Our Speakers
Innovation Expert, Author and Co-Founder of Agents of Spring, Australia
Evette Cordy is an innovation expert, keynote speaker and workshop leader with 20+ years of international experience in research, creativity and innovation. Evette facilitates highly interactive and engaging workshops to identify opportunities and facilitate new ways of thinking in organisations. Her mission is to transform individuals and teams to think differently and stretch to their potential. A registered psychologist, Evette's rich understanding of customer behaviours, motivations, and drivers has allowed her to find and solve business problems and develop new products and services for many of the world's best-known brands using creative problem solving. Evette Cordy is also an entrepreneur who has applied her agency's innovation approach to launch a better-for-you beverage company, www.calmandstormy.com, which currently ranges Australia-wide across major retailers and cafes. Outside of work Evette is the current 50year+ 800m and 4x400m World Champion and recently broke the World Record in the 4x400m relay at the World Masters Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden. Evette earned her degrees in Melbourne, Australia: a BA in Psychology + Psychophysiology, a Grad Dip in Applied Psychology and a Master of Organisational Psychology. Evette is also the author of Cultivating Curiosity: How to unearth your most valuable problem to inspire growth.
Chief Insights and Analytics Expert at Reckitt, United Kingdom
Dr. Elaine Rodrigo is a transformational leader in AI, data and insights, currently serving as the Chief Insights & Analytics Officer at Reckitt. An advocate for AI’s role in shaping the future of business, Elaine is dedicated to creating sustainable growth by harnessing the power of AI to unlock deep insights and drive strategic decision-making. With more than 26 years of experience, Elaine has transformed insights functions across large FMCG companies such as Reckitt, Danone, and Mondelez. She currently sits on the Board of Stravito, an AI-driven SaaS start-up that made the list of Europe’s fastest growing companies Passionate about empowering women in leadership and fostering a people-first culture, Elaine’s personal purpose is to “inspire & enable every woman to be the best version of herself”. Elaine sits on the Board of Women In Research (WiRE) & is an active member of both the Allbright & Chief professional women’s networks.
Insights Director at MDI, Australia
Fiona has worked across a range of research roles for almost 20 years, mainly on agency-side, with a brief interlude on buyer-side. She loves international work & the challenges and excitement that comes with that work. Fiona has a particular passion for innovation and the improvement of data collection to fit consumers' behaviors and mindsets - she strongly believes that research approaches need to continually develop to remain relevant & truly capture consumer behavior. Fiona has helped to build MDI from the ground up, and between project she focusses on the continual development of MDI's proprietary mobile app platform, along with other exciting developments.
Consumer Science and Product Experience Global COP Lead at Haleon, Singapore
Over 27 years of diverse experience in Science, R&D Innovation and Consumer Research across the Academe, FMCG, FMCH and Nutrition industries. Kathy leads the Consumer Science & Product Experience Global Community of Practice (CSPX COP) responsible for defining, shaping and influencing the CSPX innovation strategy including developing leading-edge capabilities on consumer and sensory science in Haleon. Most recently, Kathy led the CSPX for APAC/China where she created and championed product experiences that are relevant and preferred by consumers. She drove and shaped the innovation pipeline and portfolio across multiple categories in consumer healthcare for APAC and China markets. She also enabled the design of superior product experiences and drove consumer empathy and centricity.
Human Insights Director ASEAN and South Pacific at, Coca-Cola, Singapore
Rara Naval
Rara Naval, has two decades of expertise in insights and strategy, specializing in the food and drink, personal care, and wellness sectors. Her expertise is on brand turnaround, category transformation and insights program evolution to accommodate new technologies in consumer understanding. Currently serving as Coca-Cola ASEAN and South Pacific Human Insights Director, she has worked in regional and global roles utilizing agile methodologies and cultural insights to drive business growth and market success. Rara honed her insights generation skills with stints at research giants, KANTAR and Nielsen, and leading MNCs, McDonald's and Unilever. She has a degree in Psychology and working towards her EMBA.
APAC Insights & Analytics Leader at Kellogs, Singapore
Imran Khan
Imran brings more than 14 years of experience in Data Analytics and Insights Solutions, Strategy and FMCG sales across key APAC emerging markets. With qualifications in Statistics along with an MBA dual specialization in Marketing & Finance, Imran brings experience across different business functions (Insights, Analytics, Strategy & Sales). Imran has experience working across critical and emerging markets and is adept at solving complex business problems using data analysis, insight extrapolation, storytelling, and linking it to business opportunities/implications. A clear thinker and leader, Imran excels at gathering insights from different sources in order to build stories and guide strategy & actions (Connect the dots to come to the "So what?").
