Who We Are

Office of Economic and Revenue Forecasts - Staff

Director. Ben Noble was appointed as Director of the Office of Economic and Revenue Forecasts in December 2021.  He previously served as the Director of the City's Budget Office for eight years and the Director of the Seattle City Council's Central Staff for more than seven years.  He earned a B.A. in economics from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Washington.

Principal Economist for Forecasting and Research. Jan Duras has been with the forecasting team since 2019. Prior to joining City of Seattle, he worked in government and academia, conducting research and teaching macroeconomics, forecasting, labor economics, and public economics. Jan received his M.A. degree in economics from CERGE-EI and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Minnesota.

Regional Economist. Sean Thompson was hired in 2022, and supplements the forecasting team in critical operations with his experience in econometrics and ad hoc analysis. Sean earned a B.S. in economics with honors from the University of Washington, with a background of research into Seattle property and strong coursework in applied economics and statistics. 

Economic and Revenue Forecast Council

The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council (Forecast Council) provides independent oversight of the economic and revenue forecasts that underlie the City's annual budget process.  The Forecast Council directs the work of the Office of Economic and Revenue Forecasts, which is tasked with developing these forecasts, and performing related analyses on behalf of the Council. The Forecast Council has four members: Mayor or designee, the Director of Finance, the Council President or designee, and the Chair of the City Council Finance Committee or designee.  Current membership includes:

Council President Debora Juarez;

Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda;

Deputy Mayor Tiffany Washington; and

Interim Finance Director Jamie Carnell