FORECAST SPEAKER BIOS
CRAIG WESSELL, The Portland Business Journal
Craig has been the publisher of The Portland Business Journal for the past 9 years and has been involved in the newspaper and magazine publishing industry for 24 years including time as Director of Marketing for Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal, a national trade publication serving the sports industry; publisher of Corporate Report Minnesota magazine, a national award winning statewide business magazine; Minnesota Ventures, a small business magazine serving the state of Minnesota; president and owner of a publishing consulting firm in Santa Monica, California, which served trade publications across the country; and with American City Business Journals where, as Director of Development, he was involved in the launch of more than 15 regional business newspapers.
Wessel has an undergraduate degree in International Finance from the University of Georgia, a certificate in Composing and Arranging from the Grove School of Music in Los Angeles, and has completed several courses of study in publishing industry related seminars, conferences and symposiums. He currently serves on the boards of the Classic Wines Auction, Junior Achievement and Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Foundation.
JOHN MITCHELL, M & H Economic Consultants
John Mitchell received his B.A. degree from Williams College and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Oregon. He is a fellow of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was a professor of economics at Boise State University for 13 years, before joining U.S. Bancorp in July of 1983. He was Chief Economist of U.S. Bancorp until July of 1998 and served as Economist Western Region for US Bank until July of 2007. He wrote US. Bancorp’s regional publications including the Update, The Business Barometer, Northwest Portrait, US Territory , Oregon Tidbits and was a columnist for Oregon Business Magazine. He currently speaks to conventions and business groups around the nation and writes Sterling Savings Bank’s economic newsletter. He was a business analyst for KPTV in Portland. He has been making economic presentations on the nation and the region for 40 years.
John and his wife, Carol, live in the Portland area and he enjoys biking, sea kayaking, railroading and his granddaughters.
TOM HUGHES, President of the Metro Council
Tom Hughes is President of the Metro Council, the elected leadership of the Metro Regional Government. He was elected in November of 2010 on a platform that emphasized jobs and economic development. Before that he served eight years as mayor of Hillsboro, Oregon. During his tenure, Hillsboro became recognized as one of Oregon’s most successful communities in both economic prosperity and a high quality of life. As mayor, Hughes led the effort to attract and retain major high-tech and renewable energy employers and secured state and federal funding for significant transportation investments. He also served as president of the League of Oregon Cities and as a member of the regional Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation. He lives in Hillsboro with his wife, Gayle, and has two grown daughters.
CONI S. RATHBONE, Zupancic Rathbone Law Group
Coni's practice focuses on real estate, corporate, LLC and securities law, mergers and acquisitions, and general business transactions. She regularly helps clients in the purchase, development and sale of commercial property. Coni works on securities transactions including private placements, focusing on real estate securities. She has extensive expertise in representing tenant-in-common (TIC) sponsors and investors, having represented over 100 Tenant-in-Common Owner groups in commercial real property workouts with sponsors, managers and lenders to salvage owners' investments in troubled markets.
Additionally, Coni has represented many large manufacturing companies, locating and expanding facilities in Oregon. She has also represented clients in the development of several golf courses, medical offices and recreation facilities. Coni is the national leasing counsel for two nationally known telecommunications companies. Her representation included property acquisition; negotiation of ground leases, working with public and governmental entities as it pertains to land use; and preparation of construction contracts. She also serves as general counsel for several Oregon corporations.
Coni has written numerous articles for various local and national publications on the subjects of TIC workouts and real estate transactions. She regularly makes presentations to real estate groups and is certified by the State of Oregon to provide continuing education credits for brokers. Coni has also been named as one of "America's Leading Lawyers for Business" in Real Estate (Oregon) by Chambers USA and Super Lawyers, for several years running. She is a member and 2011 President of the Oregon Chapter of the Counselors of Real Estate (CRE), and serves on the board of the Oregon/SW Washington chapter of CCIM.
