MEET THIS YEAR's Mentors

Abigail Stuart

Founding Partner, Day One

Adeline Ong

Head of Education Research, Choice

Ajay Juneja

Founder and CEO, Speak With Me

Alex Hodge

Co-Founder, KiKu Ltd
+ Full Bio

A freelance market research consultant + career & business coach.I have 17yrs experience working in small-medium agencies as well as consulting and secondments in client organisations.  I've been freelance for 2.5yrs which allows me to keep up my research work whilst growing my coaching business at the same time.  The majority of my research work has been international and focused on automotive, tech, media & entertainment (but I've dabbled in everything in between!)

Ali Smith

Senior Director, Firefish

Alice Moss

Head of Qual, 2CV

Alisa Hamilton

Founder, Harvest Insights
+ Full Bio

Alisa Hamilton is the President of Harvest Insights, a boutique market research firm based in Atlanta.  She specializes in focus group and online community moderating as well as in-depth interviewing, quantitative analysis and executive reporting.  She is the host of the Atlanta chapter of Women in Research (WIRE), and in her free time is a foster mom to rescue puppies for Angels Among Us Pet Rescue.

Alison Wilt

VP Qualitative Strategy, Greenberg

Alistair Vince

Chief Tinkerer & CEO, Watch Me Think

Allison Lewis

Head of Consumer Market Research, LinkedIn

Allison Schoer

Senior Market Research Manager, LinkedIn

Amanda Keller-Grill

SVP, Global Innovation & Product Strategy, InnovateMR
+ Full Bio

As an industry veteran of 10+ years, Amanda is responsible for streamlining and creating new products as InnovateMR’s SVP of Global Innovation and Product Strategy.  With a tenured background in Operations, Amanda was Innovate’s VP of Global Client Service for several years; leveraging her expertise in client delivery, sample design, and quantitative methodologies including hard-to-reach audiences, longitudinal research and non-traditional recruitment techniques.  Prior to Innovate, Amanda led the North American, LATAM, and APAC Operations at Cint.  Amanda got her start in Market Research at Toluna, where she played a key role in developing process to service high revenue clients.

Amanda Randall

Amy Knowles

Senior Vice President at Research Strategy Group Inc.
+ Full Bio

Amy has always been fascinated by what makes people tick. She focuses on understanding the why – not just the who or what – to drive the kind of brand innovation that makes a difference in consumers’ lives. Amy is known for her engaging presentations and is happiest when delivering insights that effect real change.

Amy Spencer

Qual VP, 2CV

Andy Brown

Strategic Advisor, Catallyze

Angel Bassett

Marketing Research Manager, American Heart Association

Angela Brooks

Director, McNair Yellow Squares

Anjul Sharma

Head of Client Development, Fresh Minds

Ann Bracken

Senior Director, InsightsNow Inc
+ Full Bio

I'm a research professional with over 25 years of supplier side experience working with syndicated scan and household panel data as well as custom quantitative data. Over the years I have worked with many top CPG manufacturers spanning a breath of categories including food & beverage, personal care, beauty care, home care and OTC pharmaceuticals and supplements. I am energized by learning my clients business and partnering with them on the best research design; providing actionable insights to progress their business as it was my own.

Ann Comoglio

VP, Research at YouGov

Annetta Moses

Director, Market Insights at Abbott

Antonio Leon Villapalos

Founder & Head of Strategy, Zapiens, Evolutive Thinking

Baillie Buchanan

Co-Founder, Research for Good
+ Full Bio

Since co-founding Research For Good in 2012 Baillie has helped RFG grow into an industry leading audience, fieldwork and research technology company focused on connecting researchers with real people to enable true human understanding. Baillie's depth of experience includes roles in sales, marketing, operations and product development in the MR industry since 2005 at GMI (Kantar) and PeanutLabs (Dynata) prior to co-founding Research For Good in 2012. As COO, Baillie is focused on customer delivery, managed services, privacy/regulatory compliance, information security, marketing and launching RFG's groundbreaking DataForceConnect, Collect and Community research tech solutions.

