User:Renee Cassard

Education: MA Developmental Psychology, Columbia University, Summa Cum Laude, 08 BS, Biology, Syracuse University, Magna Cum Laude, 97

Profession: Director Level Communications Strategist

Renee brings with her a unique blend of academic expertise and marketing experience. She holds a Masters in Developmental Psychology from Columbia University, where she examined the topic of epistemological understanding. Personal epistemology examines how a particular individual or group of people acquire their sense of "knowing" about a topic. The manner in which people arrive at their sense of knowing differs from one topic to another (think religion versus healthcare). In her role as a professional marketing communications consultant, Renee has been providing consumer insights, strategic communications, business consulting and market research to national marketing organizations, interactive advertising agencies, brand planning and public relations firms for over nine years.

Having nearly a decade of qualitative research experience in traditional, ethnographic, psychosocial, non-traditional qualitative research realms, Renee has moderated hundreds of focus groups and in-depth interviews. She has led these and other studies including ethnographies for clients such as Merck, Pfizer, Best Buy, Mannington, Toyota and TheraGenics. Today, she continues to provide insights to clients within a variety of industries including: Consumer Products and Services, Healthcare, OTC Pharmaceuticals, Education, Non-profit, Financial Services, Food/Beverage and PR/New Media campaigns.

In her last consulting position, Renee served as Brand Planning Director at Rapp Collins Worldwide in New York, where she led the deployment of online communications strategies for Merck pharmaceuticals. Her current consulting work takes place in Central America, and she is working on the development of her online start-up organization.