Global Direcor of Innovation at MMR Research, South Africa
As a true researcher at heart, research innovation will always be my passion. Most recently, as the Global Innovation Director in Nova, the in-house technology innovation team at MMR Research, I am delighted to have the opportunity to explore, experiment with, and lead the implementation and adoption of new research methods that not only take advantage of the latest advances in AI and technology, but fundamentally help us to elevate the insight value we can deliver to our clients. Sharing more about these discoveries at conferences and through publications brings me great joy.
Head of CMI at Thai Samsung Electronics, Thailand
Ploy (Vorasaya) Suvanatap
An insight leader at Samsung, the world-leading consumer electronics company, with more than a decade of hands-on experience in diverse types of traditional and digital consumers and market studies across FMCG categories at Unilever, with roles including both market and regional scopes.
Regional Managing Director at Toluna-MetrixLab, Singapore
Gayatri Srikant, is the Regional Managing Director for Toluna-MetrixLab SEA-Australia. With over 20 years of extensive experience across different markets and industries, Gayatri works with strategic clients in the AMEA region and has been responsible for driving agile and innovative approaches. Based in Singapore, she loves to travel across the region for work and pleasure.
Global Head of Product Testing at Ipsos, Germany
Nikolai Reynolds
Dr. Nikolai Reynolds is the leader of global product development and testing at Ipsos. Ipsos provides a comprehensive range of support to businesses in various sectors, offering product development assistance in over 85 markets worldwide. Since 2018, Dr. Reynolds has been exploring Artificial Intelligence within the realm of product development. for more than a decade, Dr. Reynolds has held the position of an adjunct professor in the disciplines of behavioral sciences and econometrics at the University of Bonn. His scholarly contributions comprise over 30 publications, including books and articles. He has served on the editorial boards of various scientific journals, notably the British Food Journal.
Senior Vice President, Global Innvation at Ipsos, Canada
Jiongming Mu
Jiongming Mu is a Senior Vice President in the Ipsos global Innovation Research division. Based in Toronto, Canada, he is responsible for global Innovation Testing methodology and maintaining and developing the portfolio of research offers. Jiongming has worked in marketing and research for 20 years, The primary area of his experience is in Predictive Modeling, Forecasting, Opportunity Sizing, Marketing Mix Modeling and Concept/Product Testing, with an industry focus on Consumer Package Goods and Health Products. Jiongming holds a Master's degree in Marketing Research from the University of Texas and a Bachelor's degree in Economics.
CEO at Direct Research Korea, Republic of Korea
Jaeyoon Ahn
Jay Ahn is a seasoned market and marketing research professional based in South Korea, boasting over 14 years of experience. He currently serves as the CEO & Project Management Director at Direct Research Korea, where he leads consumer and market research projects, emphasizing client communication and strategic project execution. Jay's expertise encompasses both B2B and B2C research, category management, and the development of innovative research methodologies. He holds an MBA from Kongju National University and a background in Marketing from Liberty University. His career has included impactful roles at Analytic Edge and The Nielsen Company, enhancing retail strategies and marketing ROI through data-driven insights.
Consultant at Kantar, India
Sandeep Dutta
MBA with specialization in marketing. Started career with PQR (Qual unit of IMRB) more than two decades back, spent few years in media to come back to Qual research again. In the second stint worked with Research International in their UK and India offices before moving to Kantar India. During this long haul have had an interesting mix of research studies from rural to digital ethnography to co-creation with consumers, kid world to grey world??.and more. Special areas of expertise: Cultural studies, Brand strategy and Communication Conducting creative workshop with consumers with the objective of developing new product and communication ideas.
Senior Manager of Consumer Insights at Nestlé, India
Shilpa Gupta
Shilpa leads the Consumer Insights function for Foods and innovation opportunities at Nestle India Ltd. She has an impeccable experience of 15+ years into Marketing and Consumer Insights, with expertise spanning across understanding current consumer trends and future trending, Human truths, communications, brand positioning, innovations, etc. Prior to Nestle, she has Led the Insights function in Perfetti Van Melle, India and TNS India Pvt Ltd (now Kantar). A Research all-rounder, she is known for her "get it done" attitude and creative thinking; a person who embraces change and believes in constant learning.
