Marin Economic Forum Staff

Mike Blakeley/Chief Executive Officer

Mike Blakeley is a senior economic development specialist with over 20 years experience working in the public and private sector. He is an expert at building partnerships and mobilizing different stakeholders to create shared outcomes and strategies.

Mike joined the Marin Economic Forum having previously served as a Managing Director and Principal Associate of the Private Sector Engagement Practice at Nathan Associates Inc., a global consulting firm that designs and implements large-scale economic development programs in emerging markets. In this capacity Mike led implementation of high-profile programs in Africa, Asia and Latin America and served as the company’s subject matter expert on themes such as entrepreneurship, business strategy and workforce development.

Early in his career Mike founded an international trading company based in San Francisco that exported agricultural commodities, including many products from California. Following that experience he acquired his MA in International Economics and went on to Washington DC where he worked for the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).

Mike is a native of Marin County and currently resides there with his wife and two children. He is active with various Bay Area non-profits and enjoys all the outdoor pursuits Marin offers from mountain biking to trail running and it’s beautiful coastline.

mblakeley@marineconomicforum.org

Robert Eyler, PhD/Chief Economist

Dr. Robert Eyler, chief economist for Marin Economic Forum, is an internationally recognized academic and has published two books and numerous several academic articles concerning economic sanctions, the economics of the wine industry and monetary economics.

The Interim Dean of Extended and International Education at Sonoma State University, Dr. Eyler earned a Ph.D. from UC Davis and holds a BA in economics from CSU, Chico. He has been a visiting scholar at both the University of Bologna and Stanford University.

“We take a rigorous academic approach to the information that we gather and then apply it to the real world in order to offer our affiliates useful and actionable data,” he says. “It is very much our goal to maintain our reputation as an independent organization that provides public policy and economic impact analyses for both private firms and public entities to help guide decision making at the local and state level.”

Dr. Eyler, who served as the CEO of the Forum from 2009-15, is a frequent speaker at academic and business conferences. He also serves on Redwood Credit Union’s Board of Directors.