Brian Wesbury Chief Economist Brian Wesbury is Chief Economist at First Trust Advisors L.P. Brian was a member of the Academic Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago from 1999-2007 and has been a regular attendee of the Economist Roundtable Luncheon at the Chicago Fed since 2007. In 2012, he was named a Fellow of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, TX, where he worked closely with its 4%-Growth Project. His writing appears in various magazines, newspapers and blogs and he appears regularly on Fox, Bloomberg, CNBC and BNN Canada TV. In 1995 and 1996, he served as Chief Economist for the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress. The Wall Street Journal ranked Brian the nation’s #1 U.S. economic forecaster in 2001, and USA Today ranked him as one of the nation’s top 10 forecasters in 2004. Brian began his career in 1982 at Harris Bank in Chicago. Former positions include Vice President and Economist for the Chicago Corporation and Senior Vice President and Chief Economist for Griffin, Kubik, Stephens & Thompson. Brian received an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a BA in Economics from the University of Montana. McGraw-Hill published his first book, The New Era of Wealth, in October 1999. His second book, It’s Not As Bad As You Think, was published in November 2009 by John Wiley & Sons. In 2011, Brian received the University of Montana’s Distinguished Alumni Award. This award honors outstanding alumni who have “brought honor to the University, the state or the nation.” There have been 267 recipients of this award out of a potential pool of 91,000 graduates.