Speakers

Daniel Zhao is Chief Economist at Glassdoor, the worldwide leader on career insights about jobs and companies. Daniel leads the Economic Research team, conducting research using Glassdoor’s unique data on a range of topics in labor market trends and employer-employee relations.

Daniel’s work covers drivers of employee engagement and sentiment and has produced new data products like the Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index. Daniel’s research has also touched on other topics like pay transparency, employee retention, layoffs and leadership communication styles.

Gerald provides strategic vision and leadership of the translational economic research and policy initiatives at the Institute.

He has worked in both the public and private sectors focusing on the intersection between financial markets and economic fundamentals. During the Obama Administration Gerald was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Macroeconomic Analysis at the U.S. Department of Treasury where he helped formulate and evaluate the impact of policy proposals on the U.S. economy. Prior to Treasury, he managed a global macro fund at Ziff Brothers Investments.

Karen A. Popp is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Sidley Austin LLP, where she is global co-leader of the firm’s White Collar: Government Litigation & Investigations group and has served as member of the firm’s Executive Committee. She has an expansive practice representing companies and individuals in high-profile matters with legal, political and public relations components, such as corporate criminal defense, internal investigations, SEC Enforcement, Congressional investigations, OIG and State Attorney General actions, corporate compliance and litigation.

Mike Christian is an award-winning teacher and researcher. Dr. Christian aspires to help people to be their best at work. Dr. Christian’s teaching interests include human energy optimization, resilience, leadership coaching, leading effective teams and organizational change. His research focuses on understanding the mind-body connection at work. He examines how somatic states such as sleep, pain and sickness affect energy, work engagement and self-control at work. He studies how these factors dynamically relate to unethical behavior as well as desirable work performance.

Nicholas (Nick) Bloom is the William Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University, a Senior Fellow of SIEPR, and the Co-Director of the Productivity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research focuses on management practices and uncertainty. He previously worked at the UK Treasury and McKinsey & Company.

Sekou Bermiss’ research is in the area of strategic management and organizational theory.

Specifically, he investigates how institutional factors shape the perception of firms by critical stakeholders. His research also explores the antecedents and consequences of human capital mobility and how different forms of employee movement impact a firm’s ability to compete with rivals.

Dr. Bermiss teaches courses in people analytics, managing human capital, leading for impact and organizational theory and design

Paige Ouimet became executive director of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise in August 2023 after a year as the institute's research director.

She has several research projects looking at income inequality and the role of firms. She also has researched ESOP (employee share ownership plans) and employee stock options and their impact on labor productivity, wages and turnover.