Blackstone’s Associates comprise a team of highly experienced senior consultants who work together on a range of assignments:
- Janette Simbron BA, MA – Senior Tourism Specialist; Manager, Blackstone Operations, Latin America
- Dotcho Mihailov, Ph.D – Senior Social Scientist; Manager, Eastern Europe and Central Asia
- Ricardo Daziano, Ph.D. – Economist; Sustainable Behaviour Modeling
- David DeYoe, Ph.D. – Environmental and Energy Specialist
- Kelly O’Brien, MAES, MPL, BA - Economic Sustainability and Development Specialist
- Bruce Killer, B.Comm. – Senior Hospitality Industry Specialist
- Michel Filion, M.A. Facilitator, Project Management Specialist
- Susan DeYoe - B.S., M.B.A., C.H.R.P., C.R.S.P., Health and Safety Specialist
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JANETTE SIMBRON BA, MA – SENIOR TOURISM SPECIALIST
MANAGER, BLACKSTONE OPERATIONS, LATIN AMERICA
Janette Simbron has a strong background both in the social sciences and in tourism. Blackstone retained Janette to act as Project Manager for its multi-disciplinary assignment to develop a large tourism loan between the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Government of Bolivia. As a result of the considerable success of that sensitive and complex project, which successfully led to a $20 million loan agreement, Janette was assigned to head up Blackstone’s operations in Latin America, operating in La Paz.
Janette’s education includes a B.A. (Psychology) from the University of Chicago and a Masters of Anthropology (Belgium). She has worked in the tourism sector for more than 20 years, and is the owner of a highly successful receptive tour operator firm and a hotel. Janette is also part of a private sector network consisting of the top tour operators operating in and around Bolivia, and has extensive knowledge of tourism trends, markets and products throughout South America. She is very knowledgeable about the social and economic challenges facing rural communities. Janette regularly travels to European trade and travel shows, and has an extensive international network in the hospitality industry.
In addition to her tourism credentials, Janette is also a social scientist with extensive experience related to stakeholder engagement and community consultation, and social impact assessment. She has excellent “people skills” that allow her to be able to work closely and confidently within the challenging institutional environments that characterize many of the lesser developed countries.
Janettehas a strong interest in indigenous populations, and has worked with several communities to develop successful community-based tourism initiatives in Bolivia. She has carried out several socio-economic assignments including, for example:
With her broadly based public and private sector tourism experience, and her experience as a tour operator and hotelier, Janette brings hands-on tourism skills, and Spanish-language capability, to Blackstone.
DOTCHO MIHAILOV, Ph.D – Senior Social Scientist and Manager, Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Dotcho Mihailov is a highly experienced social scientist, with an M.Sc. in social psychology and Ph.D. in Social and Management Psychology. Proprietor of ASA (Agency for Socioeconomic Analysis) in Sofia, Bulgaria, Dotcho is a Senior Blackstone Associate and Manager of Blackstone’s operations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Dotcho began working with our firm in 2003, when he was retained to carry out quantitative surveys throughout Bulgaria associated with Blackstone’s World Bank assignment on “The Economic and Social Impacts of Farm Restructuring in Central and Eastern Europe”. His work included a business survey and a regional survey in three districts among a sample of 598 households and 57 Farmers. The Blackstone team’s work was highly regarded, and results were published in a World Bank monograph titled “A Stocktaking of Land Reform and Farm Restructuring in Bulgaria, Moldova, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan.” Most recently, Dotcho was retained to work with Blackstone on our major project for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), undertaking field investigations of private sector company activities in China, Africa and Turkey with a view to assessing company/community relations and providing IFC with suggestions regarding a planned update to their Sustainability Performance Standards.
Dotcho has extensive experience working in Eastern Europe on social analysis assignments for the UN, an array of international agencies and government agencies. He has particularly strong skills related to quantitative social surveys and analysis, using computerized tools such as SPSS. Other special areas of expertise include:
· Development research (surveys manager, analytical reports and statistical processing);
· Evaluation studies;
· Good local governance (citizen participation, community development, decentralization, communication strategies);
· Social inclusion, minority and marginalized groups;
· Rural development (Quality of life and diversification; LEADER);
· Health safety and social inclusion (family models, demography, ethnic relationships, health policies); and
· Statistical processing, including multidimensional statistics.
With his strong credentials, and able to work in English, Russian, Macedonian and Bulgarian, Dotcho is well-suited to manage Blackstone’s assignments in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
RICARDO DAZIANO, Ph.D. – ECONOMIST, SUSTAINABLE BEHAVIOUR MODELLING
Dr. Ricardo A. Daziano is a specialist in the analysis of pro-environmental preferences toward low-emission vehicles, modeling the adoption of sustainable behavior, estimating willingness-to-pay for renewable energy, and forecasting consumers' response to environmentally-friendly energy sources. He recently worked on the Blackstone team that successfully developed a $20 million tourism loan between the Government of Bolivia and the Inter-American Development Bank, developing and applying a unique Discrete Choice Modeling Survey to identify market niches and assess tourism market demand.
