Rick Mattoon is vice president and regional executive in the Economic Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Detroit Branch. His primary research focuses on issues that face the Midwest regional economy. Mattoon began his career at the Chicago Fed in 1990. In 1997, he left the bank to serve as a policy advisor for economic development, energy, and telecommunications to the governor of Washington. He later served as director of policy and legislation for the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. He returned to the Chicago Fed in 2001.

Mattoon's work has appeared in the National Tax Journal, State Tax Notes, Public Choice, and Society. He is the co-author of a chapter on state and local governments and the national economy in the Oxford Handbook of State and Local Government Finance.

Mattoon serves on the board of the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council, the advisory committee to the Chicago Workforce Investment Council, and the pension committee of the Civic Federation; and he is a member of the Joint Advisory Board of Economists to the governor of Virginia. He also serves as a lecturer at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Mattoon received a BA from Kenyon College and an MA from the University of Chicago.

Nathan Anderson is a senior economist in the Community Development and Policy Studies Division at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Anderson does research and analysis related to the Bank’s community development function, focusing on the intersection of federal, state, and local tax policies and community and household finances.

Prior to joining the Chicago Fed in 2019, Anderson practiced law in the tax department at Ropes & Gray LLP, where he focused on the tax aspects of investment funds (for example, private equity funds, hedge funds, mutual funds, real estate funds, and their managers and investors), tax-exempt organizations, foreign investors, and financial instruments. Beginning in 2018, he focused much of his practice on the tax incentives to invest in opportunity zones introduced by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Anderson received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Case Western Reserve University, a master’s degree and PhD in economics from the University of Michigan, and a Juris Doctor from the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.

Evan Cunningham is a senior economist at the City of Detroit, responsible for forecasting major revenue streams totaling over $800 million for the city’s general fund. He is also a major contributor in the application, dissemination, and the reporting of economic data for core functions and deliverables within the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. Cunningham holds a Master of Arts in economics from Wayne State University and has a background in collecting, cleaning, and analyzing data for the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) and Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) programs under the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Anika Goss is the chief executive officer of Detroit Future City (DFC), a think-and-do tank focused on land use and economic development in Detroit. In this role, she leads a team of experts to implement the DFC Strategic Framework, a comprehensive 50-year guide to decision-making and investment in Detroit. Goss is a leading force and visionary in Detroit’s revitalization, playing a crucial role in Detroit as an advocate for an equitable and sustainable future for the city.

Since taking the helm of DFC, Goss has repositioned the organization to be laser-focused on the equitable implementation of its community and economic development and land use and sustainability priorities. These two data- and research-driven priorities are realized through robust programs. Goss has led the development of several significant research studies, including the 2019 release of Growing Detroit’s African-American Middle Class, a comprehensive data report supporting attraction, retention, and growth strategies, as well as a benchmark through which the African American middle class can serve as a measure to track Detroit’s equitable growth. She also has helped bolster the future of Detroit’s land use and sustainability through awarding over $330,000 in grants aimed at accelerating vacant land revitalization in Detroit and developing a dynamic community educational network of nearly 50 neighborhood leaders and nonprofits to develop standardized green stormwater infrastructure practices.

Goss joined the DFC after nearly 25 years of leadership in national and local roles in community development and nonprofit management. She worked at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) for 16 years, with her most recent post as vice president of the Midwest Region. In this role, Goss provided leadership, strategic, and technical support for seven LISC offices in cities across the Midwest that reported directly to her. Her role included the forging of new partnerships, fund development support, program design, and administrative leadership for LISC nationally. Before this, she served as LISC’s vice president of sustainable communities. In this role, she led the organization’s new strategic efforts to implement comprehensive community development as part of its Building Sustainable Communities program.

Goss’s work with LISC began in Detroit, where she served as the Detroit office executive director. She was noted for several major achievements while in this position, including managing a $40 million community development campaign and designing and leading the campaign for the city’s first land bank authority.

Goss also worked with the City of Detroit as its director of philanthropic affairs and executive director of the Next Detroit Neighborhood Initiative, leading an effort to transform six Detroit neighborhoods by improving city services and incorporating redevelopment strategies through public–private partnerships.

Goss’s leadership has been recognized in Detroit and nationally. Crain’s Detroit Business honored her as a one of the Notable Women in Nonprofits and with a Forty under 40 Award; the Michigan Chronicle recognized her as a Woman of Excellence; and Corp! Magazine recognized her as a Diversity Champion.

Goss has a Master of Social Work in Community Organizing from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Sociology and African American Studies from Purdue University.

Steven Watson was appointed deputy chief financial officer and budget director for the City of Detroit in February 2021, after having served as deputy budget director and in other financial leadership roles for the city since 2016. In his role, Watson leads the Office of Budget, which provides strategic data-driven budget management, planning, and decision support to advance the city’s goals and ensure fiscal stability. Prior to joining the City of Detroit, Watson held senior roles at the Detroit Financial Review Commission and the State of New Jersey Office of Management and Budget for nearly a decade. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.