The International Economic Summit™ (IES) was authored and developed by Jody Hoff at the Idaho Council on Economic Education (ICEE). The idea for the IES program originated in the 1990s from teachers Kali Kurdy and Elsa Bennett of Boise, Idaho’s Borah High School who had created an international trade session as a component of their Model UN program.

Between 1998 and 2004, with a grant provided by the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation, Jody Hoff, and the Idaho Council expanded upon the idea to create the IES curriculum. The IES program has since become the standard curriculum in Idaho high school economics courses. In 1999, Kali Kurdy was awarded the National NASDAQ Teaching Award for her work in the early development of the program.

The current curriculum is a thirteen-lesson program designed around core high school economic content that focuses on the complexities of trade and globalization. The curriculum includes the IES Simulation, Mini Summit program, Teacher Handbook, and Player’s Guide that were designed and written by Jody Hoff. Its experience-based approach allows students to actively participate in the program by simulating trade activities and exercises. This method has proven successful for the retention of content and information.

In 2002, the ICEE partnered with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco to promote the IES program in California. In the following years, with assistance from local partners and sponsors, the Idaho Council and the Federal Reserve Bank established an IES Regional Summit in San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco for local high school trade competitions. By 2004, the Idaho Council and the Federal Reserve reached a total of 8,350 students, implemented 102 Mini Summits, and hosted 14 IES Regional Summit Events outside of Idaho.

IES author Jody Hoff has since joined the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco as the District manager of Economic Education. In August 2006, the Fed purchased the non-exclusive rights from the ICEE to implement IES throughout the Federal Reserve Twelfth District (including California, Arizona, Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Idaho, and Nevada), making the IES program an increasingly important component of the Fed’s broader educational mandate. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco provides participating teachers with IES training and materials at no cost to the teachers or the schools. While the Fed’s IES efforts remain concentrated in the State of California, there are plans to introduce the program over the next three years to high schools throughout the remaining Twelfth District.

If you would like to learn more about IES or the Fed's other economic education programs, please visit the Fed's Educational Resources page.