Welcome to our new colleagues – September 2024
23rd October 2024
In September 2024, we welcomed 28 new colleagues to our global team.
This included strengthening our team in the Netherlands with 4 new hires, including Forensic Accounting and Commercial Damages Partner Tjeerd Krol in Amsterdam.
We’re always looking to expand our team; please take a look at our current vacancies to see our latest opportunities.
Phoebe Atkinson
Billing Manager, Europe | Finance
Warrington, UK
Phoebe Atkinson has 8 years of experience working in Finance in the legal sector.
She has experience with multiple billing systems and processes, project management and implementing system enhancements. Alongside this, she is currently studying to complete her ACCA exams.
Andrea Cook
Consultant | Advisory
Johannesburg, South Africa
Andrea Cook is a consultant specialising in performance improvement projects, project management, operational model design, and change management. Andrea has developed a strong expertise in conducting current state assessments and driving impactful change initiatives. With a Master of Science in Civil Engineering, specialising in Structural and Materials Engineering from the University of Cape Town, Andrea combines technical proficiency with a deep understanding of complex systems.
Andrea is adept at data modelling using Power BI, stakeholder engagement, and problem-solving, always excelling in collaborative team environments. Andrea’s consultancy work is characterised by a strong analytical approach, ensuring that clients achieve their strategic objectives efficiently and effectively.
Ramon de Legorburu
Partner | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Miami, FL, USA
Throughout his distinguished career, Ramon “Ray” de Legorburu has provided invaluable services to a diverse range of clients across various industries, including construction, manufacturing, financial services, transportation, healthcare, and consumer goods. His expertise encompasses damages and lost profit calculations, forensic investigations, and investigations into financial statement misrepresentation.
Ray has a proven track record of investigating complex allegations, such as Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations, management fraud, and elaborate money laundering schemes. He has also assisted in the defense of public accounting firms in accounting malpractice suits and presented to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on financial statement restatements.
At HKA, Ray will continue to leverage his experience as a consultant and former Chief Financial and Administrative Officer to provide top-tier forensic and dispute services. His notable achievements include leading teams in high-stakes investigations, conducting anti-bribery and anti-corruption due diligence, and serving as an expert witness in economic damages and business valuation disputes.
Hannah DeWitt
Senior Associate Consultant | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Hannah DeWitt joins our Philadelphia office as a Senior Associate Consultant in the FACD department. She holds a Master’s in Forensic Accounting & Fraud Examination, as well as the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) designation. Hannah spent over the last 6 years as a forensic accountant specializing in the quantification of economic damages related to property damage, business interruption, and extra expense insurance claims. Her experience with complex claims includes matters involving hospitality, manufacturing, healthcare, retail, and other industry sectors.
Sean Fay
Associate Consultant | Construction Claims
Chicago, IL, USA
Sean Fay is a recent graduate from the University of Notre Dame with a background in finance and economics. He was born and raised in the Phoenix area where he gained experience through internships in both banking and consulting. He has experience in economic research and ESG through his time in school. He is excited to begin his career in the Chicago office as an Associate Consultant in the Claims division.
Tygo Fijn
Consultant | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tygo recently joined the Forensic Accounting and Commercial Damages (FACD) practice in the new Amsterdam office. Prior to joining HKA, Tygo gained dispute experience through the Expert Services practice at Kroll. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in economics & business economics, with a minor in data science, and a master’s degree in Banking & Finance, both from Utrecht University.
Tygo is known for his strong quantitative capabilities and experience in solving complex challenges. He excels in creating, structuring, and analysing large datasets, leveraging his financial modelling skills alongside his statistical and financial knowledge.
Maxime Girard
Partner | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Dubai, UAE
Maxime is a damages expert with close to 25 years of professional experience in damage quantification, business valuation, fraud investigation, accounting, and auditing.
Maxime’s expertise ranges from the quantification of damages claims in international commercial and investment treaty disputes, contentious valuations and expert determinations to shareholder, joint-venture and post-transaction disputes, financial and fraud investigations, and other types of forensic accounting assignments. His extensive background spans a variety of sectors, including oil and gas, manufacturing, telecommunications, real estate, hospitality, retail, and services sector.
Maxime’s comprehensive experience and proven track record have earned him multiple selections as an Expert in Arbitration and Courts. Additionally, he has substantial experience in conducting complex, high-profile financial investigations.
Hailey Grubich
Associate Consultant | Construction Claims
Chicago, IL, USA
Hailey Grubich joins the Chicago office as an Associate Consultant after receiving a bachelor’s degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She has experience in project management, software implementation, and data analysis from her internships with a general contractor and a technology consulting firm. She looks forward to building her expertise in the construction claims practice and forming new connections in the Chicago office.
Charles Humphries
Associate Director | Construction, Claims and Expert Services
London, UK
Charles Humphries is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, with over 13 years of experience in the construction and civil engineering industry, domestically and internationally from tender to completion stage.
Whilst working in main contracting, Charles has been a Commercial Lead responsible for a large scope of civil engineering works, and whilst working in expert consultancy, he has provided detailed quantum expert analysis and drafting expert reports for litigation, arbitration, adjudication and mediation proceedings.
Samantha Keith
Business Support Lead
Dubai, UAE
Samantha Keith joins HKA as Business Support Lead and is based out of the Dubai office.
Samantha has over two decades of success in establishing, managing, and optimising office operations in both start-up and established corporate environments. She has extensive experience in executive support, strategic planning, and establishing systematic processes for fledgling businesses to transition smoothly to mature operations. Over the course of her career, Samantha has worked as a Business Support Manager, a Business/Project Coordinator, and an Executive Assistant. She holds a BSc (Hons) degree in geology from Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London.
Haitham Khaireldin
Principal | Construction, Claims and Expert Services
Dubai, UAE
Haitham is a distinguished engineer and accredited delay and quantum expert witness who has worked in construction, project planning, consultancy, and dispute resolution across a broad spectrum of industries for the past 18 years.
Haitham’s experience as a party-appointed expert in arbitration and litigation is further complemented by his role in offering crucial independent assessments and resolutions. He has been appointed by the Court over 200 times, delivering independent expert reviews and determinations as part of legal proceedings for various disputes, including civil engineering, building, and real estate.
Haitham has provided testimony on several major global projects in the renewable power and utilities sector in the UK and oil and gas ventures in Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. He has also been involved in transportation infrastructure and building projects in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
Bilal Khalife
Manager | Construction Claims
Montreal, QC, Canada
Bilal Khalife has more than 10 years of experience in construction management for various large-scale residential and commercial projects, with a Master of Engineering in Construction Management, a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration, and a master’s degree in civil engineering. Bilal has overseen all aspects of construction projects, from preparing bid documents, performing value engineering, and monitoring budgets and schedules to coordinating among project stakeholders and negotiating change orders and claims.
Bilal’s broad experience includes working with general contractors, subcontractors, architects, engineers, attorneys, city authorities, and utilities to define project concepts; assign design and construction work; ensure adherence to project plans, budgets, and schedules; and identify opportunities for cost savings. His projects include high-rise residential buildings for seniors, government buildings, apartment buildings, luxury chalet units, in the ME (Middle East), Africa and North America (Canada). He is well-versed in developing effective solutions to project challenges and delivering high-quality results on time and within budget.
Zachary Kozub
Associate Director | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Chicago, IL, USA
Zachary Kozub joins HKA as an Associate Director at our Chicago office. Zack’s forensic accounting and commercial damages experience is rooted in intellectual property matters and economic damages. His expertise includes quantifying and calculating disgorgement and lost profits damages, determining reasonable royalty damages, and assessing lost enterprise value or lost business investment damages. He has provided analysis and litigation support services for matters involving trademark, patent, and copyright infringement, false advertising, trade secrets, and anti-trust and business insurance claims. Zack has experience in a wide variety of market sectors, including technology, biotechnology, consumer-packaged goods, industrial and manufacturing, real estate, software, and the hospitality industry.
Before joining HKA, Zack was a Managing Consultant at Berkeley Research Group, LLC. He has a Master of Business Administration in Finance from Loyola University Chicago and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Miami University.
Tjeerd Krol
Partner | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tjeerd Krol is leading the Financial Dispute Consulting practice in the Amsterdam office. His practice is focused on (commercial) disputes, both in litigation and in arbitration, as well as forensic accounting, and financial reporting disputes.
