Our Firm
Mr. Joseph Roesner
President
Mr. Roesner received his Masters of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Finance from the University of Arizona. Since joining the Fontana Group in 1990, Mr. Roesner has conducted or participated in hundreds of research and consulting projects primarily related to the automobile industry. He has directed numerous market representation studies assessing the need for and impact of changes to a manufacturer’s dealer network. He has also conducted analyses relating to the retail dealer performance in the retail automobile industry, the heavy truck industry, and the motor sports industry.
Mr. Roesner is a Certified Management Accountant and a Certified Valuation Analyst. He is a longtime member of the Institute of Management Accountants, the American Economics Association and the American Marketing Association. He has provided expert testimony in numerous venues throughout the United States, including testimony before mediation boards, binding arbitration panels, administrative law judges, administrative boards, and in State and Federal courts.
Mr. Ted Stockton
Vice President and Director of Economics Services
Mr. Stockton has worked at Fontana since 1998. He has a B.A. in economics from Western Michigan University and a Master’s degree from the University of Arizona with a concentration in applied econometrics. Mr. Stockton has extensive experience directing engagements in the retail motor vehicle industry and in other industries, and has provided expert witness testimony in depositions and in state and federal proceedings and in binding Arbitrations.
His work has included studies of dealer networks, product allocation, franchise terminations, buyout and terminal values, retail and wholesale credit, evaluation of the validity of manufacturers’ customer satisfaction and sales performance measures, economic effects of changes in market concentration, and economic implications of franchise agreement provisions. Mr. Stockton co-authored (with Dr. Manuel) White Papers on dealer performance measurement principles and authored a report on railroad track inspection safety and working conditions that was submitted to both houses of Congress.
Dr. Max McDevitt
Economist
Max joined Fontana after earning his Ph.D. in economics in 2022. He strengthens our team with exciting contributions to the company, our work product, and our clients. He applies his advanced technical and theoretical background to problems within the automotive industry and other industries in order to develop creative, careful, and defensible solutions. Max has enhanced Fontana’s capacity to evaluate market share variation, wholesale pricing and incentive programs, expense behavior, investment and pricing incentives, and the successive market structure through which most OEMs distribute vehicles in the United States.
Dr. McDevitt’s strong background in economics has facilitated a broad range of client engagements. Building on a long-term interest in the rail industry, Max assisted long-term Fontana clients by developing a statistical model that evaluated potential effects on safety outcomes from regulatory changes to certain carrier safety standards. Max was also a major contributor to Fontana’s analysis of the economic value of privacy and the economic consequences of privacy breaches in the Facebook Privacy MDL.
Clients have begun to take notice. Multiple parties have identified Dr. McDevitt as Fontana’s named expert in legal proceedings. Furthermore, Max will be a presenter at the prestigious National Association of Dealer Counsel 2024 Fall Conference.
Paul N. Addison, MA
Data Analyst
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Dr. Ernest H. Manuel, Jr.
Chairman of the Board
Dr. Manuel has served as Chairman of the Board since 2005 and was President of the Fontana Group from 1994 to 2011. He received his Doctoral degree in Engineering-Economic Systems from Stanford University, where he specialized in microeconomics, the analysis of complex systems, and the measurement of economic impacts on consumers and industries. He joined Mathtech in 1975, where he began a career of consulting and research for government agencies, private organizations, and law firms. He joined Fontana as President when Mathtech acquired the Company in 1994.
His work primarily includes industry and market studies, policy studies, forecasting, and assessments of economic impact. He has conducted over 250 studies on automobile retailing, energy, environment, finance, higher education, and other topics. His work has appeared in professional journals, as chapters in books, in many dozens of technical reports, conference proceedings, public hearings, and elsewhere. He is a longtime member of the American Economics Association and other professional organizations.
Dr. Sanford Weisberg
Dr. Weisberg has served as a statistical expert for the Fontana Group since 2012. He is also Emeritus Professor of statistics at the University of Minnesota. He has served as Director of the University’s Statistical Consulting Service, and in that capacity, he has worked on literally hundreds of research projects in dozens of academic areas. The author of more 75 peer reviewed publications, he is also the author of several widely used statistical reference books, including Applied Linear Regression, released in a fourth edition in 2014 by Wiley.
In the private sector, he has consulted for medical device manufacturers, food companies, and governmental agencies, among others, and has provided litigation support including testifying in court. Dr. Weisberg holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in statistics from Harvard University.
Mr. Nelson Daou, Jr.
Case Manager
At Fontana since 1995. B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Arizona. Specialties include analysis of automobile dealer performance, economic impact due to market changes, and business valuations. Participates in many studies of automobile dealer networks throughout the United States. Evaluates the validity of manufacturers’ measurements of sales and customer satisfaction performance.
Performs numerous analyses of economic impact on automobile dealers due to additions and relocations of competitors in a market, shortages of product allocation, and franchise termination. Conducts several statistical measurements, including the relationship between market share and relative distance to customers, the amount of lost sales due to improper actions by competitors, and the effect of bad publicity on vehicle sales.
Ms. Nicole Herington
Analytical Staff Manager
At Fontana since 1992; analytical staff manager since 1994. B.A. in Computer Science from Bethany College, Kansas. Directs and coordinates transformation of client and public media data sources to analytically usable formats. Oversees internal programming efforts. Adapts current technologies to specific client needs. Maintains vendor relationships, ensuring data availability and integrity. Communicates economic data requirements in the discovery process to parties involved in the litigation. Tests public and private data sources for accuracy, consistency, and reliability for use in consulting and litigation.
Mr. Joe Chapman
Data Analyst
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Ms. Adrienne Briscoe
Office Administrator
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