Our mission is to maintain and grow a Broad MSMR Advisory Board that represents a cross-section of business, industry, strategic organizations and industry associations. As is true with any leadership group, there is strength through a diversity of experiences and world-views.
The personal traits we are looking for in our board members include a passion for marketing research, a commitment to advancing the value of our work, a desire to improve the status of marketing researchers as senior strategists/advisors and a willingness to help develop the next generation of business and marketing leaders.
Our intent is to develop productive, long-term relationships with everyone who joins us, so they remain core contributors to the Broad MSMR program. Participation on the advisory board encompasses a variety of activities: participation in our thought leadership events; providing ad hoc marketing research projects; hosting our MSMR student internships; or even sponsoring your employees to attend the MSMR program.
Kate Ioas
Customer Insights at Abercrombie & Fitch Co
Kristal Courter
Senior Director, Consumer Insights at Accelerant Research
Jeff Pocklington
Active Discovery Champion at Active Discovery Nonprofit
Ray Fisher
Founding Partner & CEO of Aha! Online Qual Research
Scott Caine
President of Aimpoint Research
Remy Szykie
President of Ambitna
Marie Van Blaricum
VP, Global Head of Insights at Anheuser-Busch InBev
Lara Rice
Managing Director at Ascribe
Shanon Adams
Chief Operating Officer of AYTM
Kandice Coltrain
VP of Global Sales at AYTM
Tiffany Mullin
VP of Marketing at AYTM
Stephanie Vance
VP, Research & Client Enablement at AYTM
Melissa Ozdych
Manager, Consumer Insights & Data Analytics at Beaumont Health
Lawrence Wu
Head of Marketing & Director, Brand, Market Research, & Consumer Insights at Beaumont Health
Andy Davidson
Head of Analytics & Data Strategy at Big Village
Arturo Fausto
Manager, Market Research at BlueCross BlueShield
Aaron Turner
Director of Marketing Research & Consumer Insights at BlueCross BlueShield
Gavin Lew
Managing Partner of Bold Insight
Jim Berling
Managing Director at Burke Institute
Jonathan Weiser
VP, Healthcare Research & Strategy at BuzzBack
Courtnie Hallendy
VP at Chadwick Martin Bailey
Paul Rossman
Director of Consumer Insights at Constellation Brands
Cory Schwartz
President & Founder of ConsumerQuest Inc.
Matt O’Mara
Managing Director of Cranbrook Search Consultants
Ivan Iazdi
Director, Business Development & Strategy at Cummins
Sarah Hickey
Senior Director, Insights & Market Research at Dawn Foods Global
Jennifer LaPaugh
Senior Director, Marketing, Communications, & Events at Dawn Foods Global
Tim Laake
Chief Marketing Officer of Directions Research, Inc.
Sarah Eaton
Lead, Consumer Insights at Discover Financial Services
Scott Stein
SVP, Managed Services at DISQO
Joanne Ulnick
Managing Principal of Ducker Worldwide
Steven Millman
Head of Global Research & Data Science at Dynata
Kartik Pashupati
Senior Client Relationship Manager at Dynata
Kerry Hecht
CEO & Founder at Echo-MR
Jason Mantel
Managing Director at Escalent
Melissa Sauter
CEO at Escalent
Maxmarie Wilmoth
COO & Corporate Secretary at Eye Square Inc
Rebecca Cohen
Manager, Channel & Customer Strategy at Fairlife, LLC
Amy Alfieri
Manager, Research & Insights at FedEx
Bob Quiqley
Manager, Global Consumer Insights at Ford Motor Company
Rachel Royal
Global Head of People Analytics at Ford Motor Company
David Shepherd
Global Research Manager at Ford Motor Company
Mike Hegener
Associate Director- CX Research & Insights, Global Market Research at General Motors
Kathryn Radmacher
Brand Research Manager at General Motors
Sharon Sheremet
Director, Global Product Research & Insights at General Motors
Eric Villain
Managing Director, Brand & Customer Experience at GfK
Kate Britt
Senior Research Lead at Gongos Inc.
Camille Nicita
Managing Director North America & Managing Partner at Gongos Inc.
Leonard Murphy
Chief Advisor for Insights & Development at GreenBook
Jamin Brazil
Podcast Host at Happy Market Research
Justin Graves
Founder & CEO of Infegy
Bryant Leech
VP, Agile Insights & Platform Solutions at InnovateMR
Frank Forkin
President, Automotive USA at Ipsos
Andrew Lisoskie
Qualitative Research at Ipsos
Michelle Watson
Vice President, Talent Sourcing and Director at Ipsos
Joseph Robele
Senior Consultant, Brand & Commercial Strategy at IQVIA
Garnette Weber
Co-Founder and CEO at itracks
Kathy Fitzpatrick
VP, Client Development at itracks
Heather Fitzgerald
SVP-Distribution Data, Business Intelligence, & Salesforce at Jackson
Michelle Ruiz
Managing Director, Consumer Insights at J.D. Power
Anita Watkins
Global Head of Qualitative, Innovation, and Solutions Learning at Kantar
Michael McCune
Senior Director, Commercial Analytics – Revenue Growth Management at Kellogg’s
Jorge Calvachi
Director of Consumer Insights at La-Z-Boy Inc.
