Charles River Associates names five new vice presidents in US
Charles River Associates (CRA), a Boston-headquartered management consulting firm, has promoted five new vice presidents in its US offices, as well six internationally.
Kira Gordon (Boston) has more than a decade of experience in life sciences strategy consulting, with expertise in pricing and market access strategy, opportunity assessment, and diligence support. She has experience across drug development and medical devices in a broad range of therapy areas.
Gordon joined CRA’s life sciences practice in 2016 as a consulting associate. Before that, she was an associate consultant at Fletcher Spaght and a market analyst at Boston Biomedical Consultants.
Gordon has a master’s degree in management from Wake Forest University and a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and economics from Middlebury College.
Adriana de la Huerta, PhD (Washington, DC) has two decades of consulting and government experience in economics and tax. She has deep expertise in mergers, conduct matters, and antitrust litigation across a range of industries.
De la Huerta has led client engagements with private parties and US antitrust agencies and supported testifying experts though all phases of litigation.
She has been with CRA since 2011, when she joined the antitrust and competition economics practice as a senior associate. Earlier in her career, de la Huerta was deputy director of the office of tax policy analysis within Mexico’s Ministry of Finance.
She has a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in economics from The Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico.
Matthew Johnson, PhD (Oakland) has 20+ years of experience developing empirical methods and leading expert teams in M&A litigation across a wide range of industries. He has applied critical analyses of competition across industries such as energy, retail, social media, and automotive.
Johnson has been at CRA since 2006. Before joining the firm, he was a senior consultant with KPMG.
He holds a doctorate in economics from Yale University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dean Koujak (New York) leads utility M&A advisory at CRA. With 20+ years of consulting experience, Koujak has deep expertise across the electric utility value chain, including integrated planning, planning procurement, and resource selection decisions.
He joined CRA in 2021 as a principal. Before that, he spent 18 years with Guidehouse/Navigant, where he was a director.
Koujak has an MBA from Stony Brook University, a juris doctor from Hofstra University, and a bachelor’s degree in engineering management from the New York Institute of Technology.
Kim Welch (Boston) leads the enterprise application services function within CRA’s internal IT department. Welch has more than 25 years of experience in technology leadership. At CRA, she has led major system modernizations, strengthened governance and control frameworks, and driven enterprise-wide initiatives.
Welch joined CRA in 2015 as a senior IT business analyst. She was previously a senior IT business analyst at Dynamics Research Company and a senior consultant at Accenture.
Welch has a bachelor’s degree in industrial and systems engineering from Virginia Tech.
The new vice presidents in CRA’s international offices are:
Elina Koustoumpardi, Brussels
Abhishek Kumar, London
Sam Marden, PhD, London
Michael Muehlbradt, London
Christoph von Muellern, Brussels
Bhavesh Patel, PhD, Cambridge
“The achievements of our newly promoted Vice Presidents reflect the great year that CRA had in 2025 and reinforce my optimism in our future,” said Paul Maleh, president and CEO of Charles River Associates. “These 11 individuals exemplify the combination of expertise and experience that our clients and teams rely on when facing complex business challenges. I am grateful for their many contributions to the firm and congratulate them on this achievement.”
CRA has more than 1,000 consultants across 20+ global offices delivering services in litigation, regulatory, financial, and management consulting.