Tjeerd has over 25 years of experience in various types of disputes, both in litigation and international arbitration, such as post-merger disputes, shareholder disputes, minority interest valuations, follow on claims, securities litigation, lost profits-calculations, as well as various types of accounting irregularities and reconstructions.
His experience includes consulting to clients facing accounting irregularities, financial statement restatements, and SEC or other regulatory inquiries / investigations. Prior to HKA, Tjeerd was Managing Director in the Expert Services practice at Kroll Expert Services, Managing Director at Alvarez & Marsal Disputes and Investigations, and an Audit Partner at Deloitte.
Mark Larkin
Partner | Construction, Claims and Expert Services
Dubai, UAE
Mark brings a wealth of experience as a seasoned specialist in dispute resolution, providing strategic guidance in conflict avoidance and claims including the commercial management of distressed projects in the construction, infrastructure and energy sectors.
With 16 years of extensive experience in the MENA region, his expertise spans all levels of the supply chain, including leading international contractors, engineering consultancies, special-purpose investment vehicles, and various government departments. Mark advises on a wide range of assignments, including large-scale mega and giga construction projects, power, renewable energy, and oil and gas projects, and large-scale infrastructure and capital projects.
Mark also leads in technical due diligence roles, frequently providing analytical risk assessments to support third-party funder investment strategies as well as lenders supervision and project monitoring services. Investment banks have also appointed Mark to collaborate with financial and legal due diligence experts on mergers and acquisitions within the construction sector.
Shahijah Libon
Business Support Administrator
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Shahijah Libon is currently serving as a Business Support Administrator based in Kuala Lumpur, with prior experience as an Office Administrator in a start-up IT company. Multilingual and eager to learn, Shahijah is excited to continue gain experience, expanding skills and pursuing professional growth in HKA.
Fabian Lim
Associate Director | Construction, Claims and Expert Services
Singapore
Fabian Lim is a quantity surveyor with 10 years of experience in the construction industry, specialising in contract management, construction claims and disputes management. His expertise includes providing construction claims advice and strategy to assist clients with preparing and/or reviewing quantum-related claims.
Fabian has also been instructed as an independent party appointed Expert Witness in arbitration proceedings and had provided oral testimony. He has provided commercial advice to a variety of clients on projects spanning across buildings, oil and gas, energy and infrastructure sectors. He regularly leads teams to assist senior testifying Expert Witness in Quantum on contentious matters and is experienced in working on high‐value and complex arbitration and litigation proceedings.
Tony Mauritz
Director | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tony Mauritz, also formerly of Kroll Expert Services, focuses on litigation support for various financial and accounting issues, including shareholder disputes, business interruption, minority interest valuations, accounting irregularities, as well as investigations supporting collective actions. Prior to joining Kroll, he served as manager at KPMG, managing audit teams during the audits of both large and small clients across a variety of industries.
Amaury Merlin
Consultant | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Paris, France
Amaury joins our Paris office as a consultant in the Forensic Accounting and Commercial Damages practice. Prior to starting at HKA, he was a senior analyst in transaction services at a Big Four consulting firm. Amaury has gained extensive accounting and financial knowledge working on sell-side and buy-side M&A deals across various industries. Amaury has a master’s degree in Corporate Finance from Iéseg School of Management in France.
Reham Musaed
Managing Consultant | Construction, Claims and Expert Services
Dubai, UAE
Reham Musaed joins the Dubai office as Managing Consultant. Reham is an experienced contract management professional and joins the Dubai office as Managing Consultant specialising in quantum.
Reham holds a master’s degree in construction law and has served as a tribunal secretary on multiple arbitration and adjudication cases. She is passionate about negotiations and adept at helping companies navigate complex contractual matters.
Robert Ndebele
Consultant | Advisory
Johannesburg, South Africa
Robert Ndebele is a registered Professional Town Planner with over eight years of experience in strategic planning, policy development, and advisory services. Prior to joining HKA, he worked as a Town Planning Consultant, leading projects at national, provincial, and municipal levels in South Africa. His work has involved developing spatial development strategies, master plans, and land use frameworks and advising on civil services infrastructure planning for various government authorities.