Ben Leet

Industry Executive & Longtime WIRe Ally

Beth Ann Bender

President and Founder, FieldQuest, LLC

Beth Uyenco

Principal, Beth Uyenco & Associates
+ Full Bio

Beth Uyenco is communications research consultant.  Prior to establishing her own practice, Beth spent many years on the agency side heading up media research for DDB Needham and OMD before heading up global insights for Microsoft Advertising. She later worked at comScore as senior vice-president for international operations.An active contributor to the research industry, Beth is a member of ICOM’s Data Creativity panel and a mentor for Women in Research.  She’s also held leadership positions at the Internet Advertising Bureau, AAAA, and the Media Ratings Council.  She was honored as an outstanding alumnus by both Michigan State University and the University of the Philippines and was awarded the Global Leadership Award for Marketing Excellence by the World Brand Congress.

Bridget Nelson

Head of Brand Performance, Mass Mutual

Brin Moore

Partner, Trusted Talent
+ Full Bio

Brin is a Partner at Trusted Talent, a firm specializing in helping Market Research firms find the right talent for the right jobs. An industry leading executive, Brin has over 20 years of diversified expertise in building, leading and mentoring world-class sales, business development, product and marketing organizations in the Market Research Industry. Brin started in quantitative & qualitative research at companies such as IRI and Greenfield Online and has experience in both custom and syndicated research. With a move to the San Francisco Bay Area in the early days of online, was a member of the founding management team at Greenfield Online, Brin has stayed at the forefront of emerging technologies for market research and consumer insights and has had experience with online sample, mobile research, video and data visualization, among other

Brin has been responsible for building new products, growing international markets, full P/L management, brand marketing, and ROI. Demonstrated leadership in partnering with senior teams, transforming margin challenges into sustainable, high yield profit centers and on strategic initiatives focused on increasing market share, profitability, and shareholder value. The key to her success has been building and mentoring the right team(s) for the business.

Carmen Day

VP, Client Services, The Americas, Toluna Corporate

Catherine Agostinho

Cherie Leonard

Head of North America Insights, Colgate-Palmolive Company
+ Full Bio

Cherie’s passion for insights stems from connecting the dots and weaving them together across people, culture and brands. She is focused on driving a deeper people-centric mindset through Insights, identifying future-focused and culturally relevant opportunities for growth, championing disruptive category innovation and creating a deeper omnichannel grounding. Previously, she held a variety of Global and North America Oral Care roles at CP, including the development of Foresight with a focus on cultural influence and evolution. Cherie earned an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s A.C. Nielsen Center for Marketing Analytics & Insights, with prior experience in CPG, hospitality and retail.

Cheryl Hung

Vice President of Research, DIG Insights

Chris Grabarkiewicz Davis

Sr. Manager Market Insights & Analytics, Abbott Nutrition

Christina Hofmann

Consumer Insights Manager, CHOICE

Christine Holt

Vice President of Qualitative Services, Russell Research

Claire Macleod

Head of Customer Insights, Woolworths

Cornelia Treptow

Senior Design Researcher, Microsoft

Dana DiGregorio

Managing Director, NA at MESH Experience
+ Full Bio

As Managing Director at MESH Experience, Dana is a strategic member of the global management team leading business strategy while being a ground zero representative in the America's working hand in hand with marketing, advertising and research experts across various different brands and categories.  Dana has a strong history of team leadership and coaching, strategic relationship building and close to 15 years of making agile business decisions to create the best outcomes for her clients and team in her day to day role.  She has been able to combine her insider’s knowledge of the market research landscape and her experience uncovering impactful and actionable insights, to help propel businesses forward.  Previous to MESH Experience, Dana was the Vice President of the Nielsen Opinion Quest, and has also been a primary research consultant within Nielsen focused on large social, digital, and technology clients.  At home in Rochester, NY, she is often a guest lecturer at colleges like Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher, most recently bringing the value of Experience Driven Marketing to our up and coming marketeers. A passionate diversity champion, long time member and mentor in WIRe and a C-Level executive member of Chief, it is a personal goal of Dana’s to help bolster and support women in business in any way she can.  Outside of her professional walls, Dana is the mom of two young boys and a certified Yoga instructor.  She has a deep love for animals, a passion for plant based healing and eating and is a self-proclaimed documentary watching nerd!

Danielle Blugrind

Senior Consumer Insights Manager at Roku
+ Full Bio

20+ year Consumer Insights professional with experience in consumer-facing products (Mattel, Taco Bell, Roku) as well as consulting with brands in multiple industries. Experienced moderator, innovation jump-starter, and a daily student of human behavior.