Ricardo completed his undergraduate studies and a masters' degree in engineering in Santiago at the University of Chile. After working four years as a demand analyst consultant in the private sector, he decided to pursue an academic career in microeconomics and applied econometrics of consumer behavior and, more specifically, in discrete choice modeling. In 2010 he completed a PhD in economics at Université Laval in Québec City, with a specialty in econometrics and industrial organization. While acting as Assistant Professor at Cornell University, he continues to serve as a Blackstone associate consultant in consumer choice modeling in areas such as sustainability, transportation and tourism.
DAVID DeYOE – ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY SPECIALIST
Dr. David DeYoe is an Associate of Blackstone providing expertise in the areas of environmental and energy consulting. David is also president of Bio-Trend Systems, Inc., which helps communities and companies develop and implement strategies to capture the financial and environmental benefits provided by the green/clean sector through the innovative use of renewable resources.
David has worked with numerous economic development organizations, small to medium sized businesses, non-profit organizations and a well known multi-national to help them develop green/clean strategies that emphasize results-oriented action plans. He lectures regularly on the use of renewable resources for mitigating environmental impacts while fostering economic opportunities for local business, and continues to address professional audiences on strategic positioning for R&D financing and transferring science principles to practice. Recent initiatives involve employing GIS technology as an enabling tool to integrate and map information on local business, natural resources and community infrastructure across community networks to improve planning and marketing of regional assets for foreign and domestic investment. He has served on non-profit boards involving economic and business development, environmental R&D, community and regional GIS systems and renewable energy. He is committed to helping people, companies and communities adopt systems thinking, embrace change, and take relevant, doable steps toward a more resilient and self-reliant outcome.
David has experience in academia, private sector and government in R&D, education and senior management. This has prepared him to evaluate complex environmental and socio-economic issues from different perspectives and at multiple scales – transitioning from global issues to local solutions that offer creative, system-based approaches for public and private sector clients. He received his PhD in Biochemistry/Stress Physiology at the University of Missouri and served as a professor in Forest Science at Oregon State University for 9 years before entering the private sector as a senior researcher for MacMillan Bloedel in British Columbia. In 1992 he was asked to serve as General Manager of Ontario Forest Research Institute, recognized internationally for providing information and tools relevant and useful to policy developers and forest practitioners. Since 2005 he has served as a consultant.
KELLY O’BRIEN, MAES, MPL, BA - ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY & DEVELOPMENT
Kelly O’Brien is an Associate of Blackstone, providing expertise in the areas of economic sustainability and economic development. Kelly is also the Principal Consultant of EDP Consulting which she established to assist communities in enhancing their competitiveness in retaining and attracting investment. Kelly’s background includes over 20 years of professional experience, supported by graduate degrees in economic development from the University of Waterloo and urban and regional planning from Queen’s University. She is a full member of the following professional organizations: International Economic Development Council (IEDC), Economic Developers Association of Canada (EDAC), Economic Developers Council of Ontario (EDCO), Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP), Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI) and Ontario Professional Land Economists (OPLE).
Kelly has worked as a principal consultant on numerous investment attraction and economic development projects throughout Canada, as well as in the U.S., and in Hong Kong Her economic development projects in Canada have included studies for the Blue Sky Economic Region, Municipality of French River, Central Almaguin Economic Development Committee, Northern Ontario Labour Market Boards, City of Kawartha Lakes, the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance, Calgary Economic Development, Calgary Economic Partnership, City of Vaughan, Municipality of Clarington, Region of Niagara, Township of Woolwich, South Central Ontario Region (SCOR), etc.
Kelly has also been responsible for analyzing the competitiveness of locations relative to other areas for investment in specific sectors. She has a strong understanding of the critical location factors that are considered by site selectors and businesses when evaluating alternative locations for business investment, and how these factors vary by industry. Kelly has also been responsible for sector analysis for a wide range of sectors including manufacturing, distribution and warehousing, tourism, information technology, financial and business services, etc.
She has undertaken tourism market analysis and feasibility studies for several tourism developments including an arts and adventure tourism project in Parry Sound, Ontario; Allan Gardens redevelopment project in Toronto; and hotel feasibility and tourism development studies in Alberta, Canada. She has also analysed tourism as an opportunity sector as part of several economic development studies including those in New Brunswick, Ontario and Alberta.
