Rawi Abdelal

Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Management at Harvard Business School and the Emma Bloomberg Co-Chair of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative

Rawi Abdelal is the Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Management at Harvard Business School and the Emma Bloomberg Co-Chair of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.

Professor Abdelal's primary expertise is international political economy, and his research focuses on the politics of globalization and the political economy of Eurasia. Abdelal's first book, National Purpose in the World Economy, won the 2002 Shulman Prize as the outstanding book on the international relations of eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. His second book, Capital Rules, explains the evolution of the social norms and legal rules of the international financial system. Abdelal has also edited or co-edited three books: The Rules of Globalization, a collection of Harvard Business School cases on international business; Measuring Identity; and Constructing the International Economy.

Abdelal is currently at work on two projects. One project, The Fragile State of the World, explores the inter-related challenges that undermined the first era of globalization, circa 1870-1914, and which threaten to destroy the current age of global capitalism. The second project, The Profits of Power, explores the geopolitics of energy in Europe and Eurasia.

In 1999 Abdelal earned a Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University, where he had received an M.A. in 1997. At Cornell Abdelal's dissertation won the Kahin Prize in International Relations and the Esman Prize. He was a President's Scholar at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he received a B.S. with highest honors in Economics in 1993. Recent honors include Harvard Business School's Greenhill Award, Apgar Award for innovation in teaching, and Williams Award for excellence in teaching, as well as, on several occasions, the Student Association's Faculty Award for outstanding teaching. 

Kermit Baker
Chief Economist, American Institute of Architects (AIA)

Kermit Baker is the Chief Economist for the American Institute of Architects in Washington, D.C. In this capacity, he analyzes business and construction trends for the U.S. economy and examines their impact on AIA members and the architectural profession. He originated the AIA’s “Work on the Boards” Survey, a monthly assessment of business conditions at architecture firms and the source of the widely followed Architecture Billings Index. He also coordinates the AIA Consensus Construction Forecast Panel, and writes regular economics columns for the AIA member electronic newspaper, AIArchitect.

Kermit also served as the Project Director of the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University from 1995 to 2021. Prior to joining the AIA, Kermit was Vice President and Director of the Economics Department at Reed Business Information, where he was responsible for industry forecasting. During his ten years at Reed, he developed the Top U.S. Construction Markets Report, and served as editor of Reed Business Information’s Building and Construction Market Forecast newsletter.

Kermit received his Masters degree in Urban Planning from Harvard University and holds a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the same field.

John Burns
CEO, John Burns Research & Consulting

John founded John Burns Real Estate Consulting in 2001 to help business executives make the most informed housing industry investment decisions possible.  His team of PALS (Passionate, Articulate, Likable and Smart people) in locations all over the country solve today to help the company’s research subscribers and consulting clients navigate tomorrow by understanding demand, supply, affordability, building materials and design trends. 

The firm has developed a number of proprietary tools, including risk and valuation indices, DesignLens™, the New Home Trends Institute, and even trademarked the term surban™ upon release of their best-selling demographics book, Big Shifts Ahead: Demographic Clarity for Businesses.

John has a Bachelors in Economics from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA, and works in our Irvine, California office.  He has served on numerous industry boards and more than 750,000 people follow him on LinkedIn, and 23,000 subscribe to our free weekly emails.  He has attended home games for all 30 major league baseball teams, and enjoys running in the hills in Southern California.

Christian Beard
Vice President, Building Products Research, John Burns Research & Consulting

Chris Beard leads John Burns’ monthly Dealer Survey and works closely with LBM dealers nationwide to understand demand and pricing for building products with distribution and a quarterly survey of the window and door industry. He also leads a quarterly survey of structural component manufacturers and monitors public building products companies’ earnings. He is well-versed in the dynamic environment surrounding building products.

Before joining John Burns, Chris worked in Corporate Strategy and Development for Pella Corporation, leading corporate strategy and competitive intelligence, including market size and market share modeling and insights for industry associations and customers. Chris has worked in building products for most of his career with several manufacturers. He holds a B.A. in Political Science and History from the Technical University of Dresden, Germany.

Paul de Gelder
Australian Army Airborne and Navy Clearance Diver, Shark Attack Survivor, and Host, Discovery Channel's Shark Week

IMPROVISE...ADAPT...OVERCOME...These three words – a mantra Paul de Gelder learned in the Australian Army as a young Paratrooper – resonated with him the first time he heard them. Paul de Gelder chased adventure wherever he could find it, from his wild ride as a teen and his whirlwind lifestyle working in clubs & the music industry to hauling his way up to the elite echelons of the Australian Defence Forces as an Army paratrooper and then Navy bomb disposal diver.  But trouble hunted him down in the form of a 10-foot bull shark in February 2009 while diving for the Navy. Paul lost two limbs, and his career as a daredevil diver was flung into jeopardy.

Drawing on everything his eventful life had taught him, Paul left nothing to chance, conducting his own rehabilitation. He fought through excruciating pain, smashing challenge after challenge while amazing the medical staff and the Australian public with his will to succeed.  He returned to full-time Navy service after only 6 months.  His inspiring story as detailed in his autobiography Uncaged, takes the saying “never say die” to a whole new level.

In the years since the shark attack, Paul's life has changed in every aspect. Having left full-time Navy Service in 2012 and after continuing to instruct Navy divers for a further three years, Paul has traveled the world as a top motivational speaker, passionate environmentalist, adventurer and mentor to school kids.

Paul has also hosted over 25 documentaries for Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, where he learned to hand-feed bull sharks, hammerheads, blue sharks, while also diving with tiger sharks and even Great Whites without the protection of a cage. Paul also became part of an anti-poaching team in Africa to film the amazing work done by the rangers there for FEARLESS, which aired on NatGeo.

Academy Award Winner Will Smith Featured Paul in his Facebook series “Bucket List” as his shark diving mentor, UFC hall of famer Ronda Rousey was taught how to hand-feed bull sharks by Paul, and most recently Mike Tyson became Paul’s shark diving student.