Young Professionals

Nathan Associates is proud of its program assistants, research analysts, research associates, and associates and their involvement in the firm's work in the United States and overseas. Whether contributing to litigation consulting, international development, infrastructure, or business analysis projects, they imbue each task they work on with fresh perspectives, energy, and delight in mastering exacting challenges.

Zeynep Akalin

An Associate with the firm, Ms. Akalin specializes in the economics of airport regulation and privatization. She is currently coordinating a diagnostic study of the East Africa transport corridor and providing technical input on economic analysis for various projects. She has a master’s degree in international development from Harvard Kennedy School. Ms. Akalin has worked in India, Turkey, and France. She is fluent in Turkish and French and conversant in Spanish.
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Ben Amick

Mr. Amick is a Research Associate and has more than five years of experience in project management, economic development, and knowledge management. Mr. Amick earned his M.A. in international affairs from the New School University in New York, with a specialization in socioeconomic development.
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Abby Boettger

Ms. Boettger is an Associate in the International Development Economics Group. She has seven years of professional experience, including two years with the firm as an recruiter for international projects. Before joining Nathan, she worked at the Jordan Exporters Association in Amman as a business adviser, where she carried out association capacity building and outreach activities and conducted market research for membership. She has a Master’s degree in international affairs and from George Washington University with a concentration in conflict resolution.
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Katie Clancy

Ms. Clancy works with the private sector and rural development practices of Nathan Associates London Ltd. She provides operational support for field activities and research support for several projects in Africa and the Caribbean. She has an M.S. in Development and Anthropology from the London School of Economics.
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Jessica Cross

Ms. Cross is a Research Associate with two years of professional experience. Before joining Nathan, she worked at the Center for International Private Enterprise, Cardno Emerging Markets, and the International Trade Administration. She has a master’s degree in public policy with a concentration in international economic development.
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Constance Davis

As a professional recruiter for the International Development group, Ms. Davis supports technical teams with proposal and project recruiting and coordinates the hiring of staff. Before joining Nathan Associates, Ms. Davis was a recruitment consultant for an international staffing agency. She has a B.A. in business administration from American University and is fluent in French after studying in France for two years.
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Marissa Jacobus

Ms. Jacobus has professional experience in trade and development, particularly trade finance, WTO accession, and trade policy. Before joining Nathan, she worked at the U.S. Export-Import Bank, MSI, and USAID's WTO Accession Plus Project in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia as an economic adviser. She has a Master’s degree in international affairs and economics from The George Washington University and speaks Spanish fluently.
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Urmila Kashyap

A Senior Program Assistant with Nathan Associates, Ms. Kashyap worked for more than 20 years in the development field in Nepal with various organizations (Save the Children US, UNICEF and USAID) and held various positions with ever increasing responsibilities. She earned a bachelor's degree in economics and education and a master's degree in sociology from Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal.
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Ann Katsiak

With more than six years of professional experience, Ms. Katsiak is a Managing Associate handling projects in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. She has worked extensively throughout the former Soviet Union and conducted a number of short- term technical assignments focused on trade capacity building, trade facilitation, and customs modernization. She has an M.A. in international affairs from George Washington University.
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Patricia Macchi

An Associate with the firm, Ms. Macchi has more than six years of experience as a trade facilitation economist with experience in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa. She specializes in coordinating and designing transport infrastructure and logistics projects. Ms. Macchi is a graduate of the World Bank’s Junior Professional Associate Program. While at the Bank, she worked on transport operational and technical projects in Africa and co-authored Rural Road Investment Efficiency: Lessons from Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Uganda. She has an M.A. in economics from Boston University and a B.S. in economics from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Argentina.
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Janine Mans

With more than five years of professional experience, Ms. Mans is an Associate in the Economic Policy and Governance Unit, where she is working on policy and capacity building projects in Africa and the Middle East. Ms. Mans has worked in Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Republic of Congo, and Rwanda. She has a master’s degree in international economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
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Estefania McPhaul

Ms. McPhaul is a Program Assistant providing operational support to enterprise and industry development projects. She has a B.A. in economics and politics from Washington and Lee University. A native of Argentina, she speaks Spanish and English fluently, and speaks French at an intermediate level.
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Carolina Mejia

Ms. Mejia is an Associate with expertise in transport, institution building, and educational development. She supports technical projects involving information management systems for ports in Bangladesh and trade and transport related to food security in Nigeria. Having spent a year studying in Brazil, Ms. Mejia also supports the firm’s business development in South America and helped win two airport privatization projects, one in Minas Gerais and the other in Rio Grande du Sul, Brazil. She has a B.A. in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania and is fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
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Peter Miller

A Managing Associate with more than six years of professional experience, Mr. Miller contributes quantitative and qualitative analysis and data system design and management to macroeconomic assessments and studies. He also provides project design and management support. Mr. Miller has a background in ICT, holds an M.A. in economics and has completed master’s coursework in statistics.
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Nimesh Modak

Mr. Modak is an Associate with more than five years of professional experience in international economic development, primarily in Latin America and Southeast Asia. He is currently based in Singapore, where he works as a trade specialist and program manager for the APEC Technical Assistance and Training Facility. He has a B.A. in history and international relations from Johns Hopkins University
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Daniel Perea

An Associate with the firm, Mr. Perea is a transport economist with expertise in logistics, maritime transport, and international trade. Mr. Perea has more than three years of experience in project coordination and has helped design and implement multimodal transport integration projects. He has conducted research and data collection to establish competitiveness conditions for several countries and regions, recently Nigeria and West Africa. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Universidad Externado de Colombia and has completed certificates in economic policy and international business and trade from American University.
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Stewart Pierce-Gardner

Mr. Pierce-Gardner is a Research Associate with more than three years of project management experience. Proficient in Arabic, he worked in the Middle East for three years, most recently on a local governance project in al-Hillah, Iraq, as a governance specialist. He has a degree in international political economy from Davidson College.
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Marie Plishka

Ms. Plishka is a Research Associate with three years of professional experience in international economic development and project management, primarily in Southeast Asia. Earlier, she was an intern at an international nongovernmental organization that focused on civil liberties and rule of law. She has a B.A. in international affairs from the University of Georgia.
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Pooja Pokhrel

A Managing Associate at Nathan, Ms. Pokhrel is experienced in macroeconomic research and analyses, investment climate reform, and monitoring and evaluation. She has managed and directed projects in South America and Asia, and filled short-term technical consultancies on behalf of Nathan for ongoing projects. Earlier, she worked as a Young Professional for the UNDP’s Regional Centers in Kathmandu, Nepal, and in Colombo, Sri Lanka. She has an M.A. in economics from Georgetown University.
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Mikela Trigilio

A Research Associate with five years of experience in political risk analysis and economic development, Ms. Trigilio has worked directly with entrepreneurial start-ups and on multibillion dollar federal contracts. Her expertise in business development, digital communications, and postconflict reconstruction is being put to use on economic policy and governance projects in Southeast Asia and West Africa. She has an M.A. in international economics from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and speaks French and Spanish.
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Yi Wang

A Program Assistant at Nathan, Ms. Wang provides operational support to the firm’s projects in Southeast Asia. She has interned with the World Trade Center Institute in Baltimore, MD, as well as a financial services consulting firm in Washington, D.C, focused primarily on infrastructure projects in Latin America. She received a B.B.A. with a concentration in International Business and a double major in Political Science from Loyola University Maryland. Originally from China, she is a native speaker of Mandarin.
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