Kelly also has extensive economic impact analysis experience as part of broader environmental assessment studies.
BRUCE KILLER, B.Comm. – SENIOR HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY SPECIALIST
Based on his longstanding private sector experience, Bruce has worked with Blackstone over the past 20 years on many of the firm’s tourism and hospitality projects in Canada (e.g., Yukon) and abroad (e.g. Belize; Bolivia), assisting, in particular, with financial projections and analyses.
He has undertaken assignments in over 15 countries covering almost every part of the hotel/hospitality industry, including marketing and “hands on” hotel development for virtually all major hotel corporations, as well as numerous individual resort and urban properties. While with Canadian Pacific Hotels as Director of Marketing and as Executive Director of Development, Bruce designed and implemented corporate marketing plans and handled the acquisition of new properties and management contracts. Subsequently, he became a Director at a large management consulting firm’s hospitality practice (Laventhol and Horwath) and was responsible for its full-service accommodations sector and fair market valuations, within Canada and internationally.
Bruce has become particularly known for his rapid ability to assess the probability of success of private sector ventures in the tourism/hospitality fields. He has been Project Manager for over 100 studies in a range of countries for major international hotel companies. Frequently undertaken tasks included:
· Competitive analyses;
· Site identification;
· Market demand analyses;
· Financial projections;
· Investment analyses;
· Marketing strategies;
· Supportable capital costs;
· Design considerations;
· Training requirements;
· Performance assessments;
· Marketing and promotion.
Bruce’s experience in the private sector and strong analytic abilities have provided him with a “bottom line” focus in assessing development opportunities. His dealings with governments, developers, financiers, operators and clients have provided him with an awareness and understanding of their mutual and sometimes conflicting needs.
MICHEL FILION, TRAINER, COACH AND FACILITATOR IN MANAGEMENT
Michel Filion Is a Peru-based Associate of Blackstone with broad facilitation and project management expertise tin over 20 countries. In 2010, Michel worked with Blackstone on a nine-country evaluation initiative that included his work in Peru, Senegal, Guatemala and Nicaragua. This initiative involved extensive stakeholder engagement, including focus groups and other techniques, to determine, from the perspective of affected stakeholders, the extent of private sector compliance with performance standards in relation to mining, cement production and agricultural enterprises.
A native French speaker, Michel has worked extensively in francophone countries of Africa, as well as the Caribbean. Among others, he was, for 2 years (2003-2005), the Director of Programming for the Canadian University Services Overseas (CUSO) in Haiti.
Michel’s brings his diverse and widespread consulting experience to Blackstone and our clients..
SUSAN DEYOE, B.S., M.B.A., C.H.R.P., C.R.S.P. -HEALTH AND SAFETY SPECIALIST
Susan DeYoe is founder and president of HR Solutions, which specializes in proactive health and safety strategies that enhance employee satisfaction and improve corporate financial position. Her consulting portfolio targets Worker’s Compensation, Attendance Improvement, Occupational Health and Safety and Human Resource services. She has worked with small businesses, public institutions and large corporations to deliver programs that instil knowledge and provide training and operational strategies which strengthen organizational self-reliance and optimize implementation, performance and legislative compliance of client human resource programs. Benefits to corporate clients include: a) compliance savings and rebates - over $850,000 for a local health institution over a 5 year period; b) reduced organizational training costs - 47% with implementation of staff self-learning programs; c) reduction of annual disability and illness lost time costs - 32% within 2 years of program implementation; and d) reduced accident frequency - an average of 25% following training programs in injury prevention workshops.
Services provided by HR Solutions cover all industry sectors with primary emphasis on health and safety program development, clear safety operating procedures, policy and operational reviews, job classifications (PDA’s), attendance improvement initiatives, workplace internal responsibility systems and accountability, hazard analysis, worksite legislative compliance audits and Joint Health and Safety Committee skills upgrading and education. These cost-containment programs coupled with process redesign strategies address the operational financial impacts associated with human resources issues and loss prevention practices enabling resolution.
Ms. DeYoe has over 15 years experience in Health and Safety policy and program development, loss control and prevention strategies, and multi-sector training and facilitation for employer certification. She is proficient in program statistical reporting and data analysis for senior management and has over 20 years experience with private, public and health care sectors. Ms. DeYoe received her BS degree in Business at Linfield College in Oregon, her MBA at Lake Superior State University in Michigan and her designations for Certified Human Resources Professional (C.H.R.P.) and for her Canadian Registered Safety Professional (C.R.S.P.) in Ontario. She is committed to helping employees and employers optimize corporate operations through use of proactive strategies and training that correct deficiencies, reduce risk, promote self-reliance and improve resilience.
