About the Authors
John Howell and Company Ltd (JH&Co) brings together a group of professionals from banking, oil & gas, public administration and academia whose record of co-operation goes back to 1993. It provides consultancy services to public and private sector clients, offering support at strategic, tactical and operational level in the identification and attainment of business or policy goals. Its activities cover all stages of the policy cycle, from research and planning through development and implementation to monitoring and evaluation. It specialises in risk analysis, compliance management and public/private partnership. JH&Co adds value by helping clients to allocate resources where they are most needed. Its areas of expertise are investor relations strategy; economics and development banking; regulatory reform and compliance analysis; and risk and security. www.jh-co.com
Max Watson (Series Advisor) is a Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, and Director of Research at John Howell & Company. He was previously a Deputy Director of the IMF and Chief of the IMF's Capital Markets Division. His work over the past two decades has focused on financial stability, with a special emphasis on the European Union and its neighbours. He currently advises central banks and governments in several former transition economies on financial stability analysis and policy co-ordination issues, including the role of SWFs. Whilst at the IMF he was mission chief to many European economies. He has also been special adviser to the Director-General for Economic Affairs at the European Commission. His earlier career was spent in banking supervision at the Bank of England and at a London merchant bank. He is a graduate of Cambridge University and INSEAD business school, and is a fellow of the UK Institute of Financial Services.
Nick Dove (Executive Editor), as a former senior equity analyst at UBS covering banks and other financials, has advised top management of publicly listed companies on strategy, communications and equity issuance, and senior fund managers on stock and sector investment strategy. Since entering the consultancy field, Dr. Dove has specialised in advising development agencies and financial institutions, especially those in emerging markets and those engaged in promoting inward investment. He received his PhD from Cambridge University.
Evghenia Sleptsova is a research associate at JH&Co, where she specialises in analysing Sovereign Wealth Funds and the banking sector in transition economies. She holds an MA in Political Economies of Russia and Eastern Europe and a BA in Banking. She has written a number of publications on trade and labor migration in CIS countries. Evghenia previously worked at the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives, Moldova, and the EU Delegation to Moldova. As well as working at JH&Co, she is currently completing a PhD on Ukrainian trade.
John Howell studied at Oxford University and was a Robert Schuman Scholar at the European Parliament. He was a consultant with Accenture and then a banker including a Managing Director of a privatization and corporate finance unit. Since founding John Howell & Company in 1992, Mr. Howell has advised both public and private sector clients. He has served on Advisory Boards at the London School of Economics and advised the European Commission since 2003. He is one of the UK’s leading experts on regulatory reform.
Caroline Ko holds an MSc in International Economics and Finance (Cum Laude) from the University of Tilburg, Netherlands; and a BSc Honours in International Economics & Business and a BA in Finnish Language and Culture from the University of Groningen, Netherlands. She specializes in macroeconomics and international benchmarking and has a number of publications on growth and economic development in Central and Eastern Europe. She has worked as a Research Analyst at JPMorgan and as a researcher in the European Commission, DG Economic and Financial Affairs. In both of these roles she focused on Eastern Europe.
Paul Domjan is an energy policy specialist who advises governments and companies on oil wealth management, energy security and climate policy. He was the first Energy Security Advisor to the European Command of the US Department of Defense, where he developed its energy security strategy for Europe, Eurasia, and Africa, coordinating within the US government and with foreign governments, major energy companies, and NGOs. Mr. Domjan was also a political analyst in scenario planning at Shell. He worked extensively on European and Eurasian energy transportation issues and helped develop Shell’s gas strategy analysis systems. He has also consulted on supplier development in the oil and gas industry for the World Bank. Mr. Domjan studied at Oxford University.