Meet the Senior Advisory Council behind Frontier's new Merger Benefits Unit

The Merger Benefits Unit is supported by an advisory council of distinguished practitioners from academia, business and policymaking.

The council complements Frontier's specialist team by bringing independent perspectives, specialist expertise and senior experience from the organisations that develop, apply and shape competition and public policy.

For each engagement, we draw on the expertise most relevant to the transaction and the benefits being assessed. Panel members may review strategic case theories, challenge assumptions, test the evidential framework, advise on emerging policy issues and support preparation for engagement with competition authorities.

Frontier retains responsibility for all client advice and submissions. 

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Council members include:

Jacques Crémer is Professor of Economics at the Toulouse School of Economics and one of Europe’s leading experts in industrial organisation, digital markets and competition policy. Educated at the École Polytechnique and MIT, he has held academic appointments at the University of Pennsylvania and Virginia Tech, and has served as Research Professor at the CNRS, Director of the Institut d’Économie Industrielle, and Scientific Director of Toulouse School of Economics.

Jacques’ research has made fundamental contributions to organisation theory, auctions, contract theory and the economics of the digital economy. In 2018-19, he served as Special Adviser to European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, co-authoring the influential Competition Policy for the Digital Era report, which helped shape the EU’s approach to digital platforms. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a CEPR Research Fellow, and continues to play a leading role in debates on digital competition policy and platform regulation.”

Amanda Rowlatt is a Senior Adviser, working with Frontier's Public Policy team to deliver innovative, impactful policy analysis.

Prior to her work with Frontier, as a Chief Analyst in the UK government Amanda led a wide range of government analysis programmes, including cost benefit analysis, modelling, and varied micro- and macro-economic analyses.

Amanda has a deep knowledge of transport analysis, having been Chief Analyst of the UK Department for Transport for ten years to summer 2024. Before that she was Chief Analyst at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, covering topics ranging from research, innovation and universities to industrial strategy, business support, regulation and trade policy. She has also been Chief Economist of the Department for Work and Pensions, the Competition Commission, and the Office for National Statistics.

Outside Government Amanda has been a non-executive director of a number of charities and other bodies in the sectors of education, health and overseas development.

Dr Mike Walker joined Frontier in January 2026 as a Senior Advisor within our Competition practice.

Mike brings extensive experience from his time as Chief Economic Adviser at the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), where he has served since 2013 as part of the Senior Executive Team and a key adviser to the Board.

He is also an academic at the College of Europe in Bruges and the University of Durham, and co-author of The Economics of EU Competition Law.

Mike's previous career highlights include serving as Director of Competition Policy at London Economics, Senior Regulatory Economist at British Telecom (BT), Senior Associate at Lexecon Ltd in London and Brussels, and Vice-President for European Competition Policy at Charles River Associates (CRA) International.

Gill Whitehead is a technology, media and digital policy expert with extensive experience across the private sector, broadcasting and regulation.

Having trained as an economist she worked at the BBC, Channel 4, and served as Senior Director at Google overseeing Market Insights in EMEA, and Client Solutions and Analytics in the UK. She is a Visiting Policy Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Internet Institute, where she also holds a Master’s in the Social Sciences of the Internet.

Since November 2021, Gill has spearheaded digital regulation in the UK, first as Chief Executive of the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF), and then as Ofcom’s Group Director for Online Safety.

Gill serves as an Audit Committee Chair and Non-Executive Director on several high-profile boards, including Informa plc, NatWest Group plc and the British Olympic Association, and she is Chair of the Rugby World Cup 2025.

Nicholas Woodrow is a Senior Antitrust Adviser at Woodrow Advisory Services and a Senior Adviser at APCO Worldwide. He was previously Group Legal Director for Competition, Trade and Financial Crime at Vodafone Group, having led Vodafone’s competition law function for many years.

Over more than two decades at Vodafone, he advised on competition law matters across Europe, Africa and beyond, with a particular focus on mergers, joint ventures, acquisitions and disposals. He brings deep practical experience from multiple complex Phase 1 and Phase 2 merger investigations across a range of jurisdictions, including the development of strategic, legal and evidential cases for merger benefits.

Nick played a leading role on the Vodafone-Three UK merger, a landmark case in which the investment benefits case brought forward by Vodafone was central to the CMA’s decision to clear the transaction, subject to remedies. He brings a senior in-house practitioner perspective on how to develop, evidence and present merger benefits in a way that is credible to decision-makers and grounded in real-world business strategy. 

Contact us

For further information, please contact benefits.unit@frontier-economics.com