Executive Vice President, Chief Economist & Chief Strategy Officer
The Conference Board
bart.vanark@conferenceboard.org
Bart van Ark is Executive Vice President and Chief Economist of The Conference Board, a global research organization with its head office in New York City in the United States. He leads a global team of economists in New York, Brussels and Beijing, who produce a range of widely watched economic indicators and growth forecasts, as well as in-depth global economic research. Van Ark is also responsible for the development of the strategy and major new initiatives of The Conference Board.
Van Ark is also a Professor in Economic Development, Technological Change and Growth at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands), from where he also graduated in 1993, and where he has specialized in the areas of economic growth, development economics, economic history and international economics and business. He is an internationally acclaimed expert in the field of international comparative productivity measurement and analysis, innovation and technology, and digital transformation in particular. He is the former director of the Groningen Growth and Development Centre, a research group working on long term economic growth and productivity, of which he still is a member.
Van Ark has extensively published in leading national and international journals, including the Journal of Economic Perspectives, The Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, and Economic Policy. From 2004-2008 he has been managing editor of the Review of Income and Wealth. He is also frequently featured in major international business media, including Bloomberg, CNBC, the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal.