NERA Welcomes New Vice President Dr. Kent Van Liere to its Denver and San Francisco Offices

04 May 2006

Denver, May 4/ -- NERA Economic Consulting, a leading international firm of consulting economists, announced that Dr. Kent Van Liere has joined the firm as a Vice President, working out of NERA's Denver and San Francisco offices. A seasoned consultant with more than 15 years of market analysis, policy evaluation, and corporate strategy experience, Dr. Van Liere's expertise includes survey research methodology, statistical sampling, and risk analysis, among other areas.

"NERA is pleased to welcome Kent to the firm," NERA President Dr. Andrew Carron said. "He will add substantially to our ability to address challenges faced by our clients through his unique blend of skills: extensive management consulting experience in the energy sector, public policy expertise, and a proven track record as a testifying expert in applying survey methods and statistical analyses to product liability litigation and estimation of economic damages."

Dr. Van Liere pioneered the application of survey sampling and survey methods to the measurement of customer, economic, and behavioral issues in the energy and natural resource fields. His project experience also includes work in product liability, construction defects, trademarks/branding, consumer choice and business decision-making, complex class actions, transportation, and employment matters. He has directed a wide range of projects involving the application of statistical methods and survey research to evaluation of public policy, corporate decision making, and litigation. In addition, he has testified at trial on the application of statistical methods, sampling, questionnaire design, and the use of surveys.

Dr. Van Liere has published a number of works that address consumer choice, consumer attitudes, response to product and service reliability, as well as economic measurement of value of service. His articles have appeared in Social Forces, Environment and Behavior, Public Opinion Quarterly, and The Electricity Journal. In addition, his work has been published as monographs by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Electric Power Research Institute.

Before joining NERA, Dr. Van Liere was the President and CEO of Primen, an information services joint venture of the Electric Power Research Institute and the Gas Research Institute. Prior to that, he was a Senior Vice President at PHB/Hagler Bailly, served as President of HBRS, Inc., a survey research company, and was an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee.

If you would like to arrange an interview with Dr. Van Liere, or are interested in learning more about NERA's survey and statistical sampling capabilities, please contact us or visit us on the web at www.nera.com.

NERA provides practical economic advice related to highly complex business and legal issues arising from competition, regulation, public policy, strategy, finance, and litigation. Our 45 years of experience creating strategies, studies, reports, expert testimony, and policy recommendations reflects our specialization in industrial and financial economics. Because of our commitment to deliver unbiased findings, we are widely recognized for our independence. Our clients come to us expecting integrity; they understand this sometimes calls for their willingness to listen to unexpected or even unwelcome news.

NERA Economic Consulting (www.nera.com), founded in 1961 as National Economic Research Associates, is a subsidiary of Mercer Specialty Consulting, an MMC company.

About NERA

NERA Economic Consulting (www.nera.com) is a global firm of experts dedicated to applying economic, finance, and quantitative principles to complex business and legal challenges. For more than six decades, we have been creating strategies, studies, reports, expert testimony, and policy recommendations for government authorities and the world’s leading law firms and corporations. We bring academic rigor, objectivity, and real-world industry experience to issues arising from competition, regulation, public policy, strategy, finance, and litigation.

NERA’s clients value our ability to apply and communicate state-of-the-art approaches clearly and convincingly, our commitment to deliver unbiased findings, and our reputation for quality and independence. Our clients rely on the integrity and skills of our unparalleled team of economists and other experts backed by the resources and reliability of one of the world’s largest economic consultancies. Continuing our legacy as the first international economic consultancy, NERA serves clients from major cities across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.