Dodge Data & Analytics announces the appointments of Richard Branch as chief economist and Kim Kennedy as the director of forecasting. Branch succeeds Robert Murray, Dodge’s longstanding chief economist and vice president, who retired at the end of August.
An industry veteran with over 20 years of experience as an economist, Branch has served as senior economist at Dodge for 10 years. As chief economist, his primary focus will be to ensure Dodge’s continued preeminence in tracking, analyzing and forecasting North American construction activity, and to work closely with clients as well as national, regional, and trade media to share this insight. This includes continued execution of the monthly Dodge Momentum Index, National Construction Starts research and Dodge Construction Outlook.
To support these efforts, Kim Kennedy, manager of forecasting, will also take on an expanded role as director of forecasting and will co-author the annual Outlook report and flagship quarterly Construction Market Forecasting Service publications. A member of Dodge for over 20 years, Kennedy has more than 30 years of professional experience in construction economics, macroeconomics, consumer and labor economics.