Erica M. Salinas, Strategy Consultant, Federal Consulting Practice, CSC

Erica Salinas
Strategy Consultant
Federal Consulting Practice
CSC

Erica M. Salinas is a CSC strategy consultant with a passion for leveraging technology to drive change across the developing world. She has been researching this field for almost five years. Upon joining CSC two years ago, Erica immediately pursued a research grant to study mobile money and its potential to increase financial inclusion and have a global impact on the lives of the poor.

Sponsored by CSC’s Leading Edge Forum (LEF), Erica spent four months travelling from England to Kenya, to Singapore and Thailand researching mobile money. She analyzed the industry from the business perspective of financial institutions; the social perspective of meeting millennium development goals; and the technical perspective of mobile networks and cell phone technology. While she spent some time meeting with financial executives and mobile network operators, Erica was most impacted by meeting entrepreneurial women across rural Kenya who have escaped dire poverty by having access to financial services. Erica’s recent research activities and her background in development economics led to her becoming a contributing author to the Mobile and Micro sections of the Connected Consumer report.

Her graduate-level study, love of international travel, and work with Coprodeli, a Peruvian nonprofit organization, are what first opened her eyes to the idea of alleviating poverty through greater access to financial services. Erica previously worked as a research engineer for a series of prestigious government-funded laboratories, including Lawrence Livermore National Labs, MIT Lincoln Laboratory and the Southwest Research Institute. Erica holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She also holds a Master of Business Administration degree and a Master of Arts degree in Development Economics from American University. Contact Erica.