Dr. Stephen E. Usher is an expert in the field of economics and capital management, particularly as they relate to risk management. He served as a consultant for NERA, was a staff economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and has taught economics at a number of universities and colleges. He received B.A. and M.A. degrees in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Dr. Usher joined NERA, an internationally recognized firm of consulting economists, where he worked for eleven years on a wide variety of assignments with emphasis on financial issues. He has expertise in the insurance and reinsurance industries, derivative securities, fixed income securities, securities class actions, broker dealer disputes, valuations, damage estimation, investment banking, transfer pricing, antitrust, and enterprise risk management. Dr. Usher has testified in federal court and at broker/dealer arbitration, has submitted affidavit testimony in federal district court and before the Delaware Chancery Court and has given expert depositions.

At the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Dr. Usher specialized in the German economy and international bond and money markets. As a Teaching Fellow at the University of Michigan, Dr. Usher taught principles of economics and econometrics. He taught introductory economics courses at Rockland Community College and principles of money, banking and financial markets at SUNY as adjunct faculty.

Dr. Usher's research includes: the development of the NERA c-far model that estimates the forward looking distribution of a corporation's cashflow; a study of the securitization of catastrophe insurance as a new asset class; and the development of a model for pricing both dual trigger and Asian options on electricity price.

In 1999 Dr. Usher established his own consulting practice retaining his affiliation with NERA. He became a Special Consultant to NERA in 2000.

Publications

"A Comparables Approach to Measuring Cash-Flow-at-Risk for Non-Financial Firms", with Jeremy Stein, Daniel LaGattuta and Jeff Youngen, Bank of America, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Vol 13,#4, Winter 2001.

"Cashflow-at-Risk and Financial Policy for Electricity Companies in the New World Order", with Jeremy Stein, Daniel LaGattuta, Michael Tennican, and Jeff Youngen, The Electricity Journal, December 2000.

"Derivatives in Securities Class Actions", in Litigation Services Handbook: The Role of the Accountant as Expert, 2000 Cumulative Supplement, Roman L. Weil, Michael J. Wagner, and Peter B. Frank, eds., John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

"Insuring Earnings: A Quest Worth Pursuing?" Viewpoint, The Marsh & McLennan Companies Quarterly, Number 1, 1999, with Marty Scherzer

"Modeling Risk in the U.S. Business Cycle," NERA Working Paper #33, November 1998, with Daniel LaGattuta.

"Derivatives in Securities Class Actions," NERA Working Paper #31, June 1996.

"The Emerging Asset Class: Insurance Risk," A Special Report from Guy Carpenter & Company, Inc., with Ken Froot, Aaron Stern and Brian Murphy, 1995.

"Catastrophe Exposures And The Capital Markets," with Ken Froot, Aaron Stern and Brian Murphy, October 1994.

"An Economist's View of the Proposed Profit Interval Test," BNA Transfer Pricing Report, May 13, 1992.

"Comments On Proposed Profit Interval Test For Rule 482," letter to IRS, April 6, 1992.

"Transfer Prices And The Proposed Profit Interval Test," March 1992.