The Altria Executive Seminar Series is an important component of the MMR curriculum. Throughout the program, marketing research practitioners take time from busy schedules to visit the UGA campus and share their industry insight with MMR students. The series offers a valuable supplement to the traditional program coursework and provides a medium for introducing MMR students to the latest industry trends and practices.

All seminars are scheduled for 4:00 – 5:15 pm. Seminars are only open to students in the MMR program.

2023-2024 Series

Heather Waters (MMR Research)

June 14, 2023 – Creating Persuasive PowerPoint Presentations

Julie Haydu & Jaeger Senn-Flinn (Directions Research)

July 19, 2023 – Storytelling/Info Visualization

Dr. James Anderson (UGA)

August 23, 2023 – Managing Group Dynamics through Collaborative Problem Solving

Pricilla McKinney (Littlebird Marketing)

August 24, 2023 – LinkedIn Best Practices

Lindsay Zaltman & Jacque Barbush (Olson-Zaltman)

September 21, 2023 – Tapping Into the Consumer Unconscious

Paul Allaire (UGA)

September 26, 2023 – Pitch, Interviewing, and Negotiations

Mike Kessling (Chick-fil-A) & Remy Thim (SKIM)

October 4, 2023 – Client vs. Supplier

Gui Cerqueira (Worthix)

October 10, 2023 – Conversational A.I., Customer Surveys and Empathy at Scale.

Cat Knotts and IDE Team

November 7, 2023 – The Importance of Being an Inclusive Researcher

Erika Quinn (Disney)

December 1, 2023 – The Role of Insights in Storytelling

Tricia Houston (EBG)

January 18, 2024 – Experience Design

Hunter White, Paige Culpepper, Bryan Owens, & Prayash Koirala (Altria)

January 25, 2024 – Data & Insights Synthesis

Stacey Wetterer (Directions)

February 6, 2024 – How to Make the New Step Great

Zain Raj (Shapiro+Raj)

February 9, 2024 – Experience the Future

Jyoti Makhijani & Isaac Seppel (Merck)

February 15, 2024 – Market Research in Pharmaceuticals

Brendan Marz & Lisa Fridley (MarketVision)

February 20, 2024 – Advanced Analytics

Mike Courtney (Aperio Insights) & Cassini Nazir (UT Dallas)

February 28, 2024 – Let’s Talk About Tomorrow: Adding a Superpower to Your MR Toolkit

Rob Arnett & Chris D’Amico (Lynx Research)

March 13, 2024 – Agile/Accelerated Insight Delivery in Today’s MR Space

Jim O’Hara (MARC Research)

March 21, 2024 – Agile/Accelerated Insight Delivery in Today’s MR Space

Haley Swafford & Tyler Krug (Microsoft)

March 28, 2024 – TBA

Charles Guilbeau (Ferrero)

April 2, 2024 – The Digital Measurement Landscape

2022-2023 Series

Heather Waters (MMR Research)

June 15, 2022 – Creating Persuasive PowerPoint Presentations

Julie Haydu & Emily Shepherd (Directions Research)

July 20, 2022 – Storytelling/Info Visualization

Gui Cerqueira (Worthix)

September 22, 2022 – Conversational A.I., Customer Surveys and Empathy at Scale.

Mike Kessling (Chick-fil-A) & Remy Thim (SKIM)

September 27, 2022 – Client vs. Supplier

Dr. James Anderson II (UGA)

October 4, 2022 – Managing Group Dynamics through Collaborative Problem Solving

Thania Farrar (Burke)

October 11, 2022 – Strategic Narration

MMR IDE Committee

October 13, 2022 – The Importance of being an Inclusive Researcher

Paul Allaire (UGA)

October 19, 2022 – Pitch, Interviewing and Negotiations

Tricia Houston & Dan McDonald (Experience Built Group)

November 2, 2022 – Experience Design

Erika Quinn (Disney)

November 11, 2022 – The Role of Insights in Storytelling

Zain Raj (Shapiro+Raj)

November 18, 2022 – Experience the Future

Charlie Farr & Mike Kessling (Chick-fil-A)

January 11, 2023 – Research Innovations at the Hatch

Paige Petrey (Altria)

January 26, 2023 – Data and Insights Synthesis

Brendan Marz & Lisa Fridley (MarketVision)

February 21, 2023 – Advanced Analytics

Mike Courtney & Jennifer Dale (Aperio Insights)

March 1, 2023 – Organ Donor Qual – Two Methods, One Goal

Lindsay Zaltman (Olson-Zaltman)

March 21, 2023 – Tapping into the Consumer Unconscious

Michael Zalesne (Quadrant Strategies)

March 23, 2023 – How to be a Consultant

Jim O’Hara (M/A/R/C)

March 30, 2023 – Agile/Accelerated Insight Delivery in Today’s MR Space

Kristen O’Brien (Kantar)

April 4, 2023 – Starting Your Career Remote

Stacey Wetterer (Directions Research)

April 11, 2023 – Onboarding/What to Expect When Beginning Your Job

Charles Guilbeau (Ferrero)

April 18, 2023 – The Digital Measurement Landscape