Hellerstein & Associates is a research firm specializing in opening up telecom & technology opportunities worldwide. We provide clients with solutions that help them to meet their goals through innovative, creative out-of-the-box thinking.
Our clients include policy makers, regulators, government agencies, telecom operators, consulting firms, non-profits, and international organisations. H&A targets the intersection between policy, regulatory, technology and Internet related areas.
The geographic experience of H&A is extensive, covering Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Western CIS, the Caucuses, Asia, and the Pacific.
Clients have included DFAT, USTDA, the World Bank, the IFC, InfoDev, Annenberg School of Communications, the US Commercial Law Development Program (US Department of Commerce), the Internet Society, ITU, ICANN, and other institutions and organizations.
Hellerstein & Associates has the proven experience and the ability to translate technical, complex and multifaceted issues into lay terms to help its clients achieve their goals. We have a particular expertise in uncovering hard to find information and in translating complicated issues into lay terms.
Our Team
Judith Hellerstein, MPP — Founder & CEO
Judith Hellerstein is a globally recognized expert in ICT policy, regulation, and digital transformation. As the Founder and CEO of Hellerstein & Associates, she leads a consultancy dedicated to unlocking digital economy opportunities worldwide.
With over 30 years of experience, Judith has designed and implemented policies that drive regulatory reform, foster competition, and expand connectivity across Africa, the Pacific, South America, and the Caribbean. She is a passionate advocate for helping to bring connectivity and empower communities.
She has designed policies and regulations that create the enabling environment for digital economies including gap analysis, innovation, trade, and e-commerce and creation of frameworks for digital government and digital economy policies and strategies. She has developed Universal Access and Service policies, broadband strategies, and innovative solutions to bridge the digital divide—bringing Internet access to remote and underserved regions.
Prior to founding her firm, Judith held key roles at the Federal Communications Commission's International Bureau, MCI Communications, and Vice President Gore's Reinventing Government Office, where she spearheaded several high-profile transformation and digital government initiatives.
Judith holds a Master's in Public Policy (MPP) from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), where she focused on International Management and was awarded a Public Fellowship. She is also a widely published author on ICT policy and digital economy issues.
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Tira Greene — Associate
Ms. Tira Greene is a long time Associate of H&A and heads up the legal drafting and legislation portfolio for H&A. She has worked in Africa, the Caribbean and internationally across multiple government organisations and private sector stakeholders. She has served as a team leader, legal expert, and legislative drafter on regional and international projects with development partners, regional agencies, and international organisations. These assignments have spanned across the Caribbean, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Pacific States.
In recent years, Tira has been actively involved in digital government transformation initiatives. She has focused on reviewing and reforming legal, regulatory, and institutional regimes relating to trade, data protection and electronic transactions, digitization of government processes and broader ICT initiatives in various jurisdictions, including the OECS Protocol Member States, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda and Smart Africa member states.
Tira holds an LLB, with honours, an Advance Diploma in International Law, and a master's degree in Telecommunications Policy and Regulation from the University of the West Indies. She is a member of the IEEE P2863 Organisational Governance of Artificial Intelligence Working Group and the IEEE Tech & Connection of Power Committee.
Nicole Garraway — Associate
Ms. Nicole Garraway is Legal and Regulatory Policy expert with H&A with experience in digital transformation, regulatory and legal reform in areas of telecommunications, e-commerce and digital government services, among other areas.
In recent years, Nicole has been actively involved in digital government transformation initiatives. She has focused on reviewing and reforming legal, regulatory, and institutional regimes relating to trade, data protection and electronic transactions, digitization of government processes and broader ICT initiatives in various jurisdictions, including the OECS Protocol Member States, Trinidad and Tobago and Belize. Nicole has worked in the OECS Region on macroeconomic, trade, regional economic integration, and business climate enhancement issues.
Nicole earned a Master of Law (LL.M) in International Trade Law, attained with Distinction and a Bachelor of Science (BSc.) in Economics and Management, attained with First Class Honours. She also possesses certification in project management, competition policy and law and trade in services statistics. She is the recipient of the Sir Arthur Lewis Scholarship and a Chevening Scholar.
David N. Townsend — Associate
Mr. David N. Townsend is an internationally recognized expert in telecommunications and ICT policy, regulation, economics, and strategic development. He has over 30 years' experience in the field, including extensive focus on regulatory frameworks, competitive market development, universal access and rural ICT expansion, and broadband/ICT strategy projects in more than 60 countries.
Mr. Townsend has managed dozens of landmark projects on ICT development policies and programs, and is author of numerous studies, reports, and papers on the policy and economics of communications development. Among other highlighted roles, he was lead expert on Universal Service Funds and broadband strategy development for USAID's Global Broadband and Innovations program, author of the ITU Model Universal Service Fund, Team Leader for the United Nations WSIS Task Force on Financial Mechanisms, and contributing author to the InfoDev ICT Regulation Handbook.
Since 2016, Mr. Townsend has served as lead advisor to the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) on establishment of its Digital Development practice and support for the MCC Togo Threshold Program Digital ICT project.
Ernesto Flores-Roux, PhD — Associate
Ernesto Flores-Roux specializes in Economics, Environmental and energy issues. He majored in Mathematics from the National University of Mexico (UNAM) and received his PhD in Statistics from The University of Chicago (1993). From 1993 to 2004, he worked for McKinsey & Co., Inc. (Mexico, Brazil), specializing in telecommunications industry topics including regulation, planning, strategy, and marketing.
In 2004, he joined Telefonica, serving in VP roles across Mexico, Peru, China (Beijing), and Brazil. From 2009 to 2015, he was an associate professor at CIDE (Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, Mexico City). He has published several papers in telecommunications policy and has written reports for the IDB, GSMA, UN/CEPAL, ASIET, ALAI, CAF, and OECD.