Advanced Analytics and Strategic Insights Lead at Mediacorp, Singapore
Bipinchandra Mundhwa
Seasoned Audience & Market Researcher (MBA, MSc, Lancaster University, UK). Authored a book called "The Advertising Mess" on Cross Media Engagement Over 18 years of diverse experience across the media landscape: - Audience Measurement: BARC India, MRUC - Media Houses: Times Group, India Today Group - Media Agencies: Mindshare (Group M) & Percept Media - Research Organizations: Kantar - OTT Platforms: ZEE5 Currently leading Advanced Analytics and Strategic Insights at Mediacorp, Singapore. Specialties: ? Audience Measurement, Advertising Research, User Research, CX, UI/UX research. Consumer Insights and Social Media Listening. Quantitative Forecasting, Cross Media Analytics.
Advanced Analytics and Strategic Insights Lead at Mediacorp, Singapore
Alex Chen
Alex leads the Strategic Insights practice at Mediacorp and is responsible for driving actionable analytical insights for enhancing audience reach and engagement. Before joining Mediacorp, he worked as Director of Business Planning at WPP agency Mindshare in APAC and the UK. With over 20 years of econometrics experience, he has spearheaded numerous MMM (Marketing Mix Modeling), cross-media attribution studies, and clickstream analysis for clients from various industry sectors. Alex holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Birmingham (UK) and has published academically in the fields of Management and Finance during his academic career.
Founder at bric, Netherlands
Barbara du Perron
Barbara began her journey into the world of consumer insights almost two decades ago. She graduated in Industrial Design Engineering with a project for MetrixLab, translating offline creative workshops into an online co-creation method, enabling hundreds of consumers to brainstorm with brand marketers. After a 15-year career at MetrixLab, she established her own business three years ago, specializing in insight innovation and strategy. She helps her clients navigate the ever-expanding array of new technologies and solutions in our industry to facilitate consumer-centric decision-making. Currently, Barbara is immersed in the development of her own solutions in the VR and MR domain, rekindling her passion for co-creation and taking it from the realm of 2D digital to a fully immersive space
Global Leader Insights & Analytics at Specialized, Netherlands
Ewoud van Bennekom
Ewoud van Bennekom is the Global Leader of Insights & Analytics at Specialized, a renowned bicycle brand at the forefront of innovation in the cycling industry. With a proven track record of bringing consumer-centric culture to organizations, Ewoud is dedicated to developing products and brands that deeply resonate with customers. His extensive experience in consumer and market insights spans various global leadership roles, including positions at ASICS EMEA, TomTom, and PGGM. Ewoud's expertise and leadership have been instrumental in driving customer-focused strategies and fostering a deep understanding of consumer behavior within the organizations he has served.
Executive Director at NielsenIQ, India
Debanjana Kapoor
I lead the Qualitative Division in NIQ. Given my academic background in sociology, I take a keen interest in understanding human behavior and cultural narratives to solve business challenges. Passionate about creating socio-cultural frameworks which guide strategy and innovation. When not working, love travelling, immersing in the local food culture and soaking in authentic expereinces and spending time with my kids.
Innovation Insights Lead at Diageo, India
Srinivasan Mohan
Srinivasan (Srini) is a marketer with over 8 years of experience across consumer neuroscience research, marketing analytics and product marketing. When he's not wondering how consumers think and behave, he is immersed in football, reading, playing the drums, and trying his hand at stand-up comedy.
Consumer Science Expert, at L'Oréal Research & Innovation, China
Ying Hu
With over 12 years experience in consumer insights and market research from both client side and agency. Ying is passionate about translating user understanding into actionable business strategies. Her expertise lies in qualitative and quantitative research methodologies and thrives on exploring innovative approaches to uncover and address unmet consumer needs. At L'Oréal China R&I since 2018, Ying has played a key role in driving successful product launches by integrating user experience research throughout the entire innovation and development lifecycle. Her prior experiences include UX design at design studio and social listening data analysis at Kantar Media CIC, serving leading FMCG companies.
