MSMR Board

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.

Giving Opportunities

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

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

Arturo Fausto
Manager, Research Science at Domino’s

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

Duncan Lawrence
Strategic Advisor at Escalent

Melissa Sauter
CEO of 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

Camille Nicita
Managing Director North America & Managing Partner at Gongos Inc.

Sarah Phillips
VP, Client Consulting 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

Nihal Advani
Founder & CEO of QualSights

Andrea Joss
Senior VP, Research at Quester

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

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.”