Jeremy Rifkin
Founder and President, The Foundation on Economic Trends
and Author of The End of Work, an international bestseller
Session: Opening General Session

Jeremy Rifkin, author of The End of Work, an international bestseller, addresses "The 3rd Industrial Revolution and its Effect on Commercial and Residential Real Estate" at the Opening General Session of MBA's National Technology in Mortgage Banking Conference & Expo.

Rifkin's most recent book, The End of Work, is widely credited with helping shape the current global debate on technology displacement, corporate downsizing, outsourcing, global labor mobility and the future of jobs. At the Opening General Session, Rifkin focuses on the vast changes taking place in the nature of employment, as the world makes the shift from mass wage labor to small, highly educated, elite workforces, working side by side with increasingly intelligent, cheap and efficient automated technologies. He also discusses the need to devise fresh alternatives to formal work and create new approaches to providing income and purchasing power. 

Rifkin is the founder and president of The Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, D.C.  The foundation examines the economic, environmental, social and cultural impacts of new technologies introduced into the global economy. He is also the author of 17 books on the impact of scientific and technological changes on the economy, the workforce, society and the environment. His books have been translated into more than 30 languages and are used in hundreds of universities, corporations and government agencies around the world.

Douglas G.  Duncan, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President and Chief Economist
Mortgage Bankers Association
Session: Second General Session: Industry Economic Outlook

Douglas G. Duncan is chief economist and senior vice president at MBA. As leader of MBA's Research and Business Development Group, Doug provides economic and policy analysis services in the areas of real estate finance, legislative and regulatory proposals and industry trends for MBA and its members. He also oversees the education products and services of the association as well as its industry technology committees and standards efforts, including MISMO™. In addition, he has oversight responsibility for the Research Institute for Housing America (RIHA), the Secure Identity Standards Accreditation Corporation (SISAC) and Lender Technologies Corporation.

In this session Doug Duncan provides an invaluable perspective on the current state of the economy, as well as a forecast of our economic future and what it means to the industry.