Charles River Hires VP For Risk, Investigations & Analytics

CRA International, Inc. that conducts business as Charles River Associates (NASDAQ:CRAI) announced yesterday the appointment of regulatory compliance expert Nick Panes as a vice president to its Risk, Investigations & Analytics Practice. Panes will work from CRA’s London office.

Panes is highly experienced in political risk, business intelligence and regulatory compliance advisory work. Before joining CRA, he worked at Control Risks for 18 years. His last position was senior partner in London, managing the global risk analysis team for Europe and Africa.

Our Take

The appointment makes sense as Risk, Investigations & Analytics Practice remains one of the mainstays of CRA.

The company provides investigative due diligence, independent monitoring services, anti-money laundering and financial crime advisory, fraud and corruption investigations, litigation support, corporate intelligence, systems investigations, asset tracing, social media analytics, account remediation and compliance assessment services through this practice.

We believe that the latest appointment will further enhance the quality of the professional team that has helped CRA achieve and maintain a solid reputation of providing high-quality consulting services.

Peter Nolan, vice president and co-practice leader of CRA's Risk, Investigations & Analytics Practice, stated, "Nick’s strong background in designing and implementing risk management solutions for clients around the world will accelerate and enhance our team’s growth in Europe."

In the past six months, shares of CRA have gained 45.6% outperforming the 8.7% growth of the industry it belongs to.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Currently, CRA carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Zacks Business Services sector are S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) , Accenture (NYSE:ACN) and Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Long-term expected EPS (three to five years) growth rate for S&P Global, Accenture and Booz Allen Hamilton is 10%, 10.3% and 13%, respectively.

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