Meet Our Researchers
ORC International's dedicated team of research experts have unparalleled depth and breadth of industry knowledge. We are dedicated to working closely with clients to uncover and deliver action-oriented insight to help them make more strategic business decisions. Meet our team of industry experts:
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Advertising & Professional Services
Patrick Kane, Managing Director
As Managing Director in ORC International's On-Demand Research Group, Patrick Kane has more than a decade of experience in business consulting and market research. He has conducted extensive research and analysis on companies, markets and economic trends, particularly in the manufacturing sector. His areas of expertise encompass metals and transportation-related industries, including aerospace, trucking, ocean shipping, warehousing and rail and air cargo.Prior to joining ORC International, Patrick provided a portfolio of international clients with business and consulting services, including project evaluation, feasibility and market analysis and evaluation of potential joint venture partners. Patrick also has served as a Statistics Consultant at the United Nations, where he conducted statistical analysis and prepared data for secretariat publications. Patrick earned his Master of Arts in international affairs from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts from Spring Hill College.
Dan Arnold, Managing Director
As Managing Director of ORC International's Consumer Practice, Dan has over 15 years of research experience providing clients with customized research solutions for a wide variety of business needs. Having worked with a majority of ORC International's F1000 clients, Dan also advises some of ORC International's largest clients in market entrance and investment strategies, M&A evaluations, process improvements and sustainable innovation. His areas of expertise span both B2B and B2C, including home improvement and building products, OTC health and beauty aids, and consumer packaged goods.Dan earned a Master of Arts in Classics from Florida State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a member of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP).
Linda Shea, SVP, Global Managing Director
Linda provides leadership and direction to the organization's global focus on customer strategy and management. She has spent the last 25+ years working with organizations to help them maximize their customer relationships in ways that impact the overall performance of their business. Her work has included first-hand involvement with many of the quality initiatives (i.e., six sigma, TQM, QFD, etc.) employed by large corporations to drive the performance of their products and services while maximizing the efficiencies of their operations and productions. Her experience spans a cross-section of industries such as healthcare services, pharmaceuticals, distribution, technology, chemicals and plastics, professional services, industrial transportation, heavy equipment, and the U.S. government.Linda is affiliated with the American Marketing Association, the Institute for International Research, the International Quality and Productivity Center and the Conference Board. She speaks at national conferences and has authored several articles, including "Forget the Theory: Practical Considerations for Listening to the Customer Experience." Linda has been quoted in several customer-focused articles published in Business Week, The New York Times, Global Services Magazine and Industrial Distribution Magazine. She received her BS from Juniata College.
Patrick Kane, Managing Director
As Managing Director in ORC International's On-Demand Research Group, Patrick Kane has more than a decade of experience in business consulting and market research. He has conducted extensive research and analysis on companies, markets and economic trends, particularly in the manufacturing sector. His areas of expertise include metals and transportation-related industries, including aerospace, trucking, ocean shipping, warehousing and rail and air cargo.Prior to joining ORC International, Patrick provided a portfolio of international clients with business and consulting services, including project evaluation, feasibility and market analysis and evaluation of potential joint venture partners. Patrick also has served as a Statistics Consultant at the United Nations where he conducted statistical analysis and prepared data for secretariat publications. Patrick earned his Master of Arts in international affairs from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts from Spring Hill College.
Costas Pavlides, Senior Managing Director
Costas Pavlides is the Managing Director of ORC International's Boston-based Custom Market Research Group. Costas joined ORC International in 2005 and since then has been responsible for managing business development and operations and overseeing key client accounts in the branding, advertising, and financial services arenas. Important areas of concentration include customer satisfaction and loyalty, branding research, advertising effectiveness, and product development and positioning. In the recent past, he has assisted a leading national bank with a significant volume of research related to customer satisfaction and loyalty, including comprehensive studies related to problem incidence and customer attrition. Costas holds a Bachelor's degree from the Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland.
Dana Benini, Managing Director
Dana is the Managing Director of ORC International's healthcare team. She helps to ensure that ORC International meets clients' broad range of business needs, including competitive landscapes, indication assessments, clinical data mining and analysis, lifecycle management strategies, and market analysis for various therapeutic and medical device areas. Dana came to ORC International from GlaxoSmithKline, where she served on a Rheumatology Disease Area Strategy Team, monitoring pipeline development and patent landscapes. She also served on the rheumatoid arthritis in-licensing team, for which she helped identify in-licensing opportunities and develop a target product profile for drugs in this indication. Dana also worked at Hoffman-La Roche as an Information Scientist, supporting oncology research and development. Dana previously worked in a laboratory of the Tufts-New England Medical Center Department of Pathology studying the CD43 function on murine lymphocyte adhesion. Dana has a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Pennsylvania State University.Christine Ward Dalzell, PhD, Senior Managing Director
Christine Ward Dalzell is the Senior Managing Director of ORC International's New York Custom Research Group. Christine joined ORC International in 1999, and since then has led research projects for a broad range of industries, with particular focus in the areas of pharmaceutical and healthcare, consumer packaged goods, financial services, health and beauty aids and retail. Christine has extensive expertise in statistical modeling and data analysis, including cluster analysis/segmentation, multiple regression, path analysis, structural equation modeling and preference modeling. Dr. Dalzell earned her Doctorate in Social Psychology from the University of Delaware with emphasis in data analysis and research design.
