Our Team

Joanne is a markets, regulatory, restructuring, and transactions advisor with nearly 20 years of experience in energy sector reform and infrastructure development. She has been a strategic transaction advisor to clients in Ghana and Nigeria for various power sector investments since 2010. She led the Transactions Advisory practice with MRC Consultants and Transactions Advisers (Spain) for several years, and formally as its Director 2019 – 2021. She has also completed assignments globally in energy market assessment, institutional restructuring, DFI project financing results review, and regulatory work for donor institutions including the World Bank, IFC, Asian Development Bank, MCC, and directly with utilities. Joanne was also previously a Partner and Commercial Director with the European energy consulting firm (AF) Mercados EMI. She was one of the original founders on EMG in 2003 prior to moving to Spain to work with EMG’s then-parent company Mercados Energeticos.

Early in her career, Joanne spent two years living in rural Senegal as a Peace Corps volunteer in Natural Resource Management and Small Business Development. In addition to her long experience in Africa, Joanne has been a consultant, and driven significant commercial and corporate development work in 28 countries worldwide, ranging from Mexico, to Myanmar, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and various EU countries.

Joanne obtained a Global Executive MBA from IESE Business School (Barcelona, Spain) and a Master degree in Power Sector Management from the University of Comillas (Madrid, Spain). She has a BA in Comparative Religion and International Economics from the College of William and Mary (US). She is a native English speaker and fluent in Spanish.

Patria has over twenty years of program management and implementation in capacity building for the global energy sector and policy, regulation, restructuring, clean energy, human resource development, and environmental issues. She has been involved in all aspects of the project process, from proposal development and program design to implementation and follow-on, for technical assistance, capacity building and training activities financed by USAID, other donor institutions, and the private sector.

Patria’s global experience in project management and training is extensive. She has implemented training in 28 countries as diverse as Armenia, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Romania, Senegal, South Africa, and Ukraine.

Patria was also the program manager for USAID’s Building Low Emission Alternatives to Develop Economic Resilience and Sustainability (B-LEADERS) Project in the Philippines and its previous project, Climate Change and Clean Energy (CEnergy). She was previously the Deputy Manager for the Energy II Indefinite Quantity Contract (IQC) for IRG / Englility and RTI International. Prior to IRG / Engility, Patria spent eight (8) years as a Program Manager for professional training in energy and environment with the Institute of International Education (IIE) in Washington DC. She was the main liaison for activities in Southeast Asia, Philippines in particular.

Patria has a J.D. in Law from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, CA (1994). She is fluent in Tagalog and Visayan dialects of the Philippines.

Nada Bright is an Advisor to EMG and Executive Director of Sustainable Energy Services International (SESI). She has over 17 years’ experience with project development. Nada’s expertise includes design and implementation of complete project life-cycle including technical and financial. She is fully versed in compliance with policies and regulations of the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, US Department of Energy, US Department of State, and US Agency for International Development in addition to various corporate clients, commercial banks and private financial institutions.

Prior to joining SESI, 2015-2017 Nada was also the Deputy Chief of Party for Power Africa based in Johannesburg. At SESI, Nada’s focus is on developing new projects and providing transaction advisory services to private clients.

Nada has an MA International Commerce and Policy from George Mason University, and a BS Public Administration, George Mason University. She is also a certified Project Management Professional.

Jane Nyamurowa joined EMG in 2022 as a Corporate and Business Development Assistant. She has over 10 years of experience in business administrative support in the worked in the financial and energy sectors. She supports EMG’s management team to ensure consistent and timely delivery of services and projects, as well as competitive tenders. Jane assists in monitoring business opportunities, conducting research, and supporting routine and ad-hoc business development meetings and reporting. She also assists in monitoring internal processes for company development. Jane has an BSc. Hon. Development studies, diploma in Project Management, and a diploma in Human Resources Development. Jane is based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Natasha Hove joined EMG in 2022 as a Business and Corporate Development Assistant. She supports the management team in commercial activities, conducts research, and assists in project deliverable production. Prior to joining EMG Nastasha worked as a business administrator in the hospitality industry, where she was responsible for Human Resource functions and supported the accounting office in business operations. Her strong communication skills in both written and verbal forms enabled her to manage the organization’s communication with head office, suppliers, and guests. She possesses a strong understanding of the relationship between office personnel and employees for maximum productivity. Natasha is based in Johannesburg, South Africa where she studied Biotechnology at the University of Johannesburg.

Dr. Ahmad Ghamarian has over 40 years of technical expertise in managing energy (Electricity and Oil & Gas) projects in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. He has extensive experience and knowledge of the US and international energy industry. His expertise covers effective and innovative energy projects and programs including energy planning; technical, economic and financial evaluation of energy projects; technology; markets assessments; energy markets design; and public-private partnerships.

Prior to joining EMG, Dr. Ghamarian was the Executive Director of the Energy Group at Institute of International Education. He has been President of EMG since 2004. Prior to IIE, Dr. Ghamarian served as a staff engineer with Exxon Research and Engineering Company conducting R&D to develop new techniques for Energy Efficiency and working on their applications for Exxon Refineries worldwide.

Dr. Ghamarian’s academic training is in Electrical Engineering (BS, AryaMehr University, Tehran), Mechanical Engineering (MS, George Washington University), Energy Technology (PhD. George Washington University).