Senior Director of Insights & Analytics at Colgate -Palmolive APAC, Hong Kong
Jessica Xu
Currently leading the I&A function in CP APAC division across 6 hubs, to drive the capability acceleration on INNO & BEX, ADVANCED ANALYTICS and CONSUMER AFFAIRS Over 25 years industry experience in consumer Insights, data analytics, new product incubation and digital transformation and worked in multiple fields FMCG/beauty/health
Partner & Senior Business Director at Human8, Singapore
Daniel Teixeira
Daniel joined Human8 (previously InSites Consulting) back in 2010 and has recently become a Managing Partner. He has globetrotted the world, from our Belgium HQ in Ghent, to London, to currently leading the SEA Lifestyle team out of Singapore.? Daniel has been a key driver in the expansion and growth of Human8 across regions: growing our consultant teams, supporting the integration of new businesses into the group, and delivering high-quality insight programmes to global brands.
Senior CMI Manager at Unilever, Singapore
Ramanathan Vythilingam
Ram is Senior CMI Manager at Unilever, based in Singapore. Ram has over 16 years of Market Research experience - having worked at both the agency and client side. Ram's passion is in always pushing the narrative on the impact delivered by Market Research, finding new ways to unearth insights and to push the boundary of what can be understood and learnt. Ram has presented at multiple industry events, on experimental projects and thought pieces intended to inform and inspire. Ram is also an Adjunct Professor at Business Schools in Singapore, inspiring the next generation of Marketing and Market Research professionals.
Partner at TRA, New Zealand
Colleen Ryan
Colleen Ryan is recognized in the international research industry for her notable contributions to innovation in research. Together with Wendy Gordon, she co-founded The Research Business International (TRBI), lauded for its pioneering role in the methodologies of insight gathering and application, and creating the boutique research category in the UK. Over the last decade, Colleen has played a pivotal role at TRA as a partner, steering thought leadership and innovation strategies within TRA's operations across Sydney, Melbourne, and Auckland. Her expertise is extensive and multifaceted, encompassing brand strategy, cultural sociology, cognitive psychology, behavioral science, applying these disciplines to continuous innovation in research and its application to marketing.
Head of Planning at DDB, Australia
Matt Pearce
Matt Pearce is an awarded insight, brand, and creative leader, currently Head of Planning at DDB Australia. Long before he donned the black t-shirt, Matt started off as a researcher, spending hours deep in people's lives or complex datasets to peel out useful insights for brands. This experience across The Leading Edge, GALKAL and more recently as Managing Director at Fiftyfive5, has ensured strategy has never strayed too far from the truth, and has seen the many businesses he's consulted find the rewards of that. Recruited from a workshop, he moved into creative as Planning Director at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and AMV BBDO London. In his time at Clems from 2012 - 2019, helping the agency become recognised as the world's Top Creative Agency, win Cannes Lion Grand Prix and a Grand Effie.
Managing Director of APAC at PRS IN VIVO, Singapore
Sophie Mahé
Sophie Mahé, MD APAC, based in Singapore since 2021 (after 3 years in China) is leading PRS INVIVO across key geographies (SEA, China, AU, India). Sophie has 24 years of experience in market research across Europe and APAC and she is specialist of shopper & behavioural insights. From NPD & pack performance, to shopper research, Sophie has developed a unique breadth of expertise to approach brand behavioural performance at moments of truth. She was appointed in 2015 Innovation Leader on methodological developments, that have been used for strategic brand renovations by PRS INVIVO global clients like Mondelez, Danone, Bel & L'Oréal. She is passionate about ecommerce and shoppers' strategies, especially in China and has worked on multiple content on the topic during her time in Asia.
Founder at Caike.io, France
Thomas Clavreul
Thomas is an eCommerce and digital marketing expert focusing on the FMCG. Over the past decade, he has contributed to global companies' digital strategy and brand development, including Pernod Ricard, L'Oréal, and Danone. His experience in global departments and local markets is around leading projects such as global identity transformation and digital commerce initiatives. He then founded Caike, a Digital shelf consulting firm that specializes in eCommerce optimization and scaling eContent production for global brands. Recently, Thomas has been applying his eCommerce and branding expertise to behavioural science, collaborating with PRS IN VIVO experts to conduct research that enhance understanding of eCommerce shoppers' behaviours and how to nudge consumers across the path to purchase.
