AlixPartners expanded its Economics Consulting practice with the appointment of Anne Gron as a managing director at the firm. She will be based in Chicago.

Formerly a top-flight academic and with ongoing publications in peer-reviewed journals, Gron has a unique background combining academic rigor with real-world consulting execution, with an emphasis on financial institutions and the insurance industry.

She joins AlixPartners from NERA Economic Consulting (formerly known as National Economic Research Associates), where she worked since 2005. Her recent engagements included analyzing class certifications and allegations of the manipulation of LIBOR and other benchmark prices, as well as serving as financial advisor to the Delaware Department of Insurance in its review of the spinoff of Brighthouse Financial from MetLife.

Before joining NERA, she was a professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and taught at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business.

“Anne’s distinguished academic background coupled with her extensive consulting experience will be a big addition to our firm’s economics-consulting offering, including in the financial-services sector,” said Simon Freakley, CEO of AlixPartners.