Kenneth D. Simonson has been Chief Economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, the leading national construction trade association, since 2001. He provides insight into the economy and what it implies for construction and related industries through frequent media interviews, presentations and The Data DIGest, his weekly one-page e-newsletter.

Ken has more than 40 years of experience analyzing, advocating and communicating about economic and tax issues. Before joining AGC, he was senior economic advisor in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy. Earlier, he was vice president and chief economist for the American Trucking Associations. He also worked with the President’s Commission on Industrial Competitiveness, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board and an economic consulting firm.

Ken is the 2012-13 president of the National Association for Business Economics and is active in several other organizations for business economists and researchers. He is co-director of the Tax Economists Forum, a professional meeting group he co-founded in 1982, and is a board member of the Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington.

Ken has a BA in economics from the University of Chicago, an MA from Northwestern University, and he has taken advanced graduate courses at the Université de Paris, Johns Hopkins and Georgetown Universities.