Martin B. Zimmerman, a new director-at-large of the National Bureau of Economic Research, has been vice president-governmental affairs of the Ford Motor Corporation since January 1, 1999. Zimmerman joined Ford in August 1987 as the company's chief economist. In January 1994, he was promoted
Born in New York City, Zimmerman received a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. in economics from MIT. He was a faculty member in the Sloan School of Management at MIT before joining the faculty of the University of Michigan's Graduate School of Business Administration in 1983. He became chairman of business economics in 1985.
He interrupted that assignment to serve as Senior Economist on the President's Council of Economic Advisers, from September 1985 to September 1986. In 1997, Zimmerman received the Blue Chip Economic Forecasting Award for the most accurate forecast over the 1992-6 period.
He resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan.