Keynote Speaker : George Akerlof, Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley and Winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics

George Akerlof is Koshland Professor of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley. In 2001 he was co-recipient of the Prize in Economic Sciences in honor of Alfred Nobel. The Nobel Committee cited Akerlof’s 1970 paper, “The Market for ‘Lemons,’” which for the first time described the role of asymmetric information in causing market perversity. A vicious circle in used car markets illustrates the phenomenon. Potential sellers of used cars, with their superior information, withhold good cars from the market; buyers react by reducing the price they are willing to pay; and in turn sellers further reduce the quality of cars put up for sale. Dr. Akerlof has also pioneered in the application of sociology and psychology to the workings of the macroeconomy. He has been senior economist at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and past president, vice president and member of the executive committee of the American Economics Association, and member of the Council of the Econometric Society. From 1978 to 1980 he was Cassel Professor of Money and Banking at the London School of Economics. He is also the author, with Robert Shiller, of the book, Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism.

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Mark Zanoli, Managing Director, Technology Investment Banking, JP Morgan

Mark Zanoli is the Managing Director for the technology investment banking practice, a group with expertise in semiconductors, software, communications, systems and services. Mark began his career in 1993 as an associate in the M&A department at Hambrecht & Quist, which through multiple mergers and acquisitions became a part of JPMorganChase. Mark’s experience includes mergers and acquisitions, raising public equity through IPOs and secondary offerings, raising private equity for public and private companies, raising high-yield debt, loan and bank syndications, convertible equity financings and a variety of derivative financings. Mark’s clients include Cisco, Intel, Texas Instruments, Seagate, Symantec, HP, Broadcom, Dell, Apple and Oracle among others. In addition to his role at JPMorgan, Mark is a member of the Executive Committee of TechNet, a bi-partisan public policy organization focused on the issues affecting the technology industry. Mark is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara.

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