Director at Vox Populi Research, India
Rajeswari Bonala
Raji Bonala has over 31 years' experience in consumer insights across India, Egypt, UAE & Canada - on the agency and client side. On the agency side, Raji worked with Quantum and Kantar (India, UAE), Nielsen (Egypt), & with Kraft Foods, Dubai & Toronto, & J&J on the client side. Since 2008, she has been running Vox Populi Research, an MR consultancy, heading qualitative research. The business environment is volatile and unpredictable, technology & demographic shifts have a big impact on the way marketing initiatives are set up & received. Understanding the new consumers (Millenials & Gen Z), bringing sensitivity to seeing consumer differences across the various markets, & respecting the consumer in decision making, have been vital skills.
Research Manager at MMR Research, United States
Noopur Sharma
Noopur Sharma has been a market researcher for the last six years, in India, before moving to the United States in 2022. Since then, she has worked as a freelance researcher across various categories. Her experience extends to categories such as FMCG, technology, alcobev, finance, household care, and health care.
Insight and Stategy Consultant at Chris Wallbridge Consulting, Philippines
Chris Wallbridge
Chris has worked for a number of agencies before becoming an independent consultant. He spent the first half of his career in London, followed by close to six years in China, and since 2022 he has lived in The Philippines. Having worked in different locations with global and local clients, he is well-versed in a full range of methodologies and holds expertise in multi-market projects including cross-functional stakeholders from different markets. Chris has worked with the Pernod Ricard Group since 2019, commissioned for multiple projects by Pernod Ricard China as well as the Global Travel Retail organisation. He is currently nearing completion of his Executive MBA at The Asian Institute of Management in Manila.
Senior Insights and Intelligence Manager at Pernod Ricard, United Kingdom
Ben Liang
Ben Liang is a Senior Insights Manager at Pernod Ricard Global Travel Retail, having previously worked for Pernod Ricard China. With 10 years of experience , Ben has worked in the CI function in Market Research Agencies, a Media Agency, as well as Client side of FMCG. Throughout his career, Ben has led successful consumer understanding and strategy synergy, resulting in an increase in sales & brand equity, media campaign optimization, and product innovation. Ben has passion on utilizing new research technology, big data, and digital solution to provide market insight and achieve business growth. Ben holds a Master degree in Financial Mathematics and computation from University of Leicester.
Data Science Team Lead at NEPA, United Kingdom
Patrick Duenizinger
Patrick has 5+ years of experience working with marketing science and consumer Insights. He studied Engineering in Germany and Marketing in London before moving into data science. At Nepa, he heads a team of data scientists working on analysing and quantifying the impact of marketing activities on both long-term brand and short-term sales.
Senior Client Strategy Director at NEPA, Sweden
Andrea Goeres
Andrea is a skilled insights storyteller, creative brand builder and passionate analytics translator who believes in driving business change by making the complex world simple. She is an expert in leveraging big data and market research to drive brand growth and brings a results-driven approach to delivering impactful insights that fuel business success. In her role as Senior Client Strategy Director at Nepa she empowers businesses to harness the power of data and transform it into growth opportunities.
Managing Director, Client and Head of Growth at Kantar, Thailand
Arpapat Boonrod
Nokki has over 23 years of experience in Insights consultancy for leading brands. She specializes in human understanding and business intelligence esp. consumer psychology, brand strategy as well as social and developmental research. Lecturer for research techniques and marketing for graduate students and Business Intelligence Course as well as for courses for clients. She is a columnist for business newspaper as well as a speaker for International conferences. In 2009, she received the Best Researcher Award from InsightAsia Research group and in 2008 InsightAsia Spirit Award. In 2018, she has received ESOMAR award for Best Paper in APAC on Digital Anthropology. In 2019, received Thailand Women Leader Award from CMO Asia.
Head of Sustainability, APAC at Kantar, Singapore
Trezelene Chan
Trez leads the Kantar Sustainability practice based out of Singapore. The core expertise of the Practice is in understanding the relevance of sustainability issues by sector, developing and helping activate meaningful and authentic purpose, devising innovation solutions, unlocking behaviour change, and structuring impactful measurement programmes for brands. She spearheaded the Sustainability Sector Index for the region to help businesses understand what matters to consumers and how brands can navigate their sustainable transformation. A regular contributor on the topic of environment, inclusion & diversity. In her free time, she likes to soak up the great outdoors through cycling, walking or running, and doing her best to get her kids to be more active and consume consciously.