FTI Consulting adds leaders to Dispute Advisory and Strategic Communications practices
Management consultancy FTI Consulting has added three leaders to its US operations. Health policy expert Charlene MacDonald will join the Strategic Communications segment’s Health and Life Sciences team in Washington, DC as a Managing Director. Meanwhile Brent Bersin and Kaarle Rautio will join the Dispute Advisory Services practice in Houston, as Senior Managing Director and Senior Director, respectively.
Charlene MacDonald, a health policy expert with deep experience on Capitol Hill, will join FTI’s Strategic Communications segment as a Managing Director, strengthening the firm’s Healthcare and Life Sciences sector expertise. The Healthcare and Life Sciences team in Strategic Communications includes 45 specialists in the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific who focus exclusively on clients and issues in the aforementioned industries. MacDonald will be based in Washington, DC, where she will lead and grow the healthcare comms team.
Before joining FTI, MacDonald was Senior Policy Advisor to House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland, where she helped develop and execute Democrat health policy strategy. She was central to the development and enactment of numerous bipartisan health bills.
Before joining Hoyer’s office, MacDonald was Senior Policy Advisor for Medicare & Social Security at the Senate Budget Committee. Prior to that, she served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), advising on legislative and regulatory issues in health policy, including issues related to Medicare and the Affordable Care Act.
“With drug pricing, regulatory reforms, outcomes-based healthcare systems, and the digital revolution, the healthcare industry is going through a convulsive transformation,” said John Capodanno, Americas Head of Strategic Communications’ Healthcare & Life Sciences team. “Charlene adds a new dimension to our advisory services as clients evolve their models to seize opportunities and manage crises and market disruptions.”
Brian Kennedy, Americas Head, Strategic Communications, added, “Charlene’s front-line experience in healthcare policymaking and deep subject matter expertise make her a tremendous asset to help navigate our clients through this evolving landscape.”
MacDonald holds an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School, as well as a BA in Political Science and Sociology from Lake Forest College. She won the Christine Burch Award for Congressional Staff Leadership in 2017, and was recognized as a Politico Emerging Health Care Leader in 2011.
Dispute Advisory, Houston
Meanwhile, FTI has added Brent Bersin and Kaarle Rautio to its Dispute Advisory Services practice in Houston. The practice is a part of the firm’s Forensic and Litigation Consulting segment. Bersin joins as a Senior Managing Director, while Rautio joins as a Senior Director.
In the new role, Brent Bersin will be focused on providing financial and economic consulting, damages quantification, valuation, and expert witness services in the areas of commercial disputes and intellectual property. Bersin has over 20 years of experience in intellectual property, including market assessments, valuation, licensing, and damages assessments.
He also has deep experience in economic analysis and expert testimony in the area of commercial disputes – including fraud, breach of contract, lost profits, valuation, and purchase price disputes. Bersin has testified as an expert witness in federal, state, and bankruptcy courts, as well as at arbitrations.
Before joining FTI, Bersin was a Managing Director in the Disputes and Investigations practice at valuation and corporate finance advisory Duff & Phelps. He holds a BBA in accounting from the Bauer School of Business at the University of Houston, and is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Licensing Professional. Bersin is also certified in Financial Forensics.
Kaarle Rautio, as a Senior Director, will be focused on dispute advisory and investigations, primarily in the energy industry. He has more than 15 years of experience in disputes and investigations consulting, serving clients in the energy, telecom, finance, and manufacturing industries.
Rautio has assisted clients in contractual disputes, antitrust, oil and gas royalty disputes, lost profits, claim and asset valuations, and white collar-crime investigations. He has supported energy industry clients with regulatory compliance, credit portfolio evaluations, trading risk policy, market studies, and competitor reviews.
Before rejoining FTI, Rautio was an Associate Director at consultancy Navigant for four years. Before that, he was an Associate Principal at Charles River Associates. Prior to CRA, Rautio worked at FTI Consulting for ten years. He started his consulting career at Arthur Andersen, before moving on to KPMG.
Rautio holds an MBA from Rice University, as well as a bachelor’s in commercial economics from the Amsterdam School of Business. He is a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) and an Energy Risk Professional (ERP).
“FTI Consulting is a leading independent global provider of risk advisory, investigations and dispute services, and Brent and Kaarle bring in-depth expertise that will greatly enhance the dispute advisory offerings in Houston and globally,” commented Paul Ficca, Global Leader of the Forensic & Litigation Consulting segment at FTI Consulting.
