Greg Gonzales, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions, will be among the featured speakers for the 20th annual MTSU Economic Outlook Conference.

The half-day conference will be held Friday, Sept. 21, at the Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center, 1200 Conference Center Blvd. 

Registration begins at 8:15 a.m. with the conference to kickoff at 9 a.m. The registration fee is $50 and the last day to register is Friday, Sept. 14. To register and for more information, please go to www.mtsu.edu/econconference.

This year’s speakers “will provide valuable insight into questions pertinent to today’s economic issues,” according to the Jennings A. Jones College of Business.

Organizers say bankers, business owners and managers, community officials and leaders, business people, business and economics faculty members, students, and those interested in the future economic growth of this region will be particularly interested in attending the conference.

Gonzales began serving as commissioner in 2005 and was reappointed by Gov. Bill Haslam to lead the department charged with overseeing state-chartered financial institutions and responding to complaints involving those entities. Gonzales has served in the department since 1986.

Also making presentations at the conference will be David Penn, director of the MTSU Business and Economic Research Center, who will share statistics and insights about the Midstate and regional economy; and Donald Ratajczak, nationally known economist and regent’s professor of economics emeritus at Georgia State University.

Also, MTSU alumnus J.B. Baker, owner of Sprint Logistics and chairman of the board for Volunteer Express Inc. and Associated Companies, will be presented the Jennings A. Jones Champion of Free Enterprise Award.

The Jennings A. Jones Chair of Excellence in Free Enterprise, the MTSU Business and Economic Research Center, and the Weatherford Chair of Finance will cosponsor the event.