San Francisco Bay Area
Highly motivated and experienced UX and marketing research executive focused on data driven, strategic decision making and test and learn execution with a proven track record of success. ROI is a must, not a "nice to have." Strong leader of global teams, manager of managers, and manager of cross functional teams. Extensive UX and market research experience including forsights, product dev, segmentation, wants and needs, positioning & messaging, awareness and perception, advertising concept development, copy testing, MarCom effectiveness measurement, barriers and bridges, and customer satisfaction. Excellence in global product research and global marketing campaigns including objective setting, concept and creative development, and in market effectiveness. Creates data driven product hypotheses, marketing strategy, and marketing execution to deliver ROI. Specialties: Leadership, Management, Marketing Strategy, Product Research, Marketing Research, MarCom Effectiveness, Branding, Advertising.
I lead a dynamic team at Google, focused on building the next generation of AI-powered products and features that impact users globally. I define the team mission, vision and focus to find opportunities to drive AI innovation. I'm passionate about empowering individuals and fostering a working environment where everyone can thrive and reach their full potential. My work involves identifying and framing cutting-edge product opportunities in nascent spaces, guiding our research to uncover new AI advancements and areas for growth. I combine deep foundational research with comprehensive competitive analysis, collaborating closely with Strategy & Operations to shape long-range plans, define investment priorities, and develop winning product strategies. I partner with product teams to bring impactful insights that help them define AI products and features that will meet unmet user needs and drive growth.
I built Google's first central marketing research and insights function from the ground up, transforming a small team focused on ad-hoc projects into a robust group responsible for research, analytics, and insights for the Google Brand and major app products like Search, Maps, Commerce, and Photos. I established and scaled Google's cross-product brand and product satisfaction research programs, consolidating disparate efforts to drive efficiency and provide a holistic, global view across the business. My focus on democratizing data led the development of dashboards that empowered thousands of Googlers in marketing and product with actionable insights. I also drove proactive, strategic insights into the business through in-region annual Google Brand summits with regional leaders, deep audience research (e.g., teens, older adults), and cultural trend reports keeping Google in the flow by knowing what's next. I'm passionate about evangelizing research best practices and trained numerous marketers on developing strategic insights to inform their marketing strategies. As a team builder and manager of managers, I defined our mission, vision, and strategy, empowering managers and individual contributors alike to reach their full potential in a safe, growth encouraging environment.
As the Executive Vice President and Head of the Technology Vertical for GfK North America, I led a dedicated team that served as a vital strategic partner to clients in the technology sector. We focused on delivering actionable insights that directly addressed their most critical business questions and generated tangible business outcomes. My responsibilities included defining our strategic direction to drive growth and differentiated research capabilities to ensure the sustained success of GfK's Technology business. I instilled a culture of operational and commercial excellence, optimizing team strengths to maximize performance and motivation. Furthermore, I actively championed GfK's thought leadership, sharing our expertise through prominent platforms like CES presentations, insightful company blog posts, and key contributions to global marketing campaigns.
I led GfK's Seattle office and operations, combining a hands-on, roll-up-the-sleeves approach with a strong commitment to empowering my team to take ownership and innovate. My core responsibility was partnering with clients, deploying a wide array of primary and secondary market research techniques to solve their most pressing business questions across product development, brand health, advertising effectiveness, market forecasting, and customer satisfaction. My role extended to being the central problem-solver, coordinating complex research programs, data delivery, and reporting across GfK teams in the US and Germany, and with external research partners. This ensured efficient, high-quality deliverables that truly met our clients' needs.
At Facebook, I collaborated with monetization research, product, and sales to transform user insights and customer needs into vertically-tailored go-to-market strategies. These strategies were designed to help clients effectively leverage Facebook to achieve their marketing goals. My expertise centered on building a comprehensive understanding of Facebook users: who they are, how they engage with content, and their desires from connected brands. I effectively conveyed this narrative to a global audience of customers through Facebook-sponsored events. A key achievement was designing and scaling a World Wide Customer Satisfaction program. The insights from this program were instrumental in identifying drivers of customer churn and revenue. I directly influenced product development by working with PM, engineering, and design teams to refine ad products, guided marketing teams on key messaging, and collaborated with sales and L&D to create data-driven learning programs for sales teams.
I drove the marketing strategy for the Windows consumer business, utilizing deep research insights to shape everything from target audience definition and value propositions to key messaging and promotional calendars. My purview included developing and managing the US marketing plan for Windows Consumer, encompassing roughly $200M in spend. I led rigorous reviews of marketing campaign performance, resulting in data-driven tactical shifts that optimized our spend for maximum impact. These insights were instrumental in allocating the subsequent $300M marketing budget. Crucially, I influenced PC category development by partnering with OEMs and retailers. By championing premium PC offerings and assortment, I successfully increased competition for Apple and secured more retail wins for Windows. I established key performance indicators (KPIs) for the Windows Consumer Marketing business, setting targets and conducting executive reviews. Furthermore, I built marketing ROI models and dashboards to measure tactical effectiveness and continuously refine our marketing investments across all touchpoints.
I spearheaded the development and effectiveness measurement of comprehensive go-to-market strategic marketing campaigns valued at over $150M. My approach centered on leveraging product positioning, competitive intelligence, target audience insights, and clear campaign goals to drive impactful results. My role encompassed end-to-end advertising creative development, including briefing agencies and implementing a comprehensive research system. This system covered concept testing, copy evaluation, and in-market effectiveness measurement, all designed to ensure our creative maximized the return on advertising spend (ROAS). I also led below-the-line MarCom strategy, creative, and effectiveness research, leveraging clickstream data to continuously optimize marketing tactics across advertising, web, and relationship marketing. This focus resulted in highly effective advertising that delivered superior ROI. To enhance executive decision-making, I developed integrated marketing campaign performance dashboards, providing clear, real-time progress insights.
Led several key initiatives including: - A pivotal XFN v-team and four direct reports to design and implement an Audience-Based Tracking System, a strategic platform for foundational research across all business groups. This system delivered critical, systemic data on awareness, perception, and usage, empowering cross-company partners with insights into competitive position, market opportunities, and threats. This effort dramatically increased research integration and fostered cross-functional, cross business, audience-based insights, ultimately reducing foundational research costs from $8M to less than $6M. - Drove a holistic worldwide product research program that aligned and integrated previously disparate studies, resulting in over 45% in cost savings and enhanced data comparability. Guided a team of research managers in delivering a comprehensive perspective for all Windows business audiences, directly informing the competitive positioning of Windows against Apple and Linux for marketing initiatives. - Drove market segmentation for Windows Media Center, creating valuable personas for product and marketing teams. - Led a need and attitude-based market segmentation program to identify high-risk and high-value consumers, effectively guiding over $200M in marketing spend. I conducted early piracy research, segmenting audiences to predict software piracy likelihood and informing distinct marketing strategies.
As Director of Research Operations, I led a team of seven project managers and ten research analysts, overseeing the successful execution of qualitative and quantitative marketing research projects for Fortune 500 clients. I provided strategic consultation on high-stakes marketing research projects for Fortune 50 clients, focusing specifically on strategy-based project development and ensuring rigorous research methodologies. I partnered directly with the CEO to competitively position the company within the research industry, developing and launching targeted marketing campaigns that generated significant new business and revenue.