Researchers

Ainslie Noble, Researcher

Ainslie joined Blue Heron in 2021. Previously, she worked as a geopolitical analyst, French and Italian instructor, and as a freelance translator. Ainslie has a BA in French and Italian, an MA in French and Italian sociolinguistics, and a PhD in history. In addition to English, she is fluent in French, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, and speaks some Arabic.

Alex Daily, Senior Research Analyst

Alex joined Blue Heron in 2019. Previously, he worked at First Advantage BackTrack Reports, ultimately serving as a senior investigator and operations team leader. Alex has a BA in history from Lewis & Clark College and an MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh.

Brooke Theis, Senior Research Analyst

Brooke joined Blue Heron in 2018 after working at First Advantage BackTrack Reports LLC for more than 13 years. At BackTrack, Brooke first served as an investigator before her promotion to a database researcher in November 2011. As a database researcher, she gained extensive experience conducting background due diligence investigations focusing on public records research. Brooke graduated with a BA from The Ohio State University.

Caren Addis Botelho, Senior Researcher

Caren joined Blue Heron in 2022. She has lived in Rio de Janeiro for over 20 years. In education, she managed a study abroad program, headed up admissions at an international school, and analyzed voucher education programs for micro enterprises in Latin American and Asia. In the audiovisual sector, she co-founded a copyrights management firm and worked at the Motion Picture Association-América Latina, monitoring legislation for member companies. She has a PhD in political science from MIT with a focus on supplier chains in the Brazilian auto industry. She is a native English speaker and is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish.

Chris Martin, Practice Leader, Energy

Chris joined Blue Heron in 2020. Previously he worked for Bloomberg News covering energy markets, companies, and climate change as an award-winning journalist for more than 25 years. He taught English and accounting as a volunteer in the Peace Corps in Fiji, and graduated from Lehigh University with a BS in business and economics.

Craig Brett, Researcher

Craig joined Blue Heron in 2021. Previously he was a journalist at Bloomberg and other global news agencies, where he covered a wide range of industries and markets from bureaus in Europe, North America, and Asia. He holds a BA from the University of British Columbia and divides his time between Canada and Singapore.

Freya Brunswig, Deputy Director, Researchers Europe

Freya joined Blue Heron in 2019. She previously worked as a Probation Officer within the UK Ministry of Justice interviewing and managing offenders in the community. Freya has a background in anthropology and academic research, including projects in the Caribbean, Pacific Islands, and Europe. She graduated from the University of Hamburg with a BA in cultural anthropology, as well as from the University College of London with an MSc in the same field. She is fluent in English, German, and Spanish.

Hope Norman, Deputy Director, Researchers US

Hope joined Blue Heron in 2012. She previously spent four years as a healthcare researcher at OTR Global and, prior to that, was a manager at Covance, a leading biopharmaceutical clinical research organization. She developed and managed programs that preserve insurance coverage and improve patient access. She also developed solutions to assist with complex coding and reimbursement issues for various settings of care, implemented patient access programs, addressed payer issues, and conducted reimbursement trainings. Hope has a BA in psychology from San Diego State University and a Masters of Social Welfare from UCLA.

Jacob Colon, Researcher

Jacob joined Blue Heron in 2019. Previously, he worked for CBS3 Philadelphia as a news writer and prior to that, as a reporter for the Bennington Banner in Vermont. Jacob has a BA in journalism from Temple University. He is conversational in Spanish.

Joe Cardillo, Researcher

Joe joined Blue Heron in 2022. Previously, they worked as a marketer for 10+ years, largely in VC-backed startups, along with some freelance journalism and a short tour as a business reporter for the BizJournals affiliate in their hometown of Albuquerque, NM. They have a BA degree from Beloit College and speak conversational Spanish in addition to English.

Joe Carlson, Senior Researcher

Joe joined Blue Heron in 2021. Previously, he spent 20 years as a staff reporter at various publications, including seven years covering medical technology companies and the healthcare industry for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and six years covering health systems and legal affairs for Modern Healthcare magazine in Chicago. Before that, he worked at newspapers in Indiana and Pennsylvania. Joe has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota.

Keith Epstein, Practice Leader, Healthcare

Keith joined Blue Heron in 2012. Previously a Washington-based investigative reporter, editor, newsroom leader, and a strategic intelligence and business advisor, he served on the global investigative team at BusinessWeek, was executive editor of The Huffington Post Investigative Fund, and managing editor at the Center for Public Integrity; and at AARP he guided entrepreneurs and top executives of one of the nation's largest nonprofits with actionable intelligence on risks and investment opportunities. Keith has directed and edited award-winning investigations including documentaries for Telemundo and The Weather Channel, and was a member of the investigative team at The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. His articles have also appeared in The Washington Post, CIO Insight, Congressional Quarterly, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Discover magazine, and BMJ, the British Medical Journal. Keith has a BA in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania, where he also focused on political science, and studied at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. In addition to English, he speaks some French.

Killian Bell, Researcher

Killian joined Blue Heron in 2022. He is an experienced technology reporter, having spent more than a decade covering Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other industry giants for various publications. Prior to that, he worked in the public sector as a customer services representative. Killian is based in the UK.

Luke Dormehl, Senior Researcher

Luke joined Blue Heron in 2021. Previously, he worked as a technology journalist for publications including Digital Trends, Fast Company, Wired, The Guardian, and others. Luke has a BA hons in writing with scripted media from Dartington College.

Marcel Michelson, Researcher

Marcel joined Blue Heron in 2014 after having been a financial journalist and editorial manager for 25 years with (Thomson) Reuters in several countries. He has a Master’s degree in general and business economics from the University of Amsterdam. In addition to English, Marcel speaks French, Dutch, German, and some Italian.

Maria Tereza Araujo, Researcher, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Tereza is a professional researcher who has covered consumer products, public opinion and politics, with an emphasis on qualitative studies and an anthropological approach over the course of 25 years. She has collaborated with Blue Heron since 2018. She has worked in product development projects, institutional and political campaigns for several major Brazilian consultancies as well as Nielsen and Unilever where she held management positions with a pan-Latam scope. Tereza has a degree in social sciences from the University of Sao Paulo and an MBA from FACAMP, Faculdades de Campinas. She is fluent in English and Portuguese.

Mitchell Hulse, Research Analyst

Mitchell joined Blue Heron in 2017. Prior to Blue Heron, he spent six years in investigative due diligence at BackTrack Reports. Before that Mitchell was a firefighter for the Oregon Department of Forestry in Northeast Oregon, where he worked for seven seasons. He graduated from Columbia University with a BA in history.

Paul Mindus, Practice Leader Management Due Diligence, Senior Researcher

Paul joined Blue Heron in 2014. Previously he worked for The Saint Consulting Group in business development and as editor of The Saint Report, a blog on land use politics. He worked for Reuters for nearly 23 years, as a correspondent in New York, Hong Kong, London, and Berlin, as editor of Reuters Magazine for seven years and then as internal communications manager. His journalism background began in US newspapers, including The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, MA), The Boston Herald, and The Baltimore Evening Sun. Paul has a BA in political science and philosophy from Haverford College and completed a three-month German as second-language immersion course at Goethe-Institut in Berlin after the Wall came down. He is conversant in French.

Rajiv Sekhri, Researcher

Rajiv joined Blue Heron in 2022. He has worked as a journalist, editor, and media relations specialist in five countries for Reuters, Bloomberg, Yahoo!, Deutsche Boerse, and SAP SE. He is pursuing an MA in postcolonial studies at a university in Germany. In addition to English, he speaks Hindi and German.

Riva Atlas, Deputy Director, Researchers US

Riva joined Blue Heron in 2012. Previously Riva was a financial reporter for more than 20 years with publications including The New York Times, Forbes, and Institutional Investor. After leaving journalism in 2006 she worked for more than three years as a research analyst for Ziff Brothers Investments among other institutional investment firms. Her research focus at Blue Heron has been on finance and real estate. She has BA in English literature from the City University of New York’s Queens College.

Ronit Rose, Researcher

Ronit joined Blue Heron in 2021. Previously she was a reporter at Forbes for several years and subsequently worked at a healthcare nonprofit organization. She holds a BA from Bryn Mawr College and an MA from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Suman Tarafdar, Researcher

Suman joined Blue Heron in 2022. He is a journalist and researcher based in Delhi, specializing in business and lifestyle. He has worked with some of India's leading media groups and agencies and is the coauthor of Penguin India Cinema Quiz Book. He has a postgraduate degree in history from the Delhi University. In addition to English, Suman speaks Hindi and Bengali/Bangla.

Tanya Lewis, Senior Researcher

Tanya joined Blue Heron in 2019. Previously, she covered many of the world’s biggest companies and brands, as well as start-ups and small local businesses, for outlets including Medical Marketing & Media, PRWeek, Business Insider, and National Geographic Traveler. She has written profiles of a diverse group of people, including pharma company CEOs, serial entrepreneurs, humanitarians, marketing masters, and political operatives. Tanya holds an MA in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. In addition to English she speaks some Portuguese.

Thomas Conroy, Research Analyst

Thomas joined Blue Heron in 2018 after graduating from McGill University with a BA in economics. He is fluent in French and has lived in Canada and South Africa, where he spent six months volunteering with an educational organization in the suburbs of Cape Town.