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This
annual lecture was
established by
the College of
Business in 2004 and is funded by
Ames National Corporation, Ames, Iowa,
in honor of its 100 years of service to the Ames
community. This
gift honors Robert Stafford for his many years of dedicated service to First National Bank and Ames National Corporation.
The next Stafford Lecture will be held in fall
2008. Watch this web page for more information
as it becomes available.
Past Stafford Lecturers
Chris Low is Chief Economist for FTN Financial. Chris’
forecasts and commentaries enjoy a large
international following.
Chris is widely quoted in the business press and
is a regular on Bloomberg TV and radio along
with NPR’s Marketplace. He frequently writes and
delivers BBC radio’s US business news.
Before joining FTN Financial in the summer of
1998, Chris spent eleven years as an economist
and money manager at HSBC in New York.
Chris is a member of the Bond Market
Association’s Economic Committee and a graduate
of New York University.
 J. Scott
Johnson, regional president for Wells Fargo
Bank, N.A. - Iowa/Illinois, began his career with Wells Fargo Bank
Iowa in 1979 as a regional credit trainee. In
1986, he was promoted to vice president of
Mid-Market Banking. Four years later, he became
senior vice president and manager of the
Commercial Banking Division and in 1993 he was
named president of Wells Fargo Bank in Des Moines. Johnson
currently holds the title of Regional President
for Wells Fargo Bank in Iowa and Illinois.
He was born in
1957 in Morning Sun, Iowa. Johnson graduated
from Iowa State University in 1979 with a degree
in Industrial Administration. He earned a
master’s of business administration degree in
1990 from Drake University.
 Mark Drabenstott, vice president and director
for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's
Center for the Study of Rural America, was the
speaker at the 2005 Stafford Lecture, held on
November 10. His presentation was titled,
"Helping Iowa Compete in the New Global Economic
Race."
The Center for the Study of Rural America serves as the
Federal Reserve's focal point for research on
rural and agricultural issues. Drabenstott is a
seasoned observer of the rural economy who has
gained national recognition for his economic
analysis and policy insights. He has been an
ardent observer of the leading issues facing the
rural economy and food and agriculture sector,
publishing over 100 articles, editing five
books, and testifying before Congress on rural
and agricultural policy issues more than a dozen
times.
A native of Markle, Indiana, Drabenstott earned
his bachelor's degree from Earlham College in
Richmond, Indiana and his M.S. and Ph.D., both
in economics, from Iowa State University. He
joined the Federal Reserve Bank in 1981 and was
named a vice president in 1990. In 1998, he was
named director for the Center.
Drabenstott Vita
Drabenstott Presentation
 The inaugural Stafford Lecturer
was the Honorable
James A. Leach, Iowa’s
Congressman for the Second
District, who visited the College of Business on
Wednesday, October 13, 2004. Congressman Leach is chairman
emeritus of the House Committee on Financial
Services, which overseas the nation’s financial
industry including the Federal Reserve, the U.S.
Treasury, and the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Rep. Leach was co-author of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services
Modernization Act to make U.S. financial firms
more internationally competitive and provide
consumers more choices and lower prices in the
purchasing of financial products.
About Robert Stafford
 Robert Stafford, a graduate of Ames High in 1942, enrolled
at Iowa State but enlisted in the Army Air Corps
from 1942-45. While serving, he received the
Distinguished Flying Cross which recognizes an exceptional accomplishment through a single act of heroism.
In 1954, he returned to the Ames Trust and Savings Bank in
Ames, Iowa, where he worked in high school. He became
president of the bank, which is now known as First National
Bank, in 1968. He became chairman in 1995.
Bob is married to Virginia and has four children:
Marcia, Craig, Brian, and Maren. He is very active in the
community, doing work with the Community Chest, Chamber of
Commerce, Rotary Club, Presbyterian Church, City of Ames,
and Iowa State University. |
Chris Low
Chief
Economist
FTN Financial
2007 Stafford Lecturer |
