2024 Qcasts: Complete Series Registration

Isabel Aneyba Related Seminars and Products

Founder

COMARKA Consulting & Research www.comarka.com

Isabel Aneyba is a seasoned Mexican-American market researcher & strategist with 18 years of research experience guiding better products and services.  

As founder of COMARKA, a cross-cultural market research firm based in Austin, TX, Isabel has done extensive research in the US and Mexico in several categories including food and beverage, retail, health care and technology. In 2020, Isabel received the REEL award (Research and Equitable Leadership) and the recognition as one of the top 50 insights leaders in the U.S. 

Isabel has served on the QRCA Board of Directors and chaired the Latino SIG and the Ethnography SIG for 10 years. 

Pepper Miller Related Seminars and Products

Author, President

Hunter-Miller, Inc.

Pepper Miller is a recognized Black American consumer researcher, three-time author, and Black American subject matter expert.  

Since 1995, Pepper has been a trailblazer helping large corporations understand and positively engage the Black consumer market. 

Pepper encourages audiences to think broader and differently about Black America by talking about both simple ideas and taboo topics so that they can tailor their marketing strategies to be more inclusive and effective. 

Her third Black insights book “Let Me Explain Black Again: Exploring Blind Spots and Black Insights for Marketing to Understand Black Culture and Perspectives”, launched April 2023 is receiving many accolades and tributes. 

Cary-Anne Olsen-Landis Related Seminars and Products

UX Design Lead

Nava

Cary-Anne has spent 17 years guiding organizations in creating human-centered experiences. She’s worked with clients in industries from retail banking and luxury aviation to datacenters and call centers. After establishing a human-centered foundation, she converts findings into strategic, actionable steps to guide organizations to address discovered needs. 

Before Nava, she worked at a UX consultancy for 6 years, led the IBM Cognitive Systems research team, taught Web/interaction design at various Austin universities, and completed Information Science graduate work in Interaction Design & Usability. She started her career as a front-end Web developer/designer and moved to research to solve the most interesting challenge of technology: how humans actually use it. 

Gary Rudman Related Seminars and Products

President

GTR Consulting

For over 20 years, Gary Rudman, the founder and president of GTR Consulting, has been conducting research on young consumers for clients.

He has experience with a wide variety of market research methodologies, and has conducted hundreds of focus groups for companies in verticals including retail, fashion, packaged goods, personal care, insurance, telecommunications, technology, video gaming, web design, media, beverages, and social marketing.

Gary regularly provides insights about younger consumers to media outlets, and has been quoted in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the International Herald Tribune, BrandWeek, MediaWeek, and regional newspapers across the country.

Prior to founding GTR Consulting, Gary was a planner for Foote, Cone and Belding and J. Walter Thompson and director of qualitative research for Teenage Research Unlimited. 

Jasmine Walker Related Seminars and Products

Lead Researcher

Stellar Elements

As a Lead Researcher, Jasmine reveals customer and employee needs through intensive, user-centered research studies within a broad range of industries, including fintech, healthcare, transportation & shipping, and energy. Her academic background in both cultural and business anthropology affords her the ability to collect and analyze rich contextual data that genuinely helps stakeholders understand their users’ experiences. 

Jasmine is a native Detroiter and has spent the last several years living in Dallas honing her research prowess at the consultancy giant, Stellar Elements. Equipped with an extensive toolkit of qualitative methods and fieldwork around the globe, Jasmine crafts stories that not only educate but evoke empathy for users which ultimately allows businesses to strategically achieve and maintain a competitive edge. 

Jeff Syroney Related Seminars and Products

Vice President of Innovation + Story

Wonderlust Collective, Inc.

Jeff Syroney is a seasoned facilitator and strategist with extensive national and international experience across a broad range of qualitative methodologies. He possesses a unique talent set that combines an early career in theatre, storytelling, and improvisation with 15+ years of corporate marketing experience. This marriage of art and strategy produces customized research solutions that meet the consumer where they are.