Robert is a Chevening Scholarship recipient and has recently completed his MBA studies at the University of Warwick.
Christina Reynolds
Director | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Houston, TX, USA
Christina Reynolds joins HKA as a Director with over 18 years of experience in forensic accounting and litigation support for economic damages, financial investigations, insurance claims, and other litigation matters. Her expertise includes restructuring and turnaround management, financial and fraud investigations, claims analysis, damages calculations, cash flow projections, lost profits analysis, and assessments of accounting and financial reporting systems and controls.
Christina has supported the preparation and development of expert witness reports and testimony for various disputes, including those in the agriculture, energy, hospitality, retail, and construction sectors.
Before joining HKA, Christina was an associate director at B. Riley Advisory Services. Christina has a Master of Accounting from Nova Southeastern University and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Miami. She is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), as well as the Houston Area ACFE Chapter.
Willliam Roeder
Associate Consultant | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Phoenix, AZ, USA
William Roeder rejoins our Forensic Accounting and Commercial Damages team as a full-time employee following his internship last summer. He graduated from Arizona State University in May 2024 with a Master of Accountancy and Data Analytics.
Sean Sarsfield
Principal | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Houston, TX, USA
Sean Sarsfield joins HKA as a Principal based in Houston, Texas. Sean has over 22 years of professional experience in forensic accounting, business interruption, litigation support, and expert witness services. He has provided fraud detection and forensic accounting services in investigations dealing with embezzlement, misappropriation of assets, financial reporting fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty.
Sean has determined economic damages and lost profits in matters involving business torts and business interruption. His experience also includes providing expert witness testimony and support services in arbitration, mediation, and trial for various clients.
Before joining HKA, Sean was a director at Forvis Mazars. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Management at Albion College. He is a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA), Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF), a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Michigan, New York, and Texas.
Rayan Suliman
Business Support Administrator
Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Rayan Suliman joins HKA’s RHQ office in Saudi Arabia as Business Support Administrator. Rayan is a Business Support Administrator with extensive experience in business development and administration. She holds a Master’s degree in Management Information Systems.
Rayan began her career as an Executive Secretary, before working as an Assistant Business Development Manager and later as a Business Development Executive. She also completed an internship as a Marketing Specialist. Rayan is eager to learn new skills and continually seeks personal and professional growth.
Kadir Varol
Associate Director | Construction, Claims and Expert Services
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Kadir is a civil engineer with over 13 years in the construction industry, specializing in delay, disruption, and quantum-related disputes. He excels in preparing claims and conducting forensic delay and disruption analyses, working closely with experts and project teams. Kadir’s analytical skills enable him to determine critical project paths, assess delays, and identify risks, making him a valuable asset in complex construction projects and disputes.
Kadir has been actively involved in adjudication, arbitration, and litigation processes, focusing on delay and disruption issues, prolongation costs, and price adjustments. With a robust academic foundation and extensive on-site experience, Kadir is proficient in recognized forensic delay analysis methods, allowing him to navigate complex construction disputes effectively.
Christopher Ying
Associate Consultant | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
San Francisco, CA, USA
Chris Ying is a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where he finished as the top student in the entire graduating class. In college, he majored in mathematics and history while working for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office’s White Collar Crimes Unit.
In his free time, he teaches mathematics at San Quentin State Prison, California’s oldest and largest correctional institution.
Maliha Zuberi
Director | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Houston, TX, USA
Maliha Zuberi joins HKA as a Director with over 12 years of experience specializing in economic and litigation damages. Her expertise includes IP matters such as patent and trade secret infringement as well as copyright, trademark, and International Trade Commission (ITC) investigations. Maliha’s commercial damages and dispute experience encompasses matters involving breach of contract, tortious interference, aiding and abetting, white-collar fraud, and analyses of mortgage-backed securities, mutual fund fees, and investment strategies.
Maliha has supported the preparation of expert reports and expert witness testimony in various litigation settings, including state court, federal court, and international arbitration.
Before joining HKA, Maliha was a director at Ocean Tomo, a part of J.S. Held. She has a Master of Science in Actuarial Science from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of California, Irvine.
