Douglas Meade, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Doug previously served as the Deputy Chief of the Industry Division at the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Before working for BEA, Doug was also at Inforum, and contributed significantly to the development of the Lift and Iliad models of the U.S. and the Jidea model for Japan. He has served as principal investigator on a wide variety of projects for private sector and government clients. He has nearly 30 years of experience with economic modeling and data development and has held positions at Data Resources Inc. and the Bureau of Census. Doug received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 1990.

Ronald Horst, Ph.D.

Director of Research

Ron started with Inforum in 2001 as a Research Assistant and joined the full-time staff after receiving his Ph.D. at the University of Maryland in 2006. He directs research activities including model development and application of these models to policy analysis and forecasting. Ron leads production of semiannual macroeconomic-industry forecasts and monthly macroeconomic forecasts. He serves as the principal investigator for projects including analysis of the exhibition industry and provision of specialized industry forecasts. His expertise includes the economics of public infrastructure; freight flow projections; energy economics; projections of detailed industry data; and analysis of terroristic attacks and other economic impacts. Ron also has been the chief software developer at Inforum since the retirement of Clopper Almon in 2003.

Julie has over 18 years of experience in economic impact analysis and input-output modeling. Prior to her time with Inform, she was a Consultant and Research Economist with IHS Markit (now S&P Global) where she specialized in economic development, labor economics, and policy analysis, but also engaged in complex projects that combined multidiscipline experts in regional infrastructure, energy, trade, and transportation projects. Julie also served as an Economist with the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the Division of International Economics and is a former REMI economist. She recently completed her Ph.D. at the Ohio State University, where her research focused on rural-urban intergenerational divides in education and occupation, and holds degrees from the Elliott School at the George Washington University, and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Kendel Barber

Junior Economist

Kendel started at Inforum as a Research Assistant while completing her undergraduate degree, and joined the full-time staff in 2024 after graduating from Georgetown University with a bachelor’s degree in International Economics. Kendel is responsible for collecting and processing economic data, producing databases used by Inforum models, and training new employees on Inforum software and database maintenance. She also helps prepare presentations and reports, assists in writing business proposals, and updates data and equations in Inforum models of the U.S. economy. Kendel became an IMPLAN-certified Economist in 2025, and uses her expertise of the software to assist with Inforum’s economic impact studies. She is a member of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE), and has received the NABE Certificate in Economic Measurement.

Patricia Bowden

Office Manager

Patricia is the office manager at Inforum. In addition to keeping the office running smoothly since 2007, she is an accomplished artist, having received a BFA from the Corcoran College of Art and Design.