ACADEMY OF EXPERTS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Managing Director in the Global Investigations and Strategic Intelligence Practice of Berkeley Research Group LLC
Ben Johnson is a Managing Director in the Global Investigations and Strategic Intelligence practice of Berkeley Research Group LLC. Responsible for leading forensic accounting assignments on behalf of a range of clients, including regulators, law firms and corporates.
He has over 18 years experience in the field of forensic accounting and litigation, including financial and regulatory investigations, and commercial disputes and litigation.
Job Titles:
- Immediate past Chairman
- Chartered Quantity Surveyor
Derek is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor and Chartered Engineering Surveyor, with over 35 years of construction and engineering experience. He has acted as expert on over 45 occasions in delay, disruption and quantum matters.
Derek is both an accredited and certified expert witness and fellow of The Academy of Experts and has acted as a delay and quantum expert witness in arbitration, conciliation, litigation and mediation and as an expert determiner. He has been cross-examined on over 10 occasions and has delivered concurrent evidence in disputes from Belize to Brunei and Scotland to Singapore. Alongside his work as an expert adviser for ongoing projects, Derek undertakes the role of ‘project neutral', independently reviewing international projects in preventative, on-the-job dispute resolution.
Job Titles:
- Treasurer
- Principal at Versant Partners
Joe Skilton is a Principal at Versant Partners . He is a qualified Chartered Accountant with over 10 years' experience in dispute resolution, valuations, financial modelling, economic analysis, investigations and accounting reviews.
He advises parties in high profile litigations and international arbitrations across a range of sectors including oil and gas, financial services, energy, telecommunications, IT, banking, construction and manufacturing. The quantum of these disputes varies from US$1 million to over US$20 billion.
Michael Cohen is deeply involved in the world of dispute resolution. He is a Chartered Arbitrator, a qualified mediator and a practising insurance expert.
Formerly the Chairman of The Academy of Experts he was responsible for the professional standards and training of experts and dispute resolvers around the world.
He is a regular course tutor as well as being an established contributor to professional journals and a frequent conference speaker.
Rona is a senior professional support lawyer at Taylor Wessing in the Construction and Engineering group responsible for the group's know-how and training requirements.