| 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. We do this by providing innovative, creative out of the box thinking of situations to help
solve their problems. 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. Hellerstein & Associates' consultants have extensive experience in:
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 is certified as a Facilitator in Participatory Rural Appraisal (Egerton University, Kenya). She holds a Master's Degree in International Development and Social Change (Clark University). As a co-team leader and team member, Ms. Abrams 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, lending programs/DPLs, country partnership frameworks, activities, technical assistance, analytical advisory services, and external partnerships, including those supported by multi-donor trust funds. Ms. Abrams has extensive experience in designing and implementing evaluations using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods and instruments as well as in collecting and analyzing primary and secondary data sources. She has been the lead author or contributor for evaluation reports, including evidence-based lessons and practical recommendations endorsed and implemented by stakeholders, and for dissemination and outreach materials and summary presentations. Ms. Abrams also has extensive experience in supervising high-level and sectoral external consultants. Prior to her tenure in IEG, Ms. Abrams held positions in the World Bank Institute Office of the Gender Coordinator, World Bank Group Office of the U.S. Executive Director, and World Bank Group Office of the Executive Director for Japan. 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, and the Maldives, and other countries in all the populated continents. He is best-known for his work on telecommunications economic cost models and has contributed to regulatory and/or private sector models in a wide variety of nations, including the United States, Gabon, Portugal, Peru, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, Namibia, Kenya, Australia, and the Maldives, and other countries in all the populated continents. Dr. Kennet has served as a consultant to efforts to develop national broadband networks in Peru, Mexico, and Gabon. Dr. Kennet has also worked as a university professor and a senior economist in various government agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission. In the academic arena, Dr. Kennet has authored or co-authored a number of professional articles and books on telecommunications economics and policy, and has served on the faculties of the University of California-Santa Cruz, Tulane University, and George Washington University. In the United States government, Kennet helped develop the North American Industrial Classification System and was instrumental in creating the regulations and cost model used to determine rural telecommunications subsidies. During the past twenty years, 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, and the Maldives, and other countries in all the populated continents. Dr. Kennet has advised on telecoms regulations in the United States, Jordan, and ECTEL. In addition, Dr. Kennet has served as a consultant to efforts to develop national broadband networks in Peru and Mexico. Dr. Kennet is co-author of a book published by MIT Press, "Cost Proxy Models and Telecommunications Policy: A New Approach to Empirical Analysis" (with F. Gasmi, J.-J. Laffont, and W.W. Sharkey) and has published numerous academic articles on the subject Dr. Kennet has vast experience in developing and completing projects both large and small, including with the World Bank as well as governments and private companies. He has managed and coordinated a number of projects and has very strong problem-solving skills. He has the ability to work flexibly on a range of assignments, and to adjust and prioritize a variety of tasks. 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. Daniel Espitia is an economic development specialist with 24 years of professional experience in public sector reform in the ICT sector, privatization and restructuring; 20 years of experience as development economist, policy and regulation planning specialist, regional harmonization, institutional restructuring and governance. Mr. Espitia has extensive Field experience in the ICT development in 33 countries worldwide, in Africa, Latin America and South East Asia, including some regional economic blocks. He is a specialized project manager with 18 years experience directing complex international projects coordinating multi-disciplinary specialists, chief of liaison in communications and negotiation with stakeholders that include: individuals, companies, regional organizations, development banks, NGOs, government ministries and agencies, specialized presidential offices, and as on-call mission specialist for the UN. Mr. Espitia is a senior expert with a number of international organizations including USAID, the IDRC, the World Bank, the WTO, regional development banks and international NGOs and has a successful track record in international project management and on the design, development and application of economic development models in the field of access to information and communications. His competence in public sector reform projects is focused on government strategic planning, multi-industry business development and business case modeling. He has also significant experience in institutional