Jeff revels in research among targets traditionally considered “difficult to speak to” including teens, children, and men. He brings a spirit of creativity, flexibility, and sense of humor to his work with clients and consumers.

Jeff is a sought-after speaker, sharing inventive approaches to incorporating creativity into traditional research. He is the recipient of multiple industry awards celebrating his entrepreneurship and innovation. Prior to his career as a researcher, he served as the Founding Managing Editor of Soapbox, an online publication dedicated to highlighting and promoting the region’s talent, technology, diversity, culture, and business. He also co-founded the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, an annual twelve-day celebration of art, innovation, and creativity now celebrating its 20th anniversary.

Alexandra Jayeun Lee Related Seminars and Products

Director of Research and Data Science

Microsoft

Alexandra Lee is the Principal Director of Research and Data Science for Microsoft Copilot Studios. With passion for human centered design and co-creating data-driven solutions, Alex continues to evolve her foundational training in architecture and service design, to serve and empower teams to achieve more with computational design thinking. 

Chris Hauck Related Seminars and Products

Owner

HauckEye LLC

For over 35 years, Chris Hauck has honed his research skills across many categories, including telecom, IT, medical products, hospitality, and consulting. Chris opened HauckEye in 2020, dedicated to experiential research based on observing consumers in real environments.  

Chris has been involved in QRCA conference planning and speaker selection for the last several years, including serving as co-chair of both the 2024 QRCA Conference in Denver and the 2025 QRCA Conference in Philadelphia. 

Chris has an MBA from Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth, TX, and lives in Colorado.  

Marta Villanueva Related Seminars and Products

Chief Insights Officer

NuThinking, Inc

Marta Villanueva is a bilingual / bicultural qualitative researcher and strategist with 20+ years of experience in moderating and facilitating sessions with various group sizes, across categories, different participant types, sensitive/complex challenges, and in various locations (U.S. and internationally). She has a proven track record advising top 100 clients, leveraging experience from 3500+ insights and strategy sessions.  

Marta earned a M.Sc. in Creativity, Creative Problem Solving, and Change Leadership from the State University of New York. As one of the only market research veterans with a master’s in creative studies, Marta publishes and speaks in various industry organizations. Her article “Keeping the ‘Co’ in Virtual Co-Creation” made the cover of QRCA VIEWS magazine’s winter 2020 edition. 

Marta has served QRCA in many roles, including co-chairing the first ever 2021 QRCA Virtual Annual Conference. Marta was the featured opening speaker for the QRCA 2022 conference in San Diego and was the 2015 QRCA Maryanne Pflug Spirit Award Winner. She lives in Texas.  

Karen Hold Related Seminars and Products

Founder and CEO

Experience Labs

Karen Hold is the founder and CEO of innovation strategy consulting firm, Experience Labs. A Procter & Gamble-trained brand marketer, Karen saw firsthand how P&G drove revenue and profit growth with innovation. With over 25 years of experience, Karen has consulted for dozens of Fortune 500 companies, including AARP, AT&T, Alcatel-Lucent, Audi, Chick-fil-A, Cisco, Deloitte, John Hancock, Mercedes, Nokia, NEC, and Porsche. She is passionate about building creative capacity in individuals, organizations and cities.

Prior to forming Experience Labs, Karen was a co-founder of Broadband Publishing, where she built sales through innovative marketing partnerships with Forbes and BusinessWeek magazines. Karen is a co-author of Experiencing Design – The Innovator’s Journey published by Columbia Business School Publishing.

Karen is a graduate of Duke University and Georgetown’s McDonough Graduate School of Business. She is the Director of DT:DC, a 5,300 member MeetUp group in Washington, DC. She is a Visiting Executive Lecturer at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, a Visiting Professor at Ecole des Ponts in Paris, France and Casablanca, Morocco and an Adjunct Faculty Member at Boston College Lynch School of Education in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Lara Nieuwenhuis Related Seminars and Products

Consultant and Educator

Lara Nieuwenhuis is a consultant and educator who specializes in the intersection of design thinking, art thinking, and qualitative research. With a strong foundation in Fine Art, she has applied her expertise to enhance the work of various entities by incorporating innovative, participatory approaches. As a lecturer in Theory of Design and Design Research at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, South Africa, Lara combines her academic background with hands-on experience in facilitating design thinking and design research processes. 

