Experience Required
Our decades of experience is much more than a mark of credibility. The experience to design and execute projects with incisive clarity, purpose and inventive methods is our essential difference. And it makes all the difference in delivering for our clients.
JON HALL
FOUNDER
Jon is the Founder & CEO of SpencerHall. He is a patented inventor with a 35+ year proven track record in creating innovative new concepts and branding strategies. He has a real aptitude for discovering patterns and themes in consumer behaviors/attitudes and using that to craft breakthrough ideas. Prior to founding SpencerHall in 1996, Jon spent 14 years in Brand Management at Procter & Gamble. His tenure included acquiring and re-launching Old Spice, as well as serving as Director of Beauty Care New Ventures where he created Olay Daily Facials. Jon graduated from Princeton University.
JON HALL
FOUNDER
Jon is the Founder & CEO of SpencerHall. He is a patented inventor with a 35+ year proven track record in creating innovative new concepts and branding strategies. He has a real aptitude for discovering patterns and themes in consumer behaviors/attitudes and using that to craft breakthrough ideas. Prior to founding SpencerHall in 1996, Jon spent 14 years in Brand Management at Procter & Gamble. His tenure included acquiring and re-launching Old Spice, as well as serving as Director of Beauty Care New Ventures where he created Olay Daily Facials. Jon graduated from Princeton University.
Denise Anderson
Denise has over 25 years of true expertise in identifying unique consumer insights for marketing strategy, positioning, and innovation. Prior to joining SpencerHall in 2004, Denise spent 10 years working in brand management and new product marketing for RJR Nabisco, S.C. Johnson, and The Coca-Cola Company. Denise received a B.S. from the Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Duke University. As a moderator, she has a proven ability to listen and connect with consumers to really understand their thoughts, needs and desires on a deeper level. She is also adept at crafting ideas and concepts to help deliver on consumer-based insights. Her extensive marketing, new product development, and moderating experience has also made her very effective at probing for those hidden needs, insights and ideas to help strengthen a brand.
Diane Bowman
Diane has over 20 years experience as a creative strategist, which makes her ideal as a researcher or innovation consultant. She balances heart and brain thinking; a mashup creative director + marketing director. From insights, positioning, architecture to creative solutions, Diane provides fresh thinking and inspiration to solve brand and business challenges. She leverages her broad category experiences in FMCG, service and retail brands to make connections and cross-fertilize ideas. She specializes in uncovering rich consumer insight, building visions, telling stories, and developing actionable plans to drive change and ultimately raise brand value. Diane graduated from the University of Dayton, with a BFA in Graphic Design.
Sue Conley
Sue is known for strategic rigor, creative insight, big ideas and ability to motivate diverse teams to deliver strong results. Before joining SpencerHall, Sue spent over 20 years in a variety of Brand Management and Marketing roles in Procter & Gamble’s Global Cosmetics business. Sue is also an Adjunct Marketing Professor at Johns Hopkins University. She has an MBA from Cornell and a BA in Psychology from Bucknell University.
Judy Copetas
Judy has 25+ years of insights, ideation and strategy experience. She spent 20 years at Procter & Gamble across their health, beauty and household care businesses with 3 years focused on the retail end of the business, specifically on the grocery channel. Judy focuses on bringing the power of meaningful insights to identify the right opportunity spaces and then develop strategies to capitalize on them. Judy has a BA in Political Science with minors in Business and History from Indiana University.
Laurie Dexter
As Operations Manager, Laurie coordinates the estimating and scheduling of research projects to ensure that we deliver our projects on time and on budget. Laurie works closely with our suppliers to ensure we receive the best cost for the best quality research. Prior to joining SpencerHall, Laurie worked as a CPA for Price Waterhouse and managed the accounting department of several grocery store chains.
Jessica Harden
As Marketing Manager, Jessica leads SpencerHall’s client curation program. This includes developing messaging that conveys the powerful benefits that our Disciplined Radical Thinking process offers to potential clients. Prior to joining SpencerHall, Jessica worked at advertising agencies and PR firms in London, Cincinnati and Charlotte, NC. In those roles, Jessica led a variety of social media campaigns and prospect outreach efforts. Jessica graduated from Elon University with a degree in Strategic Communications.
Lisa Hall
Lisa is a Research Consultant specializing in questionnaire design and programming, helping ensure the most effective ways to dimensionalize consumer feedback on SpencerHall's Sounding Board sites. Lisa has over 10 years of system programming and analysis experience with companies such as Procter & Gamble and NCR.