Dan Kohanek, Managing Director
Dan is the Managing Director of ORC International's Industrial practice. With over 16 years' experience in the information research and analysis services industry, he has held various financial, marketing, and operations management roles within ORC International for the past 15 years. He is responsible for providing operational direction and leadership to business lines focused on providing research services to the company's major global accounts. His Industrial group is focused on providing research solutions to enable its clients to effectively conceive, assess, develop, and commercialize new products.Dan joined ORC International in July 2003. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of St. Thomas with a BA in Business Administration.
Sherrie Binke, SVP, Director of Research Services
Sherrie Binke has been with ORC International since 1990. In addition to her role as Senior Vice President, she manages all phases of consumer and business-to-business research studies nationwide. Sherrie specializes in developing methodologies for mall intercept, mail, Internet and telephone interviews, as well as qualitative research. She also plays a key role in hiring personnel best suited to meet specific client service and research needs.Prior to joining ORC International, Sherrie worked as Director of Operations at Friedman Marketing Services, Inc. for seven years. She graduated from Wayne State University in June 1984 with a BA in marketing and sales management. She is an active member of the American Marketing Association and The Market Research Association.
Hal Poret, Vice President, Trademark Survey Research
During his tenure at ORC International, Mr. Poret has personally designed and implemented approximately 250 surveys,which have been accepted as evidence in numerous U.S. District Court litigations and in legal proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and National Advertising Division. Recent trials in which he has given expert testimony include: Cytosport v. VPX, Tokidoki v. Fortune Dynamic, S.C. Johnson v. Buzz Off Insect Shield, and Wenger Corp. v. Stadium Chair Co.In recognition of his specific expertise in trademark and advertising-related surveys, Mr. Poret has also been a frequent speaker at major intellectual property law conferences held by organizations such as the International Trademark Association, American Intellectual Property Law Association, Promotions Marketing Association, American Conference Institute, and Practicing Law Institute. Recently, Mr. Poret presented at the INTA Annual Conference in Seattle on the topic of Trademark Surveys in US Litigations.
In a recent judicial decision, the Court in the Southern District of NY accepted and relied on Mr. Poret's surveys in finding no likelihood of confusion and denying a motion for preliminary injunction in a trademark case, Gosmile v. Levine. Click here for the PDF of the Judge's Opinion.
Bob Reitter, Vice President, Claims Substantiation
Bob Reitter brings 40 years of experience to his role as Vice President of ORC International's Legal group, specializing in claims substantiation and market research. Prior to joining ORC International, he headed his own firm, serving as both planner and supplier of consumer research for companies in the food, beverage, fashion and travel/hotel industries.Bob has spoken at American Marketing Association conferences, published in their Journal of Marketing Research, prepared manuals of consumer research procedure, and advised the ASTM Committee for Developing Guidelines for Claims Substantiation. He has testified as an expert witness in some 30 litigated court cases and has appeared frequently before the National Advertising Division and the National Advertising Review Board, as well as the Federal Trade Commission.
Brian Reuter, Managing Director
Brian is currently the Managing Director of ORC International's Emerging Technology & Litigation vertical business units. Brian manages a team that effectively leverages experts and external information sources to arm clients with intelligence for making fact-based decisions related to new product concepts and market opportunities, competitors and technologies. Brian's team works to determine the most valuable research solutions to solve clients' complex business issues. In his previous role as Research Director and Project Manager, Brian scoped, proposed, managed, analyzed and delivered market and technology research projects to technology-driven, Fortune 500 companies.Brian received a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Tri-State University, where he graduated as one of the top three aerospace engineering students in his class. He is a member of the Sigma Gamma Tau Aerospace Engineering Honor Society and has passed the Engineer in Training exam.
Rebecca Elmore-Yalch, Senior Vice President
Rebecca has been with ORC International since its 2007 acquisition of Northwest Research Group, which she founded in 1985. She brings more than 25 years of marketing research and strategic planning expertise to her role as Senior Vice President with oversight of ORC International's Seattle office. A respected leader in public policy research, most notably in the transportation field, Rebecca served as Principal Investigator on two Transportation Research Board projects prior to joining ORC International. She has also developed and implemented strategic research and public policy studies for transportation agencies nationwide, including the Chicago Transit Authority's ongoing program for customer satisfaction measurement, Oregon Department of Transportation's Mobility Survey, and the Federal Highway Administration's 2005 Traveler Opinion and Perception (TOP) Survey.Rebecca's work has run the gamut of complex quantitative and qualitative projects, including the development of innovative research solutions such as ORC International's CSMPactorT, CityMARKST, and SoundStatsT. She is one of the founding members of the Puget Sound Research Forum, now one of the largest marketing organizations in the Seattle area. Prior to Northwest Research Group's acquisition by ORC International, Rebecca was named Woman Business Owner of the Year in the Boise Area and recognized by the Southern Idaho Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO).
Brian Reuter, Managing Director
Brian is currently the Managing Director of ORC International's Technology & Legal vertical business units. Brian manages a team that effectively leverages experts and external information sources to arm clients with intelligence to make fact-based decisions on new product concepts, new market opportunities, competitors and technologies. Brian works with clients and his team to determine the most valuable research solutions to solve clients' complex business issues. As a Research Director and Project Manager Brian scoped, proposed, managed, analyzed and delivered market and technology research projects to technology driven, Fortune 500 companies. Brian received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Tri-State University, where he graduated as one of the top three of aerospace engineering students in his class. Brian is a member of the Sigma Gamma Tau Aerospace Engineering Honor Society and has passed the Engineer in Training exam.