Tawny Abaniel
VP, Data and Insights Group
Paramount+ Business Intelligence

Tawny Abaniel is Vice President of Business Intelligence in the Paramount+ Data and Insights Group. She has over 15 years of experience and specializes in media measurement. She has developed marketing analytics frameworks and operationalized workflows to deliver insights that drive growth. She has a breadth of experience across industries from finance to education.

While at Stanford University, she assisted on the research of “Social Effects in the In-Flight Marketplace: Characterizations and Managerial Implications,” which was published in the Journal of Market Research. She was also a guest lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and State University of New York. Tawny has a B.A. in Environmental Economics & Policy from the University of California at Berkeley. She was a Fulbright-Hays Scholar where she pursued her interests in the Philippines.

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Maria Barva
Sr. Director National Research & Analytics
iHeartMedia

Maria leads the Premiere Networks arm of iHeartMedia’s National Research and Analytics team. She is passionate about the uniquely personal connection of audio channels with listeners and has an expertise in nationally syndicated audio personalities, utilizing data to understand audience profiles and behaviors as well as identify audience alignment with brand messaging. Maria also has experience in ad effectiveness where she created the design, oversaw the implementation, and developed actionable insights from the research for key client campaigns. She is particularly excited to be a part of the research community at a time when media usage and data availability are in a pivotal stage of growth and evolution.

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Tiffany Burns
Manager of Research & Analytics
Avocados from Mexico

Tiffany Burns is the Research & Analytics Manager at Avocados From Mexico and brings a wealth of expertise in Retail, Marketing, Food Service, and logistics to her role. Graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University, she has dedicated her career to refining processes and effectively communicating actionable insights to senior management.

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LaToya Christian
Managing Partner,
GroupM

LaToya Christian is a Managing Partner at GroupM in New York. As a conscious marketer, she infuses culture into the area of data analytics and strategy to tell rich, impactful brand and consumer stories. In her role she leads a team of marketers that spearhead special projects, build insights led marketing and media strategies and implement best in class measurement methods. She currently manages client relationships across multiple categories, including Tech, Retail and Entertainment. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Hampton University and a Master of Science Degree in Integrated Marketing from New York University with a specialization in Brand & Digital Marketing.

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Nicole Jones
Chief Media Commercial Lead
Kantar

Nicole Jones is the Chief Media Commercial Lead at Kantar. In her role, she helps clients navigate the constantly and rapidly changing landscape of online networking, while ensuring commercial excellence.
With new brands continually appearing and existing brands changing in how consumers perceive them, media and entertainment brands need to understand, in greater depth, the diversity of their audiences. Nicole’s expertise helps her clients to develop content that resonates with the audiences they’re cultivating. Based in New York with over 20 years immersed in the media and digital industry, she does just that for the world’s largest publishers – from Meta to TikTok. What makes Nicole Jones really tick is proving a hypothesis and answering challenging business questions through data integration. During her tenure, having seen incredible evolution in publisher research programs, Nicole thrives on working with the latest cutting-edge technologies and solutions to make a difference for brands.
At Kantar, Nicole is passionate about driving strategy and growth agendas for her clients through a mix of client co-creation, ideation/innovation plus, partnering with client and product development teams to navigate optimal media decisions for their brand.

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Marissa Joseph
Principal Data Scientist
Nielsen

Marissa is currently a Principal Data Scientist within Nielsen’s Audience Measurement organization. She works on delivering custom projects to Media clients interested in integrating their custom surveys onto Nielsen panel data. She loves learning new things, using data to uncover insights and finding better ways of doing things. In her spare time, she is very interested in reading, watching too much television and exploring new places.

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Vita Molis
SVP, Head of Advertising Research
National Research Group (NRG)

Vita, a lifelong advertising enthusiast, has nearly 15 years of research expertise shaping marketing strategies, evolving products, and unlocking sales for global Fortune 100 brands. She recently embarked on a new chapter as the Head of Advertising Research at the National Research Group (NRG), where she is dedicated to establishing a robust practice area.

Before joining NRG, Vita was the Head of Research & Insights at TikTok. There, she was instrumental in building the Global Ad Sales Research & Insights practice. Known for thriving in dynamic environments, Vita tackles challenges head-on and excels in fostering teamwork and collaborative success. She is always eager to explore innovative research avenues and drive impactful advertising solutions.

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Megan O’Brien
Manager, Primary Research
Omnicom Media Group

Megan O’Brien is a Manager on the Primary Research team at Omnicom Media Group. Her role at Omnicom Media Group entails co-developing and managing custom research projects supporting thought leadership, segmentation, and consumer research about current social issues. She supports brands with consumer insights that they can harness through activation to better engage with their consumers in relevant and meaningful ways.

Prior to her current role, Megan worked on the research vendor side where she gained valuable skills and experience on the nuts and bolts of implementing and managing consumer and market research studies. Megan’s passion for research should not come as a surprise given her background in psychology and her natural curiosity about human behavior.

Megan earned a M.S. in Psychology from the University of Edinburgh and a B.S. with a dual major in Biology and Psychology from Stony Brook University.

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Jessica Soohoo
Creative Excellence, Account Manager
Ipsos

Jessica SooHoo is an Account Manager at Ipsos North America, specializing in the Creative Excellence service line. She provides comprehensive services spanning the full creative development process, from copy testing to campaign strategy assistance and creative support. Joining Ipsos three years ago, Jessica has adeptly utilized both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to drive her clients’ creative development, helping them achieve best-in-class advertising. Prior, Jessica received a B.S. in Marketing and Business Analytics from Indiana University and now lives in New York City.

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Jamie Thomas
Co-Founder
Cophi

Jamie was most recently CFO and HRD at Qubit, a SaaS business that grew from five to over 300 employees during his time there. He helped raise and deploy capital of over £80m and used organisational network science to help better manage growth and build a best-in-class people strategy.

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