Keystone Grows Interdisciplinary Team of Economists, Data Scientists and Technologists

April 08, 2024 (New York) – Keystone announced today that it has recently made a string of high-profile new additions to the firm’s roster of economists, data scientists and technologists. The new hires’ arrival marks the latest chapter in Keystone’s expansion of its capabilities in state-of-the-art quantitative analyses made possible by leveraging Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) and Machine Learning (“ML”) technology in econometrics.

For clients of the firm’s Global Economic and Technology Advisory (ETA) group, the application of AI/ML within the econometric toolkit typically applied to merger reviews enables advanced economic analyses with increased precision and reliability. These advanced AI/ML tools – once the sole provenance of Big Tech – have become increasingly critical to antitrust and competition analyses.

Keystone’s economists and data scientists are led by Patrick Bajari, who joined Keystone from Amazon last year as Chief Economist and Managing Director for CoreAI. The new hires in the US and Europe bring deep expertise in applying econometrics to address business operations issues and antitrust and competition matters at major companies, including Amazon and Spotify. The hires include:

• Evgeni Drynkin, who joins as an Engagement Manager from Cornerstone Research. Dr. Drynkin received his PhD in Economics from Stanford University.
• Omar Farooque, who joins as a Principal Economist from Spotify, where he was a Senior Research Economist. He received his PhD in Economics from Northwestern University.
• Ashish Rajbhandari, who joins as a Principal Economist. Dr. Rajbhandari was previously a Senior Economist at Amazon and received his PhD in Economics from UC Irvine.
• Stefan Weiergraeber, who joins as a Senior Economist. Dr. Weiergraeber was previously a faculty member at Indiana University Bloomington, and received his PhD from University of Mannheim.
• Jingchen Wu, who joins as a Senior Principal Scientist from Flexport, where he was a Senior Manager in Applied Science. Dr. Wu received his PhD in Applied and Interdisciplinary Mathematics from the University of Michigan.
• Adler Xie, who joins as a Senior Principal. Dr. Xie was a Senior Data Science Manager at Twitter, and received her PhD in Economics from the University of Illinois-Champaign.

“I’m thrilled to welcome these talented and accomplished economists to our global team of world-class experts,” said Bajari. “They not only bring deep familiarity with the complex and evolving issues facing the tech industry, but also have bona fide experience applying econometrics to real-world problems and collaborating closely with technology teams to inform and improve AI and machine learning systems.” said Bajari.

The economists and data scientists partner closely with technologists led by Devesh Mishra to build out platform capabilities with data, and enable sophisticated Machine Learning demand estimation techniques, best high-end forecasting models, and the ability and familiarity to work with extremely large datasets. Mishra, the former Vice President, Global Supply Chain at Amazon, recently joined the firm as President and Chief Product and Technology Officer of CoreAI. New hires include:

• Ms. Iqra Imtiaz, Data Engineer, joins from Wavely Diagnostics where she was a software engineer. Ms. Imtiaz earned her Masters of Engineering in AI for Product Innovation from Duke University.
• Dr. Muntasir Rahmn, who joins as a Principal Engineer from Microsoft’s Business Copilot Applied AI group, where he was a principal Machine Learning engineer. Dr. Rahmn received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Illionois at Urbana-Champaign.
• Mr. George Vorobiov, Senior Principal Engineer, who joins from Amazon where he was a Principal Engineer. Mr. Vorobiov received his MSc, Computer Science from Southern State University.

The joint team of economists and technologists also partners with strategy consultants to ground analyses with a business perspective, and collaborate to contextualize and interpret outputs with an eye toward practical uses and outcomes. Keystone refers to the intersection of economics, technology and strategy as its “triad of skills,” a key point of difference from other advisory firms.

About Global Economic and Technology Advisory (ETA)

ETA provides economic analysis and expert testimony on a wide range of topics, such as mergers and acquisitions, antitrust litigation, intellectual property, privacy, and regulation. The practice has worked on some of the highest-profile antitrust assignments in the tech industry, such as Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision late last year and Epic Games’ litigation against Apple and Google in the US and Australian courts, in which Keystone’s advanced analytical capabilities were an essential tool in understanding the competitive dynamics.

About CoreAI

The CoreAI practice launched in 2023 to unify Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning capabilities in a focused service offering to build, operate and transfer customized AI/ML solutions tackling individual clients’ unique challenges. CoreAI capabilities can be applied both within business contexts and in support of compliance matters and disputes.

About Keystone

Keystone Strategy, LLC (“Keystone”) is a leading innovative strategy, economic, and technology consulting firm dedicated to delivering transformative ideas and cutting-edge solutions to Fortune Global 500 companies, top law firms, and government agencies. Keystone combines experience in digital transformation, data platform design, analytics, AI and information risk to deliver bold strategies with far-reaching implications for business, consumers, and public policy. It also possesses unique expertise in competition, IP, litigation, and tax and transfer pricing matters. Keystone was founded by Mr. Greg Richards and Professor Marco Iansiti, Keystone’s Chairman of the Board and the David Sarnoff Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Keystone now boasts a roster of hundreds of top academic experts in the digital economy and innovation sectors, supported by more than 150 professionals. The firm has offices in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, and London. Learn more about Keystone at www.keystone.ai.

‍

Media Contact

Rob Chedid
Head of Marketing and Communications
rchedid@keystone.ai