Paul Sommers is an economist (Ph.D., Yale). Since 2004, he has been a professor at the Institute of Public Service and the Albers School of Business at Seattle University. He is also director of the university’s Center on Metropolitan Development, conducting research on economic development and workforce topics. He is an expert on regional development, and regional economic and workforce forecasting. During a 25 year career at Battelle Memorial Institute and the University of Washington, he conducted many research projects on national energy industry topics and on rural and urban regional development issues in the Northwest.

Recently, he completed a report for the State of Washington on industry clusters in 12 regions within Washington State, and a paper on an empirical methodology for identifying clusters in the Puget Sound region. In addition, a chapter he wrote on the life sciences cluster in the Puget Sound is contained in a 2008 book on innovation topics. He is a member of the Washington State Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors, and a past president of the Seattle Economists Club. He serves on the board of the Pacific Northwest Regional Economics.