Employee Spotlight: Gregory Astill, Senior Economist

As Senior Economist, Gregory is a key part of our growing team. With his extensive experience in market trends and economic strategy, he’s ready to help us deliver even smarter insights and greater value to our customers. Read on to learn more about him.

Tell us a bit about yourself and what led you to DecisionNext.

I’ve always had a strong desire to figure out how the world works. Science is the best method to identify causal relationships. Good science must be founded upon testing falsifiable hypotheses. I completed a PhD in Economics in 2016 and began working as an economist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture where my research covered agricultural production, markets, and policy. I found it fulfilling to produce research and data that benefited the U.S. public during the first decade of my career.

When I interviewed with DecisionNext, I was incredibly impressed by every member of the team here. Each person is an expert in their own domain, and everyone takes responsibility to deliver value to the company and customers. I’m excited to expand the commodities we forecast using DecisionNext’s cutting-edge infrastructure and algorithms, and to continually improve our predictions through its rigorous backtesting methods.

If your team were stranded on a deserted island, what would be your survival contribution?

I notice small details. I’m patient. And I’m good at devising practical solutions to problems. In other words, I’d build the fish traps, the fresh water bamboo plumbing, and the thatched palm roofing.

What’s your workplace superpower?

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “The only constant is change.” I embrace disruptive change that is outside of my control, and I find ways to adapt that are within my control.

Who gets your loyalty: Seahawks or Washington State?

I’ve lived in Kansas City for the past 5 years, so I’ll say, “Go Chiefs!” I grew up in Utah and never really had an NFL team to cheer for, but as a Brigham Young University alumnus, I’m excited to see the BYU Cougars continue their upward trajectory as a recent addition to the Big 12. I was also a Cougar at Washington State University during the exciting Mike Leach era when I was studying for my PhD in Economics. WAZZU football seems to be in a period of rebuilding with the reorganization of the Pac-12, but I look forward to their resurgence as a premier football program.

Describe the role of your job as if you were explaining it to a 6th grader.

How does an engineer design a skyscraper that won’t fall down in an earthquake? They don’t build 100 skyscrapers using different designs and materials and wait 100 years for an earthquake to shake them. They use a computer to simulate what would happen to different designs and materials for different sized earthquakes. And they can do 1 million simulations in 1 day. Instead of skyscrapers and earthquakes, I help write the computer code that simulates what happens to the price of food and other things when economic shocks happen. Economic shocks can be a few big things (like inflation or wars) or many small things (like more people buying one type of food in the summer).

Is a hot dog a sandwich?

No. A sandwich requires the inter-bread filling to be thinly sliced or spreadable. For the same reason, a burger is not a sandwich.

What’s your favorite cut of meat and how do you like it prepared?

Ribeye steak, seasoned with dry rub and butter, grilled to rare/medium-rare over charcoal prepared by my buddy Aaron who was a steak chef during high school and college.