restructuring projects, and has been an executive coach with conflict resolution skills and has been called to facilitate resolution of organizational conflict crisis situations. Alan Hooper has particular expertise in public private partnerships (PPP), privatization, financial and organizational re-structuring, infrastructure finance, project finance and cross-border investment. He has strong negotiations experience and specific sector expertise in telecommunications, development banking, tourism and agribusiness. Alan has an extensive track record in leading sensitive and high-level commercial negotiations in the telecommunications sector. Most recently, when he was the lead negotiator of the advisory team supporting the Kenyan Ministers of Finance and Telecommunications and other senior Kenyan Government officials working on the Privatization of Telkom Kenya Ltd. (TKL). Alan was involved in sensitive high-level negotiations concerning unbundling of TKL's 60% in Safaricom, with the top management of Vodafone UK. This paved the way for the successful US$390 million privatization of TKL by sale of 51% to France Telecom, and was an essential pre-cursor to the initial public offering (IPO) of 25% of the shares in Safaricom on the Nairobi Stock Exchange, the largest IPO ever in sub Saharan Africa outside of South Africa. In Africa, Alan has worked in Botswana, Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda where he has advised on telecommunications regulatory issues with a focus on implementing Universal Service, privatization, and attracting direct foreign investment into the telecommunications sector. Alan has substantial transactional experience in telecommunications. He has led transactions with five different African operators while they were being privatized. Alan was also financial and strategic advisor to the team from Telkom SA that conceptualized and implemented the US$650 million, 28,000km, SAT3-SAFE submarine cable linking Europe and the West coast of Africa to Asia. He has the capacity to identify and evaluate the economic, financial and legal implications of different courses of action available to Government in seeking an agreement. In the course of his career with the International Finance Corporation and subsequently, Mr. Hooper has been responsible for the evaluation of the financial viability of literally hundreds of projects, and for the successful financing of dozens of them. In the field of telecommunications he has been involved in some of the largest transactions on the African continent (see above) and also some of the smallest. In South Africa, together with Mr. Espitia, he has assisted small groups of black entrepreneurs in rural areas of South Africa with the successful development of winning strategies for highly competitive underserviced area licenses. Alan has an MBA from Harvard Universitys Business School, a MSc diploma in Management Science from Edinburgh University, UK, and a BSc in Organic Chemistry from Leeds University, UK. He speaks English, and some French and Spanish. Tira Greene is an attorney at law with very considerable experience in design of legal and regulatory frameworks and reviewing and drafting telecommunications, technology and trade laws, and preparing related policies, regulations, licences and contractual documents. She has provided legal advice and legislative drafting on WTO implementation and communications laws and/or regulations for over twenty countries. Ms. Greene is a trained and highly experienced legal and legislative drafter who has advised on and drafted hundreds of laws, regulations, guidelines, leases, licences and other commercial documents in international projects. She has advised on communications, e-Government and trade policy and legal and regulatory frameworks and drafted enabling and implementing laws. She is particularly experienced in telecommunications liberalisation, e-Government and WTO implementation issues in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). She has an Advanced Diploma in International Law (Masters Degree programme), and a Masters in Telecommunications Policy and Regulation from the University of the West Indies. Ms. Greene has exceptional interpersonal skills and develops excellent working relationships with persons from all cultures and backgrounds, evidenced by her track record of repeat consultancies from the same Governments/Countries. She has worked in many regions of the world and collaborated closely with colleagues in and from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and the United States. She is a very engaging speaker, with considerable experience in the conduct of consensus building and training workshops. Mike Chinoko is an international development law expert and law consultant. He received his Bachelor of Laws with honours from Chancellor College of the University of Malawi; a Master of Laws in International Trade and Investment Law from University of Pretoria in the Republic of South Africa; and another Master of Laws in International Business and Economic Law from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. He also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Legislative Drafting from the International Law Institute in Kampala, Uganda. He has over 16 years extensive knowledge and experience in legal practice, public service, legal research, law reform, legislative drafting and with stints working in multicultural international organizations. Mike