[ Management Team ]
PHIL ABRAHAMSON
Senior Vice President, Project Management
Palo Alto
Dr. Abrahamson is responsible for the Project Management and Fielding groups that support execution of custom research projects at Knowledge Networks. Dr. Abrahamson has almost thirty years of market research experience spanning consumer and B2B markets, specializing in segmentation, choice modeling, and customer loyalty. Immediately prior to joining Knowledge Networks in 2005, Dr. Abrahamson led the market research and analytics group at Blue Shield of California; he also has been a Principal at Applied Decision Analysis, a Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and a Director at Standard & Poor's. His client work at these companies focused on product/service design and pricing in the health insurance, medical device, automotive, electric utility, and technology industries. Dr. Abrahamson holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Harvey Mudd College and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Stanford University.
LYNNE ARMSTRONG
Senior Vice President, Talent Management
New York
Ms. Armstrong is responsible for maintaining a deep and well-rounded talent pool at Knowledge Networks. She oversees recruiting, training, employee communication, coaching, and organizational development. Her background includes extensive experience in business unit and human resources management. Prior to joining KN, Ms. Armstrong was President of NPD’s Custom Research practice and over saw a ten-fold growth in revenue and profits for that business. She was also President of Human Capital at NPD and Ipsos-NPD. She was heavily involved in the integration of the NPD Custom Research employees when Ipsos acquired that business in 2001. She was also a Managing Partner with the Somerset Group, the largest of the executive recruiting firms that focus exclusively on the marketing research sector. Ms. Armstrong earned her B.A. from Hanover College; she also attended Indiana University Law School and the Kellogg MBA program at Northwestern University.
KATHERINE BINNS
Senior Vice President, Health Care Research
New York
Ms. Binns currently leads the New York based pharmaceutical research group at Knowledge Networks. Since joining KN in May 2008, she has overseen all global strategic research engagements for our pharmaceutical clients.
Ms. Binns has more than 15 years experience in health care market research; with extensive experience in the areas of pharmaceutical landscape mapping, branding and positioning; sizing and segmentation; new product introductions; and competitive analysis. Her client work has spanned consumer, patient, physician and payor research on behalf of the bio-pharmaceutical, medical device, and managed care sectors.
Prior to Knowledge Networks, Ms. Binns held a variety of positions with Harris Interactive, most recently leading their Health Care Practice where she also led Strategic Health Perspectives, an environmental scanning and forecasting service for the health care industry and health policy leaders. Ms. Binns holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute and a Master of Business Administration from The Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University.
RICHARD CATRONE
Chief Operating Officer
New York
Mr. Catrone brings over 25 years of operations- and client-side experience to Knowledge Networks. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President, North American Operations, at Ipsos ASI, and oversaw all of the functions supporting data collection. His key responsibilities included identifying and integrating new technologies, defining opportunities for added efficiency, and evaluating the feasibility of product business plans. From 2001 to 2004, Mr. Catrone headed Online Panel and Operations for Ipsos Interactive Services, guiding the management and growth strategies for the company's online panel assets. His accomplishments included integrating three online operations groups into one and aligning project management expertise with Ipsos research specialties. Mr. Catrone also spent 15 years at The NPD Group, rising to Vice President, Corporate Operations and Panels, a position he held from 1997 to 2001. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Quantitative Analysis from St. John's University.
ROBERT DAVIES
Associate Vice President, Custom Research
Roseland, NJ
Mr. Davies brings over 13 years of quantitative and qualitative market research experience in the health care industry to KN. He leads the Physicians Consulting Network (PCN®) – the highly regarded panel of health care specialists. He is also responsible for project team management, including questionnaire development, report analytics/presentations, and client services. His experience spans a wide breadth of custom work, with a specialty in managing and developing a variety of oncology chart studies, including those for several cancer types – mCRC, prostate, multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma. Prior to KN, Mr. Davies was a Project Director in the Managed Care division of GfK (previously known as Market Measures), where he managed and analyzed both qualitative and quantitative research studies conducted with pharmacy and medical directors of managed care organizations. He has extensive experience in various therapeutic areas, including, allergy, arthritis, cardiovascular, depression, diabetes, gastrointestinal and psychiatric disorders. Mr. Davies holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Montclair State University
J. MICHAEL "MIKE" DENNIS
Executive Vice President, Government & Academic Research
Palo Alto
Dr. Dennis is responsible for managing Government and Academic Research and for executive oversight of KnowledgePanel® for Knowledge Networks. Joining Knowledge Networks in February 2000, he has been responsible for managing the Survey Research Department, with oversight of panel recruitment, survey sampling, maximizing response rates, and survey methods research. Over the last decade, Dr. Dennis has managed numerous surveys for academic, government-funded and Foundation-based principal investigators, and has served as a principal investigator on several NSF grants. His current operational interests are in the area of designing probability-based custom web panels. A frequent presenter at the annual meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research and a member of the AAPOR Online Task Force, his current areas of methodological inquiry are uses of administrative data for survey sampling and for analysis of nonresponse bias, panel conditioning, and data collection mode effects.
