MGI | Professionals

Dan Akins is a transportation economist who has over 20 years experience consulting in the commercial airline industry. Mr. Akins has provided detailed air transport demand forecasts and economic impact analysis for both US and foreign airports, and has also worked on behalf of a number of passenger and cargo air carriers, principally in international route applications under the auspices of bilateral treaties.

Recently, Mr. Akins has been a financial advisor to organized labor groups in several recent U.S. airline restructurings, including, American, Continental, US Airways, United, and Hawaiian. He remains deeply involved in supporting ongoing labor negotiations at several carriers.

Dr. Bruce Allen is an internationally recognized expert in transportation economics and a Professor of Business, Public Policy, Regional Science and Transportation at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the Director of the Wharton Transportation Program. His consulting expertise includes: freight demand theory, impact of transit investments, physical distribution management/business logistics, railroad and motor carrier economics and transportation regulation.

Yoav Ben-Yeshaya, based in Washington, D.C., has over 6 years experience in developing business strategies, managing operations and conducting primary market research aimed at informing complex business decisions. A native of Israel, Mr. Ben Yeshaya’s previous experience includes running an internet marketing company, practicing as a lawyer and rising to the rank of major in the Israeli Defense Forces. He holds an M.B.A. from Georgetown University and an L.L.B. from Bar-Ilan University in Israel. Mr. Ben-Yeshaya is fluent in English and Hebrew.

Luis Blancas is an Associate based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining MergeGlobal in 2006 he worked at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, where he conducted research and statistical analysis on topics ranging from fiscal policy in oil producing countries to the effect of supply chain variables on global bilateral trade flows. Before his experience in international organizations, he was a management consultant in Mexico and Central America at Deloitte Consulting.

Mr. Blancas holds an M.S. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, and a B.A. in Economics from Mexico's Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey. He is fluent in English and Spanish.

Dr. David Blond is an international trade economist with over 30 years of experience. Dr. Blond has broad experience in modeling economic data using multi-market and multi-commodity statistical techniques. He has developed large-scale global models covering macroeconomic, industrial, trade, and transportation specific concepts. Throughout his career, Dr. Blond has specialized in developing unique analytical frameworks designed to measure benefits against costs including risk based analysis techniques. These efforts have involved partial data sets, cleaning and filling in missing data, and developing quantitative analogues for qualitative factors.

Before joining MGI, Dr. Blond held various positions at other consulting firms including DRI/McGraw Hill, where he was Principal and Director of International Trade and Forecasting. Prior to consulting, Dr. Blond served as Senior Economist in the Department of Defense. He began his career with the United National Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva.

Dr. Blond received both a Ph.D. in International Economics and an M.A. in Economics from New York University.

Fred Brown has over 25 years of experience in financing, leasing and trading large commercial jet aircraft, high-bypass jet engines and aviation spare parts. Previously, Mr. Brown was a Managing Director at Blenheim Aviation, CIS Corporation and Itel Corporation, all transportation asset trading and leasing companies. Mr. Brown launched his career with Goldman Sachs & Co., where he became a Vice President in corporate finance. He holds both J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley and is a member of the California Bar.

Jim Douglas has over 30 years of experience in the air cargo, less-than-truckload and rail industries. Mr. Douglas has held COO and CFO positions with World Airways, Gemini Air Cargo and Overnite Transportation. He is on the Board of Directors of Best Transport, a web-based Transportation Management System Provider, and has also served on the Board of Trustees for Mary Baldwin College and on the Business Advisory Council for Virginia Commonwealth University.

Ricardo Ernst is a recognized expert in the field of global logistics and supply chain management. A widely published author and regular speaker at international conferences, Dr. Ernst is also a professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.

Dr. Ernst has authored a textbook on global operations management and logistics, and has published a number of research papers on various aspects of global logistics systems. Dr. Ernst’s wide-ranging research is buttressed by practical experience gained by consulting to multinational firms coping with complex supply chain problems, especially in Latin America.

In addition to his teaching duties at Georgetown University, Dr. Ernst co-directs the program for the study of Global Logistics, and serves as area coordinator of the Operations and Information Management Group.

Dr. Ernst received his M.A. and his Ph.D. in operations and information management from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, before that he attended the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración in Venezuela where he earned his M.B.A.

Aaron Gellman is a noted transportation economist. His research and teaching include transportation economics and policy, the regulation of transportation, and the management and utilization of research and technology. Dr. Gellman joined the faculty of the Kellogg School of Management in 1992 as a professor of management and strategy. He also holds an appointment as professor of industrial engineering at the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University. Dr. Gellman was the Director of the Transportation Center, Northwestern University, a position he assumed in January 1992 through August 2000. He founded and was formerly president of Gellman Research Associates, Inc., a consulting firm. He served 24 years as an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of numerous published papers and has served on government panels and committees, as well as corporate boards.

Wendell Gilland, an award-winning scholar and teacher, is a professor of operations, technology and innovation management at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His research primarily focuses on the performance improvement gained by using multiple customer priorities, products designed for multiple markets, and multiple channels of distribution.

Previously, Dr. Gilland has worked at Monitor Company, where he applied business strategy methods to the strategic planning process for Fortune 500 clients, and at CSC Index, where he assisted large corporations in the development and implementation of reengineered business processes. In addition to his teaching duties, Dr. Gilland is a senior editor for Production and Operations Management Journal. His research has been published in Operations Research, Naval Research Logistics, OR Letters, MIT Sloan Management Review, and Production and Operations Management Journal.

