Lila Davachi, Ph.D., is a pioneering cognitive neuroscientist and Professor of Psychology at Yale University. Her work explores how the brain transforms everyday experience into lasting memory. She earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience from Yale, training under renowned neuroscientist Patricia Goldman-Rakic. 

Before returning to Yale, Davachi was a Professor of Psychology at Columbia University and a Research Scientist at the Nathan Kline Institute. Her research combines behavioral experiments, functional neuroimaging, and intracranial electrophysiology to understand how experiences are encoded, consolidated, and retrieved. 

Her work has reshaped the study of episodic memory, revealing how the hippocampus, medial temporal lobe, and cortical networks organize everyday life. In particular, Davachi’s research on event segmentation shows how the brain divides continuous experience into meaningful units, creating boundaries that influence what we remember. She has also advanced understanding of spontaneous memory replay and its role in memory consolidation. 

Bridging cognitive neuroscience with affective science and clinical research, Davachi examines how motivation, reward, and emotion shape memory. Her many honors include the Cognitive Neuroscience Society’s Young Investigator Award, election to the Society of Experimental Psychologists, the Memory Disorders Research Society, the Association for Psychological Sciences and Columbia’s Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award. 

Emily Falk, author of the recently-released book What We Value, is a professor of communication, psychology, marketing, and operations, information and decisions at the University of Pennsylvania.  She is also the vice dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, where she directs the Communication Neuroscience Lab and the Climate Communication Division of the Annenberg Public Policy Center. Falk is an expert in the science of behavior change. Her award-winning research uses tools from psychology, neuroscience, and communication to examine what makes messages persuasive, why and how ideas spread, and what makes people effective communicators. In What We Value, Falk illustrates how we can transform our relationship with the daily decisions that define our lives—opening pathways to make more purposeful, fulfilling choices; more successfully change our behavior; and influence others to see differently—by thinking like neuroscientists.

Her work has been widely covered in the popular press in the U.S. and abroad (e.g., New York Times, Washington Post, BBC, Forbes, Scientific American, and others), and she has consulted for and collaborated with major corporations, NGOs, and the U.S. government. She received her bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from Brown University, and her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. 

Gavan J. Fitzsimons, Ph.D. is the Edward S. & Rose K. Donnell Professor of Marketing and Psychology at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, studying how subtle environmental and psychological factors shape consumer judgment, decision making, and behavior. His research explores the often-overlooked influences that affect how people evaluate brands, products, and experiences, with a particular focus on nonconscious processes and contextual cues.

A widely respected scholar in consumer psychology and behavioral science, Fitzsimons has published extensively in leading academic journals including the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, and Psychological Science. His work has also been featured in many popular media outlets such as NPR, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, O (Oprah’s magazine), and TIME, amongst many others.

Jenny Haggard is an accomplished marketer, dynamic keynote speaker and experienced strategist who leads Global Thought Leadership at Spotify. Over her 12 years with the company, she has built a career at the intersection of culture, consumer behavior, and data, helping brands better understand how people think, feel, and engage in an increasingly complex media environment.

Drawing from one of the world’s richest sources of real-time cultural and behavioral signals, Jenny leads research-driven content, insights, and experiences that help marketers navigate emerging trends and anticipate shifts in consumer behavior. Her work translates large-scale listening and engagement data into actionable frameworks for brand growth, informing strategy across industries and markets.

Equally comfortable analyzing data, synthesizing research, and crafting compelling narratives, Jenny develops thought leadership platforms, go-to-market strategies, and industry partnerships that drive measurable business impact while advancing the conversation around culture and marketing.

Based in Los Angeles, Jenny enjoys long walks on the beach (seriously), the occasional silent retreat, and serving as a Certified Discernment Director.

Carey K. Morewedge, Ph.D., is Chair of the Marketing Department and the Everett W. Lord Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. He studies the biases that shape decision making in a technology-driven world. Carey’s research examines how people make choices about what to own, use, and trust—and how emerging technologies like algorithms and AI are transforming those decisions.

Carey has helped organizations, including the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Pinterest, Merck, and Leidos, better understand how people think and design interventions to support better decisions. He has taught thousands of students across Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, and Harvard to diagnose bias and improve judgment.

His research has appeared in Science, Nature Human Behaviour, and the Journal of Marketing. He is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review, his writing has appeared in The New York Times and TIME, and Carey has appeared on NPR, the BBC, and ABC World News Tonight.

Demi Oba, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Harvard Business School whose research explores how communication shapes consumer perception, relationships, and behavior. His work focuses on how different communication mediums influence what and how people communicate, as well as how anthropomorphic brand voices affect the way consumers perceive and connect with brands.

Drawing from behavioral science, marketing, and emerging technology, Oba uses experiments, text analysis, and large language models to better understand the psychological dynamics behind communication and persuasion. His research examines how consumers interpret language, form emotional connections with brands, and respond to increasingly human-like forms of communication in digital environments.

Oba’s work has been published in leading academic journals, including the Journal of Consumer Research and the Journal of Consumer Psychology. His research bridges rigorous academic insight with real-world marketing relevance, making his perspectives especially valuable to strategists, creatives, and business leaders navigating rapidly evolving consumer expectations and communication platforms.

Oba earned his Ph.D. in Marketing from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Eesha Sharma, Ph.D., is a behavioral scientist, Associate Professor of Marketing at San Diego State University's Fowler College of Business, and Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Consumer Finance Institute. She earned her Ph.D. and B.Sc. in Finance and Marketing from NYU's Stern School of Business, and prior to academia was an investment banking analyst in the Financial Institutions Group at Goldman Sachs.

Dr. Sharma studies how money shapes the mind — and how that shapes behavior. Her research examines how wealth perceptions, financial scarcity, and economic context influence consumer psychology and the outcomes that follow: spending, saving, borrowing, charitable giving, and financial well-being.

Her work has been published in leading journals including the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and featured by NPR, the BBC, the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and Forbes. She consults with numerous organizations to apply behavioral science to real-world consumer challenges.

An award-winning teacher of undergraduates, MBAs, and executives, Dr. Sharma was previously a professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. Named a Top 40 Under 40 Business School Professor, she has spoken at over 100 conferences and institutions worldwide.

M.B.A. International Business — Xavier University
B.S.B.A. Marketing — Xavier University
B.A. Public Relations — Xavier University

Kari’s work lives at the intersection of research, strategy, branding, and design. She’s worked for clients such as the NCAA, Crest, Oral-B, Tabasco, Cummins, Trane, Gainbridge, and OneAmerica on brand positioning, consumer segmentation, visual identity, and communication strategies across a variety of business challenges.

As the leader of Y&L’s brand strategy and analytics practices, Kari understands the critical business equation of establishing meaningful audience insights, building sound strategies around those audiences, and measuring the business impact of those strategies. She’s a firm believer in uncovering the subconscious, often-unspoken influences that drive consumer decision-making—and, at the same time, measuring the changes marketing makes to reach and connect with audiences more effectively.

When she’s not conducting deep consumer interviews or delving into data, Kari tries to tap into her competitive nature as a former Division I swimmer by spinning, swimming, and being active outside. Just don’t ask her to run—Kari played for the Y&L Kickball Club only to “sacrifice” her ACL for the team.

Tom Denari is the President & Chief Strategy Officer of Young & Laramore, an independent, creatively-driven advertising agency based in Indianapolis. Tom has spent his career studying what makes people buy, exploring non-rational motivations to uncover why consumers do what they do. And, as a hands-on strategist, he continues to engage with consumers on a regular basis, leading Y&L’s consumer immersion and brand strategy processes.

Across his thirty-year career, Tom has led the brand strategy development for a wide variety of brands, including: Brizo: Delta Faucet's premium faucet brand, KraftMaid Cabinetry, Farm Bureau Insurance, Angie's List, Goodwill Retail Stores, Stanley Steemer and Steak n Shake restaurants, to name a few.

Continually questioning the conventional wisdom of traditional communications practices, Tom studies how non-rational influences affect consumers’ buying decisions. His writings on consumer behavior and brand strategy have been regularly featured in Advertising Age, AdWeek, Forbes and Inc.

Tom has an MBA in Marketing from the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University-Bloomington, and a B.A. in Economics from Wabash College.