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Economic Development Panel

Rep. Beth Van Duyne

Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne proudly represents the 24^thCongressional District of Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives, which includes portions of Tarrant, Denton, and Dallas counties. Prior to being elected to Congress, Beth served as Regional Administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Mayor of Irving, Irving City Council Member, and a businesswoman.

Throughout Beth’s career, she has worked with small startup companies, mid-size private companies and Fortune 500 corporations alike. Beth also ran a consulting business where she helped executives develop strategic business plans as well as negotiation strategies, grassroots coalition building and federal and state legislative policy strategies.

After graduating magna cum laude from Cornell University, Beth moved to Irving, Texas, which has been her home for over 30 years. Single mother to Katie and Pearce, Beth was only the second Republican woman from Texas to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Dr. Klaus Desmet, Research Fellow at Centre for Economic Policy Research, Professor at Southern Methodist University

Klaus Desmet is the Altshuler Professor of Cities, Regions and Globalization at Southern Methodist University, Research Fellow at CEPR and Research Associate at NBER. He holds an MSc in Business and Engineering from the Université catholique de Louvain and a PhD in Economics from Stanford University. Before moving to SMU, he was Professor at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. His research focuses on regional economics, economic growth, political economy and international trade. His work has appeared in journals such as the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, the Journal of Economic Theory and the Journal of Development Economics. In 2019 he was the co-recipient of the Robert E. Lucas Jr. Prize.

Dr. J.H. Cullum Clark,  Director, Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative and Adjunct Professor of Economics

Dr. J.H. Cullum Clark is the Director of the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative where he is responsible for managing various aspects of the new partnership between the Department of Economics and the Bush Institute and leads the Initiative's work on domestic economic policy and economic growth. His chief research interests are macroeconomic policy, economic geography and urban economics, and modern economic history.

Dr. Clark worked for 24 years in the investment industry, serving since 2002 as President of Prothro Clark Company, a Dallas investment firm. In addition to his time in the PhD program, his involvement with SMU includes serving since 2008 on the University’s Investment Committee, since 2010 on the Tate Lecture Series Board of Directors, and since 2017 as a Tower Center Fellow. He also serves on the boards of the Eugene McDermott Foundation and Uplift Education, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Dallas Assembly.

He and his wife Nita have three daughters: Lili (21), Annabel (19), and Charlotte (15).