More than 200 bankers, builders, and business leaders from around the Washington, D.C., region were witness on Tuesday morning to Stephen Fuller handing off to his successor the crystal ball he reportedly uses when making regional economic forecasts. The crystal orb shared the stage at George Mason University’s Arlington Campus auditorium with the retiring Fuller and Jeannette Chapman, who has been announced as the next director of the Stephen S. Fuller Institute for Research on the Washington Region’s Economic Future at the Schar School of Policy and Government.
Chapman had been the deputy director of the Fuller Institute since its founding in 2017. Fuller, who retired in 2015 as director of the Schar School’s Center for Regional Analysis (CRA), was compelled to delay his retirement and launch the institute.
Fuller’s retirement was announced at the third annual Fuller Institute Economic Forum which, in addition to witnessing the transfer of the crystal ball, provided attendees with facts and figures as to the direction of the region’s economy, including housing, employment, and transportation. Calling it “my last lecture,” Fuller presented insights as to “The Transformation of the Washington Region’s Economy,” followed by Chapman’s forecast of “The Washington Region’s Economy in 2019 and Beyond.”
A panel discussion on “Realizing the Washington Region’s Potential: Challenges and Opportunities,” was moderated by real estate developer Bob Buchanan, principal of Buchanan Partners, LLC. Panelists included Maura Brophy, director of Transportation and Infrastructure for the Federal City Council; Dusty Rood, president and chief executive officer of Maryland’s real estate consultant Rodgers Consulting; Jason Stanford, executive director of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance; and Chapman.
To read the economic forecasts announced by Fuller and Chapman, see this summary in the Washington Business Journal.