Name: Kathy Deck Age: 33 Job Title: Director Company: Center for Business & Economic Research, Sam M. Walton College of Business, UA City: Fayetteville
Kathy Deck became head of the Center for Business & Economic Research at the University of Arkansas in 2007. Last year, Deck's study of the Fayetteville Shale Play's economic impact — an estimated $18 billion between 2008 and 2012 — was probably the state's most-anticipated academic work. Deck took the post at the Sam M. Walton College of Business after working as an antitrust economist in the Arizona attorney general's office, examining mergers and acquisitions. Deck's office also produces the quarterly Skyline Report, which examines the northwest Arkansas real estate market.