State of the Commonwealth Economic Summit held at VCU

Hugh Keogh (above left), president of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, and Bill Pantele, a member of the Richmond City Council, discuss the likely impact of the financial downturn on localities, counties and the state on Jan. 8 at VCU.

Keogh and Pantele were among the speakers at the First Annual State of the Commonwealth Economic Summit, co-sponsored by the Richmond Association for Business Economics, the VCU Center for Public Policy and the VCU School of Business and Department of Economics. The event focused on Virginia’s current economic conditions, possible actions in the upcoming General Assembly session to address the downturn and the impact of the economy on the state and its localities.

Other speakers included John Layman, chief economist and director of the Office of Revenue Forecasting at the Virginia Department of Taxation; Ray Owens, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond; Virginia Sen. Walter Stosch, who represents the state’s 12th District; Virginia Delegate Frank Hall, representing Virginia’s 69th District; and Ric Brown, Secretary of Finance for Virginia.