35th BABC Economic Forecast Luncheon Presented by HSBC (#AELunch2025)

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You’re invited to BABC’s 35th Annual Economic Forecast Luncheon Presented by HSBC - a BABC Flagship Event.

Join us to hear timely insights into the global economy as the incoming Trump Administration begins shaping U.S. economic policy.

Our expert panel will delve into critical economic drivers, including advancements in AI, innovative technologies, and key sectors such as commercial real estate, energy, and manufacturing as well as discuss the policies and priorities likely to emerge under the new Administration and their potential impact on domestic and global markets.

Key topics include:
 

• Changing Policies: What goals with the Trump administration prioritize and how will it address the sometimes conflicting challenges of inflation reduction, investment, taxation, immigration reform.
• Commercial Real Estate: What will drive the commercial real estate market in 2025, what are the prospects for recovery, and how will other sectors be affected?
• Global Relationships: How will changing economic environment  (tariffs, alliances, international agreements, and tensions with China) impact the region’s globally dependent economy and how can businesses respond.
• Economic Indicators: From interest rates to job growth, what data points should businesses and individuals watch for in 2025.   

 

Richard Waters is the West Coast Editor for the Financial Times. His beat covers the technology industry. Before moving to the West Coast, Mr Waters was based in the FT's New York office for nine years. His roles there included Wall Street reporter, New York bureau chief, and the FT's first information industries editor, overseeing global coverage of technology, telecommunications and media. He previously worked at the FT in London where he held a number of positions, including editor of international capital markets, securities industry correspondent and accountancy and taxation correspondent.

Before working for the FT, Mr Waters worked as a reporter and editor for several financial magazines. He also worked for two years at Lloyd's Bank International and lived in Chile, also working as a teacher. In 2004, he was awarded Corporate Finance Reporter of the Year for his coverage of Google's IPO. He was shortlisted for the Business & Finance Reporter of the Year award at the British Press Awards in 2003 and won the award in 1992 as part of a team covering the BCCI scandal. In 1988, he was named Accountancy Journalist of the Year. He appears regularly on the BBC, CNBC, MSNBC, CNNfn and NPR.

Mr Waters received his Bachelor's degree from St. Edmund Hall, Oxford University.
 

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SEAN RANDOLPH
President & CEO, Bay Area Council Economic Institute

 


Sean Randolph is President & CEO of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, a public-private partnership of business, labor, government and higher education that works to foster a competitive economy in California and the San Francisco Bay Area, including San Francisco, Oakland and Silicon Valley.

Dr. Randolph previously served as President & CEO of the Bay Area Economic Forum, which merged with the Bay Area Council in January 2008, and as director of international trade for the State of California, where he developed trade strategy and directed international business programs to stimulate exports and introduce California companies to overseas markets. Before service with the state, he was Managing Director of the RSR Pacific Group, an international business consulting firm specializing in Asia and Latin America, and before that served as International Director General of the Pacific Basin Economic Council, a 15-nation international organization of leading U.S., Asian and Latin American corporations.

His professional career includes extensive experience in the U.S. Government, including the U.S. Congress staff, and the White House staff. From 1981-85 he served in the U.S. State Department, as officer for Asia on the Policy Planning Staff, as Special Adviser for Policy in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and as Deputy/Ambassador-at Large for Pacific Basin affairs. From 1985-88 he served as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Energy for International Affairs, managing nuclear non-proliferation, energy research, and global oil and gas issues.

Dr. Randolph holds a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center, a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts and Harvard Universities), a B.S.F.S. from Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, and studied at the London School of Economics.

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RYAN WANG
US Economist, HSBC




Ryan Wang is a US economist for HSBC Securities, a principal line of business for HSBC Holdings plc, one of the world's largest banking and financial services organizations. He is part of a global team of over thirty economists based out of New York, London, Hong Kong, and other major financial centers.

Ryan is responsible for the bank's view of the outlook for the US economy and has two decades of experience making projections for growth, inflation, and Federal Reserve policy. Ryan has also written about issues such as the US housing market, the outlook for the labor market, fiscal policy, state and local government finances, and trade policy developments.

Ryan meets regularly with HSBC’s institutional client base, which includes central banks, money managers, hedge funds, and large corporations. According to Bloomberg, Ryan has consistently been one of the most accurate forecasters of key US economic variables such as inflation and unemployment. He has been with HSBC since 2001.

 

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Other Panelist to be announced.