Phyllis Resnick, PhD., Executive Director and Lead Economist
Phyllis Resnick, Executive Director and Lead Economist
Phyllis Resnick is a one of the co-founders of the Colorado Futures Center and currently serves as both Executive Director and Lead Economist. Her most recent research focuses on macro/fiscal forecasting, fiscal sustainability, economic impact analysis, and the political, economic and distributional effects of fiscal rules such as tax and expenditure limitations. Her fiscal forecasts have been integral to budget decisions for the states of Colorado and Hawaii, in the cities of Boulder, Arvada, Denver, and Aurora, for the state transportation budget, and for public enterprises including Xcel Energy and many of Colorado’s metropolitan planning organizations. Together with Jennifer Newcomer, Phyllis’ most recent research portfolio has expanded to include work on family economic security and community economic health.
Internationally in the developing world, she works as both a consultant and a volunteer with central and local governments on issues of macro-fiscal forecasting, tax policy analysis, open budgets and transparency, and fiscal decentralization. Her most recent international projects include working as a consultant with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning in Kigali, Rwanda and on the East Africa Technical Assistance Team with the International Monetary Fund. She has served as a volunteer expert with the Financial Services Volunteer Corps in Angola, Eswatini, Lesotho, Jordan, Bangladesh, Morocco and Tunisia.
Phyllis completed her master’s and doctoral degrees at the CU-Boulder and CU-Denver, respectively. Her dissertation research explored the effect of tax and expenditure limitations on tax reform efforts in the states. She has been recognized with awards for both her domestic research and international work, including the prestigious Most Distinguished Research award from the Governmental Research Association and the Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance Volunteer of the Year Award. Phyllis also served four years as a volunteer representing the Governmental Research Association on the Government Accounting Standards Advisory Council. In May 2021, she was invited to join the Regional Economic Development Institute (REDI) as a Colorado State University Research Associate.
Jennifer Newcomer, Research Director
Jennifer Newcomer, Research Director
Jennifer Newcomer is the Research Director of the Colorado Futures Center. Her research focuses on social and built environment issues, particularly household and neighborhood lifecycles, housing affordability, and the forces impacting family economic wellbeing. Jennifer has spoken at numerous conferences and events on the full cross-section of her work.
Prior to working at CFC, she worked at the Piton Foundation directing the program Shift Research Lab. At Shift, Jennifer amassed a research portfolio, including noteworthy work in partnership with CFC that has garnered both local and national media attention, as well as informed local policy.
Jennifer also worked at the Denver Regional Council of Governments conducting land use forecasting and regional economic analysis. At the start of her career she worked in real estate and construction managing projects from planning and design to build out.
Jennifer is a doctoral candidate in Geography, Planning and Design at the University of Colorado Denver, and holds a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning with a focus on Economic Development from the University of Colorado at Denver, and a Bachelor’s in Environmental Design from the University of New Mexico.
Steven B. Fisher, Ph.D., Consulting Economist
Steven B. Fisher, Ph.D. is an independent economic analyst specializing in economic research and long term forecasting. Steven provided the long term economic and demographic forecast for the DRCOG Metrovision 2040 process. He completed a similar project for the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization. He provided the economic and demographic analysis for the City of Arvada Comprehensive Plan update. Steven is a member of economics team of the Colorado Futures Center based at Colorado State University. He has a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Nebraska. From 1983 to 1991 he was Director of Budget for the City of Boulder. In 1989 he was president of the Denver Association of Business Economists. He currently is based in Louisville, Colorado.
Abby Smith- Intern, Social Media
Since early 2020, Abby Smith has been working as the Colorado Futures Center’s social media intern. She is an honor student in the IB Diploma programme at Northfield High School. A native of Denver, she enjoys hiking, snowboarding, reading and Formula 1 racing. Abby has managed all of CFC’s socia; media campaigns since early 2020 and is responsible for the center’s presence on Instagram and Twitter. Abby is looking forward to continuing her professional work and studies in digital media with her upcoming university tenure in Great Britain or the United States.
