James “Jim” O’Sullivan is a managing director and senior economist for UBS. While the collapse in US housing was more dramatic than expected, he had been forecasting significant weakening in sales and prices and spillover to the overall economy. Jim was co-ranked first in economics in the Institutional Investor survey of fixed-income investors in 2007 and 2008. He was named Forecaster of the Year for 2008 and 2006 by Dow Jones MarketWatch.

Born in New York, Jim grew up in Co. Offaly. His father is from Limerick and his mother is from Cork. Jim says, “People in Ireland take an exceptional interest in political and socioeconomic developments. Growing up there stimulated that interest in me. As an economist, I am focused on the interactions among government policy, financial markets, and the economy.”

Jim holds a BA in economics from Trinity College Dublin, where he achieved the distinction of Scholar, and an MA in economics from Queen’s University in Ontario. He lives in Manhattan with his Offaly-born wife, Margaret Molloy, a marketing executive, and their sons, Finn and Emmet.