George G. Kaufman is the John F. Smith Professor of Finance and Economics and Director of the Center for Financial and Policy Studies in the School of Business Administration, Loyola University, Chicago.  Before teaching at Loyola, he was a research fellow, economist and research officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and has been a consultant to the Bank since 1981. Previously, he was the John Rogers Professor of Banking and Finance and Director of the Center for Capital Market Research in the College of Business Administration at the University of Oregon and has been a visiting professor at the University of Southern California, Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley, and a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the Office of the Comptroller of Currency.  He also served as Deputy to the Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy of the U.S. Treasury in 1976. Kaufman received his B.A. from Oberlin College, M.A. from the University of Michigan, and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Iowa. Professor Kaufman's teaching and research interests are in financial economics, institutions, markets and regulation and in the Federal Reserve and monetary policy.  He has lectured widely in the U.S. and abroad and published extensively in professional journals, as well as having been an editor or a member of the editorial board of several major journals. He is also the author or editor of numerous books. Kaufman is a director of the Western Economic Association and has served on the board of directors of the American Finance Association, and as president of the Western Finance, Midwest Finance, and North American Economic and Finance Associations. In 2002, he received the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Midwest Finance Association and the Adam Smith Award for “exceptional contributions” by the National Association for Business Economics. He has been elected a Distinguished Fellow by the North American Economic and Finance Association. In Spring 2004, he was the Professional Fellow in Financial Economics at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and in May 2003, the Economist  identified Kaufman as one of “America’s leading financial economists.” Professor Kaufman has served as a consultant to numerous government agencies and private firms.  He co-chairs the Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee, a group of independent banking experts who analyze and comment on economic, legislative and regulatory forces affecting the financial services industry, and is executive director of Financial Economists Roundtable. He has frequently testified before Congress and other legislative and policy groups.

Ronnie J. Phillips is a Senior Fellow at Networks Financial Institute. He is a Professor of Economics at Colorado State University. Most recently he was a Scholar in Residence at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri and a Visiting Research Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.  Previously, he has been a Visiting Scholar at the FDIC, the Comptroller of the Currency, and at the Jerome levy Economics Institute of Bard College. He is a past president of the Association for Evolutionary Economics (AFEE).  His publications on financial system issues have appeared in books, academic journals, newspapers, magazines and public public poicy briefs. Philips holds a B.A. from the University of Oklahoma and a Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin.

Thomas R. Saving is a Senior Fellow at Networks Financial Institute. Saving serves as Director of the Private Enterprise Research Center at Texas A&M University. A University Distinguished Professor of Economics at Texas A&M, he also holds the Jeff Montgomery Professorship in Economics.  Professor Savings research has covered the areas of antitrust and monetary economics, health economics, the theory of the banking firm, and the general theory of the firm and markets. He has served as both a referee and a member of the editorial board of major U.S. economics journals and is currently a co-editor of Economic Inquiry. Professor Saving has authored many articles covering the breadth of his academic intrests and two influential books on monetary theory. His current research emphasis is on the benefit of markets in solving the pressing issues in health care coauthoring two books, The Economics of Medicare Reform, Upjohn Press and The Diagnosis and Treatment of Medicare, AEI Press. Professor Saving has authored numerous public policy articles that have appeared in the popular press. He has been elected President of the Western Economics Association, President of Southern Economics Association and President of the Association of Private Enterprise Education. After receiving his Ph.D. in Economics (University of Chicago), Professor Saving served on the faculty of the University of Washington and Michigan State University. He moved to Texas A&M University as a Professor of Economics in 1968. Professor Saving served as chairman of the Department of Economics at Texas A&M from 1985-1991 and was appointed to his current position as Director of the Private Enterprise Research Center in 1991. In 2000, President Clinton appointed Dr. Saving to the Board of Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds. In May 2001, he was appointed by President Bush to the President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security. In April 2006, President Bush appointed Dr. Saving to a second term on the Board of Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds.