I guide clients in making strategic business decisions driven by data and insights collected through various research methods. I have a pressing curiosity about people, what drives organizational success, and a penchant for culture. This leads me to truly get to know my clients’ priorities, pains, and culture – then leverage this understanding with patterns in the data to spark new ideas and make connections to the bigger picture. Much to the chagrin of my tired parents as a child, and now to the benefit of my clients for over 20 years as a professional, I am a highly strategic thinker who quickly explores various alternatives to determine the best path to achieve desired outcomes. I am also able to connect with different stakeholder groups, from executives to individual contributors, to frame complex data findings in a highly relevant way for each audience.
Mary Hunter is the Senior Vice President, Assessment Practice for The Kaleidoscope Group, a consulting firm dedicated to providing organizations with strategies and solutions for diversity and inclusion. She leads the assessment and research team, utilizing custom research among employees to support critical decisions on investment and strategy. Her previous tasks include providing senior-level strategic leadership to the firm’s sales team and working with that team to grow and establish client relationships.
Mary has nearly fifteen years of experience in consumer marketing research as a key account manager at three of the top four global research firms. She has the ability to consider various alternatives while being decisive in choosing the best route for an organization, and clients. She is also capable of interpreting data that is not only easy for one to understand but relevant to the needs of clients. Considering her extensive experience in growing client relationships, Mary is highly articulate with the ability to make authentic connections with many different kinds of stakeholders.
Mary’s career began as the Membership Manager at the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art. She oversaw a 3,000-person membership program and developed Hispanic outreach initiatives. By utilizing her fluency in Spanish, she supervised the communications and bilingual liaison for the initiatives of local Hispanic community organizations.
It was at TNS where Mary began honing in on market research. As the Account Manager, she worked with the multicultural team utilizing her skills in strategy in order to develop new businesses, lead project teams to ensure execution, and interpret research findings to provide consumer insights and recommendations. As time went on, she was promoted to Vice President. She was tasked with driving the U.S. multicultural revenue growth on behalf of the Procter & Gamble-dedicated division at TNS.
After her time at TNS, Hunter began working at GFK Custom Research LLC, a company that focuses on maximizing marketing, sales, and organizational effectiveness. One of her responsibilities included leading a project team of six researchers to ensure flawless execution and interpret research findings to deliver insights and clear direction. More of Mary’s responsibilities included new business development through consultative sales and delivering custom research solutions to guide client business growth.
After a while, she began working at IPSOS as the Vice President. Mary led the client service team that was responsible for utilizing consultative research sales, execution, and actionable results delivery to build and maintain client relationships. She also doubled revenue from existing clients through active prospecting across the organization and surpassed the annual sales goal for an account that was formerly in decline by the end of the second quarter in 2015.
Mary received her Bachelor’s degree in Art History from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and her Master’s degree in Arts Administration from New York University. With a love of traveling, she has lived and worked in Chile for a few years. She now resides in Naperville, Illinois.
