About Sonecon
Sonecon, LLC, is an economic advisory firm that provides in-depth analyses and unique insights into changing economic conditions in the United States and around the world and the impact of government policies on those conditions and the prospects for particular industries. Each client receives the personal attention and analysis of a custom team of distinguished experts and senior analysts assembled from across the country for the particular project. Sonecon and its chairman, Robert Shapiro, have provided their analyses to, among many others, Prime Minister Tony Blair, President Bill Clinton, Vice President Albert Gore and Senators Hillary Clinton, as well as senior executives of Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies and prominent non-profit organizations.
Sonecon helps its clients achieve their goals. It not only provides insight and analysis but also works extensively with a network of affiliated firms to help design and execute messaging campaigns organized around those insights and analyses. In this way, Sonecon has helped roll-back foreign attacks on a client’s intellectual property rights, expand regulatory protections for companies under attack from naked short sellers, determine the U.S. investments of Asian and European companies, inform market participants about distortions in natural gas futures prices, educate opinion makers about the impact on pensions of proposed tax changes, and affect certain terms of government loans programs.
Sonecon Senior Experts and Affiliates
Dr. Robert J. Shapiro is the co-founder and chairman of Sonecon, LLC. He is also Senior Fellow of the Progressive Policy Institute, director of the Globalization Initiative of the New Democrat Network, and a board member of the Ax:son-Johnson Foundation in Sweden. From 1997 to 2001, Dr. Shapiro was U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs. In that position, he directed economic policy for the Commerce Department and oversaw the Nation's major statistical agencies, including the Census Bureau while it planned and carried out the 2000 decennial census. Prior to that appointment, he was co-founder and Vice President of the Progressive Policy Institute and the Progressive Foundation. He also was principal economic advisor in Governor Bill Clinton's 1991-1992 presidential campaign and senior economic advisor to Vice President Albert Gore and Senator John Kerry in their presidential campaigns. Dr. Shapiro also served as Legislative Director and Economic Counsel for Senator Daniel P. Moynihan, Associate Editor of U.S. News & World Report, and economic columnist for Slate. He has been a Fellow of Harvard University, the Brookings Institution, and the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Dr. Shapiro holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and an A.B. from the University of Chicago.
Dr. Elaine Kamarck is a Lecturer in Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.. In the 1980s, she was one of the founders of the New Democrat movement that helped elect Bill Clinton president. She served in the White House from 1993 to 1997, where she created and managed the Clinton Administration's National Performance Review, also known as reinventing government. At the Kennedy School she served as Director of Visions of Governance for the Twenty-First Century and as Faculty Advisor to the Innovations in American Government Awards Program. She conducts research on 21st century government, the role of the Internet in political campaigns, homeland defense, intelligence reorganization, and governmental reform and innovation. Kamarck received her PhD in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Kevin A. Hassett is Director of Economic Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on macroeconomics, public finance and tax policy. He is the author or co-author of six books and numerous articles. Dr. Hassett was chief economic adviser to Senator John McCain in his 2000 presidential campaign. Previously, he was Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Board and Associate Professor of economics at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. Dr. Hassett holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from Swarthmore College.
Dr. Nam Pham is President of The NDP Group, LLC, a consulting firm in Washington, D.C. His recent work has focused on industry benchmarking and financial institutions. He is an Adjunct Professor of Economics at both the graduate school of George Washington University and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Previously, he was Vice President at Scudder-Kemper in Boston, MA, chief economist for Asia for Standard & Poor's DRI, and economist the World Bank. He holds a Ph.D. from George Washington University and a B.S. from the University of Maryland.
Ambassador Nancy Soderberg is an author, public commentator, and Visiting Distinguished Scholar at the University of North Florida. From 2001-2005, she served as Vice President for Multilateral Affairs of the International Crisis Group in New York, a non-profit conflict prevention organization. She served in the White House as the third-ranked official on the National Security Council (1993-1996) and as Alternate Representative to the United Nations (1997-2001), with the rank of Ambassador. Prior to joining the Administration, she served as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to Senator Edward M. Kennedy. She has been active in national politics over the last twenty years, serving in a variety of positions on the campaigns of the Democratic nominee for President. She has taught as an adjunct professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. She publishes regularly in leading newspapers and journals on national security policy.
Aparna Mathur is Research Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she focuses on health care and health policy issues as well as tax policy. Dr. Mathur is also a noted scholar in international finance and econometrics. She has been a consultant to the World Bank, a researcher at the Tata Energy Research Institute, and an instructor in economics at the University of Maryland. Dr. Mathur holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Maryland, as well as degrees from Hindu College and the Delhi School of Economics of Delhi University.
Arun Malik is Associate professor of Economics and Public Policy and Public Administration at George Washington University. He is a national expert on environmental economics, and co-editor of the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. Dr. Malik has recently been a visiting scholar or visiting professor at Nanyang Technological University, the Indian Institute of Management and Delhi School of Economics. He has published widely in professional journals, and he holds a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. from Bowdoin College.
Dr. Brian Becker is President and CEO of Precision Economics, LLC, a consulting firm in Washington D.C. His recent work has focused on technical analysis concerning corporate valuation, equity markets and intellectual property. He is the author of numerous articles and has testified before congressional bodies on a wide range of issues. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Paula Stern is Chairwoman of The Stern Group, Inc. an economic analysis and trade advisory firm in Washington, D.C., and currently serves on the boards of directors of Avaya, Inc., Avon Products, Inc., Hasbro, Inc. and The Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. From 1978-1987, she was commissioner of the International Trade Commission, serving as its chair from 1984-1986. In that capacity, Dr. Stern analyzed and voted on over 1,000 trade cases involving a broad range of industries and issues. She is also a former member of the President's Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations (ACTPN) (1993-2003), the former Co-Chairperson of the International Competition Policy Advisory Committee (ICPAC) for the Attorney General and the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (1997 - 2000), and a former Chairwoman of the Advisory Committee of the U.S. Export-Import Bank. Dr. Stern holds a B.A. from Goucher College, a M.A. in Regional Studies from Harvard, and a Ph.D. in International Affairs from Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
Megha Mukim is currently completing her doctoral work at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She holds an M.Phil degree from Cambridge University, an M.A. from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, and a B.A. with Honors from Delhi University’s Shri Ram College of Commerce. She also was a Fox Fellow at Yale University, a Research Officer at the World Health Organization, and a consultant to the World Trade Organization, the Ministry of Commerce of India and the Confederation of Indian Industry.
Karan Sigh is currently a consultant at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations and a Lecturer in applied econometrics at Delhi University. He also served as an environmental economist at the Madras School of Economics, where he earned his M.Sc. degree, and holds a B.A. with Honors from Manonmani Sundaranar University.
