Samuel A. Van Vactor, Ph.D., President
Dr. Van Vactor has three decades of experience as an economist specializing in energy and natural resource issues. He has appeared as an expert witness on economic and energy issues in a variety of cases; including gasoline marketing, crude oil pricing, electricity market structures, index pricing, and the natural gas industry. He has managed the development of large data storage and retrieval projects at the International Energy Agency of the OECD in Paris and for Texaco, Arco, BP, and Exxon in the United States. He has authored numerous books and articles on energy issues, including An Introduction to the Global Oil and Gas Business, published by PennWell, January 2010. He has a B.S. from the University of Oregon, an M.S. from the University of Washington, research at the London School of Economics, and a Ph.D. from Cambridge University, Darwin College. Dr. Van Vactor can be reached by e-mail at sam@econ.com; his cell phone number is (202) 270-5347.
Dr. Vatter first served as an economist with the firm in 1988, analyzing issues related to the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS) bond defaults. From 1988 to 1997, he was an Industry Economist with the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), where he analyzed wholesale rates, contracts, and conservation programs. He testified for BPA in its 1996 rate case. From 1997 through 2006, Dr. Vatter was a graduate student, researcher, and teaching assistant at Brown University. In 1999, he consulted with Synapse Energy Economics on stranded cost claims in the PJM control region. In 2006 and 2007, he was an associate economist with the New York State Department of Public Service, where he analyzed the Regional Green House Gas Initiative and a rate case brought by Consolidated Edison. He has taught economics at Eastern Connecticut State University and Pacific University. He has a B.A. from the University of Oregon and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Brown. Dr. Vatter can be reached by e-mail at marc@econ.com; his telephone number is (503) 359-9999.
Arianna Lambie, Energy Analyst
Ms. Lambie majored in Earth Sciences at Stanford University with a concentration in energy studies, completing both a B.S. and M.S. degree. While a graduate student, she worked for the Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency, collecting and analyzing economic data on greenhouse gas emissions. Previously, Ms. Lambie worked on summer projects for the Ecology Informatics Institute, Oregon State University, and the Union of Concerned Scientists. At Stanford, Ms. Lambie was Captain of the Varsity Cross-Country and Track Team and competed in a variety of intercollegiate events. She remains active in the sport, competing as part of Nike’s track and field team. At Economic Insight, Ms. Lambie’s principal tasks are to prepare and edit the monthly publication, Pacific West Oil Data and to assist in various consulting activities. Arianna can be reached by e-mail at arianna@econ.com; her cell phone number is (978) 501-4766.
Academic and Professional Associates
Ronald D. Ripple, Ph.D., Academic Associate
Professor Ripple, a former Vice President at EII, organized and conducted a full range of energy market analyses focused on providing strategic planning and litigation support to clients in the public and private sector. He still acts in an advisory capacity to EII staff. Dr. Ripple specializes in risk analysis (including the role of commodity derivatives and speculation), project feasibility analysis, and natural gas and oil market analysis. He is Professor of Energy Economics at Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia. Previously he taught economics at Edith Cowan University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Macquarie University (where he also served as Head of the Economics Department). He recently served as the Official Recorder for the Asia Pacific Gas (APGAS) Forum in both 2005 and 2006. On leave from EII from 1994 to 1996, Dr. Ripple spent a year and a half at the East-West Center in Honolulu, HI, where he conducted research on oil and natural gas markets. The primary focus of his research was on the dynamic markets of the Asia Pacific and on trade flows between the US and these markets. He was also the Coordinator of the Center's Pacific Islands Energy Project. Before coming to EII, Dr. Ripple received his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon; taught economics at the University of Portland and University of Oregon; was Principal Economist at The McDowell Group; and was an Economist for the Office of the Governor of Alaska. Dr. Ripple has appeared as an expert witness in petroleum antitrust and natural gas regulatory cases, and has authored numerous publications, papers, reports and book contributions.
Fredrick D. Pickel, Ph.D., Professional Associate
Dr. Pickel is president of Wilshire Energy Consulting Group Inc. and frequently coordinates consulting projects with EII. He has over thirty years of experience in the gas and electric industries, as well as with government, in the US and abroad. He has assisted firms with new business development including acquisitions, energy procurement, integrated business risk analysis, adapting regulatory policies to new business environments, and business strategy, planning and implementation “from concept to contracts” in both the gas and electricity industries. Dr. Pickel has been a vice president at Tabors Caramanis & Associates, with a “big five” accounting firm’s business risk management and utility consulting teams, Southern California Gas and its affiliates, New England Electric, SRI International's Decision Analysis Group and the Federal Power Commission. Dr. Pickel has appeared as an expert witness in numerous proceedings, domestic and international. He holds a B.S. with distinction from Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, an M.S. in civil engineering from MIT, an M.S. in operations research from MIT, and a Ph.D. in engineering/economic systems analysis from MIT. Dr. Pickel can be reached at (323) 937-7920.
David J. Ramberg, Academic Associate
David Ramberg joined EII in 2001 after having lived and worked in a variety of places such as Nagoya, Japan and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Until 2008, he served as Editor-in-Chief of EII’s publications: the Energy Market Report and Pacific West Oil Data, a monthly compendium of topical data related to the Pacific Rim crude oil and petroleum product markets. He also wrote and edited research reports and provided analytical and data support for consulting projects. While at EII, he provided expert testimony to city planning commissions regarding developments in the petroleum industry and authored various reports, including one on risk management practices in the natural gas industry. Fluent in several languages including Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese, Mr. Ramberg received a B.A. with Honors in 1995 in Economics and International Studies from the University of Washington. He received his S.M. in Technology and Policy with an energy economics focus from MIT in 2010. He is presently a Ph.D. student at MIT; his cell phone number is (503) 442-2133.
