Ronald R. Pollina

Biography

Dr. Ronald R. Pollina is President and founder of Chicago-based Pollina Corporate Real Estate, Inc. Since 1981, Pollina Corporate has represented clients nationally and internationally with strategic planning and location analysis. Dr. Pollina is recognized as an expert in corporate location analysis, economic development and geoeconomic trends.

Prior to forming the company, Dr. Pollina was real estate economist for one of the nation`s largest real estate firms. During the mid-1970s, he served as geoeconomist in the economic development division of Continental Illinois National Bank.

Dr. Pollina has represented numerous Fortune 500 companies as location consultant, including Xerox, E.I. du Pont, 3Com, Time Inc., Bosch, Caterpillar, State Farm Insurance and Prudential Insurance. He has represented his clients in virtually every state in the United States as well as foreign locations. Many of these projects have included the location selection of corporate headquarters, research and development, manufacturing and distribution facilities.

Dr. Pollina has authored over 70 published articles on the subjects of geoeconomics, corporate relocation and economic development. His opinions on geoeconomics and corporate location have been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, BusinessWeek, Forbes, Chicago Tribune, and The New York Times. Dr. Pollina is the author of the nationally recognized Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States study that is published annually and has received coverage by CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, FOX and NPR.

In addition to being interviewed numerous times on television and radio, Dr. Pollina has made scores of presentations before groups such as the National Council for Urban Economic Development, International Economic Development Council, International Development Research Council, National Association of Realtors, International Association of Attorneys and Executives in Corporate Real Estate, Business Roundtable and several state legislatures.

Dr. Pollina is a member of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, American Real Estate Society and Lambda Alpha (Land Economics Fraternity). He served on the International Development Research Council`s Board of Directors and was granted its highest level of achievement, Master Professional. Dr. Pollina served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the International Tenant Representative Alliance, an international association of corporate real estate brokerage firms, and also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Attorneys and Executives in Corporate Real Estate.

He has served on the faculties of the University of Illinois and DePaul University. Dr. Pollina received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois.

Publications

Selling Out a Superpower

In a groundbreaking and controversial book entitled Selling Out a Superpower: Where the U.S. Economy Went Wrong and How We Can Turn It Around, author Ronald R. Pollina, Ph.D., documents how inept government management of business and the economy by state and federal officials of both political parties -- with the assistance of lobbyists representing special interest groups -- have betrayed the American middle and lower class for the last twenty years by enacting laws and policies that have driven jobs and whole industries offshore never to return.

Dr. Pollina, president and founder of a global corporate real estate company, deals with these issues daily, and he documents how America lost its way in this must-read book and puts everything about our economic meltdown under a microscope: an education system designed for the 1950s that produces a workforce unable to compete for 21st century jobs; tax codes that drive companies offshore; deficit spending on all levels of government that drains our economic power; complacency and lack of economic development on all levels; why free trade doesn`t mean fair trade; how America sold its soul to credit card companies and mortgage lenders for a better lifestyle; and why China and India are, at the moment, better equipped than America to win the Economic War of the 21st Century.

Nonetheless, the author believes that if America has the political courage to finally confront these problems, the U.S. can reassert itself as an economic superpower. This book provides a roadmap to achieve that goal.