KEY STAFF

J. MICHAEL DENNIS, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President

Dr. Dennis is responsible for managing Government and Academic Research for Knowledge Networks, including oversight of KN's panel operations and statistics departments. 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. Dr. Dennis has directed or served as the principal investigator for numerous surveys for academic research centers, Foundations, Federally funded research firms, and private sector companies. A frequent presenter at the annual meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, his current areas of methodological inquiry are 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 received his B.A. (1984) and M.A.(1986) from the University of Texas, Austin, and his Ph.D. (1992) in Political Science from the University of Chicago.

 

JOE GARRETT
Senior Vice President

Joe 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.

 

MICHAEL S. LAWRENCE
Vice President, Research Development

Mr. Lawrence is Vice President, Research Development, with Government & Academic Research. He is located in the Washington, D.C. area. Mr. Lawrence comes to Knowledge Networks from RTI (RTI International), where he worked as Associate Director of the Research Development Office since 2002. He was responsible for both business development and program management for Government and Commercial clients. Mr. Lawrence was primarily responsible for work in Energy (governmental and private), Homeland Security (governmental), Defense (governmental), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), compliance (commercial), and statistical analysis (commercial).

Mr. Lawrence's work is focused in government markets. In 30 years of broad experience, he has managed dozens of government and private sector contracts. He previously worked for a number of Washington, D.C. area research firms and the U.S. Department of Energy. He is a graduate of Michigan State University (M.A., Family and Child Sciences) and the State University of New York at Stony Brook (B.A., Sociology).

 

WENDY MANSFIELD, Ph.D.
Vice President, Research Development

Dr. Mansfield, located in Washington, DC, came to Knowledge Networks following almost 10 years at Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., where she was Associate Director of the DC Survey Research department. She directed large- and small-scale studies using a variety of data modes, ensuring that projects were completed on schedule and within budget. She is experienced in all phases of survey projects, including designing studies, developing surveys, and obtaining clearance from the Office of Management and Budget and approval from institutional review boards. Dr. Mansfield has worked primarily on education projects and secondarily on international, community service, Census, HUD, Treasury, BIA, and CPB projects, and she has helped to develop business with a variety of agencies.

Dr. Mansfield develops KN's portfolio with federal agencies and institutions. She brings nearly 20 years of experience working on government contracts. She previously worked for Westat, Macro International, and Pricewaterhouse. She received degrees from the University of Pennsylvania (Ph.D., Communications) and the University of Virginia (B.A., English).

 

CHRISTOPHER J. MOESSNER
Vice President, Public Affairs Research

Mr. Moessner has more than 20 years of experience using opinion research data to develop and implement corporate and government communications programs, positioning initiatives, and youth-oriented marketing and pro-social programs. His clients have included industry associations, public relations firms, public affairs firms, cause marketers, non-profits, and government/military clients. Prior to joining KN, Mr. Moessner spent 16 years at Wirthlin Worldwide — now part of Harris Interactive — where he began as the primary project director for Dr. Richard B. Wirthlin. He also founded his own firm, Moessner and Associates, assisting clients connect with hard to reach audiences to better understand where they stand on key issues. Mr. Moessner has a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Marketing from Roanoke College.

 

JORDON PEUGH
Vice President, Health Policy Research

Ms. Peugh was most recently at Harris Interactive, where she served as Vice President of Healthcare and Public Policy Research. For more than a decade, Ms. Peugh has conducted specialized research for numerous foundations, academic institutions and corporations in a variety of areas. These include projects on domestic and international health policy, needs and experiences of patients and physicians, adoption of health information technology, impact of social marketing campaigns, and consumer and constituent loyalty. A frequent grantee of the Commonwealth Fund, Ms. Peugh directed the annual International Health Policy (IHP) survey series from 2003 to 2009. She has also conducted research in the field of substance abuse for the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services and the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. Ms. Peugh has co-authored multiple peer-reviewed papers, appearing in Health Affairs, JAMA, Annals of Surgery and others. She holds a Master's degree in Sociology from New York University and a Bachelor's degree in Sociology from Purchase College, State University of New York. Ms. Peugh is a member of the American Association of Public Opinion Research where she serves on the Education Committee.

 

BILL McCREADY, Ph.D.
Senior Consultant

Dr. McCready is responsible for working with academic, government, and non-profit clients to help them design projects that use the Knowledge Networks Panel. In 2000, he worked with the Bureau of the Census and the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School of Public Policy on two large national projects for Knowledge Networks. He is currently involved in developing partnerships with academic and government research offices to utilize the national Knowledge Networks panel in a variety of applications. Dr. McCready has worked in the survey research field for more than 35 years, both as the first Program Director at NORC at the University of Chicago and more recently as Director of the Public Opinion Lab at Northern Illinois University. He directed the CDC-funded Illinois BRFSS as well as projects for the Ford Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, NIAAA, and McDonald's Corporation and is a past member the National Academy of Science's Committee for a National Urban Policy.

