Donald Ratajczak, Ph.D. – affectionately known simply as “Dr. Don” – has been an AEC fixture for more than 40 years. He was the director of econometric forecasting at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), before coming to Atlanta to start what blossomed into Georgia State University’s highly regarded Economic Forecasting Center in the J. Mack Robinson College of Business. Dr. Don retired in 2000 after serving 27 years, currently serving as Regents Professor Emeritus of Economics. He continues to work with Raymond James as a consulting economist. Dr. Ratajczak received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Haverford College and his Doctorate of economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“I’ve been involved with the AEC on and off since 1975. My most memorable leadership activity was helping to sponsor a seminar about Carter’s economics after his election; his chief economic advisor (Charles Schultz) gave the keynote on policy. During Q&A, I asked how the administration would respond to rising unemployment and inflation. He gave interesting answers about responding to unemployment but just assumed inflation would not be a problem. That is when I suspected they didn’t know how to respond to inflation.”