Michael Drury

Chief Economist, McVean Trading & Investments

Michael Drury is the chief economist for McVean Trading & Investments, LLC. He joined the firm in 1992, after serving for five years as senior economist with Allen Sinai at Shearson Lehman Brothers and its successor firms. Michael began his career in New York in 1982 as senior economist at A. Gary Shilling and Company. He received his B.S. in economics from the Georgia Institute of Technology and did his graduate work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Michael assesses macroeconomic developments around the world to help develop hedging strategies using futures markets in interest rates, currencies and industrial materials. He travels ... Read More

Evan Ellis, Ph.D.

Research Professor of Latin American Studies, U.S. Army War College

Dr. Evan Ellis is a research professor of Latin American Studies at the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute, with a focus on the region’s relationships with China and other non-Western Hemisphere actors, as well as transnational organized crime and populism in the region. Dr. Ellis has published over 330 works, including the 2009 book China in Latin America: The Whats and Wherefores, the 2013 book The Strategic Dimension of Chinese Engagement with Latin America, the 2014 book, China on the Ground in Latin America, and the 2018 book, Transnational Organized Crime in Latin America and the Caribbean. He is ... Read More

Zhivargo S. Laing

Executive Director and Senior Policy Fellow of the Government and Public Policy Institute (GPPI), University of The Bahamas

Zhivargo Laing is a Bahamian economic consultant, former cabinet member and former member of the Bahamas House of Assembly for the Marco City Constituency. Mr. Laing has served as Minister of State in Youth, Sports and Culture, Minister of State in Education and Youth, Minister of Economic Development and Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance.

Mr. Laing most recently was a Chief World Trade Organisation Trade Negotiator for the Government and serves as Executive Director of the Government and Public Policy Institute at the University ... Read More

Rodney D. Smith, Ph.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer, University of The Bahamas

Dr. Rodney D. Smith, educated in The Bahamas and the United States, has served in several senior administrative leadership positions in K-12 public education and tertiary education; including Senior Education Officer in the Ministry of Education, President of Ramapo College of New Jersey, the Premier Public Liberal Arts College of New Jersey, and last President of the College of The Bahamas and first President of the University of The Bahamas, the national multi-campus University system of The Bahamas. Dr. Smith previously served as founding psychologist of School Psychological Services in the Ministry of Education, helping to create the Bahamas Defense ... Read More