Kenneth W. Costello, Associate, has been directly involved in a number of recent BTA assignments in the US and Africa. He is a nationally and internationally recognized regulatory economist whose reputation in economic regulation is based on his research, lectures and publications during his twenty-eight-year career at the National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI). The NRRI is the research arm of the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARUC.) It was at NRRI that Ken first met Branko Terzic who served as a public director of the NRRI. Ken’s direct regulatory experience includes service as the senior economist at the Illinois Commerce Commission. Ken’s areas of specialization include public utility regulation; restructuring of electricity and natural gas markets; economic and public policy issues associated with public utilities. He has worked around the world on projects funded by organizations such as the World Bank, US Agency for International Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, Jamaica Office of Utilities Regulation, the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (Japan) and Mowat Centre (University of Toronto). Ken Costello has testified as an expert witness before state regulatory agencies and has over 240 publications in refereed journals, magazines and books. He has been a frequent and popular speaker at trade associations and national and international meetings of regulators. He holds an MA from Marquette University in Economics, and a BA from Marquette in Mathematics. He later completed two years of Doctoral Studies in economics at the University of Chicago.
Kay Walsh, Associate, is also the managing director and founder of Nova Economics, a specialist economic and strategy consultancy based in South Africa. BTA has recently worked with Kay in South Africa. Before founding Nova, she led the economics advisory team within the strategy practice at Deloitte Consulting South Africa where she first met Branko Terzic, then Global Regulatory Policy Leader for Deloitte. Kay has over fifteen years of experience working as an economist in the consulting and investment banking industries. Kay has substantial experience in the energy and financial services sectors with extensive knowledge of the regulatory environment in Africa and the key issues facing the electricity supply industry. She recently delivered two expert opinions for Eskom on economic and regulatory issues Kay has studied five Southern African markets for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Most recently, she has been assisting a French renewable energy company and a Dutch group in understanding opportunities to participate in South Africa’s energy markets. Kay has provided expert testimony in South Africa. She has appeared as a subject matter expert on various national business and news television channels (including CNBC Africa, eNews, SABC and Summit), providing economic commentary and industry insight. Kay holds a BS in Economics and Environmental Sciences from the University of Capetown and a Master of Commerce Economics (cum laude) from the University of KwaZuku Natal.
Steven P. Laden has over 30 years of experience in leading teams and in encouraging change in the regulated utility industry. The past 15 years Steve has taught Strategy Development, Leadership, Management and Marketing as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Phoenix. Before that he served as vice president – Customer Support for the Northeast Utilities System, the largest Electric and Gas Company in New England. He joined that company after it’s acquisition of Yankee Energy Systems (YES) where as Vice President of Sales, Marketing and External Affairs, he was responsible for overseeing Sales, Marketing, and Market Planning, Market Research, Market Growth Initiatives, Customer Support, Economic & Community Development, Community Relations, Government Relations and Investor Relations reporting to CEO Branko Terzic. Steve has also served as Vice President Marketing at Southern Union Company, Director Marketing at Union Texas Petroleum and General Manager of Market Services at Wisconsin Gas Company. He is a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum. Steve holds a BA in Speech and Mass Communication from the University of Minnesota and an MBA in Marketing from Saint Thomas University.
Dr. R. Bruce Williamson
Associate
Dr. R. Bruce Williamson has 40 years’ experience in energy, regulatory and utility economics, finance, market valuation, and technology adoption for investor-owned and publicly owned utilities, both in the US and internationally.
Dr. Williamson served as Commissioner (2015-2021) on the State of Maine Public Utilities Commission and was active with the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). As a Commissioner he served on the Executive Board of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Inc… as well as on the Executive Board of the New England Conference of Public Utilities Commissioners, the Research Advisory Council for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and Vice-Chair of the Federal Communication Commission’ North American Numbering Council (FCC-NANC)
He began his career at Argonne National Laboratory and the Oak Ridge Institute for Energy Analysis and moved on to regulated utilities supporting new market development, auctions, requirements for obtaining CPCNs and operator licenses, and strategic planning of networks for SBC Communications, operating companies, and equipment manufacturers.
Later he served as Senior Economist and Program Manager with the National Defense Business Institute at the University of Tennessee, where his defense economics research for the US Air Force and the US Naval Postgraduate School provided quantitative insights from modeling cost and schedule tradeoffs in weapon and space launch procurements under Department of Defense Major Defense Acquisition Programs.
Bruce holds a PhD in Economics from the University of New Mexico, a Master’s degree from the Korbel School of International Studies in Denver, and a Bachelors from Cornell University in History and Government.