Debi Hart

VP Qualitative Products, Forsta
+ Full Bio

Experienced business leader with expertise leading global, cross-functional teams. Over 20 years of experience in technology, product development and market research which has created my data focused mindset - enabling me to identify areas to improve efficiencies and experiences for my customers and being successful by driving alignment, communication and processes. Proven skills in relationship development with internal stakeholder and clients on a global basis, helping build solutions that meets their needs and exceeds their expectations.

Denise Brien

Managing Director, Insights Operations at Purple Strategies
+ Full Bio

Denise Brien serves as managing director of research operations for Purple Strategies—a corporate reputation strategy firm—working with a team of researchers and analysts to deliver integrated data and compelling insights for Fortune 500 companies, associations, coalitions, nonprofits, and some of the most recognizable brands in the world. She has worked in research for 20 years and has extensive experience leading quantitative and qualitative research. Prior to joining Purple, Denise held positions in research and consulting at AOL, Premium Knowledge Group, and JD Power and Associates.

Diego Adolfo Chavez Terrazas

Country Lead and Insights Director, EyeSee

Dyna Boen

Managing Director at Escalent
+ Full Bio

Dyna is the Managing Director of the Consumer & Retail, Technology and Telecommunications practices at Escalent. She has a propensity for action and is on a quest to advice and inspire insights leaders across the world. Over the course of her career, Dyna has been on the executive team of multiple venture/private equity backed start-ups, including two that she co-founded herself. On this journey, she's experience an IPO, scaled a company, and been through two acquisitions. She also co-founded the WIRexec Leadership Summit to promote collaboration among other female executives in the industry. Above and beyond, Dyna believes in diversity and inclusions as well as providing mentorship to young women. Dyna and her partner live in Northern California. They love to mountain bike, ski, and do yoga when they are not busy sorting drama between their two teenage girls, teen-age boy exchange student, and rambunctious Frenchie named Matcha.

Ellen Pieper

Chief Client Officer at Research Results
+ Full Bio

Ellen is the Chief Client Officer of Research Results. She is responsible for the leadership, vision, and financial performance of the team of subject matter experts and offerings. Ellen was previously the Chief Revenue Officer for Symmetric, a sampling firm based in Arlington TX. Prior to this, She spent almost7 years at WPP-owned Lightspeed GMI, where she latterly served as Account Executive, as well as a Client Operations Coordinator in Bellevue, WA. She has a degree in Psychology with a concretion in statistics and research from Columbia University in New York City. She has also achieved the designation of Professional Researcher Certification from the PRC Board of the MRA.   In 2020, Ellen was named to the GRIT Future List, by Greenbook. In 2020 she was also the President of the Southwest Chapter of the Insights Association. As she is passionate about the next generation of Market Researchers, she sits on the Board of Directors for the Masters of Market Research (MMR) program at the University of Georgia.

Emma Cooper MD

Group Operations, System1 Group

Emma Gillingham

Meat & Livestock Australia

Erica Van Lieven

Founder and Managing Director, InSites Consulting
+ Full Bio

“We empower people to shape the future of brands”

Erica has been a leader and innovator in the Australian market research industry for over 20 years. After working client-side in FMCG marketing and innovation, she opened her own agency, Direction First, in 1997. Erica’s expertise, training and commercial acumen underpinned the agency’s agility, future-focus and collaborative approach.

Direction First joined forces with InSites Consulting in 2017, representing the first office in the Asia-Pacific region for the Belgian-founded company. Today, the team in Sydney leverage the global experience and innovation-focus of 600+ people across 17 offices (including Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Paris, London and New York).

A regular contributor to industry conferences, Erica is passionate about the continuing evolution of market research services. She is not only passionate about uncovering meaningful insights, but also activating insights; ensuring they live and breathe in an organisation.

