About

Rebecca Rockey is the Deputy Chief Economist and Global Head of Forecasting at Cushman & Wakefield. In her decade at the firm, her responsibilities have evolved significantly. Her focus spans economics, demographics, financial markets and commercial real estate—both at the macro and micro levels. She manages the production of national/metro-level commercial real estate forecasts for various property types across the Americas, develops predictive econometric and statistical models to enhance the firms’ analytical capabilities and contributes to numerous white papers, webinars, media requests and industry/client presentations. In her global role, she extends this expertise to other regions. More recently, she has become a strategic internal and external advisor across service lines and regions, connecting research themes to actionable and tactical views on the market.   

She is certified by the International Institute of Forecasters and is a member of the American Economic Association, the National Association of Business Economists and the National Economists Club. In 2014, she was part of the forecast team that won the National Association of Business Economists Outlook Award (most accurate forecaster).  

She previously worked as a consultant at a finance/economics consulting firm engineering models to forecast agency subsidy costs and loss reserves for Fannie Mae’s single-family private-label MBS portfolio. Prior to that, she was a junior economist at the Congressional Budget Office in the Financial Analysis Division (FAD). There, she contributed to numerous analyses related to federal credit programs, accounting treatments of federal credit, and the treatment of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the federal budget. She was particularly focused on fair value estimation of federal direct lending and guarantee credit programs and contributed to FAD’s first comprehensive estimate—across more than 100 credit programs with a portfolio value of $3.1 trillion—for the Congress. 

She is frequently cited in the media, guest lectures at New York University and is an advisor to the NYC Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the DC Policy Center. 

Education

• Masters in Applied Economics, Johns Hopkins University, Magna Cum Laude 
• Bachelors of Science in Economics, Pennsylvania State University, Magna Cum Laude, William Blake Award Recipient 
• Bachelors of Arts in French & Francophone Studies, Pennsylvania State University, Magna Cum Laude, Student Marshall Nominee 
• Bachelors of Science in International Studies, Magna Cum Laude, Pennsylvania State University 

Affiliations

• American Economic Association 
• National Association of Business Economists 
• The National Economists Club 
• Certified by International Institute of Forecasters 
• Penn State College of the Liberal Arts Emerging Alumni Leaders 
• Penn State College of the Liberal Arts Mentor