Rick Kash is the founder and Chairman of The Cambridge Group. He is the author of the book, "THE NEW LAW OF DEMAND AND SUPPLY: The Revolutionary New Demand Strategy for Faster Growth and Higher Profits" (Currency/ Doubleday; September 2002).

In addition to The Cambridge Group, he co-founded Spectra Marketing Systems, a micro-marketing supermarket and mass merchandiser information system used by more than 90% of packaged goods and beverage marketers.

Rick serves on several community and business boards and speaks frequently to business groups on the subject of business growth. Rick is a member of the United States Senate Business Forum, a group of 36 businesspeople selected by U.S. Senators. The group meets with senators and cabinet members on a quarterly basis to provide independent views on national matters affecting the economy and U.S. business performance.

Rick Kash is a graduate of DePaul University.

Gloria Cox is the Managing Director with The Cambridge Group. She specializes in consumer products and services clients, working with them to develop market-driven growth strategies through consumer targeting, brand strategy and positioning, and new product development.

Prior to joining The Cambridge Group, Gloria was an Engagement Manager and core member of the Consumer Goods Practice at McKinsey & Company where she addressed strategic and organizational challenges for a number of consumer goods and services clients.

Prior to McKinsey, Gloria worked in market research in the Paper Division of Procter & Gamble. During that time, she was responsible for designing, executing, and analyzing custom market research for several key Procter & Gamble brands including Pampers, Luvs, Charmin, Bounty and Puffs.

Gloria graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Indiana University with a dual degree in telecommunications and business. She received her Masters of Management from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Tom Agan is with The Cambridge Group, the management consulting arm of The Nielsen Company, focused on brand & innovation.

Tom has extensive experience working on a wide range of branding, innovation, customer experience, marketing, and reputation issues across many industries including retail, professional services, consumer goods, financial services, media, manufacturing, high tech, pharmaceuticals and energy. Prior to joining Cambridge, Tom worked at Interbrand, Prophet, Kurt Salmon Associates, Cisco in their Internet Business Solutions Group, and Accenture (Arthur Andersen).

Tom’s work in innovation covers new brands, customer experiences, products or services but it does not stop there. He also assists in modifying existing or creating new business models - the collective components of an organization such as sales, IT and operations - to deliver innovations effectively and efficiently.

He has led numerous innovation projects in retail, consumer products, professional services, high tech, and automotive. Tom was also the leader of a first-in-kind product innovation best practices study revealing the financial impact of process, culture, organization structure and planning on new product development.

Tom is a 2012 judge of the Edison Innovation Awards.

He has been widely quoted in the press including the Wall Street Journal and has been interviewed on PBS, NBC and the BBC. In addition his articles have been published in Advertising Age, BrandWeek, BrandChannel.com, Automotive News and CMO Magazine. His white papers have covered a range of topics including ‘Voice of the Customer Programs’, ‘Growth: Marketing Incubators’, and ‘Micro-targeting’. For the Harvard Business School Tom has written a white paper on changes in the consulting industry. And he has taught the brand segment at the GE Advanced Marketing Program. Tom has spoken at many industry conferences including Consumer 360, Marketing Week (UK), NRF, BrandSmart, NACStech, HFD, IIR, Sustainable Brands, and the Economist CMO Marketing Summit (UK).

Tom holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a B.S. from Iowa State University.

Mary Blue is a Principal with The Cambridge Group. She specializes in retail and consumer products companies, working with them to address a variety of growth strategy issues, including portfolio strategy, market entry strategy, customer segmentation and targeting, mega-branding, pricing strategy and optimization, new product development and positioning, channel strategy and category management strategies. Additionally, she often works jointly with retailers and manufacturers to marry consumer insights with shopper insights, enabling growth for both parties.

Prior to joining The Cambridge Group, Mary was a Principal at Booz-Allen & Hamilton (now Booz & Co.), where she was a member of the Consumer and Health Practice. While there, she focused on strategic and operational issues in the beverage, consumer packaged goods, and retail industries.

Prior to Booz-Allen, Mary worked for General Electric Company in a variety of operations and service marketing leadership positions with GE Appliances, GE Capital and GE Aircraft Engines.

Mary holds an MBA with concentrations in economics and finance from the University of Chicago. She received her undergraduate degree from University of Michigan, graduating magna cum laude in Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Engineering/Operations Research.

Kevin Bowen is a Principal with The Cambridge Group. Since 1985, he has spearheaded numerous growth strategy and innovation engagements for a broad range of clients in the consumer products and services, pharmaceutical, financial services, and apparel arenas.

Prior to joining The Cambridge Group, Kevin was Vice President, Marketing and Corporate Officer for Shaklee Corporation, a direct marketer of nutritional, household, and personal care products. Prior to this, Kevin was Vice President, Marketing for the Wilson Sporting Goods Company, then a division of PepsiCo. He was also Market Research Director for The Quaker Oats Company with corporate-wide responsibility for innovation.

Kevin received his undergraduate degree from Brown University and holds an MA from California State University, an MBA from The University of Chicago, and a PhD in psychology from Dartmouth College.

Katie Clemency is a Principal with The Cambridge Group. She brings 25+ years of experience working with consumer and retail companies.

Katie collaborates closely with client partners to address a variety of growth strategy issues, including new and emerging market customer segmentation and targeting, portfolio strategy and resource allocation, and innovation strategy and process. Her work combines in-depth industry, consumer and competitive marketplace insights and economics, to create prioritized, actionable growth strategies.

Prior to joining The Cambridge Group, Katie spent 15 years at SC Johnson, where she held a series of brand marketing and general management positions, most recently as Business Vice President, Insect and Personal Care. During her years with SCJ, Katie led such brand names as Glade, Edge, Raid and OFF! to profitable growth, and was responsible for numerous successful new product introductions.

Katie also has considerable global business experience having worked overseas for two and 1/2 years while at SCJ and leading a number of large, multi-country consulting engagements.

Katie holds an MBA with a major in Marketing from the University of Wisconsin. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame, graduating magna cum laude with a major in Economics.

Michal Clements is a Principal at the Cambridge Group, the growth strategy consulting firm which is a subsidiary of Nielsen. She is the co-author of a book published in 2011 called “Tuning into Mom: Understanding America’s Most Powerful Consumer”.

Michal specializes in understanding moms and other customer groups to drive action oriented recommendations and business strategies for consumer products, financial services, and business-to-business clients.

“Tuning into Mom” examines how to capture mom's attention or 'tune into' her mindset, by understanding how the six hot-button themes of education, food, fashion and beauty, safety and health, technology, and exercise and sports change with the age of child. These themes are examined through the rarely explored perspective of young adult and teenage child and mom interaction, as well as the younger age ranges of mom's child, including tweens, elementary school, preschool, infants and toddlers.

Her recent assignments include the following: (1) due diligence for a private equity firm, (2) business assessment for a CPG client, (3) demand identification and product development for a better for you foodservice product portfolio, and (4) life insurance sales and marketing strategy development.

Michal holds an MBA with a Finance concentration from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She also has a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Wharton with majors in Marketing and International Business. Michal is a member of the Trustees Council for Penn Women and the Economic Club of Chicago. She is the Chief Financial Officer and Board Member for the Marketing to Moms Coalition, Ltd.

Jason Green, a Principal with The Cambridge Group, focuses on developing customer-driven strategies, new product development, positioning, and consumer segmentation for consumer goods, retail and services industries. In addition to working with clients, Jason also leads Nielsen’s global Growth and Demand Strategy practice. He has been published in the Harvard Business Review, among other publications, and has contributed significantly to two books.

Prior to joining The Cambridge Group, Jason was a Senior Engagement Manager within the Consumer Goods, Operations, and Organizational Performance Practices at McKinsey & Company. While at McKinsey he focused on strategic, operational, and organizational issues for consumer goods and industrial clients.

