Peter Hall joined Export Development Canada (EDC) in November 2004. With over 25 years of experience in economic analysis and forecasting, Mr. Hall is responsible for overseeing EDC’s economic analysis, country risk assessment and corporate research groups. In addition to preparing strategic advice for senior management at EDC, Mr. Hall is a featured speaker at conferences, international roundtables and policy fora, and regularly appears in television, radio and print media commenting on the world economy and Canadian international trade issues. He produces a widely circulated print and video weekly commentary covering an eclectic range of current global economic issues.
Prior to joining EDC, Mr. Hall directed the economic forecasting activities of the Conference Board of Canada. Mr. Hall has served as president of both the Canadian Association for Business Economics, a 600-member national association of professional economists, and its largest local chapter, the Ottawa Economics Association. He has also been a volunteer board and committee member for two Ottawa area private schools. Mr. Hall has degrees in economics from both Carleton University and the University of Toronto.
EDC is Canada’s trade finance agency, providing financing and insurance solutions locally and around the world to help Canadian companies of any size respond to international business opportunities. As a profitable Crown corporation that operates on commercial principles, EDC works together with private- and public- sector financial institutions to create greater capacity for Canadian companies to engage in trade and investment.
MARK THIRLWELL, Head of Research and Chief Economist
Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade)
Mark Thirlwell joined the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) as Chief Economist in September 2013 and was appointed AGM, Research & Analysis in January 2018. Mark oversees the work of Austrade’s Research & Analysis area, which brings together the Economic Research and Analysis team and Tourism Research Australia (TRA). The area’s combined output includes analysis of international trade and investment trends, research on the activities of Australia’s internationally-active businesses, research and data support, and a comprehensive suite of data, analysis and forecasts relating to Australia’s tourism industry. Mark’s role also involves monitoring the performance of the Australian economy and presenting on Australian and global economic trends and developments to international investors and Australian businesses.
Mark has been tracking the world economy since he joined the Bank of England’s International Divisions in 1990, where he worked as part of the Whitehall Economists Subgroup, helping to coordinate the forecasting of major emerging markets across the Bank, Treasury, the Foreign Office and other stakeholders. Mark left the Bank of England to join J P Morgan in 1996, where he was a Vice President in the Economic Research Department, with responsibility for economic coverage of Central and Eastern Europe.
After moving to Australia in 1999, Mark took the role of Senior Economist at Australia’s Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (Efic), where he worked on economic, political and sovereign risk assessment. Before joining Austrade, Mark was the inaugural Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Economy Program and was also a Fellow at the Institute’s G20 Studies Centre. Mark was one of the original research team that helped establish the Lowy Institute as one of Australia’s leading think tanks.
Mark has degrees in economics from Cambridge and Oxford Universities and a postgraduate qualification in applied finance from Macquarie University. Mark is also a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University’s National Security College.
AGENDA
7:30AM - REGISTRATION OPENS / NETWORKING
8:00AM - CACC WELCOMING REMARKS
8:05AM - PRESENTATION #1 - Peter Hall
8:25AM - PRESENTATION #2 - Mark Thirlwell
8:45AM - MODERATED DISCUSSION and Q&A
9:20AM - NETWORKING
9:45AM - EVENT CLOSES