Erinn Taylor

CPO, Dynata

Fabrizia D'ajello

Insights and Analytics Sr Manager, Pop-Tarts at the Kellogg Company

Febronia Ruocco

Director, FPR Insight Consult Ltd

Felicity Stevens

European Insight Expert, Nestle Purina
+ Full Bio

Felicity is an Insights Expert at Nestlé Purina PetCare EMENA, providing insight and analysis on consumer trends, brand health tracking, and ad hoc research studies, supporting the company's vision to enrich the lives of pets and the people that love them. Before her current client-side experience, Felicity worked for Kantar, accumulating a solid base of research experience from which she has been able to grow. Other roles include brief brand management experience for a mass media and entertainment conglomerate. Her academic achievements include a master's degree in language interpretation and translation.

Fiona Ka Ki Wong

Associate Director, Quantam Market Research

Gaelle Bertrand

Senior Research and Insight Manager, NHS Digital
+ Full Bio

Gaelle is a Head of Insight currently working for NHS Digital, with 20+ years of experience in consumer insights. Gaelle has spent the past 10 years spent focusing on online and social media insights and previously headed Kantar’s social media intelligence division. Gaelle has also worked for Dunnhumby and Synovate (now Ipsos) and client-side, for Coca-Cola and GSK.

Geoff Lowe

Director, Infotools

Gireesh Joshi

Director, Customer Insights at Adobe.
+ Full Bio

Previously at eBay, Procter & Gamble.

Graeme Lawrence

Managing Partner, Join the Dots Insites Consulting

Gwynne Villota

Audience Insights, NPR

Heather Harrison

Research Lead, Acorns

Heather O'Shea

Global Head of Ad Research & Insights, Snap Inc
+ Full Bio

Heather O’Shea is a passionate digital ad insights leader with over 14 years of experience in market research and consumer insights. She has held positions at media agencies, publishers, tech platforms and research companies. She is currently head of global ad research & insights at Snap. In her role, she produces thought leadership to educate the advertising industry and marketing community on mobile and Snapchat advertising through data-driven insights and empirical evidence. During her career, she has conducted market and media research for a wide variety of advertisers, including Johnson & Johnson, Colgate-Palmolive, Sony, and Campbell’s. Heather is a member board of directors for the Advertising Research Foundation's Women in Analytics group. She received her M.B.A. in marketing from Baruch College at the City University of New York.

Heide Tierney

SVP Consumer Insights & Trends at Constellation Brands

Helen Bakewell

Expert in Consumer and Economic Research for Shopping Centres and Property - Retired
+ Full Bio

Expert in Consumer and Economic Research for Shopping Centres and Property - Retired

Horst Feldhaeuser

Group Services Director (SVP), Fellow of RANZ, MR Insights Evangelist, Presenter and regular contributor, QPR

Ioana Danila

Global Insights Manager, World Federation of Advertisers (WFA)

Israel Coleman

Senior Manager, Strategic Solutions, GLG

Ivy Esquero

Director, Head of Insights, Planning and Strategy, Hilton Asia Pacific

Jackie Fradin

Founder, Upshot!
+ Full Bio

I am an experienced and passionate Consumer Insights leader and change agent with a focus on Youth and Family. With more than 20 years leading insights teams, I am well-versed in fostering a strategic insights organization, have strong interpersonal skills and a proven track record developing an excellent network, building trust and working collaboratively with executives, cross-functional partners and vendors to drive brand growth. I am known for my grit and perseverance to thrive in a fast-paced, high-volume environment with diverse and complex work. I am intellectually curious and has a love of learning. My Core Competencies include:

◊ Subject matter expert in toys, gaming, and kids’ story development (TV, OTT, Film, Publishing, etc.)

◊ Customer-centric, business and global mindset

◊ High degree of comfort managing multiple stakeholders and team members

◊ Inspires and influences strategic, product and marketing decisions

◊ Deep knowledge of Insights solutions and methods

◊ Uses agility, creativity and ingenuity to develop solutions to complex problems

◊ Track record of developing, training and inspiring research teams, empowering their abilities

When I'm not working, I mentor young professional women through Women in Research and YearUp students starting their careers. In addition, I enjoy exploring my family genealogy, traveling, reading and spending time with family and friends.

James Sallows

Head of Transformation & Capability - CBIA, GSK Consumer Health

Janet Standen

Ever Curious Insights Generator & Activator + Co-Founder at Scoot Insights

Janice Caston

Vice President, Marketing Operations at Foursquare
+ Full Bio

Janice is responsible for b2b and b2c marketing operations for Foursquare, the world's leading location technology platform. She has an extensive background both in marketing and the consumer insights industry.  Prior to joining Foursquare, Janice lead marketing for Toluna, and Greenfield Online.  Throughout the span of Janice’s career, she’s helped to build successful go to market strategies and has a proven track record for developing results-oriented marketing programs.

