The Art and Science of Market Platforms
April 7, 2004

David Evans leads the Global Competition Policy practice at LECG, a leading global economic consulting firm, where he is also Vice Chairman of LECG Europe. He is an authority on the economics of high-technology and platform-based businesses, particularly as it relates to competition policy and intellectual property.   The author of four books, most recently Paying with Plastic, he has published more than 70 articles in such journals as the American Economic Review¸ Foreign Affairs, and The Yale Journal of Regulation. His many opinion pieces have appeared in newspapers around the world including the Washington Post, Financial Times, Les Echos, and El Pais. A specialist on competition policy in the U.S. and European Union, a topic on which he has written and lectured extensively, he has served as an expert and testified before courts, arbitrators, regulatory authorities and legislatures in the US and Europe. He has led economic teams in several important antitrust cases over the last 25 years including U.S. v AT&T for the government and U.S. v Visa U.S.A. for Visa.  He has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.

Robert W. Hahn is the cofounder and executive director of the American Enterprise Institute-Brookings Joint Center, which focuses on regulation and antitrust. Previously, he has worked for the President's Council of Economic Advisers, Harvard, and Carnegie Mellon University. Mr. Hahn frequently contributes to general-interest periodicals and leading scholarly journals, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, American Economic Review, Yale Law Journal and Science. Recently, he is the author of Reviving Regulatory Reform: A Global Perspective and editor of High-Stakes Antitrust. This year he will publish an AEI-Brookings book on the economic analysis of regulation and an edited volume on intellectual property rights in high-tech industries. In addition, Mr. Hahn is cofounder of the Community Preparatory School--an inner-city middle school in Providence, Rhode Island, that provides opportunities for disadvantaged youth to achieve their full potential.

Gary Mays is a Practice Leader at Unisys Corporation. Mr. Mays was brought to Unisys to start a new initiative, the Brand-Extension Practice, which he has developed, launched and continues to grow. In addition, he leads a Unisys effort to expand their presence in the communications vertical market. He has spent 12+ years working in the consulting and software industries. Prior to joining Unisys, Mr. Mays was a senior business development and client executive at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Entertainment, Media and Communications practice.

Stephen Thompson is the CEO of Immtech. Mr. Thompson has served as a Director since November 27, 1991. He joined Immtech in April 1991 from Amersham Corporation, where he was President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Thompson has 20 years' experience in healthcare, with previous positions as President of a small diagnostic start-up, General Manager of the Infectious Disease and Immunology Business Unit in the Diagnostic Division of Abbott Laboratories from 1981 to 1986, and Group Marketing Manager for the Hyland Division of Baxter International Inc. from 1978 to 1981. Mr. Thompson is a member of the Board of Directors of Matritech, Inc. Mr. Thompson holds a B.S. from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA from Harvard University.

Jean Tirole is the Scientific Director for the Institut d’Economie Industrielle, University of Social Sciences, Toulouse, President-elect of the European Economic Association and a Visiting Professor, CERAS, Paris and MIT Department of Economics.  He has published over one hundred professional articles in economics and finance, as well as six books.  His research covers industrial organization, regulation, game theory, banking and finance, and macroeconomics.  He received a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Free University in Brussels, the Yrjo Jahnsson Prize of the European Economic Association, and the Public Utility Research Center Distinguished Service Award.  He has also been a Sloan Fellow and a Guggenheim Fellow.

Richard Waters is the West Coast Editor and is responsible for the West Coast coverage of the Financial Times and FT.com, as well as global coverage of the technology industry.  Before moving to the West Coast, Waters was based in New York for nine years. His various roles there included heading the FT’s coverage of Wall Street, as well as running its New York editorial bureau, a position in which he led its overall coverage of US business and finance. In his most recent job in New York he was the FT’s first information industries editor, overseeing global coverage of technology, telecommunications and media.  In 2003, Waters was short listed for the Business & Finance Reporter of the Year award at the British Press Awards.  A financial journalist by training, Waters previously worked in London for the FT in a number of positions, including editor of international capital markets coverage, securities industry correspondent and accountancy and taxation correspondent. Before working for the FT, Waters worked for several financial magazines in London as reporter and editor. He also worked for two years at Lloyd’s Bank International and lived in Chile, working as a teacher.