He was a member of the Advisory Board of the Mexican telecommunications regulator until 2013, and from 2015 to 2024 was a member of the Advisory Board of IFT, serving as President for five consecutive periods. He currently works as an independent consultant and researcher, focusing on telecommunications and digital transformation.
Dr. Kelly Wong — Associate
Dr. Kelly Wong is Research Professor at the University of Maryland and Principal Researcher at UBD Pllc. For more than 25 years he has worked on the academic, policy, and implementation frontiers of international development and information communication and digital technologies.
In 2023 and 2024 he was the Lead Consultant on USAID's Improving Jamaica Cyber Resilience project. In 2022 he was the Cybersecurity Technical Lead for a World Bank Gap Analysis of Legal/Regulatory Framework for the ICT Sector in Ghana, implemented by Hellerstein and Associates. From 2017 to 2021 he led research-based strategies to extend digital services to under-served smallholder farmers in India and Kenya.
Dr. Wong has taught courses in the Cybersecurity Honors Program at the University of Maryland. He completed his Ph.D. thesis on international anarchy at the University of British Columbia in Canada and his M.Sc. thesis on international law at Portland State University.
Dr. Peter Knight — Associate
Peter T. Knight is a political economist and strategic analyst with broad international experience in digital transformation, e-development, e-government, distance education, electronic media, telecommunications reform, international banking, foundation work, and teaching.
He is News Editor of the Basic Income Earth Network, Coordinator of the Sufficiency4Sustainability Network, and a founding member of the Fernand Braudel Institute of World Economics in São Paulo. Dr. Knight retired from the World Bank in 1997 where he had worked as Lead Economist and Chief of the Electronic Media Center for over 20 years.
Previously Dr. Knight held posts at Cornell University, the Ford Foundation, and the Brookings Institution. He holds a PhD in economics from Stanford University and degrees in Government from Dartmouth College and Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University.
Béatrice Prèle-Fundi — Associate
Béatrice Prèle-Fundi is an attorney at law with extensive experience in legal and trade-related consultancies in Small Island Developing States. She is a member of De Spéville-Desvaux Chambers in Mauritius and provides legal advice and representation for negotiations and litigation in various areas of Civil Law.
Béatrice is also a consultant and was the Head of Projects at Enabling Environments Ltd, where she successfully managed large scale international projects related to international trade, legal drafting, legal and regulatory frameworks, capacity building, and Information Communications Technology. Recently, she has worked on digital laws and delivered legal trainings on the regulation of virtual assets.
Through various consultancy collaborations geared towards drafting legislative and regulatory frameworks, Béatrice has acquired a robust experience in the regulation of electronic transactions and in the regulatory frameworks of telecommunications and ICT.
Rene Adrian Bustillo — Associate
Rene Adrian Bustillo is an expert in telecommunications law and regulation with broad experience in Project Management, Strategic Planning of Public Sector Reform, Telecom Operations, ICT, and Internet & Network Services. He has spent most of his career working on Telecom and ICT issues in Bolivia and other Latin American countries.
During his 22-year professional career, Mr. Bustillo worked at several posts at SITTEL (Bolivia's Telecom Regulatory Authority). In January 2003, he was appointed Superintendent of Telecommunications of SITTEL (rank equivalent to Minister) by the President of Bolivia. While Superintendent, he restructured the institution, settled disputes between operators, carried out successful auction processes, and was instrumental in restructuring Bolivia's largest fixed-line operator from bankruptcy.
He is both an Engineer and a registered Attorney, having graduated as Electrical Engineer Cum Laude from Utah State University, with a Master's Degree in Computer Systems Design from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, and a Degree in Civil Law from "Franz Tamayo" University (Bolivia). Mr. Bustillo speaks Spanish (Native), English (Advanced Professional), and German (General Proficiency).
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Dr. Mark Kennet — Associate
Dr. Mark Kennet, PhD Economics-Demand and Pricing, specializes in engineering-economic cost modeling, demand modeling, and econometric studies. He is an international telecommunications and Internet consultant with many years of experience in regulatory issues on both the government and industry sides.
Dr. Kennet's work has included the development of cost modeling tools for interconnection and universal service applications in a wide variety of countries, including United States, Portugal, Peru, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, Namibia, Kenya, Australia, the Maldives, and others. He has served as a consultant to efforts to develop national broadband networks in Peru, Mexico, and Gabon.
Dr. Kennet holds a B.S. in economics and mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin.
Alisa Abrams — Associate
Alisa Abrams is a highly skilled evaluation specialist with nearly twenty years' IFI evaluation experience, formerly with the World Bank Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) and the Independent Evaluation Office of the International Monetary Fund (IEO).
Ms. Abrams is certified as an evaluator by the International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET) (Carleton University) and holds a Master's Degree in International Development and Social Change (Clark University).
She has conceived, designed and implemented 15 complex, cross-cutting global evaluations assessing the relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, intermediate outcomes/impact, and sustainability of World Bank and IMF strategies, governance, management, operational policies, and lending programs.
Additional Team Members
H&A works with a network of experienced associates including:
- Daniel Espitia — Economic development specialist with 24 years of experience in public sector reform in ICT
- Alan Hooper — Expert in public-private partnerships, privatization, and infrastructure finance
- Mike Chinoko — International development law expert and legislative drafting specialist
- Dr. Derek Gill — Telecommunications consultant specializing in fiber optic and satellite networks
- Dr. Lishan Adam — ICT sector analyst with 28+ years experience in Africa, Caribbean, Middle East and Eastern Europe
