Robert J. Shapiro is the co-founder and chairman of Sonecon, LLC, a private firm that provides advice and analysis on market conditions and economic policy to senior executives and officials of U.S. and foreign businesses, governments and non-profit organizations.Rob Shapiro and Sonecon have advised, among others * U.S. President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair; * MCI, Inc., New York Life Insurance Co., AT&T, Google, Gilead Sciences, SLM Corporation, Nordstjernan of Sweden, and Fujitsu of Japan;* American Public Transportation Association, the Education Finance Council, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. * From 1997 to 2001, Dr. Shapiro was U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs. In that position, he directed economic policy for the Commerce Department and oversaw the Nation’s major statistical agencies, including the Census Bureau while it planned and carried out the 2000 decennial census * Prior to that, he was co-founder and Vice President of the Progressive Policy Institute and the Progressive Foundation. * He also was principal economic advisor in Governor Bill Clinton’s 1991-1992 presidential campaign and senior economic advisor to Vice President Albert Gore and Senator John Kerry in their presidential campaigns. * Dr. Shapiro also served as Legislative Director for Senator Daniel P. Moynihan, Associate Editor of U.S. News & World Report, and economic columnist for Slate. * He has been a Fellow of Harvard University, the Brookings Institution, and the National Bureau of Economic Research. * Dr. Shapiro holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and an A.B. from the University of Chicago.Specialties: Rob Shapiro and Sonecon have nationally-recognized expertise in a wide range of areas, including * Intellectual property issues, domestic and foreign; * How speculators and manipulators affect financial and commodity markets; * Impact of tax changes on jobs and output; * The impact of globalization on the strategic goals of large companies; * U.S. budgetary and tax policies; * Impact of regulation on telecommunciations and pharmaceutifcal markets.