Prior to joining Knowledge Networks, Dr. Dennis was a Senior Scientist at Abt Associates, where he managed several large-scale Federal Surveys and was Associate Project Director for the National Immunization Survey (CDC). Dr. Dennis has also been active in the area of medical ethics and biomedical politics, having served on the Ethics Committee of the United Network for Organ Sharing and written a dissertation on The Politics of Kidney Transplantation. Dr. Dennis received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago (1992), and B.A. and M.A. in government from the University of Texas.
JUSTIN EDGE
Executive Vice President, Health Care Research
Chicago
Mr. Edge currently heads the Pharmaceutical/Health Care research group at Knowledge Networks. He has spent the past 18 years advising clients in consumer, professional and B2B markets on new product introductions, brand health and global marketing strategies. He has worked across many industries and brands but much of his focus has been on health care, including pharmaceutical and device companies, health care providers and payors. Mr. Edge is equally comfortable with qualitative and quantitative insights, and with consumer and professional audiences.
Prior to Knowledge Networks, Mr. Edge held a variety of positions with Opinion Research Corporation and the Martec Group. Before settling in the US, Mr. Edge worked with HSBC in the UK and with the Irish Trade Board in Sweden. He started out his career as a teacher in Ireland.
Mr. Edge has been a featured presenter at numerous conferences and client seminars. He was educated at The Smurfit School of Business, University College Dublin (UCD), the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) and the National University of Ireland. He holds Masters in Business and Bachelor of Education degrees.
CARLOS E. GARCIA
Senior Vice President
Burbank
Mr. Garcia is a highly respected leader in Hispanic research, providing insights that have guided major marketing and advertising efforts in a variety of industries. As founder and guiding force of Garcia Research Associates and the Cada CabezaSM online panel – both now part of Knowledge Networks – his clients have included industry leaders in packaged goods, health care, entertainment and financial services. Mr. Garcia’s research experience ranges from new product and ad development to segmentation to deep-dive economic, political and brand equity studies.
Before starting GRA in 1990, Mr. Garcia directed the quantitative divisions of two minority marketing research firms, and was Research Manager with Maritz Marketing Research in their Los Angeles office. Mr. Garcia was a cum laude graduate in Foreign Languages from Pomona College in Claremont, California He holds Masters Degrees from the University of California at Berkeley (Comparative Literature) and National University in San Diego (Business Administration).
JOSEPH GARRETT
Senior Vice President, Government & Academic Research
Washington DC
Joseph Garrett is Senior Vice President of Government and Academic Research at Knowledge Networks, Inc. For the past 30 years, he has designed and conducted surveys across a diverse array of topic areas. Primarily, he works with federal agencies, policy organizations, and universities on federally-funded statistical surveys. Bringing depth of experience in research, his expertise includes sample design, estimation, survey methods, and survey operations; and, he has published numerous papers and articles on statistical methods and survey research techniques. Prior to joining Knowledge Networks in 2008, he served Market Strategies International, where he founded and led the Government, Foundation, and Academic Research Division for four years. From 1997 to 2004, he was Vice President and Deputy Director of Surveys and Information Services at Mathematica Policy Research, a leading social policy research firm. For seven years prior to that, Mr. Garrett served ACNielsen as Vice President and Chief Statistical Officer. He began his career at the Census Bureau in 1978, where he rose to Assistant Division Chief, Research and Methodology. Since 1988, Mr. Garrett also has been Adjunct Professor in the Department of Statistics at George Washington University. In addition, he has chaired or served on the advisory committees of the American Statistical Association, American Economic Association, American Marketing Association, and the Population Association of America. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics. Mr. Garrett earned both his BS (Mathematics) and MS (Mathematical Statistics) degrees from Miami University.
PATRICIA GRAHAM
Chief Strategy Officer
Chicago
Joining Knowledge Networks in 2001, Ms. Graham has held several senior executive roles at KN with responsibility for managing both the line and corporate functions of the business, most recently as Chief Marketing Officer. In her current role as Chief Strategy Officer she is responsible for identifying the strategic direction of the firm along with capabilities, alliances and partnerships that drive future growth.
Ms. Graham brings depth of senior executive experience in general management, strategic marketing and product development, operations, and expanding profitable client relationships in information and technology based businesses.
As Executive Vice President, Consulting Services at Nielsen, Ms. Graham led a 1000+-person organization that turned around declining financial performance, growing revenue to $280 million and had hands-on involvement with Fortune 500 consumer packaged goods clients, most notably, Kraft. Prior to that, she was Senior Vice President at IRI establishing the introductory, and stage two, sales and marketing success of BehaviorScan & Media Services.
Prior to joining Knowledge Networks, Ms. Graham applied her expertise on the client-side as Executive Vice President/Operating Chairperson, of INTERLINQ Software, driving double digit revenue and profit growth, and President & COO of start-up R2R, Inc. She holds a Master's in political science from Rutgers University.
