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Tim Duy, director of the Oregon Economic Forum, saw the recession brewing as early as 2006, and was one of the few to predict just how slowly the U.S. economy would recover.

“It does seem to be getting a little better, but it has been a long time,” he said. “Sometimes I worry that I’m still too pessimistic because I got into a bad habit of being pessimistic over the last few years.”

Though he’s had mostly bad news to deliver in his monthly industry updates, Duy is credited with presenting complex economic information in a manner that is straightforward and easy to understand. A growing number of Oregon companies rely on that information to make key business decisions.

“The monthly update is a conscious effort to try to create a very concise summary of a month’s worth of data that can be difficult to follow and read for the average person or average business. Especially when one week points one direction and another piece of data points a different way the next week,” he said.

Duy first became interested in economics as an undergraduate at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma. Born in Chicago in 1969, Duy attended high schools in Chicago, Dallas, Texas, and Denver before graduating and moving to the Pacific Northwest to attend UPS. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1991.

“I think having good economics professors as an undergraduate drove a significant part of my decision to pursue it in my graduate studies,” he said.

He moved to Eugene to attend graduate school at the University of Oregon from 1993 to 1998. He and his wife, Heather Walloch, then relocated to Washington, D.C., where Duy worked for the U.S. Treasury Department and as a private consultant.

After three years, Duy and Walloch returned to Eugene, and Duy became director of undergraduate studies for UO’s Department of Economics. Walloch, an attorney and Oregon native, and Duy spent much of their free time hiking and backpacking throughout the Northwest, including most of Olympic National Park, before they had their two children.

Duy said he is content to set down roots and teach his children about the wealth of natural treasures in this part of the country.

“Moving to three high schools sort of influenced my desire to find a career in a place where I could stay put,” he said.

And whether the economic news is good or bad, Duy said he appreciates the opportunity to help others understand what is happening and why.

“I enjoy the intellectual stimulation of it and the freedom to actually pursue that,” he said.

Who was a mentor who helped shape you into the person you are today? What did that person teach you?

“An undergraduate professor named Wade Hands sparked my interest in economics. A colleague from my time in Washington, D.C., Mary Ann Bartels, taught me how to take that knowledge and match it up with what the financial markets are doing. And Professor Mark Thoma was my dissertation advisor in grad school and got me interested in macroeconomics.”

Tell us something about yourself that most people might not know.

“I consider myself a Renaissance man because I like both country and western music.”