 

LARRY OSBORN
Associate Vice President

Mr. Osborn is the project manager for a new NSF-funded web panel being created for Stanford University and the University of Michigan. The new panel is designed specifically to meet the requirements of government and academic research. His responsibilities include management of telephone recruitment of panel members, development and oversight of panel survey processes, data delivery, and report production. Prior to joining Knowledge Networks, Mr. Osborn was a Senior Survey Director at Abt Associates (1999-2007), managing complex, large-scale survey projects for clients including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Center for Health Statistics, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Cancer Institute, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. His areas of expertise include questionnaire design, sample design and management, interviewer recruitment and training, report writing, and timely delivery of client data. Mr. Osborn has a M.P.H. from the University of Alabama.

 

SERGEI RODKIN, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President

Dr. Rodkin is responsible for technical design in survey projects, managing survey projects, and assuring quality deliverables in Government and Academic Research. Dr. Rodkin also manages Knowledge Networks/QuickView, an omnibus survey solution for social science and public policy researchers. He has extensive experience in survey methodology, questionnaire design and project management. Prior to joining Knowledge Networks in 2005, Dr. Rodkin was a Survey Director at Abt Associates (2000-2005), where he worked on several large scale projects as part of the State and Local Area Integrated Telephone Survey (SLAITS). Dr. Rodkin began his survey research career at the Senator Alan Bible Center for Applied Research at the University of Nevada, Reno. Dr. Rodkin received his B.A. in psychology from Hendrix College and Ph.D. in social psychology from University of Nevada, Reno.

 

CHARLES A. DiSOGRA, Ph.D.
Chief Statistician

Dr. DiSogra is Knowledge Network's Chief Statistician and heads the statistics unit at the Menlo Park office. He brings over 20 years experience in survey research, sample design, data analysis, and administration. Charles comes to KN from Field Research Corporation in San Francisco where he was vice president and senior research director. He formerly directed a peer-review research grant program for the University of California. Prior to that position, he was a senior scientist and an associate director at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research where he was the founding director of the California Health Interview Survey, the largest on-going telephone health survey in the country. Before UCLA, Charles was the senior consultant for survey research and statistics at Freeman, Sullivan & Co. in San Francisco; director of the Behavioral Risk Factor Survey for the State of California; and an epidemiologist and researcher at the California Cancer Registry where he founded and directed their telephone survey research laboratory. His experience also includes malaria eradication work with the Peace Corps in Southeast Asia where he worked and traveled for five years followed by a six-month motorcycle journey through Europe. Charles has a Master's degree in public health and a doctorate in nutritional epidemiology with an emphasis in biostatistics and policy analysis from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a member of the American Statistical Association, Survey Methods Group; the Statistics Section of the American Public Health Association; and the American Association of Public Opinion Research.

 

CURTISS COBB III
Director, Survey Methodology, Survey Science

Dr. Cobb conducts internal research on all aspects of survey methodology and Knowledge Networks' survey process; he is available for consultation on survey research methods and questionnaire design. Prior to joining Knowledge Networks, Dr. Cobb was the managing research associate at the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society (SIQSS) and a graduate intern at the U.S. Census Bureau's Center for Survey Measurement. He has almost ten years as a survey research consultant in the private sector, working with clients such as the Department of Defense, the American Bar Foundation, and small marketing research firms. Dr. Cobb received his B.A. from the University of Southern California and has an M.A. in Quantitative Methods for Social Sciences from Columbia University. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Stanford University.

 

TESS HEINTZE
Director, Profile Group

Dr. Heintze oversees KnowledgePanel's vast profile data. She has over ten years of experience as a university faculty member, researcher and analyst. Prior to joining Knowledge Networks she held a research position at Stanford University. Dr. Heintze has a Ph.D. in Public Administration from Syracuse University, an M.S.W. and B.A.S.W. from the University of Pittsburgh, and a B.Sc. in Pure and Applied Mathematics from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

 

RICK LI
Senior Project Director

Mr. Li is responsible for managing and executing projects in Government and Academic Research. His responsibilities at Knowledge Networks include designing questionnaire for web-based surveys, coordinating with Operations to execute surveys, data cleaning and data manipulation, and writing reports. He has successfully managed survey research projects for Stanford University, the Research Triangle Institute, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. He is proficient in statistical programming in SPSS and SAS. Prior to joining Knowledge Networks, he worked extensively with survey data as a research analyst for Meta Research and Godbe Research and Analysis. Mr. Li received his M.A. from the School of Journalism and Communication at Ohio State University, concentrating on survey research methodology, statistical analyses, and media research.

