Bill Watkins

THOUSAND OAKS, CA - The California Lutheran University Center for Economic Research and Forecasting will present its 2012 Ventura County Economic Forecast in two seminars on Thursday, March 29.

CERF Executive Director Bill Watkins will present the county report as well as first quarter forecasts for California and the United States at both seminars. In addition, Mark Schniepp, director of the California Economic Forecast in Santa Barbara, will present his 2012 Ventura County outlook. The programs will conclude with the two economists answering questions posed by moderator TimGallagher and audience members.

The east county event, which will include breakfast, will be held from 7:30 to 10 a.m. in CLU’s Lundring Events Center in Thousand Oaks. The west county seminar, which includes lunch, is slated from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza in Ventura.

CERF provides local, state and national forecasts for government, business and nonprofit leaders. Watkins, formerly the executive director of the Economic Forecast Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has been providing accurate, unflinching forecasts for more than a decade and has been widely published in academic journals, traditional media and new media. He and other members of the CERF team have been quoted by news organizations including the Wall Street Journal, CNN, NBC, Fox Business Network, Forbes and Bloomberg News. Watkins, who has a doctorate in economics, previously served as an economist with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C.

Schniepp prepares economic forecasts for all of California’s counties and participates in large public conferences in Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles and Orange counties. He was the director of the UCSB Economic Forecast Project from 1985 to 2000 and also served as a senior economist to the state controller of California.

Sponsors include Santa Barbara Bank & Trust and Thrivent Financial.

Lundring Events Center is located in the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center on the north side of Olsen Road near Campus Drive. The Crowne Plaza is at 450 E. Harbor Blvd.

Online registration, which includes access to the full forecast, is $175. To register, go to www.clucerf.org. The cost will be $200 on the day of the events.