Kenneth Gustafson, CFA

Background

Economic and valuation analysis in disputes where exposure has to be modeled rather than asserted.

Ken spent 25 years inside the world’s most complex markets before he started testifying about them. He structured commodity transactions at Shell Trading and Enron, co-led energy and commodities risk advisory at Deutsche Bank/Bankers Trust, and ran commodity structuring for the Americas at Citigroup, building and valuing the kinds of deals that later end up in front of arbitrators when they go wrong. That is not a coincidence. It is why attorneys call him.

At iDS, Ken leads the economics teams. He puts numbers on financial harm: economic damages, lost profits, valuation disputes, and the market questions underneath them, and builds the models and expert reports that carry those numbers into deposition, arbitration, and trial. His conclusions are constructed the way iDS builds everything, to be tested, because they will be.

Ken came to iDS from Vine Advisors, where he was a Partner, and KEG Capital, the advisory firm he founded. He works with law firms, corporations, financial institutions, private equity sponsors, and government entities, and alongside the full iDS bench, so the economics in a matter connect to the data, forensics, and digital evidence that prove it.

Ken is a distance runner and multisport athlete: three Boston Marathons, five New York Marathons, and a class win at the Houston D10 Decathlon. He knows something about holding a pace under pressure.

Areas of Focus

• Economic Damages & Lost Profits
• Valuation Disputes
• Commercial Litigation Support
• Structured Finance
• Financial, Energy & Commodity Markets
• Expert & Rebuttal Reports

“I’ve spent my career building and driving models and understanding markets where the numbers have consequences. Expert work is no different. You start with the facts, make the assumptions explicit, and build an analysis that can withstand scrutiny.” ~ Kenneth E. Gustafson

Education & Credentials

• CFA Charterholder
• B. Economics, magna cum laude, University of Michigan

Speaking Events & Engagements

• 1998 · CNBC-TV · Television Interview · U.S. Power Markets and Credit Concerns
• 2000 · LDC Forum · Conference Speaker · Risk Management Initiatives for Utilities
• 2001 · RiskAdvisory · Conference Speaker · Risk Management and Dealer Selection
• 2003 · Energy Risk · Article / Interview · Customer-Driven Risk Management
• 2004 · Energy Risk · Conference Presenter · Structured Commodity Transactions
• 2004 · Energy Risk · Executive Profile Interview · Risk & Deal Leadership
• 2014 · RiskAdvisory · Conference Speaker · Real Options and Finance
• 2021 · M&A Forum · Conference Speaker · Transactions in a Post-COVID World
• 2026 · EJST · Conference Presenter · Markets Overview – Macro Trends