St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President and CEO William Poole

IAMC is delighted to confirm that St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay will welcome Fall 2007 IAMC Professional Forum registrants at the Sunday evening reception. Tuesday, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President and CEO William Poole will deliver his Global Economic Update during the Forum’s Luncheon program.

The world economy is characterized by three highly unusual conditions. First, the capital flow into the United States from the rest of the world and accompanying rest-of-world current account surplus — the U.S. current account deficit — is very large and persistent. Second, the U. S. personal savings rate has been falling and in the past year became negative for the first time since 1933. Third, high-income countries are just now beginning a demographic transition in which the fraction of retired persons in the total population will rise to levels never before experienced. These three conditions are connected; the first two are to a considerable extent a consequence of the third. Mr. Poole will address these and other issues in his address to IAMC.

William Poole took office as president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis in March 1998. He directs the activities of the Bank’s head office in St. Louis, as well as its three branches in Little Rock, Ark.; Louisville, Ky. and Memphis, Tenn. He represents the Bank on the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve’s chief monetary policymaking body.

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, one of 12 regional Reserve banks, serves the Eighth Federal Reserve District. The regional Reserve banks, along with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., constitute the Federal Reserve System. As the nation’s central bank, the Fed is responsible for conducting monetary policy, supervising banks and operating the nation’s payments mechanism. Poole has served in the Federal Reserve system for decades in addition to esteemed positions at Brown University and as an advisor to numerous institutions and councils.

Under the leadership of Mayor Slay, sworn in to a second term as St. Louis mayor in April 2005, the city has enjoyed a building boom, issuing a record number of permits by the mayor’s third year in office and welcoming hundreds of millions of new dollars to downtown projects. His own family is part of the story, inhabiting the same south city neighborhood where he grew up.

Before serving as mayor, Slay served for many years as a city alderman. The second-oldest of 11 children, he earned his law degree from Saint Louis University School of Law and practiced law for 20 years, becoming a partner at the firm of Guilfoil, Petzall and Shoemake, specializing in corporate law and commercial litigation.

In addition to infrastructure projects like a $105-million facelift at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, he’s recently welcomed accolades such as the World Leadership Award in the category of urban renewal awarded by the World Leadership Forum in December 2006, and, in late June, the title of "Best Tasting City Water in America," awarded by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

IAMC members can learn a lot about several issues pertinent to St. Louis area facility development by taking a look at the home page for the St. Louis Fed.