Ben Gardner is president of Northeast Group and an expert on the global smart infrastructure market. Ben has more than 15 years of experience in both smart utility infrastructure and smart cities work. He oversees the firm’s research and data subscription offerings as well as its custom research services. Prior to founding Northeast Group in 2010, Ben spent over five years as a management consultant at PA Consulting Group in Washington, DC and also worked for DiamondCluster (now Oliver Wyman) in its Barcelona, Spain office. He has also been a frequent contributor to The Economist Group. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).