The Hayek Group Mission: Promoting freedom and prosperity
The Hayek Group adopts the name of the late Austrian economist Friederich Hayek because we embrace his central premise: Freedom produces prosperity.
One way The Hayek Group pursues this mission is through monthly dinner meetings, which inform and prompt discussion of economic, political, and social issues.
Some meetings focus on the Hayek’s notion that freedom works, but the topics of dinner meetings vary significantly. The emphasis is to inform people on the issues of the day.
Everyone is invited Hayek Group dinner meetings.
You do not need to be a member to attend.
The dinner meetings are also provide a great opportunity to meet new people and socialize.
The second means through which The Hayek Group pursues its mission is by facilitating youth financial literacy.
It is well understand that many people are less free and less prosperous because they never learned how to manage money and credit when they were young. The Hayek Group is partnering with the Ramsey Group and with Northern Nevada schools to place the Dave Ramsey Foundations of Personal Finance curriculum into Northern Nevada schools. Since 2017, The Hayek Group has raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to augment the financial literacy of youth.
A team of Hayek Group members is working with the school district to help ensure the curriculum is used to its fullest extent.
The Hayek Group has funded the Ramsey curriculum for some classrooms in 13 schools in Northern Nevada that are not in the Washoe County School District.
One big accomplishment was the negotiation and funding of a 7 year site license of the Dave Ramsey Foundations in Personal Finance curriculum for the Washoe County School District. This ensures up to 5000 seniors per year will have access to quality financial education. The curriculum is also being used it innovative ways, like in a 9th grade math class to motivate students to learn how to use percentages. The current effort is to extend the efforts in these and other Northern Nevada schools to reach more students. Site licenses are the best way to reach all students at the lowest cost. They must be negotiated and funded one school at a time.
Meet our team
Mark Pingle
PRESIDENTMark Pingle is a professor of economics, a member of the University of Nevada, Reno Department of Economics since 1990. He received his B.S. degree in economics from Southern Oregon State College in 1983. He received his M.A. in 1984 and Ph.D. in Economics in 1988, both from the University of Southern California.
Christie Asis
MARKETING CHAIRChristie is the Regional Market Development Manager for United Federal Credit Union in Nevada, and has worked in the financial services industry for over 13 years. Christie is passionate about giving back to the community and enjoys volunteering with her kids.
Kellie R. George
TREASURERKellie George is a certified human behavior consultant and a certified John C. Maxwell leadership speaker and trainer; she brings over 34 years of experience in public speaking, business development, sales, marketing, and business management. She specializes in helping companies retain their talent with internal development. Kellie is actively involved in multiple community organizations, and provides leadership training and financial education to youth and adults.
Vas Kamyshanov
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CHAIRAward-winning business leader with 15 years of marketing and sales experience. Developed strategies that resulted in $1 billion in sales for Nestle, Kraft, SAB Miller.
Tim Duvall
EDUCATION CHAIRTim Duvall is President and CEO of Neo Medical Inc. a medical device company, located in Sparks Nevada; Tim has over 35 years of management experience from several Fortune 100 companies including 25 years spent in Medical Devices. Tim is considered an industry expert in the area of vascular access products with a special focus on Neonatal and Pediatrics.
Michael Miller
TEACHING CHAIRMichael Miller is an instructor of economics and statistics at Truckee Meadows Community College since 2019. Previously he was an associate professor of economics at Des Moines Area Community College for seven years. With over a decade of teaching experience, he has taught classes in economics, statistics, mathematics and personal finance.
Origination of The Hayek Group: The genesis of The Hayek Group occurred in November, 2008.
The following are excerpts from two emails sent by Tom Motherway in mid November 2008 to a few others. These excerpts express the heart and intention of the genesis, and these still animate The Hayek Group today.
“I’ve mentioned to some of you the possibility of getting a group … together for discussion of current topics of interest to our society in economics, politics, education, finance, social mores, etc. My interest is to hear intelligent voices from varying backgrounds with the common interest in the values upon which our country was founded, liberty and democracy. All this, in an atmosphere of comradery and fun. … The common link is a desire to see the country governed properly.”
“Our nation’s future is in grave danger given the one-sidedness of the educational establishment and the fourth estate. This coupled with the educational level of the average voter does not augur well for our country, children and grandchildren. Recall the Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.”
“The majority have responded affirmatively in favor of regular periodic get-togethers to discuss topics of interest … . I therefore propose a regular mid-week early dinner group …. We could agree on different times, places and formats if the discussion concept has legs after the first couple of meetings. Our “interesting times” present a wealth of opportunity to learn, debate and discuss important issues of the day. The group itself brings a wealth of experience to the effort. … Best to all,”
Tom Motherway