Colin Valdiserri
Co-Founder & CEO
Colin is a specialist in quantitative applications in behavioral sciences, more specifically, consumer psychology and cognitive response to visual stimuli. For over 23 years, his area of expertise has centered on the science of consumer behavior and the integration of multivariate techniques for management decision making.
Before co-founding Informed Decisions Group, Inc., Colin was a Senior Researcher with Moen Incorporated and following that, part of the Marketing Sciences Group for one of the largest research firms in the U.S. Colin has also been a Consumer Scientist for The Calphalon Corporation, a division of Newell-Rubbermaid, and a Research Analyst for Cox Ohio Media. Academically, Colin has served as an Adjunct Professor for undergraduate Industrial/Organization Psychology and graduate courses including the Advanced Consumer Research Seminar and Field Research Methodologies at Cleveland State University’s Consumer-Industrial Research program.
His journal publications and conference presentations have spanned across the psychology and communications fields including Quirk’s Marketing Research Review, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Technovation, Internet Research as well as presentations to the AMA, ICA and AEJMC. Colin received his B.A. in Psychology from Mount Union College and his M.A. in Consumer Psychology from Cleveland State University’s Consumer Industrial Research Program. Colin is a member of the American Marketing Association, Association for Consumer Research and Society for Consumer Psychology.
Susan Johnston
GM/SVP, Business Development
Susan joined Informed Decisions Group, Inc. in 2008 as a Client Engagement Manager and has held progressive positions as IDG’s Director of Client Relations and VP of Business Development. With a B.A. in Marketing Communications from Cleveland State University, Susan has led the aggressive growth of IDG’s clients focusing on shopper insights via proprietary behavioral methodologies.
She has been responsible for leading IDG’s initiative to develop our proprietary mobile eye-tracking system and has an extraordinary understanding of translating client goals into visual science research programs to understand shopper behavior and optimize shopper marketing strategies.
With over 20 years of experience, Susan has held progressive positions in the media and communications industries in account relations, field management and marketing with organizations including TV Max and Allstate Insurance.
Leading the engagement and relationships with IDG’s clients, she is dedicated to understanding needs and developing customized solutions for strategic improvements rather than forcing them into a “black box” offering.
Helen Thomas
Senior Qualitative Leader
Helen has over 38 years of experience and innovation in all forms of qualitative research. She specializes in Advanced Qualitative Research Techniques, including: “Stealth” Shop-Alongs (without store permission), Ethnography, Laddering, Focus Groups, and IDI’s across a broad range of industries. Her strong background concentrates in bathing and showering behavior, as well as concept and advertising evaluation, in-home and in-store ethnography, and brand development.
She received her B.A. in Psychology from Cleveland State University and was among the first in Northeast Ohio to offer and regularly conduct ethnographic research in all applicable contexts (in-home, in-store, in-office). Some of her awards and accomplishments include:
- 2006 co-presenter at AMA Market Research Conference: “Viewing Ethnography From the Inside Out“
- 2005 winner of Gold IDEA (International Design Excellence Award) in the Research Category
- Personally trained in the technique of Laddering and Means-End Chain Theory by its co-developer, Dr. Jonathan Gutman
- IRB Certified by the federal government to conduct sensitive topics research
- Conducted focus groups inside the Arctic Circle, in winter, and lived to tell about it
Kevin Duchon
Manager, Virtual Technologies
With a very strong technical ability Kevin can bring even the most complicated ideas into fruition by breaking them down into smaller parts and bring the whole system up simultaneously. With an expertise in audio/visual, lighting & design, his contribution to the advancement of our virtual technologies is second to none.
Since he graduated from The Ohio State University majoring in technical theater and minoring in electrical engineering, he has worked and designed in many cities across Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania. “Each area has taught me something different about my field, and I like to believe I bring the strongest points of each area”.
Jarrod Miller
Study Director
Jarrod is a multi-faceted, proactive and results oriented marketing professional with more than 20 years of marketing experience. Jarrod’s areas of expertise include quantitative and qualitative research, marketing segmentation, brand and product management, event marketing management, customer relationship management, inbound marketing, email marketing and more.
Jarrod has held progressive positions throughout his career in the media industry including Research Analyst, Research Specialist, Marketing Research Manager, Marketing Manager-Key Accounts and Product Marketing Manager. Throughout his professional career Jarrod has worked for Cox Ohio Publishing, Time Warner Cable, The Cincinnati Enquirer and Dispatch Media Group.
Jarrod holds two degrees from Ohio University. A Bachelor of Science in Communications and a Master’s of Communication where he focused his studies on statistics, SPSS, social science, marketing and media research.
Jennifer Keller-White
Field Research Manager
Jennifer became a part of IDG’s team in 2015 as a field manager and quickly grew into key personnel with her project management and analytical skills. As a crucial member to our field group and visual sciences team, her expertise in shopper and eye-tracking research has grown leading to increased efficiencies and quicker turnarounds for our clients.
Her background in behavioral sciences with a B.A. and M.A. in Psychology from Duquesne University has widened IDG’s diverse team with her emphasis on existential phenomenology and how this ontological view impacts consumer behavior theories. Jennifer’s training helps her challenge the modern tendency to interpret behavior through a narrow technological lens. Her existential approach helps to deepen our clients’ understanding of how their consumers behave in everyday circumstances and the psychological meanings of consumers’ experiences and actions.
She continues to help advance our understanding of human behavior and in-turn provides new dimensions of insights for our clients. Additionally, she is part of the leadership on merging biometric applications to visual sciences for improved shopper, user experience and advertising research.
Jennifer Martineau
Team Leader Visual Coding & Analysis
Jennifer joined IDG in 2012 and leads the visual data processing and coding group. After expressing protocols to improve the delivery time and accuracy for eye-tracking projects, she was moved to the coding & analysis team for mobile eye-tracking projects. Her insights have lead to faster turn-arounds internally for project managers, shorter timelines and lower costs for our clients. As a result of her work leading the coding & analysis team, mobile eye-tracking projects have become much more feasible for our clients by fitting into tighter timelines and smaller budgets.
She received her B.A. in Business Administration/Marketing at The Ohio State University and previous to IDG, has focused her efforts on marketing initiatives with non-profit organizations. She continues to help innovate our eye-tracking protocols and implementing additional methodologies such as neuro-measurement, multi-level coding, visual response segmentation approaches and shopper path mapping.
Jennifer Kargakos
Team Leader Visual Coding & Analysis
Jennifer has 15 years of experience previously working with corporate investigative firms, conducting pre-employment screenings for over 100 corporate clients, which include Nestle, Baker & Hostetler, Disney, Alliance Bernstein and Coca-Cola, among others. Her role in developing and cultivating those relationships through research and problem solving translated to an invaluable asset to IDG’s analytical team.
Previously, as a Senior Investigator she has been responsible for training new employees and creating training materials for divisions as well as for clients. As a research analyst at IDG, Jennifer is involved with data processing and analytics for survey research and mobile eye-tracking. She also manages field teams for in-store shopper research and is a lead team member ensuring client relations and analytic teams work with perfect synergy.
Jennifer has a BA in Psychology from Kent State University as well as additional coursework at the graduate level focusing on counseling psychology.
