Researcher

Mary is an innovative marketing strategist with more than ten years of product, project management and strategic planning expertise. She has worked in both large and small organizations and across all major marketing disciplines. In addition to her work with Brandtrust clients like Eli Lilly, Medtronic, Allstate, Nestlé and Hewlett-Packard, Mary's experience encompasses a Fortune 17 global healthcare provider, a global enterprise software and services firm, and three entrepreneurial marketing start-ups.

In her work with Appreciative Inquiry, Mary helps to uncover the most positive aspects of a respondent's experiences. This emphasis on the positive is the core to the Appreciative Inquiry methodology, which is founded in the notion that the heart of an organization is reflected in the positives. "Every organization has room to improve their customer experiences," Mary states. "The objective is to establish a deeper relationship with customers than the competition by taking the time to know customers and then to harness that knowledge across the organization."

Mary holds a B.A. in English from the University of Michigan. When she was first starting her career, Mary leveraged that degree to live a glamorous and cosmopolitan life while working in New York City as an editor of women's fiction. When asked if this means romance novels, Mary replies, "You betcha!"

Having long ago transitioned to more practical and less racy work in marketing, Mary most recently established her own marketing consultancy. As the mother of two very young children, she laughs when asked about hobbies, but still maintains a fervent interest in new music and a close relationship with her iTunes account. Someday soon she hopes she and her husband can polish up their rusty salsa, tango and swing-dancing skills.