Chris Ferris
About Chris Ferris
Chris Ferris is a Senior Economist at Economic Development Winnipeg, where he has worked since 2017. He has extensive experience in economic analysis, data modeling, and sector development, with a focus on Manitoba's regional economy.
Work at Economic Development Winnipeg
Chris Ferris has held the position of Senior Economist at Economic Development Winnipeg since 2017. He previously served as Manager of Enterprise Content from 2017 to 2021. In his role, he employs municipal administrative open data, such as property assessment data, for monitoring and modeling purposes. Ferris supports investor relations, sector business development, and foreign direct investment through data analytical workflows. He has created an Economic Impact Assessment Model to evaluate business development opportunities and project impacts. Additionally, he has developed a simple estimator for business property taxes for the City of Winnipeg using open data.
Education and Expertise
Chris Ferris studied at the University of Manitoba, where he earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Economics from 1999 to 2003 and a Master of Arts in Economics from 2003 to 2004. He also attended Elkhorn Collegiate Institute for his high school education and studied Business Information Systems at Herzing Career College, achieving a Diploma in 1993. His expertise includes utilizing tools such as SQL, R, Office 365, and Tableau for monitoring and forecasting economic variables relevant to Winnipeg's regional economy.
Background
Chris Ferris has a diverse professional background in economics and data analysis. He began his career at Ipsos as a Data Coder from 1994 to 1999. He then worked as a Research Assistant/Marker at the University of Manitoba's Department of Economics from 2002 to 2004. Ferris also held positions as a Market Analyst at the Canadian Wheat Board from 2008 to 2012, and as a Statistical Analyst at Bell MTS from 2006 to 2008. Prior to his current role, he served as a Senior Grains Analyst at IEG Vantage from 2012 to 2017.
Achievements
Chris Ferris has contributed to various economic analyses and models throughout his career. He developed a parsimonious comparative statics model for policy analysis of Manitoba's cannabis sector and has been involved in creating new data sets for emerging sectors. Ferris authored a paper on Retrain Manitoba in June 2023 and presented a study on the same topic at the 2023 CEA Conference. He actively analyzes inflation trends in Manitoba and discusses interest rate impacts on the economy, providing economic outlook presentations.