share the stage with you. Um, it's great
to be back here in the valley again. See
so many familiar faces from academia, my
last tour of service and from my first
100 days, which is just this weekend.
I've been looking forward to this
weekend. And before I go further, I want
to thank Jeff Schmidt and his team for
the incredible hospitality. Everybody
here is in debt to you and your
colleagues here at the Federal Reserve
Bank of Kansas City. Uh, Jeff Jeff, our
thanks to you and your team.
Now, he and the other planners here have
some recreation options lined up for
later today. I'd advise you to be very
careful with your choices.
As I learned years ago, you can take two
different kinds of hikes on the trails
around Jackson. I can sum up my hikes
with former vice chairman Don Kohn with
two words. I survived.
These steely marathon death marches
revealed the sign of Don that that I was
not ready for.
But there's another kind of hike. This
one was with former chairman Ben
Bernanke, another dear old colleague.
With Ben, it was a much more leisurely
pace, an easy stroll along the wandering
trails of the Rockefeller Preserve.
So before setting out today, my
recommendation is do a wellness check.
Ask yourself, is this a Kohn day or a
Bernanke day?
The best thing about this gathering is
that it helps us all get out here to the
mountains and clear our minds and think
straight about our world and our time.
For me, it feels like the right place
and the right audience for a real
engagement with the ideas that matter
most.
Innovation, as Kristen mentioned is the
conference theme.
And I believe the public and the markets
understand that innovation
