BRAD - Key Persons
In his role as Senior Research Manager, Brad A. Ross is involved with new business activities, including prospect identification, database development, new client solicitations, proposal writing and project sales. Once assignments are in-house, Brad executes the research, analyzes the data and writes recommendation heavy reports.
With 20 plus years employment in market research, including fourteen years of business-to-business and business-to-consumer research, Brad is competent with a broad range of qualitative and quantitative techniques. Having worked in advertising agency, market research supplier and corporate environments, Brad truly understands the dynamics of the market research business and the respective roles each organization contributes to the process.
Among unique credentials, Brad initiated, developed and managed SMG Research, owned by Rochester, NY advertising agency Wolff Associates, and started the market research departments at Rubbermaid Commercial Products and the Trex Company.
Highly regarded as a focus group moderator, Brad conducted over 200 sets of focus groups at Rubbermaid and over 100 at Trex Company. His extensive experience in new product development research was key to the introduction of two decking lines, a refined railing product and a fencing product while at Trex, as well as numerous products at Rubbermaid.
Brad earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in both Anthropology and English Literature at Drew University. He then received a Master of Arts degree from the University of Virginia in Social Anthropology with a concentration on contemporary American culture. Brad's academic training is heavily utilized at CDA, as he executes frequent ethnographic studies for consumer-focused and industrial clients.
Job Titles:
- Senior Marketing Consultant
A Strategic Business Builder, with proven success in business planning, sales building, business management, new product and business development, James Weldon's career spans nearly 40 years of consumer and B2B business experience in the U.S. and overseas.
His effectiveness as a strategic and tactical planner, team-builder and leader have been recognized by premier companies such as Kraft/General Foods, Chock full o'Nuts and Sara Lee, where he directed the successful launch of numerous, margin-building products and growth programs. His efforts led to restoring the La Touraine Division at Chock full o'Nuts to profitability.
Mr. Weldon's line experience is matched by over 34 years as a highly-regarded Associate Professor of marketing, management, and entrepreneurship. Among the courses he has created are: Strategic Planning, New Product Development, Consumer Behavior, Business-To-Business Marketing, Sales Force Management, Strategic Product Planning, Innovation & Resilience, plus a New Ventures Practicum in the undergraduate and MBA Programs at Fordham Gabelli Schools of Business. In 2001, he was awarded the prestigious Bene Merenti Medal and in both 2007 and 2013, he was elected Distinguished Adjunct Professor. His students have consistently rated him and his courses among the most relevant and best taught in Fordham's MBA and undergraduate curriculums.
For over 30 years, Joseph Lipman has provided major corporations with the tools to evaluate competitors and to identify new market/product opportunities. He has worked with companies in a broad range of industries, ranging from Foodservice Coffee to White Goods to Industrial Fabrics to Sporting Goods .
By augmenting and supporting the market research capabilities of such companies as Kraft, Whirlpool and Newell-Rubbermaid, he has identified product opportunities that have generated millions of dollars of incremental sales, as well as saving companies additional millions by identifying barriers that would prevent success in new product/market launches.