has drafted over twenty piece of legislation in Malawi. In addition to being in active legal practice for over 5 years, Mike has also worked as a law reform expert in Malawi and has drafted a number of pieces of legislation in Malawi, worked as team member of the African Union Special Working Group on the Extractive Industry; and also on attachment in Washington D.C. at the International Finance Corporation, a private sector development arm of the World Bank. During his study at Georgetown Law, he also distinguished himself as the best student in the study of Global Communication Policy and Regulation under Professor Jenifer Manner (a Global Communication Expert) and was a recipient of CALI Excellence for the Future Award for the study of Global Communication Policy and Regulation Derek Gill, an Associate, is Founder, President, and CEO of FiberSat Telecommunications Corp., a provider of fiber optic and satellite telecommunications services to enterprise and governmental customers. Dr. Gill has over 20 years of experience designing, costing, and pricing global fiber optic and satellite telecommunications networks to link the developed and developing worlds to facilitate information exchange, economic cooperation, foreign investment, and international trade and development. He consults with telecommunications entities in the areas of network design, pricing strategy, organizational structures, and project management. Dr. Gill is responsible for the economic, financial, pricing, and strategic decisions of FiberSat. He is experienced in conducting research and analysis to understand the drivers of demand and supply for global telecommunications capacity and in performing cost/benefit analyses of alternative sales, marketing, product, and pricing strategies in the global telecommunications market. He is adept at performing competitive analyses, analyzing cost structures, and establishing pricing strategies to achieve the defined profit objective. He is experienced in analyzing regulatory policy, filing tariffs, and preparing proposals for Federal Government and commercial contracts. Dr. Gill has more than 20 years business experience in telecommunications first with COMSAT Corporation in Bethesda, MD where he was responsible for rate and tariff development for the whole spectrum of satellite-based services offered to Signatories by INTELSAT and INMARSAT. He then moved to Nynex/Bell Atlantic where he was Executive Director of Pricing and Sales Strategy. In this capacity, Dr. Gill was responsible for advising the Board of Directors of FLAG (a cable system linking the UK and Japan via the Middle East) of developments in the world telecom market and recommending when to rebalance prices on FLAG in a rigorously competitive market environment. Success in this environment required strong relationships with international carriers to understand their needs to enhance sales. Next he worked for FLAG Telecom Ltd., a London-based firm, where he served as Senior Advisor, Strategy and Marketing and served as an integral member of the core management team responsible for the development of the FLAG ATLANTIC-1 (FA-1) cable project. His most recent assignment before founding FiberSat was as Vice President, Product Development and Strategy for 360networks in Herndon, VA where his responsibilities encompassed product and services development, pricing strategy, and business development. In this position, Dr. Gill prepared proposals for the sale of myriad telecommunications services to top-tier international carriers in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Dr. Gill is a native of Georgetown, Guyana and holds a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in engineering from Queen's University in Kingston Ontario, Canada, and a Ph.D. in economics from the Pennsylvania State University.
Peter is the sole, principal, or contributing author of e-gov.br- a proxima revolucao brasileira, the most comprehensive study of e-government at the national, state, and municipal levels for any country (Sao Paulo: Financial Times Prentice Hall, January 2004). He also has 11 published World Bank studies (two published in book form in Portuguese in Brazil); the author of books on new forms of economic organization in Peru (1975) and Brazilian agricultural technology and trade (1971), and over 60 published articles and book chapters, as well as numerous unpublished reports and papers. Dr. Knight also writes regularly in Portuguese for the Brazilian financial sector magazine Banco Hoje, mainly on topics linking information and communications technology with economic and social development. He has consulted on e-government and distance education for the state governments of Rio de Janeiro and Parana and conducted lectures on these topics at academic, research, and business institutions in Sao Paulo. His World Bank experience includes developing training programs in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, China, Vietnam, Eastern Europe and States of the former Soviet Union, as well as leading work on macroeconomic analysis, financial sector development, and poverty and basic needs in Brazil. He also managed two of the first eight projects of the World Bank's new Infodev program (telematics for learning in South Africa and telematics policy reform in Russia). He speaks French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian as well as his native English.
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