Professor Damien Neven, Former Chief Economist at DG Competition, Joining as Senior Academic Consultant to the Competition/Antitrust Practice at Charles River Associates (CRA)
BOSTON, Jun 28, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Charles River Associates (NASDAQ: CRAI), a worldwide leader in providing economic, financial, and management consulting services, today announced that Professor Damien Neven, former Chief Economist at DG Competition (the European Competition Commission), is joining the firm as a senior academic consultant to CRA's Competition & Antitrust Practice.
"There are few economists and academics in the world who share Professor Damien Neven's knowledge of competition issues--from both regulatory and academic standpoints--and we are extremely pleased about his decision to become a senior academic consultant to Charles River Associates," said CRA's President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Maleh. "Professor Neven is noted for expanding DG Competition's analysis of economic issues in competition matters. During his five-year term as Chief Economist at DG Competition, Professor Neven advised on a record number of merger notifications and built a remarkable team of economists to preside over every major litigation that reached the European Competition Commission during that period. He applies the highest standards of expertise to the application of competition economics and enforcement of competition rules, areas he has researched and published about extensively, and has addressed the many levels of complexity inherent in competition-related matters."
Dr. Steven C. Salop, a Senior Consultant to CRA and Professor of Economics and Law at Georgetown University Law Center, said, "Damien Neven's contributions to advancing economic analysis have been important, both at the European Competition Commission and in academia. He will provide an invaluable perspective on the review of international mergers, international cartels, and dominant firm conduct. I am thrilled to have him as a colleague at CRA."
Professor Neven, a distinguished academic economist who has published extensively in applied industrial organization and competition policy, was Chief Economist at DG Competition from September 2006 to May 2011. During his tenure as Chief Economist, he led the expansion of the Chief Economist Team from 10 to nearly 30 highly trained economists. He provided direct advice to the Competition Commissioner, assisted in evaluating the economic impact of the Commission's proposed actions in the competition field, and provided independent guidance on methodological issues of economics and econometrics in the application of EU competition rules. He contributed to competition cases, in particular to those involving complex economic issues and quantitative analysis, and was involved in a number of key developments in terms of both policy and case assessment. These included: the adoption of the Guidelines for the Assessment of Non Horizontal Mergers, with related cases like TomTom/Tele Atlas and Google/DoubleClick; the Guidance Paper on the Priorities for the Enforcement of Article 102, with related cases like Intel and Velux; the development of quantitative methods of investigation, in particular for horizontal mergers, that have found extensive application in such cases as Aer Lingus/Ryanair,Friesland/Campina, Statoil/Conoco, and Unilever/Sara Lee. Professor Neven also promoted the adoption of the Guidelines on the Submission and Evaluation of Economic Evidence, which sets a framework and standards for the development of economic analysis in all cases. In addition, he oversaw the economic analysis in such high-profile cases as Oracle/Sun, BHP Billiton/Rio Tinto, Mastercard, Visa, and Olympic/Aegean.
Prior to his appointment as Chief Economist at DG Competition, Professor Neven advised parties on such cases as Airtours/First Choice, Volvo/Scania, and Tetra Laval/Sidel. Currently, Professor Neven is a professor of economics at the Graduate Institute at the University of Geneva, which he joined in 2001. He previously taught at INSEAD, the European College in Brugge, and the University of Lausanne. He has focused his most recent research on antitrust law and economics, including in such areas as the coordination of antitrust policies across jurisdictions, merger control, and the antitrust analysis of sports competitions. Professor Neven holds a PhD degree in Economics from Nuffield College, Oxford, and a "Maîtrise" in Economics and a "Licence" in Geography, both from Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.
About CRA's Antitrust & Competition Economic Consulting Practice
CRA's competition economists provide economic analysis and testimony in competition matters around the world. Many have served in government antitrust agencies and are members of premier academic, economic, and law faculties. Their experience extends to many industries, including telecommunications, healthcare, energy, computer hardware/software, retailing, entertainment, transportation, natural resources, sports, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, financial services, and consumer products.
About Charles River Associates (CRA)
Charles River Associates® is a global consulting firm specializing in litigation, regulatory, and financial consulting, and management consulting. CRA advises clients on economic and financial matters pertaining to litigation and regulatory proceedings, and guides corporations through critical business strategy and performance-related issues. Since 1965, clients have engaged CRA for its unique combination of functional expertise and industry knowledge, and for its objective solutions to complex problems. Headquartered in Boston, CRA has offices throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Detailed information about Charles River Associates, a registered trade name of CRA International, Inc., is available at http://www.crai.com.
Statements in this press release concerning the benefits to CRA regarding the addition of Professor Damien Neven, the future business, operating results, and financial condition of the Company and statements using the terms "anticipates," "believes," "expects," "should," or similar expressions, are "forward-looking" statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon management's current expectations and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties. Information contained in these forward-looking statements is inherently uncertain and actual performance and results may differ materially due to many important factors. Such factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements made by the Company include, among others, the Company's restructuring costs and attributable annual cost savings, changes in the Company's effective tax rate, share dilution from the Company's stock-based compensation, dependence on key personnel, attracting and retaining qualified consultants, dependence on outside experts, utilization rates, factors related to its acquisitions, including integration of personnel, clients, offices, and unanticipated expenses and liabilities, the risk of impairment write downs to the Company's intangible assets, including goodwill, if the Company's enterprise value declines below certain levels, risks associated with acquisitions it may make in the future, risks inherent in international operations, the performance of NeuCo, changes in accounting standards, rules and regulations, changes in the law that affect its practice areas, management of new offices, the potential loss of clients, the ability of customers to terminate the Company's engagements on short notice, dependence on the growth of the Company's business consulting practice, the unpredictable nature of litigation-related projects, the ability of the Company to integrate successfully new consultants into its practice, general economic conditions, intense competition, risks inherent in litigation, and professional liability. Further information on these and other potential factors that could affect the Company's financial results is included in the Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company cannot guarantee any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievement. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of its forward-looking statements after the date of this press release.
SOURCE: Charles River Associates
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