Janice holds an MBA from the University of Connecticut and a BS in Marketing from the University of Delaware.

Jessica Gaedeke

Chief Revenue Officer, GutCheck

Jessica Maginsky

Founder, JM Research Solutions

Jo Cruz

Senior Research and Marketing Manager, Hewlett Packard

Joanna Frankowski

Director of Research, Warner Brothers

John Mitchell

President & Managing Principal, Applied Marketing Science

Jon Foged

Kantar

Jonathan Weiser

VP, Healthcare Practice at Buzzback

Julian Highley

SVP, Data Science, MarketCast

Julie Diaz-Asper

Founding Partner, Social Lens Research

Julie Kurd

VP, Sales and Revenue at Chadwick Martin Bailey
+ Full Bio

Hi, I'm Julie, VP Sales & Revenue, a Speech and Debate judge, a mom of college age kids. I mentor both formally and informally, although I call it dual-mentoring because it always goes both ways. Our industry is expanding and there's loads of opportunity for you to present, network and find your path. My goal is to share the joys of the journey. I'm known for helping to keep the strategic goals in focus (reframing context, minimizing distraction), for asking questions and for witnessing the greatness in others and often amplifying it, as appropriate :)

Kalina Bojourova

Global Trackers Program Manager, Shell

Karen Lynch

Independent Qualitative Research Consultant
+ Full Bio

Karen is an independent qualitative research consultant with 30 years of experience in the field. She's an active member of the Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA) with "Advance" status, currently serving as Chair of the Creativity & Innovation Special Interest Group and working as a Feature Editor for QRCA Views. She is passionate about creativity & innovation: in 2016, the Next Gen Marketing Research group and WIRe (Women in Research) presented her with the Disruptive Innovator Award for her co-creation of a new qualitative research method.

Kari Bassett

Manager of Customer and Marketplace Insights at Verizon

Kathy Alexander

Founder & Chief Strategist, Beagle Insight, Inc.

Kathy Relias

Katie Egge

VP, Client Services at NAILBITER
+ Full Bio

Katie Egge is a passionate market research professional who thrives on maximizing value for her clients and supporting the next generation of market researchers.

As a member of NAILBITER, Katie currently works as Vice President of Client Services. Her goal is to develop outstanding client relationships by bringing relevant methods to clients that will drive long-term benefits for their business. In addition to her work at NAILBITER, Katie is the Co-Chair for the Boston Chapter of Women In Research and the Assistant Sponsorship Coordinator for the New England Insights Association.

When not coordinating market research, Katie enjoys tabletop board games, training her dog (Kirby) in agility sports, and performing aerial silks up to 30 ft. in the air!

Katrina Noelle

Founder, KNow Research
+ Full Bio

Katrina Noelle is principal of KNow Research, an Insights consultancy based in San Francisco that has been designing custom research initiatives for clients by combining methodologies from traditional in-person research with digital approaches since 2003 She is also co-Founder of Scoot Insights, who’s trademarked Scoot Sprint approach helps decision-makers choose the right direction. Katrina relishes the opportunity to empower and support talented women on her team and in her network of expert partners.  She believes in the ability, empathy, strength and drive of women in Insights and works to bring out those qualities in others.

Keri Vermaak

Regional Engagement Director, Infotools

Kim Lundgren

Managing Director, Greenberg
+ Full Bio

Kim is the President of Greenberg, a Material Company.She is a self-professed “improvement junkie,” from teasing out what makes others special and helping them bring that to the forefront, to finding insights that help business grow…to walking into every room thinking “if we moved this here and added that, the design would be so much better!”Prior to Greenberg, Kim held senior roles at Accenture, FCB and Interbrand, ran the NY and Chicago offices of Hall & Partners, and was a key member of the marketing teams that launched Orbitz and introduced Crate & Barrel to the online world.  In the midst of that, she got her MBA from Kellogg/Northwestern. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband, two daughters and two rescue dogs.

Kim Sullivan

Chief Operating Officer, ORIMA Research