NEAL HEFFERNAN
Senior Vice President and General Manager
Cincinnati
Mr. Heffernan has more than 16 years' experience and an in-depth understanding of consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry trends and their impact on the consumer and retail industries. Prior to joining Knowledge Networks, Mr. Heffernan was at Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), where he most recently served as Senior Vice President, Business and Consumer Insights. While at IRI, he executed high-profile partnerships, developed new products, and managed strategic sales teams. Mr. Heffernan is an expert across many advanced research methodologies, including new product forecasting, in-market testing, price and promotion, marketing mix, and market structure. His focus is fixed on strategic planning to meet CPG company needs, as well as developing a range of offerings that utilize our National Shopper Lab (NSL) asset and in-store testing expertise. Mr. Heffernan holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Indiana University's School of Business.
FLORIAN KAHLERT
Senior Vice President, Business Insight (KN Dimestore)
New York
Mr. Kahlert has been instrumental in growing startup companies in the Online Media technology field since 1997. In 2008 he joined Dimestore (now a part of Knowledge Networks) as Vice President of Product and Operations and has led the product development and market introduction of its real- time campaign effectiveness measurement and optimization solution. Previously Mr. Kahlert was Vice President at Right Media, building the client services and training teams and establishing Right Media's international presence, opening the office in London in 2006. Between 1999 and 2005, he was one of the initial executives at InsightExpress, responsible for developing an online respondent recruitment methodology, for which he received a patent, and building a custom panel practice that grew to more than 15 custom panels in the first year alone. Mr. Kahlert holds an M.A. in Communications and Psychology from Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich..
JEAN LIN
Controller
Palo Alto
During her 13 years in finance and accounting, Ms. Lin has overseen audit, tax and general accounting, SOX, and payroll. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and started her career as an auditor at Deloitte & Touche. She is a CPA and has worked at various start-ups and publicly traded companies. Most recently, Ms. Lin was Controller of a publicly traded company at Alvarion, Inc.
AUDREY ROSEN
Executive Vice President, CPG/Retail
New York
Ms. Rosen leads the Consumer Packaged Goods and Retail practice at Knowledge Networks. She brings over 25 years of client management and market research experience applying both syndicated and quantitative techniques to solve client business issues. She has extensive experience with brand analysis (product optimization), consumer analysis (segmentation and A&U), and shopper insights.
Prior to joining Knowledge Networks, Ms. Rosen was the Regional Director of AC Nielsen’s Northeast client base. Earlier, she was a Project Director at NPD where she specialized in consumer panel analysis. Ms. Rosen received a B.A. in Psychology from SUNY Stony Brook, and an M.B.A. in Marketing and Management from Adelphi University.
DAVID C. TICE
Vice President and Group Account Director, Media Team
New York
Mr. Tice has overseen the design, implementation, and analyses of syndicated and custom media research projects for many cable and broadcast networks, sports leagues, and ad agencies. Topics have included advertising effectiveness, multi-platform audience measurement, analysis of sports sponsorships, and network brand assessments. Mr. Tice has presented at major research and media conferences; he received first place in CTAM’s 2009 Research Case Study Award for his work with NBCU in measuring Olympics media.
Since 1995, Mr. Tice has directed The Home Technology Monitor, KN’s gold-standard service measuring ownership of and attitudes toward media technology. He received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California, and an M.B.A. in Strategic Management from the Rutgers University Graduate School of Management.
ELLEN VECCIA
Chief Research Officer
Palo Alto
Dr. Veccia brings over twenty years of experience applying quantitative techniques to solving measurement and marketing problems in both consumer and B2B research. Prior to joining Knowledge Networks, she was a Principal at Marketing & Planning Systems (MaPS). Earlier in her career, Dr. Veccia was an Associate Group Director with National Analysts, Inc. Dr. Veccia has managed several departments throughout her career including: Client Service Teams, KN Operations, and Advanced Analytics. She has extensive experience in conducting research and consulting assignments, covering both strategic issues and tactical implementation, and is well practiced in a variety of methodologies, including: segmentation, satisfaction tracking, brand image modeling and tracking, discrete choice analysis, conjoint analysis, and qualitative research. Dr. Veccia has an M.A. and Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Northeastern University in Boston and a B.A. in Psychology from Florida Atlantic University.
WENDY WALLNER
Senior Vice President, CPG/Retail
Palo Alto
Ms. Wallner has over 20 years of marketing and market research experience. As leader of a custom research team; her responsibilities include managing client relationships; matching business issues and research needs to KN capabilities; bringing together the right resources; and managing project work teams to fully deliver on those needs.
Ms. Wallner began her career at Procter & Gamble, where she spent eight years in brand management, responsible for Beauty Care brands including Secret, Prell, Head & Shoulders and Oil of Olay. Following P&G, she worked at ACNielsen, where she held a number of key client service and business development positions, working with top CPG clients such as ConAgra, Clorox, Tree Top, Nestlé, Dial and Dr Pepper.
Ms. Wallner also worked in business development at Instill Corp., a foodservice technology company, and managed client service for Lewis & Partners advertising agency. She holds a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.
