Board Participation

AGF Investment Management (Toronto Exchange: AGF/B:CN)
Audit and Compensation Committees

Unifirst Corporation (NYSE: UNF)
Audit and Compensation Committees

Tactile Finance (FinTech Startup, NYU Incubator)
Strategic Advisor

Board Bio

Kathleen Camilli is one of the nation’s leading economists. Her insights and forecasting track record have helped corporations avert financial disaster and preserve capital for decades. She brings gravitas to the boardroom, plus a wealth of money management and operating experience. Her insights are amplified by her work for institutional investors, boards and companies. Ethical, discreet, and objective, Kathleen she is a valued board member.

Given her deep understanding of economics, Kathleen is seeking US or French boards in manufacturing, or energy where her insights, pragmatic views, financial acumen, and language skills can be put to use. She is currently an independent director on the Board of the UniFirst Corporation (NYSE) the third largest uniform rental company in the US with facilities in Europe, South America and Canada. With a passion for the intricacies of the manufacturing process, Kathleen would not accept the Board seat until she visited one of UniFirst laundry facilities to understand how garments got from client to laundry and back. She is a highly regarded member of the Audit and Compensation Committees, where she has provided insights on the international sphere. Colleagues bemused by her preference for nuts and bolts companies quickly see the value. “Quite simply, I’m interested in companies that make things, because they are the ones who drive the economy, and create the jobs.” She is also on the board of Tactile Finance, an early stage fintech start-up in NYU’s incubator. Kathleen was an independent director on the NASDAQ-listed Mass Bank board (2004-2008). On the ALCO committee, she helped the CEO manage the banks portfolio, and warned the CEO of impending recession, a full year in advance of the crisis, enabling the Board to sell the bank at full value with shareholders intact. She was also a member of the Insurance, and Nominating Committees.

Kathleen has served on many not-for-profit boards, including the National Association of Business Economics (2004-2007), National Council on Economic Education (2004-2007), the Epiphany School Foundation (2000-2006), the Fordham Prep Parents Rowing Association (2009-2012), Windham Mountain SKITA, an organization that is preparing young athletes to compete nationally and internationally (Olympics) representing the USA (2009-2014). She is active in organizations such as National Association of Corporate Directors, where she is a Governance Fellow, KPMG's Audit Institute, The Economic Club of NY, the Conference Board, University of Delaware’s Governance Centers, the Asia Society, the Women’s Global Forum (Davos), the National Association for Business Economics, and the Forecasters Club.

Kathleen founded Camilli Economics in 2004, to address the growing need for independent economic analysis after the passage of Sarbanes Oxley. Kathleen is a sought after speaker, and regularly speaks to associations to CEOs, CFOs, COO’s, bankers, corporate treasurers, and other financial professionals. Her expertise and advice are increasingly in demand with the current business and political vagaries. Plus the “Washington Speakers Bureau”, “Leading Authorities” and other public speakers bureaus receive consistent praise. She appears regularly on CNN, CNBC, and The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Nightly Business Report, and Bloomberg Business News.

Partnering with the Center for Information Mapping at the Parson’s School of Design, in 2005, she formed Economic Mapping, LLC. This entrepreneurial initiative was founded to mine and map economic data using advanced mapping technology. Similar to its use for consumer businesses, Kathleen is expanding her economic mapping company to utilize Big Data concepts via the NYU/Berkeley Innovation Lab.

Earlier in her career, Kathleen was the US economist at Credit Suisse Asset Management providing insight on the US economy to the firm’s investment professionals overseeing $312 billion in fixed income and equity assets globally. She was the Chief Economist of Tucker Anthony Sutro (1996-2001). She reported directly to the CEO, writing and speaking weekly to the firm’s institutional and high net worth clients. From 1990 to 1995 she led the research and sales effort for the global money management and economic consulting firm, MFR, Inc. She also worked as a money market economist at Drexel Burnham Lambert, and at Chase Manhattan Bank. Kathleen began at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where she was responsible for the reserves forecasting unit.  This job, key to the liquidity of the banking system, was demanding given the time constraints, and need for multiple manual calculations. At the time she started, Kathleen was only 24yrs old. 

Named by the Wall Street Journal one of the top five economic forecasters, Kathleen called the turning point of the tech bubble in 1999 and the peak in the business cycle in 2000, and the ensuing recession in 2001, which earned her a number one performing forecaster and numerous other accolades in those years. In 2001 Institutional Investor ranked her top Fed watcher in 1992. In 2001, she was recognized as an “Outstanding Alumni” of NYU. She is the author of several articles, including “Reserves Forecasting for Open Market Operations” published in the FRBNY Quarterly Review in 1986 and still cited.

With an M.B.A. in Finance and an M.A. in French Studies from New York University Kathleen completed her degrees while working full time at the Federal Reserve. She received her B.A. degrees in Economics (cum laude) and French (magna cum laude) from Douglass College, Rutgers University. She studied at Universite de Laval, Quebec, Canada and Universite de Paris III, IV, France. 

Kathleen is an avid skier, sailor, and swimmer. She is a voracious reader of non-fiction and a life long learner. She and her husband Peter, a financial professional, reside in New York City. They have two sons.

camnow@msn.com, 917-363-3609 (O and M)