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Karl Schmidt, President
Karl Schmidt, founder and President of Consumer Insights, has extensive background in designing and implementing market
research studies and works actively with all of his firm's clients. His primary focus has always been to provide strategically
sound, highly actionable input to client decisions. That invariably requires the use of well-designed, well-executed,
and properly analyzed market research. He has extensive training and experience in both qualitative and quantitative
methodologies; this combination of skills has allowed him to design research methodologies for clients that harness the strength
of both types of research. On the qualitative side, Karl is a highly experienced moderator, and has assisted his clients with
innumerable focus groups on concept development and creative refinement. He runs high energy, fun focus groups that
nonetheless maintain tight focus on the clients' objectives. This style helps him extract the nuances that will ultimately
lead to appealing, effective advertising. On the quantitative side, Karl oversees the design and analysis of large scale studies
using a broad range of multivariate techniques that uncover underlying factors in the data, relevant clusters of customers,
segmentation schemes that identify new product niches, optimal pricing for market share or profit, and more. Time and
time again, he strives to "harvest" data to its fullest extent and translate that harvest into meaningful, actionable recommendations
for his clients.
Prior to founding Consumer Insights, Karl held market research positions at Leo Burnett Advertising, Chevrolet Motor
Division, and Stander Research Associates. He has a B.A. in Advertising from Michigan State University and an M.B.A.
from Oakland University. He has worked in market research for the past 19 years.
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John Doyle, Project Director
John Doyle, Senior Project Director, has eight years of market research experience working with a broad mix of clients
from a variety of industries. John has consistently focused on helping his clients better understand their target market
and identifying the most effective ways of communicating relevant, compelling ideas to that target. His experience includes
managing projects and designing comprehensive research methodologies that effectively address specific client needs via methodologies
such as target segmentation, anthropological exploration, and decision-making studies. John is a strong moderator, with extensive
experience ranging from one-on-one interviews to groups as large as fifteen respondents. He holds a B.S. in Political Science
from
Michigan State University.
Ken Rutka, Project Director
Ken Rutka, a Project Director who joined the firm in 2005, oversees quantitative projects for the firm. He has
primary responsibility on tracking studies for key clients such as General Motors, Pier 1 Imports and Chicago Department of
Aviation, among others. Ken pioneered the firm’s use of PDA-based on-site interviews as a way to decrease cost and
analytical turnaround time. Ken comes to Consumer Insights with a diverse interest base as well as a unique education. He
earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Michigan State University that was comprised of diverse coursework in sociology,
psychology, history, and anthropology—as well as a cognate in business. Ken also completed an Associates degree in Accounting,
graduating summa cum laude, and is currently pursuing his Masters of Business Administration at Oakland University. With his
broad education and affinity for learning, Ken possesses the insight and curiosity that has made him a valuable addition to
the team.
Peter Fredricks, Project Director
Peter Fredricks officially joined the Consumer Insights staff in June, 2006 after interning with the company since 2004.
As Project Director, Peter’s responsibilities encompass all areas of the research process, from initial study design
through questionnaire development, fieldwork, analysis and reporting. Peter’s interest in qualitative research makes
him perfectly suited to conduct in-depth interviews while he expands his focus group moderation skills. Beyond the research
competencies he acquired throughout his internship with the firm, Peter brings unique technical and computer expertise to
the company through his training in Cisco Networking and A+. His technical knowledge base is an enormous asset to the company’s
ever-growing proficiency in Internet and PDA-based electronic methodologies. Peter graduated cum laude from Ohio University
in Athens, Ohio with a B.S. in Communication and received the Director’s Award for Excellence in Telecommunications.
Melanie Sorlien, Project Manager and Company Controller
Melanie Sorlien, Project Manager/Controller has been with Consumer Insights, Inc. since its incorporation and has continued
to play a critical role in the success of the company. Melanie's primary responsibility is to assist project directors on
a wide variety of projects, including questionnaire and screener development, field supervision, quality control, and all
logistics. Functioning as the firm’s controller, she assists staff, suppliers, and clients with all financial issues
including proposals, invoicing, and payments. Melanie is a professional who has mastered each of the fundamental components
of research design and execution through a series of progressively responsible positions. She joined the staff of Detroit
area firm Stander Research Associates upon completing her B.A. from Marygrove College. Over the course of her tenure there,
Melanie managed field interviewing, supervised the phone room, and designed and implemented a new data processing system that
brought the function in-house for the first time. Subsequently, she assumed responsibilities as project coordinator on all
types of studies for major clients. Melanie has over fifteen years of market research experience.
Kristin Schreck, Research Analyst
Kristin Schreck, Research Analyst, has been with Consumer Insights since 2001. Kris works with project directors on
both quantitative and qualitative studies, performing research functions such as questionnaire and screener development, fieldwork
supervision, data analysis and report creation. Kris is also responsible for web survey programming and data processing functions
related to web-based research. Prior to joining Consumer Insights, Kris was Senior Planning Analyst at chemistri (now Leo
Burnett Detroit), where she managed primary advertising research in such areas as target market refinement, concept development,
copytesting, and in-market evaluation on behalf of Cadillac. Kris started her research career as an analyst and project manager
at Yee/Minard & Associates, where she worked primarily on research initiatives with clients in the insurance, automotive,
and advertising industries. Kris holds an English degree from Western Michigan University and has eleven years of market research
experience.
Joan Allesee, Research Assistant
Joan Allesee joined our staff in February 2005 as a research assistant. Joan provides administrative and project
development support to our entire organization. Prior to joining Consumer Insights, Joan served as a pre-school teacher, owned
and operated her own on-site massage therapy business for over 8 years and served 10 years as a human resource development
manager in a Fortune 500 company. In her capacity as a human resources development manager, Joan designed, developed,
facilitated, and implemented company-wide training systems based on formal needs analysis, skill and knowledge analysis and
client consultations. Joan holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan where she majored in Communication Skills and
minored in philosophy. She’s also a nationally certified massage therapist.
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