Rich Thau Related Seminars and Products

President & Founder

Engagious

Rich Thau is the president and founder of Engagious, a research firm specializing in public policy message testing and refinement. Rich’s clients include major trade associations, advocacy groups, and corporations. He is the creator of the Swing Voter Project, as well as co-creator of the Back-to-Normal Barometer, a monthly tracking survey measuring public opinion throughout the pandemic. 

Susan Davis Related Seminars and Products

NPR Politics

Susan Davis is a political correspondent on the Washington Desk for NPR and a co-host of the NPR Politics Podcast. She has covered Congress, elections, and national politics since 2002 for publications including USA TODAY, The Wall Street Journal, National Journal and Roll Call. She appears regularly on television and radio outlets to discuss congressional and national politics, and she is a contributor on PBS's Washington Week. She is a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C.

Henrique Savelsberg Related Seminars and Products

Independent Market Research Consultant

Savelsberg Research

Henrique Savelsberg is Dutch native with close to 25 years experience in developing/managing international market research studies, recently also more UX research studies. Henrique moderates mainly in Dutch and English language, provides qualitative and strategic market research across the globe with particular focus on Europe and (SE) Asia. Henrique offers B2B and B2C research with sector experience specifically in air travel/tourism, F&B/Foodservice, FMCG, technology, financial services and Industrial/B2B strategic market research. 

Brian Loeb Related Seminars and Products

Freelance Researcher

LeapVision SL

Brian Loeb is originally from the US but has lived in Spain for nearly 25 years and is bilingual in Spanish and English. He has experience in strategy, marketing and market research, and conducts qualitative, quantitative and UX research across the English and Spanish-speaking worlds, with a focus on CPG , Tech and Telco, and Financial Services.

Bronwen Ward Related Seminars and Products

Vice President, Insights

Upwords Inc.

Bronwen believes every person has a unique and interesting story to tell. As part of the Upwords team since 2012, Bronwen has been deeply immersed in qualitative research, with great depth of experience in online methodologies. Upwords custom designs market research that inspires human-centered decision making for Strategy, Innovation, Communications and Experiences. We deliver insights that inspire, using technology “with purpose” to help brands make human connections.

Bronwen loves to explore how technology including AI can enhance our work, while staying mindful of (and mitigating) potential risks. She values diverse perspectives and is always seeking to uncover underlying motivations that drive human decision making and behaviour. 

Lara Fordis Related Seminars and Products

Consultant

Fordis Consulting

Lara Fordis (panelist) is a consumer insights expert and market research strategist who designs and executes outside-the-box solutions for clients that improve and prioritize business areas, ranging from product development to marketing and brand optimization. With over 25 years of CPG qualitative and over 15 years of quantitative market research experience, she uses innovative approaches from a range of methodologies to gather insights to guide smarter, data-driven decision making. 

Since 2019, Lara has been turned to as a go-to resource for consumer insights for cannabis products, cannabis-related accessories, and ancillary businesses. Her work spans across multiple methodologies from focus groups with consumers to online surveys to in-person and at-home product testing. In her work with cannabis companies and clients of all stages and sizes, she serves as a strategic thought-partner, developing research plans that provide the foundation for actionable, results-driven outcomes. Her mission is to help cannabis businesses of all sizes, stages and degrees and market research savvy use market research rather than solely relying on hunches to confidently make important business decisions.

Indi Young Related Seminars and Products

indiyoung.com

Indi focuses data science that listens. She is a strategy researcher who makes tools that support inclusive and responsible solutions for a broader variety of thinking styles. She teaches courses online, writes books & essays, presents talks and does podcast appearances, and pens helpful posts on LinkedIn.