Teri Patane
As Director of Client Development, Teri is doing what she loves, building trusted, truly valued relationships. She has a proven track record helping clients find the best solutions to their business challenges. Prior to joining SpencerHall in 2023, Teri spent 28 years in this role working for Consumer Eyes and, prior to that, at Kane, Bortree & Associates, a company she helped build from the ground up. Teri attended SUNY, New Paltz as an Art Major.
Joanne Penne
Joanne joined SpencerHall with over 30 years of proven experience in Consumer Product Goods, Strategy Consulting, Healthcare, Retail and Banking. She honed her marketing, strategy and innovation skills at Unilever, Bel Brands and Walgreens. Joanne brings with her a high level of energy, a natural sense of curiosity and passion for consumer truths. She is adept at quickly cutting through the clutter, “connecting the dots”, and crafting clear strategies and compelling stories that drive businesses forward. Joanne has a BS in Economics and an MBA, both from Cornell.
Heather Schneider
As Research Manager, Heather oversees the execution of SpencerHall's qualitative research, ensuring that facilities deliver well-screened respondents, on time and budget. Before joining SpencerHall in 1998, Heather's background includes 10+ years at Cintas Corporation, where she managed qualitative and quantitative study design and implementation, including the creation of online data collection.
Brain Trust
These are some of the experts in SpencerHall’s Brain Trust. They truly are great minds that don’t think alike.
JT Mudge
Futurist & Data Strategist
JT is an award winning futurist and strategist with over 25 years of consulting experience. He has worked with numerous NGOs, governments, and corporations including the UNDP, U.S. CDC, The Nature Conservancy, Pew, Apple, and Samsung.
JT is a keynote speaker and advises organizations on strategy and foresight. He teaches foresight and change theory at the University of Houston.
Laura Schlehuber
Futurist
As a futurist, Laura is passionate about telling plausible and provocative stories about the future that inspire people to action.
Laura started her professional career at Ernst & Young (EY) as an actuary – a good fit for a double major in Mathematics and Statistics. After spending 10 years in EY’s People Advisory Services consulting practice and having earned a Masters in Foresight from the University of Houston, Laura co-led and designed the Foresight and Breakthrough Innovation practice at Kalypso, focusing on consumer product goods and retail.
Now as the research manager at University of Houston, Laura converts foresights into strategic opportunities and action. She is passionate about including intimacy, vulnerability, mental wellness and emotional intelligence in her analyses and forecasts.
Laura’s key areas of expertise include strategic planning, systems thinking, and innovation along the foresight methodology.
Laura received her BS at Southern Methodist University in 2006, and her Masters of Science Degree in Foresight at the University of Houston in 2014. Foresight is a multi-disciplinary study of change and its implications in the context of the future. It synthesizes insights from a wide variety of fields including economics, engineering, sociology, politics, systems theory, creativity and community building.
Dr. Yoo Kyung Chang
Technology Based Learning & Design
Dr. Yoo Kyung Chang is an Associate Clinical Professor of Emerging Technology at New York University.
With over 20 years of design and research experience, her expertise lies in the technology-based learning experiences across diverse learners (early childhood to adult), learning contexts (formal and informal), technology (web apps, MR), and design approach (game, playful learning, simulation etc.) to support and understand learning.
Dr. Yoo Kyung Chang received her Ph.D. from New York University where she developed and evaluated a Behavioral Measure of Metacognitive Behavior (BMMP) as an alternative means of learning assessment. Dr. Chang worked as a post-doctorate research fellow at the New York Hall of Science researching play as the framework for science learning. Dr. Chang received her masters degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University, one of the most pioneering programs in interactive media.
Dr. Sarah Lamb
Cultural Anthropologist
Dr. Sarah Lamb is a Professor of Anthropology, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Barbara Mandel Professor of Humanistic Social Sciences at Brandeis University. As a cultural anthropologist, Sarah studies the ways people construct their social-cultural worlds and identities, particularly surrounding age, gender, the body, family, religion, and nation. She critically investigates everyday life practices and experiences, medical and legal discourses, and taken-for-granted assumptions, as a means to understand both how social-cultural worlds are made, and the nature of the particular forms of aging and gender (body, nation, etc.) that people believe in.