Don Hickey is an aeronautical engineer with 45 years of air cargo and aerospace industry experience. Mr. Hickey was Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Atlas Air from 1995 to 2001. He was responsible for 747 freighter ACMI contract sales, customer sales engineering and aircraft performance analysis. Prior to Atlas Air, Mr. Hickey held several positions with Boeing, including: program manager of the Wichita Aircraft Modification Center (freighter conversions), program manager of B-52 structural modification programs, project engineer for Apollo Lunar Landing Module and a flight test engineer for B-52 and KC-135 development programs.

Richard Holohan, based in Washington, D.C., has over 10 years of experience analyzing companies from an equity perspective. Prior to joining MergeGlobal, Mr. Holohan was the equity analyst responsible for coverage of the Containers and Packaging industry at Citigroup Global Markets. He also has experience covering the Paper and Forest Products industry as well as Electric Utilities.

Karan Kaul is an analyst based in Washington, DC. Prior to joining MergeGlobal, he worked as a research analyst at Oxus Investments, an economic research and asset management firm and as an analyst at South Delhi Builders, a real estate development and investment firm in New Delhi. Mr. Kaul holds an M.S. in Finance from The George Washington University and a B.S. in Finance from The Pennsylvania State University. He is fluent in English and Hindi.

Roger Koelsch, based in Washington, D.C., has over 6 years of experience applying quantitative and qualitative tools to support strategic decision-making. His experience includes the development of complex models using statistical and computer modeling techniques. Prior to joining MergeGlobal, Mr. Koelsch was employed as an internal consultant for Deutsche Post World Net, where he completed projects in Europe and North America; and as a senior engineer at a leading scientific and engineering consulting firm, where he specialized in providing litigation support for disputes requiring failure analysis and accident reconstruction.

In addition to an M.B.A. from Georgetown University, Mr. Koelsch holds an M.S. in Hydrology from the University of Arizona and a B.S. in Engineering from the University of Notre Dame. He is fluent in English and German.

Diana Caldas Lerman is an Analyst based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining MergeGlobal, she was a Program Coordinator at a public health organization in Mexico and a manager at e-Bottles, a internet-based wholesale distributor of packaging.

Ms. Lerman holds a M. A. in Latin American Studies with a concentration in Business-Government Relations from Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, and a Certificate in International Business Diplomacy from the Karl F. Landegger Program in International Business Diplomacy. Ms. Lerman graduated Cum Laude from Middlebury College with a B.A. in Spanish/Latin American Studies and a minor in Anthropology. She is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

With over 45 years of experience as an airline COO, VP of Maintenance and Engineering, aircraft carrier commander and naval aviator, Mr. Matheny brings a wide array of expertise to the MergeGlobal team. In 1992, he worked along with Atlas Air's founder, Michael Chowdry, during the company's start-up process. He retired in 2003 from Atlas Air as President and Chief Operating Officer and member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Matheny was responsible for all aspects of flight, ground and technical operations of a 50-unit 747 freighter fleet. Previously, he was Vice President of Maintenance and Engineering at Eastern Airlines where he oversaw the liquidation of the estate, including disposition of aircraft, spare engines, tooling, equipment and facilities. He served as a U.S. Naval Officer and Aviator, where he commanded an aircraft carrier, replenishment ship, two carrier air wings and a carrier based squadron.

Patrick Pittman, an Associate based in Washington, D.C., concentrates on transport network analysis and modeling. Mr. Pittman is responsible for assessing the integrity and meaningfulness of input data as well as designing and running models. Before joining MergeGlobal in 2003, he worked at a predecessor company to CACI AB. Mr. Pittman holds a B.A. from George Mason University. Mr. Pittman is fluent in English and French.

Ted Prince has 25 years of experience in the container shipping, railroad, and intermodal industries. His responsibilities have ranged across network operations, marketing, asset utilization, strategic planning and information technology.

Mr. Prince was formerly Vice President - Sales and Marketing at Kansas City Southern railroad. He was also a Senior Vice President for Optimization Alternatives Limited, a firm that develops and deploys large-scale control and decision support systems for railroads to manage day-to-day operations.

Previously, Mr. Prince was Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of “K” Line responsible for the management and profitability of the line’s North American trades. He was also Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Rail-Bridge Corporation, “K” Line’s domestic inland subsidiary. Mr. Prince worked with “K” Line America for ten years. Prior to that, Mr. Prince was with Conrail and its motor carrier subsidiary for nine years.

Mr. Prince is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, which awarded him a B.S. in Economics. He also received his M.S. in Transportation from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in 1990.

Mr. Rhoney is a 32-year veteran of the transportation and logistics business, with a broad base of operational, marketing, planning and transactional experience literally built from the ground up from his first job as a UPS package sorter in the mid-1970s until his retirement in 2007. During the latter part of his UPS career, Mr. Rhoney led the effort to develop a long-term service portfolio strategy for the U.S. small package business, as well as a plan to expand the profitable logistics service offerings of UPS Supply Chain Solutions. Under Mark’s direction, UPS launched UPS Early AM, UPS Same Day, the Preferred Customer Program and the Service Parts Logistics product. His work encompassed line operations management, industrial engineering, facilities planning, e-commerce, marketing and ultimately strategic planning.

Mr. Rhoney attended The State University of New York at Buffalo with a major in Industrial Engineering and minors in Electrical Engineering and Psychology. Mr. Rhoney also received Executive Education at the Wharton School of Business.

Clement Zhang, based in Washington D.C., has 5 years experience using highly quantitative techniques to solve complex business problems in consulting and industrial research settings. Much of his work at MergeGlobal focuses on network modeling and optimization. Prior to joining MergeGlobal in 2005, Dr. Zhang was a research and development manager for Lucent Technologies’ wireless division in Beijing, China. Dr. Zhang holds an M.B.A. from Georgetown University and both a Ph.D. and B.S. in electrical engineering from Xi’an Jiao Tong University in China. He is fluent in English and Mandarin.