Merrill Dubrow
CEO of M/A/R/C Research
Brian Dundon
Senior Vice President of MarketVision Research
Jacci Weber
Senior Insights Manager at Mars Petcare
Josh Emington
Insights Director at The Martec Group
Bernard Brenner
Senior Director, Modern Work, Security/Compliance/Identity, & Social Intelligence Research at Microsoft
Barry Jennings
Director, Cloud & Commercial Business Planning Insights at Microsoft
Dale DeBoer
Head of eCommerce Customer Research at MilliporeSigma
Kim Dedeker
Principal & Chief Operations Officer at Mizzouri
Mindy Weiss
Director, Consumer Insights & Research at National Football League (NFL)
Loren Evans
Account Manager, Client Development, & Consumer Technology at The NPD Group
Anna Stephens
Manager, Global Analytics at The NPD Group
Harry Davidson
Business Intelligence Manager at Owens-Illinois
Doug Healy
Senior Director, Consumer Insights – Gatorade at PepsiCo
Meagan Jamieson
Manager Consumer Insights at Polaris
Don Golden
CEO of Precision Sample LLC
Joseph Wylie
Director, Global Supply at Precision Sample LLC
Lisa Speck
Independent Behavioral Data Specialist/Consultant at Qrious Insight
Craig Stevens
Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer at Qrious Insight
Nihal Advani
Founder & CEO of QualSights
Andrea Joss
Senior VP, Research at Quester
Miklos Kremser
Director of Marketing at Sawtooth Software
Raj Manocha
EVP, Methodify at Schlesinger Group
Isaac Rogers
CSO at Schlesinger Group
Steve Schlesinger
CEO at Schlesinger Group
Kevin Srigley
President & CEO at Schmidt Market Research
Ari Popper
Founder & CEO of SciFutures
Tricia Batoha
Director, Market and Consumer Insights & Competitive Intelligence at Stellantis
Sarah Deluca
Customer Intelligence Advocate at Stellantis
Dale Sanko
Senior Director, Experience Insights at Target
Scott Rozek
Owner & Senior Partner at Unisearch Partners Inc.
Alexis Mast
Senior Business Strategy Analyst at USAA
Josh Goldfinch
Director, Customer Insights at Verizon
Tom York
Research Director at Willis Towers Watson
Rogerio Monteiro
Global CCO at Worthix
Ryan Barry
President of Zappi
Mark Resnick
Senior Director of Business Development at Zappi
Maya Kantak
Senior Manager, Market Research at ZipRecruiter
These funds are used to assist with hiring MSMR students to work on marketing research projects for partnering companies and community organizations. These funds also assist our program in supporting more marketing research projects for companies and organizations, and offering more paid opportunities to MSMR students while they are attending this master’s program. These funds also help support and strengthen our relationships with partnering companies who advise our curriculum and hire our marketing research graduates.
The John Gongos Memorial Scholarship was established to promote the market research industry through the direct support of the MSMR program at Michigan State University. The scholarship was launched at the September 2012 MSMR Advisory Board Meeting.
John Gongos was founder and CEO of Gongos Research, Inc. until his untimely death in 2012 at age 51.
Gongos, of Rochester Hills, formed the marketing research firm in 1991 and built it into a $23 million company serving companies such as Hallmark Cards Inc., Best Buy Co., General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC.
In 2007, the company was first named to Inc. magazine’s list of the 5000 “Fastest Growing Companies in America.” It is among the Honomichl Top 50 U.S. marketing research organizations. Gongos received his B.S. in marketing at Miami University–Ohio and his MBA in marketing and quantitative analysis at the University of Cincinnati.
Although he was from the state of Ohio, John held a deep place in his heart for Michigan. John said, “Our experience has been that if young people can find a great job in a field that they like, they will stay here. People really want to stay here if they find the right company.” He created that kind of company, with a unique culture that made it very attractive to MSU grads.
John and his firm were instrumental in helping found the Broad Master of Science in Marketing Research program. Gongos, Inc. continues to be a key partner in serving on the advisory board, providing internships and full-time jobs to MSMR students, and being an advocate of the program. The initiative for this endowment was started by Matt O’Mara, an MSU MBA grad, with support from the marketing research community.
John was a man of great vision for his firm and the industry, and, perhaps more importantly, he was a man of true integrity. His vision was consistent with the principles of the MSMR program:
“Our industry has changed more in the last five years than in the 15 years prior to that… It will probably change even more in the next five years.”