Bart van Ark is executive vice president and global chief economist of The Conference Board, a global business research think tank headquartered in New York which includes 500 of the top-2000 global companies among its members. Appointed in 2008, he oversees the production of widely watched economic indicators and growth forecasts around the globe as well as an in-depth global research program on topics related to economic policy, labor markets, productivity, technology and innovation, and digital transformation. He leads a global research team based in New York, Brussels, Beijing, and Kuwait, as well as the Economy, Strategy and Finance Center.

Van Ark is also a professor in economic development, technological change, and growth at the University of Groningen (the Netherlands), from which he graduated in 1993 with specialization in the areas of economic growth, development economics, economic history and international economics, and business. He is an internationally acclaimed expert in the field of international comparative productivity measurement and analysis, innovation and technology, and digital transformation. He is the former director of the Groningen Growth and Development Centre, a research group working on long-term economic growth and productivity, of which he is still a member.