BLACKSTONE - Key Persons
Ashref Hashim, founder and president of the Blackstone Group, has transformed the firm from a one-person company to the headquarters of an international enterprise, with an impressive range of U.S. and multinational clients.
Job Titles:
- Vice President / Senior Research Director
Christian has nearly a decade of experience leading and managing a wide range of high-profile domestic and international qualitative and quantitative studies. Before joining the Blackstone Group, he worked for TRU/The Futures Company as a Vice President and Research Director. He has worked extensively with technology, retail, financial, media, and agency clients on both B2B and B2C research projects. With a broad knowledge of research methodologies and a focus in qualitative research, Christian has moderated over a hundred focus groups, one-on-one interviews, and in-home ethnographies. Christian has a B.A. from Carleton College.
Kathi Rose's creativity has helped her design and conduct qualitative research in a variety of industries. She joined the Blackstone Group shortly after its founding and has been involved in every aspect of its growth. As the executive vice president and a focus group moderator, Kathi develops research methodologies, designs data collection instruments, and performs in-depth analysis and interpretation of results leading to highly actionable outcomes for the client. In these studies, Kathi has examined issues such as corporate reorganization, deferred compensation plan sales and service issues, ophthalmic products, marketing communications, new products and services, employee wellness programs, OTC products, customer service enhancements as well as crime and community issues.
Mike Burmester, senior vice president, specializes in quantitative research and has done extensive work in the technology, consumer packaged goods and energy/utilities industries, with more than 30 years of experience. His expertise includes using multi-mode methodologies - telephone, internet and iPad-enabled, in-person surveys. Mike directs customized studies employing the complete range of data collection methods.
Mike applies conjoint/discrete choice and other sophisticated multivariate analytical techniques to provide better insights and optimal solutions to business and marketing issues.
He has assessed new product concepts, directed large-scale market segmentation projects, launched major customer satisfaction research programs and conducted numerous product use and taste tests. Mike has also provided advertising, communication and branding research for many Fortune 500 companies.
Job Titles:
- Account Manager
- Vice President
Dr. Roger Straus has over 20 years of experience designing, conducting and analyzing hundreds of U.S. and global qualitative and quantitative research programs for a variety of industries. At Blackstone, Dr. Straus is the head of the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology practice group as well as the higher education practice group. He is also a leader of the energy/utilities practice group.
Dr. Straus has a special interest in leading-edge methodologies of all kinds, positioning, branding, buying process research, product and message crafting. A Certified Clinical Sociologist, he co-founded the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology and has been instrumental in bringing sociological insights and methods to marketing research.
From the beginnings of his career in marketing research, Dr. Straus has been a true "hybrid," equally at home with quantitative and qualitative methods, helping to pioneer a variety of state-of-the-art analytics, including advanced segmentation techniques and discrete choice modeling. Whether working on qualitative or quantitative research, Dr. Straus prides himself on delivering actionable marketing insights to clients.
His passion for qualitative research has translated into hands-on experience designing, conducting and analyzing well over 1,000 qualitative projects covering the full range of techniques and methodologies:
Online, traditional and telephone focus groups, dyads, triads, and depth interviews
Asynchronous online qualitative research (e.g., bulletin boards, social media listening )
Traditional and mobile ethnography
Brand personality/brand character (qual/quant)
Grounded theory/naturalistic research and analysis
Systems analysis
War games (consultative, focus-group based)
He has published many articles on marketing research and social science, an eBook on focus groups, two textbooks on sociological practice and books for clinicians and the general public, one of which has been a best seller. Dr. Straus is also on the International Editorial Board of the "Journal of Applied Social Science," a Sage publication.
Dr. Straus has a PhD in sociology from the University of California, Davis. He has taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels at University of California, Humboldt State University, Alfred University, and in the MBA program at Marylhurst University.
Job Titles:
- Account Manager
- Vice President
Tammy Gray, vice president/account manager, is a marketing research and strategy professional skilled in delivering strategic, actionable insights. She has worked with research and consulting firms, Fortune 100 client companies and creative agencies. Tammy specializes in custom quantitative and qualitative research and has over 25 years of experience in a variety of industries with an emphasis on advertising and public relations as well as insurance.
Tammy has extensive experience with multicultural and international research, including a specialization in emerging markets. She has managed research and developed consumer and business insights for markets in the United States, Middle East, Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Whether you need a multinational tracking study or a satisfaction assessment, Tammy consistently delivers customized solutions that meet clients' needs. She maintains strong client relationships by guaranteeing client-focused, actionable insights from the full range of marketing research studies, including:
Concept testing
New product testing
Customer satisfaction
Pricing
Naming
Tammy has an MBA with dual concentrations in marketing and international business from the Kellogg School of Management and a BS in industrial engineering from Northwestern University.
Vicky Griffin is a Vice President at the Blackstone Group with over 20 years of experience in market research and client service. Her deep experience in all areas of market research - primary and secondary, consumer and B2B, domestic and international, questionnaire design and advanced analytics - has fueled successful partnerships with clients in a wide range of categories, including utilities, electronics, telecommunications, financial services and healthcare. Vicky is particularly experienced in large scale, global and continuous tracking research projects, which she spent 15 years managing during her tenure with Ipsos.
Vicky has directed hundreds of studies, from design through analysis and presentation, employing the complete range of data collection methods, including Web, telephone, in-person, and mail surveys. She is a quantitative research specialist with core strengths in brand & communications and satisfaction & loyalty, however she also plays a central role in Qualitative research and Qual-Quant studies at Blackstone Group.
Vicky has a Bachelor of Science degree in Management with a double minor in Marketing & International Business from Purdue University.