This episode features
Senior Manager, Trends and New Methodologies
Alka Baijal
Alka Baijal is the Sr. Manager for Trends within the Market Intelligence department at Nissan North America. She has over 20 years of experience in automotive and consumer insight research in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia. Alka partners with internal stakeholders and Nissan leadership to help define how best to serve future customers. Her current responsibilities include identifying the macro trends, values and mindsets that drive consumer behavior and mobility choices. Before joining Nissan in 2006, she held various research roles at General Motors and GM Holden. Alka holds a BA in Sociology from NYU, College of Arts and Sciences, and an MPA from the Wagner School of Public Service. She currently resides in NJ with her husband and two children.
Head of Foresight, Innovation and Omnichannel Insights
Cherie Leonard
Cherie’s passion for insights stems from connecting the dots and weaving them together across people, culture and brands. In her current role, she has focused on health, sustainability and DE&I for springboards for growth. She brings curiosity and rigor to embed a proactive foresight mindset throughout the organization, jumpstart Horizon 2 innovation and build relevant omnichannel activations. Previously, she held a variety of Global and North America Oral Care roles at CP. Cherie earned an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s A.C. Nielsen Center for Marketing Analytics & Insights, with prior insights experience in CPG, hospitality and retail.
Senior Market Intelligence Manager
Tamami Suyari
Tamami Suyari is a Senior Market Intelligence Manager who excels at telling a compelling story with data by distilling what’s important to internal stakeholders and the business and synthesizing primary market research, competitive intelligence and market data. Tamami believes understanding various aspects of the market – customers, channels, competitors, industry and general trends is essential to developing effective product and marketing strategies.
Since Tamami joined Brother International Corporation as the first market research subject matter expert, she established a market intelligence team and became a go-to person for market insights. She has been integral in developing and launching the Brother Refresh EZ Print Subscription service, leading concept testing, naming and message testing, beta tester advisory board, program optimization, segmentation research and competitive analysis.
Tamami is certified in the Net Promotor Master Class and has been managing many brand research projects for B2C and B2B customers and channel partners. Tamami holds a BA in psychology from Tokyo Woman’s Christian University in Japan.
When Tamami is not researching customers and analyzing the market, she can be found on hiking trails in NJ, NY, or PA.
VP North America Sales and
Commercial Strategy Development
Commercial Strategy Development
Lydia Irving
Lydia Irving is GfK’s Vice President for North America Sales and Commercial Strategy Development, playing a key role in driving revenue and profits across the organization. She guides alignment of the company’s commercial sales strategy with major GfK accounts. Now in her eighth year at GfK, Irving has proven her success at leading key strategic engagements – especially in the technology sector – and fostering rich collaborations between GfK local and global teams.
Prior to joining GfK, Irving held key roles at Ipsos OTX – where she launched the firm’s social media listening practice – as well as NM Incite, Nielsen Company and BuzzMetrics. She holds an MBA from Columbia University and a BS in Microbiology and Immunology from The University of Western Ontario.