 

STEFAN SUBIAS
Senior Project Director

Mr. Subias is a Project Director in the Government and Academic area of Knowledge Networks. He is involved in overseeing all stages of survey projects from survey design, programming, sampling, quality assurance and project management. Mr. Subias has worked on studies for a variety of organization including Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Gallup Organization, and the Research Triangle Institute as well as federally funded projects for NSF, CDC and USDA. Mr. Subias received his B.S in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.

 

POOM NUKULKIJ
Project Director

Mr. Nukulkij is responsible for managing projects for Government and Academic Research. He is involved in all phases of the research process, including coordinating with the Operations Department on survey sampling, questionnaire design and programming, and quality control as well as data preparation and report writing. He has successfully managed research projects for the NSF-funded Timesharing Experiments for the Social Sciences (TESS), Harvard University, and CBS News. Prior to joining Government and Academic Research, he served as Knowledge Networks' Profile Data specialist. Mr. Nukulkij studied peer aggression and victimization at the University of Connecticut, earning his M.A. in Developmental Psychology with an emphasis on questionnaire design and research methodology. He is trained in longitudinal and cross-sectional research techniques and has extensive experience managing studies of young children and early teens.

 

NAOMI KELLER
Business Development Associate

Ms. Keller is based in the Chicago office and is responsible for the business development of the Service Bureau Team (SBT). In this role, she works with various research firms who are interested in using the KnowledgePanel® for their own studies. Her main responsibilities include writing proposals and pricing projects for clients. Naomi Keller joined Knowledge Networks in March 2008 as a Senior Research Analyst.

Prior to joining Knowledge Networks, Ms. Keller held positions at Ipsos ASI working on brand health and advertising tracking studies as a Research Manager. She was also the lab coordinator at the Center for Research on Adolescence, Women, and the Law, where she oversaw two projects examining the intersection of adolescent development and the Juvenile Justice System. Ms. Keller has her BA in psychology from Georgetown University.

 

KAREN SEMANS
Senior Research Analyst

Ms. Semans joined Knowledge Networks in August 2008 as a Research Analyst for Government and Academic Research. Based in the Chicago office, she is responsible for questionnaire development, quality control of survey instruments, monitoring data collection, and preparation of data sets.

Ms. Semans holds a B.S. in Regional and Comparative Studies from Georgetown University and a M.A. in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago.

 

JEFF SHAND-LUBBERS
Senior Research Analyst

Mr. Shand-Lubbers joined Knowledge Networks in July 2008 as a Research Analyst in Government & Academic Research. His main responsibilities include preparation of questionnaires, preparation of data sets, quality control of survey instruments, and data handling.

Prior to joining Knowledge Networks, Mr. Shand-Lubbers worked as a Research Intern at APCO Worldwide. He has also held positions at the American Bar Association and George Washington University. Mr. Shand-Lubbers holds a B.A. in Sociology and Political Science from Hope College and a M.A. in Sociology from George Washington University.

 

CAROLYN CHU
Research Analyst

Ms. Chu is currently completing her M.A. in Experimental Psychology at San Jose State University. She received her B.S. in Psychology and minors in Communication and Education from the University of California, Davis. Ms. Chu has served as a research assistant in several social and cognitive psychology labs at U.C. Davis and as a lab manager at San Jose State.

 

KATHLEEN CONNOLLEY
Research Analyst

Ms. Connolley holds an MA in Social Science from the University of Chicago, where she focused on social science research methods and institutional research. She received her BA with honors in Psychology and French from Grinnell College, where she served as a research assistant in a social and personality psychology lab.

 

BEN DiPAOLA
Research Analyst

Mr. DiPaola earned his Ph.D. at Northwestern University in Communication Studies with his dissertation that explored the role of emotion regulation during face-to-face arguments. While at Northwestern, Mr. DiPaola taught introductory courses in Communication, served as the coordinator for undergraduate research involvement for the Communication Studies department, and completed an internship with the Evanston health department examining the relationship between health knowledge and behaviors.

 

STEPHANIE JWO
Research Analyst

Ms. Jwo started at Knowledge Networks as an intern and became a full-time Research Analyst for Government and Academic Research in January. She holds a B. A. with honors in Psychology from the San Jose State University (SJSU) and is working towards an M.A. degree in Experimental Psychology at SJSU, with a focus in Social Psychology. Stephanie's research interests include social aspects of drug use including behaviors, attitudes and perceptions.

 

WAN YAN
Research Analyst

Ms. Yan holds a M.S. in Economics and a Ph.D. in Management from the University of Missouri. Prior to moving to the United States, she worked for Deutsche Bank China Branch and Colgate-Palmolive China as a Key Client Associate.

 

GE TANG
Statistical Analyst

Ms. Tang did her KN internship as a research analyst in Government & Academic Research during the summer of 2008. Two years later, she joined as a full-time employee. Ms. Tang holds an M.S. in survey research and methodology with a minor in Statistics from University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Before that, she received her M.M. in Library Science (focused on Publishing Studies) and B.A. in Information Science from Nanjing University, China.