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About NERA
Since 1961, NERA has provided unparalleled guidance on the most important market, legal, and regulatory questions of the day. Our work has shaped industries and policy around the world. Our field-leading experts and deep experience allows us to provide rigorous analysis, reliable expert testimony, and data-powered policy recommendations for the world’s leading law firms and corporations as well as regulators and governments. Our experience, integrity, and economic ingenuity mean you can depend on us in the face of your biggest economic and financial challenges.
New York City, New York—NERA, a leading global provider of economic advice and analysis in business, legal, and regulatory matters, is pleased to announce Daniel Hanson and David Matthew have been promoted to Senior Managing Director. In addition, Alan Grant, William Hrycay, Samantha Iyengar, and Amanda Pletz have been promoted to Managing Director.
Senior Managing Directors:
Daniel Hanson is a distinguished economist specializing in disputes and damages claims, competition issues, economic regulation, and cost-benefit and economic impact analysis. With a focus on transport and infrastructure, Mr. Hanson has also advised across sectors including financial services, telecommunications, electricity, water, nuclear, medical research, automotive, retail, and geospatial mapping. His extensive experience encompasses demand analysis, forecasting, cost analysis, microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, and statistics. While most of his work has been conducted in the UK, he has also advised clients globally on complex economic matters. Mr. Hanson’s expertise has been instrumental in high-profile cases reaching the UK Supreme Court, the UK Competition Appeals Tribunal, the UK High Court, and more. He has played a pivotal role in landmark litigation, including a truck cartel damages case, a toll road dispute in Central Europe, and several damages cases using the “Amey principles” for sampling and extrapolation. Additionally, he has advised on projects exceeding $250 billion in value, notably leading the economic advice to the UK Airports Commission. Recognized for his influence on international best practices in economic impact appraisal, Mr. Hanson has served on key expert panels including the Hansford Review. He is currently the independent expert on cost inflation for High Speed 2 and has provided advice to governments in the Middle East on the economic impacts of numerous projects, policies, and reforms. He is also well known for significantly shaping the regulatory frameworks used by High Speed 1 and the Elizabeth Line.
David Matthew is an antitrust and competition expert based in London. He applies 30 years of experience as an economic consultant and Director of Economics at Ofcom to offer clients thoughtful analysis and expert evidence in competition and regulation matters. Mr. Matthew has particular expertise in the telecommunications, broadcast, media, sports rights, big tech, and post sectors. He recently testified on behalf of British telecom company BT in a $1.6 billion unfair pricing class action lawsuit. While at Ofcom, he led economic analysis on many key competition and regulation cases, including the Royal Mail abuse of dominance appeal and keynote market reviews of BT plc, Royal Mail plc, and Sky plc. Mr. Matthew also specializes in aviation, having been chief economist at the Civil Aviation Authority and done extensive advisory work as a consultant. Beyond his expertise in communications and aviation, Mr. Matthew’s work covers a variety of industries including intellectual property, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, and consumer goods.
Managing Directors:
Alan Grant’s background spans the fields of antitrust and financial economics. He has years of experience providing expert analysis to clients across an array of industries in antitrust and class action litigation, merger analysis, and securities litigation. As an antitrust economist, Dr. Grant has consulted on issues in commercial and antitrust damages cases, antitrust class actions, and breach of contract disputes. Dr. Grant also has experience analyzing the competitive effects of mergers. He has worked across several industries including renewable energy, natural resources, software and IT services, medical devices, and retail. Dr. Grant’s work in securities includes valuations involving hedge funds, private equity funds, healthcare assets, and real estate. He has experience analyzing derivatives and structured products in many contexts, including the valuation of a large portfolio of derivatives against a failed counterparty and the valuation of interest rate derivatives.
William Hrycay specializes in expert witness testimony and consulting related to corporate finance, business valuations, bankruptcy, fraudulent conveyance, distressed debt, mergers and acquisitions, lost profits, discount rates, fairness opinions, derivatives, joint ventures, management options, and damages to securities holders. Mr. Hrycay has also managed projects related to securities class action litigations, asset management disputes, best execution disputes and regulatory procedures, mortgage-backed securities, derivatives trading strategies, and other securities enforcement and litigation actions. He has submitted an expert report and provided deposition and trial testimony in a US bankruptcy court case regarding the expected growth of investment portfolios. He has also provided deposition testimony in US federal court cases regarding distressed bond valuation and the appropriate valuation procedures for an asset management company. He has submitted expert reports regarding the selection of an appropriate discount rate for pension liabilities and an expert report in an international arbitration proceeding regarding the valuation of an interest in a joint venture. Mr. Hrycay is a Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) charterholder.
Samantha Iyengar is an expert in survey research and statistical sampling, with over 15 years of experience in academic and litigation contexts and particular expertise in conjoint analysis. She has testified at trial and in deposition on the use of surveys, sampling, and statistics in a range of cases including intellectual property, mass torts, and commercial disputes. Dr. Iyengar has extensive experience conducting surveys related to disputes over trademarks, trade dress, patents, and false advertising to evaluate likelihood of confusion, secondary meaning, and genericness.
Amanda Pletz has 20 years of experience applying economic and financial analyses to transfer pricing, international tax, and other issues involving arbitration, litigation, regulation, and subsidy control (state aid). Ms. Pletz has directed numerous projects involving transfer pricing, economic risk modelling, and valuation across a range of industries including private banking and asset management, fintech, private equity, real estate, insurance, trading, and broader banking sectors. Ms. Pletz is a trusted advisor on capital structure issues, cash pooling, pricing of loans, hybrid instruments, guarantees, captive insurance arrangements, leasing and loans, and other asset valuations. She has authored expert opinion reports in relation to global tax audits. In litigation and international arbitration, she has worked on cases involving intercompany guarantees, business valuations, financing arrangements, and trade analyses, as well as state aid disputes. Ms. Pletz is a member of the P.R.I.M.E. Finance Panel of Experts and has been recognized as a Global Elite Thought Leader in Corporate Tax by the Lexology Index.