Laura Baker is the CEO of KnowledgeHound, the world's only search-based survey data analysis solution leveraged by Fortune 100 companies.  KnowledgeHound empowers world-class organizations to unlock the potential hidden in their survey research. As CEO, Laura focuses on building KnowledgeHound’s incredible team, driving revenues, scaling operations, and developing partnerships to accelerate growth. She is also a Chief member, part of the Women in Research Exec group, a mentor to many, and a thought leader for Sales Assembly.  Prior to KnowledgeHound, Laura spent nearly 15 years at Mintel, the world's leading market intelligence agency, scaling and growing revenue and teams in the Americas. Previous experience includes AT&T, Kodak (remember them 😉), and Express.

Laura resides in South Tampa and regularly commutes to KnowledgeHound’s headquarters in Chicago, her previous home of twenty years.  She is a mom of three, wanderlust sufferer, expert shopper, wannabe avid hiker, martini lover and baseball junkie.

President of Global Qualitative Solutions at Veridata Insights, Katie has tallied 35 years of professional experience in quantitative and qualitative research, conducting thousands of interviews in B2B and B2C markets.

Much of Katie’s skillset can be attributed to her time in the global tourism industry, which seamlessly transitioned to the insights sector. Many of the themed attractions, resort experiences, and pricing / ticketing models seen in parks around the globe (including in the US, EU5, China, Singapore, and Japan) are a result of Katie’s contributions.

Working a 20-year stint at The Walt Disney Company, Katie is equipped with quite the contrary to a Micky Mouse track record when it comes to piloting teams to success. Analyzing key performance indicators, consumer and team member experience data, and market strategies, Katie directed her team to achieving recognition as a “Global Center of Excellence”. The wide-reaching scope of Katie’s work spanned themed attractions, transportation, manufacturing, engineering, construction, textiles, cruise lines, consumer products, competitive global landscape, public policy, and benefits.Additionally, Katie spent a 15-year tenure at Universal Park & Resorts, achieving a blockbuster level of experience beyond theme park insights, encompassing verticals such as resort rooms, dining, brand awareness, brand governance, and community relations.For a year, Katie actively consulted on pricing, products, partners, and processes, before officially joining Veridata Insights in August of 2021 to launch their QUAL Division.  The team has grown exponentially since that time, and with a focused eye on 1) Extraordinary Recruits, 2) Excellent Show Rates, and 3) Exceptional Client Service, the future is certainly bright!

Vashte is an Insights Visualization Consultant and founder of Slidedesignr. In 2006, with a background in Mechanical Engineering and Fine Art, she began her journey in Insights with Kelton Research as a focus group respondent. She quickly grew into an indispensable resource for running qual and quant research from A to Z, especially for deliverable design, on both the vendor and client side.

In 2012, she focused on solving the problems inherent in the creation of Insights decks and founded Slidedesignr to help a wider audience of researchers make better deliverables.

Today, using the unique Insights Accelerator model she has developed, she helps a wide variety of Consumer Insights Pros, Full-Service Providers, and major brands create PowerPoint reports their internal and external clients love and deeply value.

Vashte holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Southern California.

Elizabeth Merrick May has been pushing boundaries in the research industry for over 16 years. She currently serves as an executive advisor for tech start-ups and previously held global senior leadership roles at Spotify, Google, and Nest. Her experience spans across nearly all facets of research and analytics: user research, marketing research, data science, data engineering, campaign measurement, predictive modeling, product analytics, support analytics, CX research, and much more. Through her leadership, teams have launched some of the world's largest consumer tech initiatives including the annual Spotify Wrapped campaign, Google Home products, Chromecast, Nest Learning Thermostats, Google Pixel, and over 60 other products and services. Before working in tech, Elizabeth was an award-winning researcher on both the client and supplier side. She was on the Board of Directors of the Marketing Research Association (now Insights Association) and the Marketing Research Institute International. Elizabeth has been a keynote speaker at dozens of events including SXSW, CRC, TMRE, Front End of Innovation, and many others including WIRe events. She holds a Masters in Predictive Analytics from Northwestern University, an MBA from the University of Florida, and several other professional certifications.