Prior to McKinsey, Jason was an Assistant Account Executive at NW Ayer where he developed advertising, positioning, and new product concepts for three Procter & Gamble food and beverage brands. Previous to NW Ayer, he was a sales/promotion representative for Procter & Gamble.

Jason holds a Masters of Management with concentrations in marketing, strategy, and finance from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He received his undergraduate degree, cum laude with distinction in psychology, from Yale University.

Scott Kluge is a Principal with The Cambridge Group. He specializes in helping consumer durable and financial service clients align with the customer buying process.

Scott’s experience includes working with manufacturers and retailers in the automotive, apparel, power tools, sporting goods, insurance, banking, and credit card industries. He has helped clients to better understand customer demand, to develop innovative products and services, and to more effectively move customers through the shopping funnel.

Before joining The Cambridge Group, Scott was a manager in Accenture’s Strategic Services practice and he started his career working on advertising campaigns at Leo Burnett.

Scott holds an MBA with concentrations in finance, management and strategy from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He received his B.B.A. in marketing from the University of Notre Dame.

Annika Olson is a Principal with The Cambridge Group. She focuses on developing market-driven growth strategies, including portfolio strategies, brand strategies and product line optimization. She has assisted US and multi-national clients in the food & beverage, health & beauty aid, retail and service industries.

Prior to joining The Cambridge Group, Annika was a Consultant with Bain & Company and The Boston Consulting Group where she led assignments in growth strategy, portfolio strategy, marketing strategy, operations improvement and mergers & acquisitions.

Annika also worked as a Commercial Banking Officer, marketing financial services to middle market companies in service industries.

Annika holds an MBA in Strategic Management from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where she was recognized as a Palmer Scholar, and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.

John Rountree is a Principal with The Cambridge Group. He focuses on developing demand-driven growth strategies through consumer segmentation, targeting, value proposition development, new product/offer innovation and driving greater share of wallet through customer satisfaction and loyalty. He has extensive experience driving growth for direct to consumer businesses including financial services, mobile telecommunications and other consumer services.

John joined The Cambridge Group from Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company where he was Senior Director of Strategy responsible for developing, evaluating and managing growth strategy initiatives as well as corporate development related opportunities.

Eddie Yoon is a Principal with The Cambridge Group. He has helped clients create winning growth strategies and business models in Consumer Packaged Goods and Durable Goods. He has particular expertise, research and articles about helping market leaders drive category growth and create new categories. To date, he has driven nearly $1B in incremental, margin accretive sales for his clients, including

1. Leading a food company to #1 share leadership and +40% growth for the company and +10% category growth
2. Helping a leading beverage player create $250MM+ in incremental margin via an overall growth, portfolio, mega-branding and innovation strategy
3. Growing a 60% share office products manufacturer +20% growth via a portfolio, marketing and merchandising strategy

Prior to this, Eddie was a Consultant at Sibson & Company, where he worked on organizational strategy and global merger integration assignments.

Eddie earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago, in both Political Science and Economics. He is also a regular contributor for the Harvard Business Review.

Dr. Venkatesh Bala is Chief Economist and Head of our Economic Center of Excellence. He specializes in understanding the evolution of markets as well as underlying strategic drivers such as demographics, macroeconomics, technology, regulation, differentiation, pricing and channel shifts, which are predictive of emerging demand and future business health and often form the basis for strategic realignment.

Prior to joining The Cambridge Group, he was a tenured Associate Professor at McGill University, Montreal and has also held visiting faculty positions and taught at Columbia and Yale. He has published extensively in leading peer-reviewed journals, and his research on the formation of social networks in Econometrica (the #1 academic journal in economics) was one of the earliest analytic contributions to the field and is also one of the most widely cited papers in game theory within recent years.

Dr. Bala holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a PhD in Economics from Cornell University.