After undergraduate training in religious studies at Brown University and graduate training in anthropology at the University of Chicago, she became a postdoctoral fellow in medical anthropology and sociocultural gerontology at the University of California-San Francisco. Her primary ethnographic research has been carried out in West Bengal, India and among Indian immigrants as well as older white Americans in the San Francisco and Boston areas of the United States.
Her several books include White Saris and Sweet Mangoes: Aging, Gender and Body in India (2000); Aging and the Indian Diaspora: Cosmopolitan Families in India and Abroad (2009); Being Single in India: Stories of Gender, Exclusion, and Possibility (2022); and (as editor) Successful Aging as a Contemporary Obsession: Global Perspectives (2017).
She is the editor of the Rutgers University Press book series Global Perspectives on Aging. As an Andrew Carnegie Fellow, Lamb is currently writing a book on her decades of ethnographic fieldwork in North America and India titled Successful Aging’s Global Moment: Visions and Dilemmas of Aging Well.
Sarah teaches a range of courses, including Contemporary Anthropological Theory, Anthropology of Gender, Aging in Cross-Cultural Perspective, South Asian Cultures and Societies, Anthropology of the Body, Medicine, Body and Culture, Introduction to the Comparative Study of Human Societies, Advanced Ethnographic Research Methods, and a graduate Gender and Sexuality Seminar.
A firm believer in interdisciplinary approaches, Sarah is also a member of the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department and the programs in South Asian Studies and Health: Science, Society, and Policy. She is also a member of Brandeis's Lifespan Initiative on Healthy Aging.
Dave Goldenberg
Advertising Creative, Emmy Nominated Writer and Award Winning Filmmaker
There are two sides to the brain, the logical and the creative, and Dave is known for employing both hemispheres—often simultaneously!—with equal aplomb. As a creative-minded strategist, he helps organizations discover new ways to define themselves. As a strategic-minded creative, he has built award-winning campaigns for clients of every shape, size and org structure. His specialty is drilling deep to discover essence of a brand and distilling that essence into a story that can be told and retold.
A seasoned but casually dressed senior executive, Dave is expert at leading organizations (sometimes kicking and screaming) through the difficult process of building their brands, and—critically—at winning participation and support from the C-suite through the trenches.
Dave is also a writer, and brings years of copywriting experience to message development and communications. He leads qualitative research initiatives as well, and has learned at last to steer clear of focus-group M&Ms. His recent branding clients include the global health and development organization FHI, the kids’ magazine Highlights, Goodwill, Madame Alexander, the African Wildlife Foundation and the Bonnaroo festival.
Dave has held senior positions at Anderson & Lembke and Chiat/Day, two of the most highly regarded communications agencies, and for a decade he has led the boutique agency The Dave and Eddy Show.
A student of branding science, Dave has developed an approach for giving startups and established companies alike the communications foundation their business efforts require. Dave is also an award-winning filmmaker, Emmy-nominated writer and working singer-songwriter. He lives in Ridgefield, CT.
Alex Woo, PhD
Alex is the founder and CEO for W2O, a food technology firm for the past twelve years. He specializes in creating Better Food with niche expertise in contemporary taste & smell neuroscience and state of art clean label plant-based sweeteners and flavors.
Food and beverage companies hire him to bring food science to their new product development efforts on topics such as sugar reduction, salt reduction and multisensory eating experience. Food ingredient firms retain him to lead the creation of plant-based sweeteners and sweetness modulators.
Alex also served as Chief Science Officer Sweeteners for Amyris a clean ingredient discovery company (2019-2021), and as Chief Innovation Officer for Nascent a stevia sweetener leader (2017-2019). He is currently on the science advisory board for Aromyx a biosensor startup, and Advance International a marine protein startup all near Silicon Valley.
Prior to that, Alex had held various R&D leadership positions in companies including Pepsi, Starbucks, and Wrigley. He led technical teams to achieve business results. Alex holds a PhD in Food Science from University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Ale’s feature practices include:
Sweetness Modulation: How to apply taste and smell neuroscience to create natural sweetness modulators to make stevia and monk fruit taste more like sugar?
Salty Umami Kokumi Taste Modulation: How to apply taste and smell neuroscience to create clean label modulators for rich and delicious foods?
NeuroFoodScience: How to apply contemporary taste and smell neuroscience to make better foods, better human lives and our planet a better place?
Clean Label Sugar Reduction: How to get it done with plant-based sweeteners and sweetness modulators?
Sugar Reduction with Sight, Sound and Touch: How to make reduced sugar beverages and foods sweeter with sight, sound and touch?
4th Generation Stevia: State of neuroscience, ingredient technologies, and applications in foods and beverages 2021.
Monk Fruit Extract: Neuroscience, ingredient technologies, and applications in foods and beverages 2021.
Beyond Stevia and Monk Fruit: What are emerging high potency sweeteners and non/low caloric bulk sweeteners such as siratose and sweet fibers and what do they mean for sugar reduction?
Wendell Wilson
Industrial Designer and Illustrator
Wendell Wilson, IDSA, is a Professor of Practice in Georgia Tech’s School of Industrial Design. His teaching reinforces the connection between research and design. Recent class projects include collaborations with the CDC, VA, and industry sponsors.
Professor Wilson has received several awards for his teaching, while his students’ work has been been recognized — Grand Prize Winner of the Design Museum of Boston’s Street Seats Competition, Electrolux DesignLab Competition, the Victor J. Papanek Social Design Award, a GREEN Champion Award from CDC/HHS, and most recently one of 1 of 10 Finalists from field of 200 international entries from 92 Universities from 43 Countries as a part of the 2017 Global Grad Show in Dubai Design Week.
Wendell has operated Designasaurus since 1991, which specializes in product development and structural packaging. Previously, Wilson was Vice President of Product Design for Lee Payne Associates in Atlanta.
Recent projects of note include mockups used in the recent Jason Bourne motion picture and the design of digital tape measures, one of which is currently a bestseller in the MOMA catalog. Wendell’s work has also received an IDEA Gold award, named as an IDEA Finalist, received the 2015 National Hardware Show New Product World Winner, and a NASA Group Achievement Award.
James Intriligator, PhD
Mechanical Engineer and Human Factors Engineering
James Intriligator is the director of the Human Factors Engineering Program at Tufts University (Boston, USA). He is a Professor of the Practice in the Department of Mechanical Engineering (School of Engineering).
An interest in vision and the brain originally brought James to Harvard where he earned his Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience (1997). After a postdoc in neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, he left academia for five years and worked in venture capital and high-tech consulting firms as an entrepreneur, offerings designer, and innovation catalyst. In 2003, he merged his business experience with his scientific expertise and went to Bangor University (Wales, UK) where he was “Professor of Innovation and Consumer Psychology”. In his 13 years at Bangor, Intriligator created Europe's leading consumer psychology master's programs and co-developed several multidisciplinary design programs (Enterprise by Design and Social Enterprise Accelerator). He was named a UK National Teaching Fellow in 2014.
James joined Tufts University in 2016 to lead the university’s renowned Human Factors Engineering program into its next phase of innovation and growth. He is the author of over 50 publications in fields as diverse as design, human factors, neuroscience, neurology, consumer psychology, physics, and literary criticism. James’ latest research is primarily in the domain of innovation, design, and human-machine systems. This broad area covers everything from assistive and social robots, to baggage screeners, to VR systems, to consumer products, to military and medical devices. In addition to his work within the university, he also works with global organizations as well as local social-enterprise and social-justice groups. He has worked with dozens of national and international companies, including Unilever, The National Trust, Aldi, Mars/Masterfoods, Tesco, Johnson & Johnson, laterooms.com, and Cadbury, as well as banks such as Santander, Citibank, Alliance Bank, HBOS, and Lloyds Banking Group.
Wayne Chung
Industrial Designer
Wayne C. Chung is a Professor in the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University. Wayne’s research and work spans medical systems and devices, robot design, consumer, and industrial products. He teaches first-year Design Studio, Advanced ID studio: Product and Systems, How Things are Made, Applied Research Methods, DigiTech Tools, UX Design Tools, and Bio Medical Engineering.
Wayne utilizes design research methods and develops new processes to understand the person in context. This essential approach enables insight and appropriate innovation within a world of complexity. Material, aesthetics, fit, and other user experience variables can only be designed once the problem is appropriately framed and considered relative to the human, artifact, and environment context. Wayne has worked and collaborated with a range of clients, industry sponsors, and partners including: Bayer Material Science, Bridgestone, Ford Motor Company, Procter & Gamble, Texas Instruments, and Whirlpool Corporation
Prior to teaching at Carnegie Mellon, Wayne taught in the Department of Industrial, Interior and Visual Communication Design at The Ohio State University, and he served as the interim Director of the Industrial Design Program at Georgia Institute of Technology. His professional service includes elected positions in local IDSA chapters. Wayne was recognized by the Design Intelligence Journal as one of the 'Most Admired Industrial Design Educators' in the US.
Wayne is the author of the book titled, The Praxis of Product Design in Collaboration with Engineering. It is a culmination of applied methods, case studies, and unique views in respect to numerous industry collaborative experiences and studio-based design education.
Brooke Brandewie
Strategic Foresight and Trends Forecaster
Brooke Brandewie is a designer, educator and researcher specializing in the areas of strategic foresight (trend analysis and forecasting, consumer insight), design pedagogy, design entrepreneurialism, and user-centered apparel design development (currently uniforms for first responders).
She is currently an Associate Professor in the Myron E. Ullman, Jr. School of Design at the College of Design, Architecture, Art, & Planning (DAAP) at the University of Cincinnati.
In her professional experience, she has worked in research, design, and strategy capacities on an array of projects, ranging from transforming the cancer patient journey, pain management, elder abuse awareness and prevention, and personal care, to soft goods and apparel including luxury packaging, garments for the prevention of pressure ulcers, garments for people living with hypermobility, and fabric care.
Brooke continues to work with clients through her strategic foresight consulting LLC, and has facilitated trend forecasting workshops both nationally and internationally for industry and academia.
Blaire Bender
Social Media Expert
Blaire Bender is a creative marketer who has worked at Google for almost a decade. She brings experience in B2B and B2C marketing, specializing in social media marketing, creative campaigns, customer experience strategy, content creation, and user insights.
She is an expert in bringing Gen Z and Millennial consumer insights - analyzing purchasing behaviors, media consumption, and interests. Through her tenure in big tech, Blaire has overseen launching new global brands and products through managing social media channels and ideating campaigns that are built from strategic consumer insights.
She has partnered with major brands like YouTube, Fox, The Simpson's, Wonder Woman, Major League Baseball, and the Golden State Warriors - reaching hundreds of millions of users through partnership content.
In addition to her experience at Google, Blaire consults with startups in Silicon Valley focused on consumer travel tech and sustainable footwear. Most recently she served as an executive producer on an upcoming indie feature film that will be released during film festival season 2024.
Blaire graduated undergrad from the University of Oregon with a BS in Advertising and a minor in Business Administration and Computer Science, and she recently finished an executive MBA program at the University of Pennsylvania - Wharton School of Business in Summer 2023. She lives in New York City via San Diego roots.
John Benzick
Entrepreneur, Founder & President of Venture Superfly and Tech Partner in Matchstick Ventures
Think of John as a startup catalyst. His purpose is to help people discover and grow their entrepreneurial courage. Every day, he's motivated to help people find and apply their buried entrepreneurial talents. John specializes in helping individuals find synergies between themselves and a viable business idea – to boost their work-life satisfaction.
As an experienced entrepreneur, marketer and investor, John has observed that most startups fail due to a lack of “fit” between the entrepreneur and his or her business idea. While most startup advisors help entrepreneurs achieve a “product/market fit,” John adds the crucial “self” piece to this equation (as in “product/market/self fit”). After all, if an entrepreneur isn’t fully aligned with her business idea, her startup will suffer.
His efforts to coach entrepreneurs include creating Venture Superfly, an online course that helps entrepreneurs launch a new business. It's a simple-to-use, 3-step application that helps entrepreneurs align their personal traits with a viable business idea, to help ensure startup success.
Unique features include:
WholeVenture 3-step methodology
Rewind Timeline
LifeTrak and IdeaTrak tools
EZ-Flow Business Planning System
John is also a Tech Partner at Matchstick Ventures where he's an advocate of -- and investor in -- early-stage technology companies, including Kidizen, Localize, Kapta, Kipsu, Adhawk and others. Previously, he was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Minnesota, where John mentored student entrepreneurs.
Don Riker, Ph.D
Senior R&D and Innovation Expert
Donald Kay Riker, Ph.D. is the President & Founder of On Point Advisors, LLC, a consultancy focused on consumer healthcare, the former Editor-in-Chief, OTC Product News, and the current CEO, Modular Therapeutx, LLC, whose innovative TENS patents (with Smartphone control) for lower back pain are now licensed to Hollywog.
Don is the former Vice President of Research & Development & Chief Scientific Officer, Chattem, Inc. and a Procter & Gamble Associate Director & Research Fellow. At Chattem Don was responsible, among others, for the Icy Hot topical analgesic brand’s product development and skin care brands such as Gold Bond Ultimate.
Don brings a wide experience to bear on how science-based consumer businesses use consumer insight and technology to grow revenues and how risks are assumed and managed. Don’s career of over three decades in the consumer health & beauty care sector reflects both operating and technology roles.
Don is most passionate about igniting creativity at the marketing/technology interface and interpreting under-perceived risk and opportunity for investors. Don spent twenty years in Personal Healthcare at Procter & Gamble and five years at Chattem, a manufacturer of leading over-the-counter health & beauty products, whose stock price increased over 8-fold during his tenure.
Don is a recognized medical scientist and member of American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, American Society of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics, American Society of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Infectious Disease Society of America, and The Society of Neuroscience. Don’s post-doctoral training in medical research was at the Yale University School of Medicine with Nobel Prize in Medicine laureate Paul Greengard and Robert Roth after receiving a Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Cornell University.
Tom Nussbaum
Sculptor and Functional Design Artist
Tom is an artist known for a variety of work including sculpture, drawings, paper cuts, prints, children’s books, animations, functional design objects, and large-scale public artworks.
His sculpture and works on paper have been exhibited in eighteen one-person shows in galleries and museums across the United States, and internationally. Since 1987 he has completed over thirty site-specific commissions located in a variety of settings including public plazas, train stations, schools, hospitals, environmental centers, and playgrounds.
Tom is also known for his inventive lighting and useful design objects sold in museum stores across the country such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, the Walker Art Center, the Dallas Museum of Fine Art, and the LA Museum of Contemporary Art.
Valued for his outside the box creative thinking and visual acumen, Tom has worked as a consultant for a variety of institutions and internationally known companies. He has been a visiting artist and lecturer at museums and universities, and has served on many peer review panels and juries. He has been awarded two New Jersey State Individual Artist Fellowships and is a three time MacDowell Colony Fellow. Tom also works as a visual consultant helping companies and public institutions understand how things look, and the visual impact they have on consumers and users.
Tom currently works from his studios in East Orange, NJ, and Burlington Flats, NY. The Montclair (NJ) Art Museum will be having a retrospective of his work in September 2025.
Robert Clancy
Behavioral Science and Consumer Insights Expert
Robert Clancy is currently the Principal at RGB Consulting, his own consumer insights and strategy consulting company. He was previously Vice President at Mindstate Group, a behavioral science and research consulting company.
Robert has worked extensively in the packaged goods and retail industries, providing him with the unique ability to bring insights expertise to all stages of the product and shopping life cycles, from product development and innovation to the in-store experience. His insights leadership contributed to increased sales and distribution and built customer relationships for PepsiCo, Diageo, JCPenney, and Blockbuster.
Robert's other past experiences include consulting for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, helping establish an insights function for that organization; Vice President of Insights and Strategy for uSamp (now part of SSI), one of the leading mobile research companies in the country; and Vice President of Insights for Tu Familia, a technology company that developed mobile apps targeted to Hispanics.
Corrie Clark, MS, RDN, LD
Culinary & Nutrition Expert
Corrie Clark is a highly accomplished culinary, nutrition and wellness expert with a diverse background encompassing the development and implementation of large-scale local and global projects with the United States Military, Texas Department of Agriculture, California Dried Fruit Coalition, Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits, Medifast, Inc. as well as entrepreneurial ventures in retail startups focused on supporting local farmers. Corrie offers extensive experience providing strategic vision in the areas of nutrition and wellness, food service, and product development for top-tier organizations within the health & wellness industry.
Currently, Corrie is a Project Manager and Registered Dietitian Nutritionist for CIA Consulting, a division of The Culinary Institute of America, where she manages multi-faceted operations for key health and wellness, school nutrition, and performance nutrition-based clients. She is also an Adjunct Instructor for The Culinary Institute of America in San Antonio, TX where she teaches nutrition and food safety.
Prior to her role with The Culinary Institute of America, Corrie served as Clinical Dietitian and Culinary Teaching Kitchen Lead for the University Transplant Department at University Hospital in San Antonio, TX. She also founded and operated a niche catering company, The Farmers Market Pantry, in St. Helena, CA and co-founded the retail food service chain, Pokey O’s Cookies & Ice Cream, in Dallas, TX. Other earlier experience includes roles with St. Helena Hospital Napa Valley for the Bariatric & Metabolic Surgery Center, Chef de Cuisine & Registered Dietitian for the TakeTEN program, as well as served as Clinical Dietitian developing patient-centered care plans utilizing Medical Nutrition Therapy.
