About

Who We Are

Meet The Sage Team

Anirban Basu

Chairman & CEO

Zack Fritz

Chief Operating Officer

Sayer Niblett

Senior Research Associate

Shoko Shimokoji

Senior Economist

Morris Segall

Senior Economist

John Duberg

Senior Economist

Kieran Smith

Editor-in-Chief

Julia Hamilton

Executive Assistant

Contact Us Today.

At Sage, we help organizations understand the broader economic and fiscal implications of their decisions.
Our goal is to provide you with the information and insights necessary to make informed strategic decisions and to communicate these impacts to stakeholders, the public, and policymakers. 

Anirban Basu

Chairman & CEO

Anirban founded Sage Policy Group in 2004. He has been called an economist with a sense of humor, which is considered high praise in the dismal science. He has twice been recognized as one of Maryland’s 50 most influential people and also been named one of the Baltimore region’s 20 most powerful business leaders. In 2014, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan appointed Dr. Basu as Chairman of the Maryland Economic Development Commission, a position he held through 2021. He serves the Chief Economist function for a number of organizations around the country and currently lectures at Goucher College as their distinguished Economist in Residence.

Dr. Basu currently serves on the boards of the University of Maryland School of Law, St. Mary’s College, the University of Maryland Medical Center, the University System of Maryland Foundation, the Lyric Opera House and the Archdiocese of Baltimore School System. He is also on Truist Bank’s advisory board.

Dr. Basu earned his B.S. in Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He earned his master’s in public policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and his master’s in economics from the University of Maryland, College Park. He acquired his Juris Doctor at the University of Maryland School of Law. He completed his doctoral work at University of Maryland, Baltimore County with a concentration in health economics.

Zack Fritz

Zack Fritz

Chief Operating Officer

Zack Fritz joined Sage Policy Group in 2013 and has led the firm’s day-to-day operations since 2015. He specializes in economic and fiscal impact estimation and economic content creation, and his writing has appeared in the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun, among other publications. He is a regular columnist in I-95 Business magazine, and he founded and coauthors the Sage Economics newsletter. Zack studied economics at Auburn University and researched education policy at a D.C. think tank before joining Sage.

Sayer Niblett

Sayer Niblett

Senior Research Associate

Sayer Niblett has featured prominently in Sage’s research efforts since 2010. During that time, she has worked on economic development strategies for several city and county governments, authored market analyses for clients in a variety of private industries, and managed data collection and presentation design for Sage’s many speeches to stakeholders around the country. Sayer has a proven ability to acquire expertise in niche industries. Sayer’s extensive knowledge of economic data sources has made her an invaluable resource for Sage’s clients in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, and her acute attention to detail assures that Sage’s analyses are of the highest quality. Ms. Niblett holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in economic policy analysis from University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Shoko Shimokoji

Shoko Shimokoji

Senior Economist

Shoko Shimokoji has served as a senior economist at Sage Policy Group since 2008. During that time, she has worked on some of the firm’s most demanding quantitative analyses, including analyzing the impacts of public school systems using hedonic pricing models, authoring various economic impact analyses, and forecasting a range of economic indicators including personal income, GDP, employment, wages, building permits, construction spending, and others. Since 2016, she has led Sage’s student enrollment forecasting efforts on behalf of multiple school districts.

Ms. Shimokoji holds a bachelor’s degree in international development from Takushoku University in Tokyo and a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in economic policy analysis from University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Morris Segall

Senior Economist

Morris Segall, C.F.A, is a senior economist and senior advisor for Sage Policy Group. Prior to his position at Sage Policy Group he was the President of SPG Trend Advisors, the capital markets and economics affiliate of Sage Policy Group. He has extensive experience as an author, investment adviser, and financial industry veteran. Morris has more than 25 years of experience, including capital markets strategy and overseeing large institutional wealth management entities aggregating more than $1 billion in assets.

John Duberg

John Duberg

Senior Economist

John Duberg has worked with Sage Policy Group since 2004. In his career, John has worked on a broad range of projects for government agencies at the federal, state, and local level, U.S.-based and foreign corporations, universities, professional associations, and non-profit agencies. This experience includes assessments of cutting-edge, unprecedented, and complex projects and policy recommendations requiring innovative methodologies that apply data-driven, evidence-based research to multi-faceted, exceptional proposals. The industries analyzed by John include commercial fishing, construction, manufacturing, wholesale/retail, real estate, tourism, healthcare, and higher education. His work has been published by federal agencies and in professional journals.

John has an abiding interest in public health issues affecting Baltimore City. He served as board president of a community-based behavioral health agency in the city, has served on the governing board of an agency promoting prison re-entry services, and has advised a start-up social enterprise dedicated to creating employment opportunities for marginalized city residents.

Kieran Smith

Kieran Smith

Editor-in-Chief

Kieran Smith has served as Sage’s editor-in-chief since 2015. In addition to his editorial duties, he has worked on several high profile expert-testimony cases and led the research effort on multiple market analyses. Kieran studied economics at Loyola College in Maryland and earned a master’s degree in economics from George Mason University. He began his career at a think tank in D.C. and worked as an editor at Agora Financial before joining Sage.

Julia Hamilton

Executive Assistant

Since 2013, Julia Hamilton (Comer) has been connecting and coordinating with Sage Policy Group’s clients to ensure their needs are met. She has assisted clients with planning thousands of presentations, booked trillions of flights, and her tireless efforts ensure that Dr. Basu arrives at every event safe, sound, and ready to delight the audience.