvestor.com, InvestorPlace.com, Main Street Investor, MarketWatch, Street Authority, Human Events and many others.

Jim formerly worked with Investor’s Business Daily founder William J. O’Neil, helping to author training courses in the CANSLIM stock-picking methodology.

He is known in professional and personal circles as “The Renaissance Man,” because his expertise includes such varied fields as composing and performing music; Western horsemanship, combat marksmanship, martial arts, auto racing and bodybuilding.

Jim holds a BA in philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is a former U.S. Army paratrooper. A self-described “radical for capitalism,” he celebrates the virtue of making money from his Southern California horse ranch.

Josh Effron has over fourteen years of experience as an immigration attorney and is fluent in English, Spanish, and Hebrew.

He is a member of the State Bar of California and represents clients throughout the world in all types of U.S. immigration cases, from visas to Green Cards and citizenship, to Immigration Court.

He is also a frequent guest speaker on various immigration-related topics and has written articles about immigration law in legal journals.