Senior Economist

BRG announced that Barbara Vanich, former Chief Auditor of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), has joined its Financial Institution Advisory practice as a managing director in Washington, DC. Vanich brings over 30 years of experience as a certified public accountant. She spent more than 17 years at the PCAOB, where she led the Office of the Chief Auditor, overseeing standard-setting activities and advising on auditing and professional standards. At BRG, Vanich will advise clients on accounting and auditing matters, focusing on internal controls and corporate governance. Her expertise spans public accounting, industry, consulting, and regulation. BRG's chief executive officer, Tri MacDonald, said Vanich's appointment strengthens the firm's position in auditor liability matters and US GAAP accounting policy investigations.

BRG adds directors Sophie Park and Amparo Nieto. 23 July 2026 Consulting.us BRG, a Washington, DC-based management consulting firm, has hired Sophie Park, PhD, and Amparo Nieto as directors. Based in the firm's Boston office, Park is an economic expert with more than 20 years of experience across transfer pricing, antitrust, and securities litigation consulting. She will advise BRG's clients on controversy, litigation, audit defense, and advance pricing agreement matters, and will help build out the firm's transfer price offering alongside the securities and antitrust economic consulting team. "Sophie brings a rare combination of deep transfer pricing expertise and rigorous econometric training from her academic and antitrust and securities litigation background," said David Sunding, vice chairman and leader of the BRG's economics, disputes, and investigations service line. "Her experience defending intercompany pricing positions and valuing intellectual property across technical industries strengthens our ability to support clients facing complex tax controversy and disputes." Park has led and supported expert witness engagements relating to IP valuation, intercompany pricing disputes, and statistical and financial analyses across a range of industries. She joins BRG from Kroll/Duff & Phelps, where she spent a decade as a director in the transfer pricing practice. Before that, Park was a manager in the transfer pricing practices of PwC and Deloitte. Earlier in her career, Park was a senior financial economist at SLEG and an analyst at NERA Economic Consulting. She has a doctorate and master's degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a bachelor's degree in economics from Wellesley College. "I'm excited to join BRG and help expand the firm's transfer pricing practice," said Park. "I look forward to working with colleagues across the firm to deliver rigorous, defensible analysis for clients navigating audit, controversy, and litigation." Based in Los Angeles, Nieto joins the energy and climate practice, where she will advise clients on retail energy pricing and enhanced regulatory business models. Nieto is an economist with 30+ years of testifying and advisory experience in critical regulatory policy matters. She has advised on multipart, time-of-use, marginal cost-based rate structures for distributed solar, battery storage, and electric vehicles; new tariff and cost allocation for data centers; and efficient compensation for distributed energy resources. "As utilities rethink how energy is delivered and priced, her practical and rigorous analytical approach to rate design and regulatory strategy will help clients adapt to a rapidly changing energy landscape and make informed decisions for the future," said Christopher Goncalves, chair of BRG's energy and climate practice. Nieto was previously a principal at Charles River Associates, an associate partner at PA Consulting, and an SVP at Secretariat. Earlier in her career, Nieto spent more than 20 years with NERA Economic Consulting, where she was VP in the energy practice. She has a master's degree in economics from the Institute for Fiscal Studies in Madrid and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Carlos III of Madrid. "The transition to zero- or lower-carbon resources and integration at scale of new-generation technologies, as well as new power demand sectors, are creating complex pricing and market design challenges that require rigorous economic analysis and practical regulatory insight across federal and state jurisdictions," said Nieto. "I look forward to helping clients navigate these policy and regulatory issues and contributing to the continued growth of the practice." BRG recently bolstered its energy and climate practice with the hiring of Xiang Li, Drake Hernandez, and Enrique Glotzer.