John Silvia, Chief Economist, Wells Fargo Securities &
Sara Banaszak, Senior Economist, American Petroleum Institute (API)
The Global Interdependence Center will be partnering with the Philadelphia Council for Business Economics for a program featuring Sara Banaszak, Senior Economist of American Petroleum Institute and John Silvia, Chief Economist of Wells Fargo Securities.
John Silvia is the Chief Economist of Wells Fargo Advisors. He joined Wachovia Corporation in
February 2002 as chief economist for the Bank. Previously, John worked on Capitol Hill as senior
economist for the U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee and chief economist for the U.S. Senate
Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Prior to that, he was chief economist of Kemper
Funds and managing director of Scudder Kemper Investments, Inc. John holds a B.A. and a Ph.D.
degree in economics from Northeastern University in Boston and has a Master’s degree in
economics from Brown University in Providence, RI.
Sara Banaszak is a senior economist at the American Petroleum Institute (API) where she draws on her oil and natural gas policy expertise as an API spokesperson and policy analyst.
Ms. Banaszak has been a senior economist at API since 2005 and has extensive experience in natural gas and upstream and downstream issues. Before joining API, she directed PFC Energy’s North American Gas Policy Service (GPS) and advised clients on global and domestic natural gas strategies. She also worked at the U.S. Department of Energy as a manager responsible for international and domestic oil and gas programs, including policy-making activities.
Sara holds a master’s degree in applied economics from the University of Hawaii and a bachelor’s degree cum laude in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania.
The focus of Ms. Banaszak’s presentation will be on the fundamentals of the energy markets and the risks of government intervention in those markets; policies intersecting with the industry; and economic and tax implications of such policies.