Corrie has proven to be an asset to every organization she has served, earning multiple awards, certifications, and licenses. Corrie holds a Bachelor of Science in Food & Nutrition from Texas State University and a Culinary Arts Certificate from The Culinary Institute of America. She has a Masters of Science in Nutrition & Dietetics from Texas Tech University.
Tyrell Crosby
Entrepreneur and Outdoor Enthusiast
Tyrell Crosby is a dynamic individual with a wealth of diverse experience and a passion for making a difference. As a retired NFL offensive lineman, Tyrell knows the value of teamwork and dedication, skills that he seamlessly translates into his various endeavors.
When he's not diving into the depths of the ocean as a scuba enthusiast, Tyrell can be found lending his expertise to the University of Oregon's Art Museum Board, where his creative insights help shape the cultural landscape of the university.
His commitment to collective action is evident in his involvement with the Pac-12 Alumni Committee, where he collaborates with fellow alumni to achieve common goals and drive positive change.
Tyrell's entrepreneurial spirit shines through in his role as an angel investor, drawing from his past experience as the owner of an insurance brokerage. He understands the challenges and rewards of business ownership and uses his insights to support budding entrepreneurs.
But perhaps most notably, Tyrell's philanthropic efforts have made a significant impact on numerous organizations and causes. From partnering with brands like Nike and working with initiatives such as Mr. Beast's Team Trees, Tyrell has helped raise more than $1M for organizations like Make-A-Wish, St. Jude, Opportunity Village, PADI, and the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.
With his diverse skill set, unwavering dedication, and heart for service, Tyrell continues to leave a lasting legacy of excellence, compassion, and positive change in everything he does. He currently resides in Las Vegas and consults with startups, enterprises, and organizations.
Sam Goldstein
Creative Intelligence and Divergent Thinking
Sam’s mission is to foster and inspire creativity & innovation in an ever-changing world.
While bartending at the infamous Ashley’s in Manhattan, Sam began his career in advertising. First, as writer / art director at Case & McGrath Advertising which led to VP Creative Director at Grey Advertising, and eventually running his own business.
Sam ‘s divergent thinking style is a combination of curiosity, research, analytics & logical progression used to artistically unearth a creatively innovative solution. In 2007, working with, while learning from, world-renowned futurist & author of “The Deviant’s Advantage”, Watts Wacker… Sam was an integral catalyst in the cultural transformation of Hasbro, Inc. Sam helped to innovate this toy & game company by transitioning them into a PLAY company. Their new mission: Creating the World’s Best Play and Entertainment Experiences
From 2006 – 2007, Sam created & facilitated an extremely successful experiential marketing initiative for Fairfield Connecticut’s Fairfield Theatre Company (FTC), a non-profit, live music, arts & entertainment venue. Music was nothing new to the area. But by creating an innovative, deviant approach that today continues to appeal to both artists and audiences, Sam changed the face of downtown Fairfield that, in turn, helped them garner a 2023 Cultural District classification.
In 1998, Sam started teaching at Fairfield Connecticut’s Sacred Heart University. His courses included The Art of Critical Thinking; Principles of Marketing, Innovation & Entrepreneurship; and Integrated Marketing Communications. Sam’s teaching-style is a combination of Game Theory, Socratic & Aristotle Methods… with hands-on application.
Sam was the catalyst for the “More Than Music” initiative, a student-run, university-wide, Coachella-style showcase of student talents & achievements. Sam also created “Outside-The-Box”… a two university, town-wide, elementary school innovation program / event. Sam created and moderated a speaker series with his network that included: Uggs Founder Brian Smith; Tony Award Winner Danny Burstein; William Pitt/Sotheby’s CEO Paul Breunich; Barcelona Wine Bar Marketing Director & Creative Director Drew McConnell & Gretchen Thomas; Future Career Development Team Bryan Mattimore & Chris Bishop… to name a few.
Sam’s vast experience has had him working with many top-tier clients as well as with world-known celebrities and artists. Sam taught courses at The New School & School of Visual Arts, both in NYC. And, to keep his involvement with the ever-changing youth culture, he is the ‘on-call’ sub for a private K-8 school. Sam studied fine art at the University of Hartford Art School and majored in Media Arts at the School of Visual Arts where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.