Economics Team

Mark Sturton, Ph.D.
Economist
Dr. Mark Sturton has pursued a career in the macroeconomics of small developing nations predominantly in the Pacific Island region. In Lesotho he has been the team leader of the DIMMoL project designed to assist the government in the development of a set of economic models to improve budget formulation, economic management and policy making.

Kevin O’Keefe
Economist
Kevin O'Keefe had a 22-year career in economic development from 1982-2004, starting as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Samoa and later working in 18 countries as an economic adviser. He specialized in macroeconomic policy, international trade and development finance.

Emil Friberg, Ph.D.
Economist
Dr. Emil Friberg is an economist who supports special projects and publications for the EconMAP program. In addition to his work with EconMAP, Emil also serves as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University where he teaches a seminar on Pacific Island issues. He retired in 2021 from the U.S. Government Accountability Office where he was an assistant director and senior economist.

Glenn Mckinlay
Statistician
Glenn McKinlay serves as the statistician for the EconMAP program. He has pursued a career in economic and social statistics, including collection, processing, analysis and dissemination. Glenn works closely with the statistics offices of the Freely Associated States to publish annual updates and build capacity.

Michael Barsabal
Statistician
Michael Barsabal is a statistician at EconMAP, specializing in economic statistics, national accounting, and input-output analysis. Before joining the program, he worked as a Division Chief and Economist at the Philippine Department of Finance (DOF), providing policy advice and technical support in analyzing emerging fiscal issues and other global, regional, and sectoral developments in the country. At the DOF, Michael led the construction of the Philippine Input-Output Table and production of real-time indicators to monitor the fiscal impact of various legislative proposals.

Sander Tromp
Statistician
Sander is a statistician with the EconMAP team, hailing from the Netherlands. His academic background includes two graduate degrees in policy analysis from Maastricht University and the University of Oxford. Sander's professional experience is marked by an ODI Fellowship with the government of Malawi, where he worked at the National Statistical Office, focusing on the Census of Economic Activities. He also served at Statistics Netherlands, where his work centered on social protection statistics and taxation. His early roles at the European Commission in Brussels and the International Labour Organization in Manila provided a foundation in social policy, which now informs his work in economic statistics.