"THRED Talks" - 2026 Speakers

 

The San Mateo County Economic Development Association (SAMCEDA) is pleased to announce the five amazing and powerful speakers for the upcoming 73rd Annual Meeting featuring "THRED Talks" - Weaving Our Region Together:

The in-person event will be held on Thursday, Thursday, June 18, 2026 from 3:30PM - 6:30PM (“THRED Talks” presentations and networking reception) at the The Farallon Room at Skyline College in San Bruno.

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Please click here purchase an individual ticket for the "THRED Talks" event.
- To learn more about sponsorship opportunities, please email [email protected]. - 
[ Click to learn more about "THRED Talks" ] 

Benjamin Jaros
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 Research Fellow, Hoover Institution

Benjamin Jaros is an economist and research fellow at the Hoover Institution. He specializes in public finance, financial economics, and economic history, with a focus on federal, state, and local taxation. His recent research examines wealth taxation, budget scoring, taxpayer behavioral responses to income tax changes, state corporate income tax apportionment formula reforms, and colonial-era tobacco tariffs. He produces revenue estimates and fiscal impact analyses of state and federal tax policy.

His research and commentary have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and RealClearPolitics. He has previously worked at the Tax Foundation and served as a research assistant in academic, policy, and private-sector settings. Jaros received his BS in economics, magna cum laude, from Seton Hall University and his MA and PhD in economics from Clemson University.

Natalie Holmes
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Senior Researcher, Community Engagement and Analysis,
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Natalie Holmes is a senior researcher in Community Engagement and Analysis at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. In this role, she conducts research on the economic experiences of lower-income communities and informs community development stakeholders on promising practices related to economic opportunity. In particular, Natalie analyzes labor market and workforce issues, with a focus on improving labor market participation and mobility for lower-income communities and populations.

Natalie’s work experience prior to joining the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco includes work at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, where she studied poverty, access to opportunity, and tax policies that support low-income workers and communities. Natalie is completing a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, where her research has focused on residential mobility and relationships between place, work, housing, and socioeconomic wellbeing.

Natalie holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University, and a bachelor’s degree in the history of science/history of medicine from Yale College.

 

Patrick A. McLaughlin
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Research Fellow, Hoover Institution

Patrick A. McLaughlin is a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, a Visiting Research Fellow at the Pacific Legal Foundation, and an Affiliated Member of the Frankfurt Competence Center for German and Global Regulation (FCCR) at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. His research focuses primarily on regulations and the regulatory process.

McLaughlin created and leads the RegData and QuantGov projects, deploying machine learning and other tools of data science to quantify governance indicators found in federal and state regulations, statutes, and other policy documents. The resulting database, freely available at QuantGov.org, has facilitated pioneering empirical research by hundreds of third-party users on the causes and effects of regulation.

He has authored over thirty peer-reviewed studies in diverse areas, including regulatory economics, administrative law, industrial organization, and international trade. He is the co-author, with Oliver Sherouse, of The Impact of Federal Regulation on the Fifty States. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Regulatory Economics.

McLaughlin has given expert testimonies before Congress and state legislatures on topics ranging from the economic implications of regulatory accumulation to the potential impacts of regulatory reform. His research and op-eds have been featured in a wide range of media outlets, including The Economist, C-SPAN, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Politico, and The Hill. He maintains a blog, Third Order, about the economics of regulation and deregulation at https://thirdorder.substack.com.

Before joining Hoover, he was a Senior Research Fellow and Director of Policy Analytics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He holds a PhD in economics from Clemson University.

Kara Newport
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President & CEO, Filoli

Kara Newport is the President & Chief Executive Officer of Filoli in Woodside, CA and has an extensive history in working with a variety of cultural organizations including public gardens.

Originally from Ohio, Kara completed her undergraduate degree in Botany at Miami University. Kara spent much of her early career in the Philadelphia area.  After completing her graduate degree through the Longwood Graduate Program in Public Horticulture Administration, she was a senior development professional for Winterthur, The Philadelphia Zoo and The Franklin Institute.

Kara moved south to Charlotte, North Carolina where she continued her work with fundraising for the science museum. She was then able to return to gardens as the Executive Director of Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden for ten years, Kara led the development of an Orchid Conservatory and a Children’s Garden.  

Since stepping into leadership in 2016, Kara Newport has guided Filoli through a profound reinvention—transforming it from a beloved but limited historic estate into a vibrant, year-round cultural destination rooted in inclusion, sustainability, and community connection. She stabilized operations and expanded access by reimagining programming to welcome broader and more diverse audiences. Under her leadership, Filoli has nearly doubled its reach and now draws close to half a million annual visitors, fueled by dynamic seasonal experiences and major cultural events. Just as significantly, Newport has advanced Filoli’s strategic priorities by building a people-centered organization and a more inclusive, welcoming experience. She has invested in staff development and pay equity, expanded access and audience connection, and strengthened stewardship of the estate through sustainable practices and thoughtful site development, while continuing to activate historic spaces as part of a vibrant, future-focused cultural destination. The result is a redefined Filoli: not simply preserved, but alive. Today, Filoli is an evolving landscape where history, nature, and community intersect in ways that feel both deeply rooted and unmistakably contemporary.

Kara is engaged in both local and national organizations. Through her work with Filoli, she is actively involved with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Association of State and Local History, American Alliance of Museums, and American Association of Public Gardens. She is also actively involved with tourism as a former board member and current Advisory Committee member of The San Francisco Peninsula.

In the past, she served on the American Public Gardens Association's National Board, and she has also served as Chair of the local Arts Council and on the regional tourism board while in Charlotte, NC. 

Cecilia Phillips
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Coordinating Producer / Reporter,
KQED’s Check, Please! Bay Area

"Check, Please! Bay Area" Coordinating Producer and On-Camera Reporter Cecilia Phillips has long been a part of the Bay Area food scene, working under several celebrity chefs and as a food tour guide for many years in San Francisco after studying Television Broadcast Journalism.

Within "Check, Please! Bay Area," her segment "Cecilia Tries It," follows her around the Bay Area in search of off-the-beaten-path spots for culturally diverse culinary experiences. She is the creator, producer, and host of her own food game show for KQED Live, “Chew on This”, where contestants answer, analyze, and eat their way to a win through food trivia and games.

Alongside this work, she has been recently tapped to host KQED’s newest digital food series, “Beyond the Menu” which explores the origin stories behind people’s favorite foods in an absurd amount of detail, and in its premiere season, was Emmy-nominated for its outstanding lifestyle content. 

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To learn more about "THRED Talks,"
please click here.