Diane C. Swonk (born April 8, 1962) ource needed/ref> is an American economic advisor and

chief economist Chief economist is a single-position job class having primary responsibility for the development, coordination, and production of economic and financial analysis. It is distinguished from the other economist positions by the broader scope of respons ...

at KPMG US.

Early life and education

Swonk was born in

Kalamazoo Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. She studied economics at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in 1984, followed by a master's degree, in 1985. She also holds an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

in finance from the Booth School of Business at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. She is

dyslexic Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, writ ...

, and has spoken publicly on how she considers this to have affected her work.

Career

Swonk started her career at the age of 22 when she joined

First Chicago Corporation First Chicago Bank was a Chicago, United States-based retail and commercial bank tracing its roots to 1863, when it received one of the first charters under the then new National Bank Act. Over the years, the bank operated under several names inc ...

in 1985 as an associate economist. Despite encounters with workplace gender discrimination, by the turn of the century, Swonk became "widely regarded as one of the premier forecasters of the U.S. economy". The bank later merged with Banc One Corporation to become

Bank One Bank One Corporation was an American bank founded in 1968 and at its peak the sixth-largest bank in the United States. It traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol ONE. The company merged with JPMorgan Chase & Co. on July 1, ...

. Swonk rose to become director of Economics and senior vice president, prior to leaving the firm in 2004. Lodged at a nearby New York

Marriott World Trade Center The New York Marriott World Trade Center, also known as 3 World Trade Center (3 WTC), was a 22-story, 825-room hotel in New York City, within the original World Trade Center complex in downtown Manhattan. It opened in April 1981 as the Vista I ...

hotel to attend an annual

National Association for Business Economics The National Association for Business Economics (NABE) is the largest international association of applied economists, strategists, academics, and policy-makers committed to the application of economics. Founded in 1959, it is one of the member ...

(NABE) conference at the time; her economic focus shifted from pure numeracy following the events of

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, as she then ascertained economics to be equally influenced by social as by financial policy. Swonk joined the faculty of

Kellstadt Graduate School of Business The Charles H. Kellstadt Graduate School of Business is part of DePaul University's Driehaus College of Business, a business school located in the Chicago Loop, Illinois, United States. The Driehaus College of Business (called the College of Com ...

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

, as a clinical professor of finance that year. In November 2004, Swonk was appointed chief economist and senior managing director at

Mesirow Financial Mesirow is a privately held financial services company based in Chicago, Illinois. The firm is employee-owned and 100% of voting shares are held by employees. Mesirow provides investment management, capital markets, wealth management and investmen ...

. She spent 11 years at the firm, before leaving in 2016 to found her private consulting firm, DS Economics, where she is CEO. Swonk was appointed chief economist of

Grant Thornton Grant Thornton is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the seventh-largest in the world by revenue and the sixth-largest by number of employees. The network consists of independent accounting an ...

, LLP in January 2018. In July 2022,

KPMG KPMG is a multinational professional services network, based in London, United Kingdom. As one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC. KPMG is a network of firms in 145 countries with 275,288 emplo ...

US appointed her as its chief economist. Swonk is a Fellow of the

NABE ''Nabemono'' (鍋物, なべ物, ''nabe'' "cooking pot" + ''mono'' "thing"), or simply ''nabe'', is a variety of Japanese hot pot dishes, also known as one-pot dishes and "things in a pot". Description Nabemono are stews and soups containing ...

, and was its president from 1999 to 2000. Swonk is also a member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

Works

''The Passionate Economist: Finding the Power and Humanity Behind the Numbers''
(2003)
''The Economic Outlook and Undercurrents in the Consumer Credit Market''
(1997)
''The Great Lakes Economy Revisited''

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (informally the Chicago Fed) is one of twelve Federal Reserve Banks that, along with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, make up the Federal Reserve System, the United States' central bank. The Chicago Fed ...

(1996)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Swonk, Diane 21st-century American economists American women economists University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni University of Chicago alumni People from Kalamazoo, Michigan Living people 1962 births 21st-century American women scientists Scientists with dyslexia American scientists with disabilities 20th-century American economists 20th-century American women scientists Economists from Michigan Grant Thornton people KPMG people DePaul University faculty