John Bargh is a social and cognitive psychologist at Yale University. His research has long focused on the unconscious influences of everyday life situations on one's choices, goals, and behavior. Bargh received his PhD from the University of Michigan in 1981 and then served on the faculty of New York University for 22 years. In 2003 he moved to Yale where he is the director of the ACME research lab. He is the author of 250 scholarly articles and chapters, and the book Before You Know It (Simon & Schuster, 2017). His research and writing has been honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship, election into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2011), and Distinguished Career Awards from the American Psychological Association (2014), the Society for Experimental Social Psychology (2022), and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (2006), He received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, in 2009.

Dr. Tonya Williams Bradford currently serves as an associate professor and Inclusive Excellence Term Chair at the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California at Irvine. She earned her undergraduate degree in Anthropology, MBA, and Ph.D. in Marketing at Northwestern University.

As an undergrad, she participated in an archeological excavation—fieldwork in consumer settings is (relatively) a piece of cake! She researches rituals, communities, and identity across phenomena including gifting (e.g., registry, organ, charitable), relationships with money, communities (e.g., tailgating and support), acculturation, and brand loyalty. Her research is published in the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Retailing, the Journal of Business Research, the Journal of Interactive Marketing, and Research in Consumer Behavior, has been presented at the Smithsonian Institute, and featured in the media in outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, and Ladies Home Journal.

Dr. Bradford worked in domestic and international markets including as general manager at S1 Corporation in Atlanta (now ACI); principal at Gemini Consulting (now Cap Gemini) in the US, UK, Belgium, and South Africa; Allstate Insurance; Charles Schwab & Co, Inc; and, Security Pacific Bank (now Bank America). She currently serves as a member of the board of directors at Live Oak Bank and Tealium.

Kristin Diehl is Professor of Marketing at the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California. She also is honorary visiting professor at City University London. She graduated with a Ph.D. in marketing from Duke University after she had earned her degree of Diplom-Kauffrau from the Johannes Gutenberg Universität in Mainz, Germany.

Kristin’s research focuses on two areas: 1) how consumers search for and use information when search costs are low, assortments are large, and recommendation tools may be available. 2) how people anticipate, experience, and remember events that unfold over time. In particular, she is interested how taking photos during such events affects enjoyment and memories of the experience. Kristin has published in journals such as the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Journal of Experimental and Social Psychology, Cognition, and Psychological Science. In 2010 she received the Association for Consumer Research Early Career Award. Her research has been featured in national and international media outlets such at the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, The Atlatnic, and Time.

Kristin is President-Elect for the Association for Consumer Research. She serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Marketing and previously served as Associate Editor for the Journal of Consumer Research (2013-2018) and the International Journal of Marketing Research (2012-2015). She currently serves on the Editorial Review Boards of the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Consumer Psychology, and the Journal of Marketing.

George E. Newman is a psychologist and cognitive scientist who studies creativity, identity, and the construction of meaning.  He is an Associate Professor of Management and Marketing at the Rotman School of Management. Prior to that, he was an Associate Professor of Management and Marketing at the Yale School of Management, where also held affiliated appointments in the Departments of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Yale University. He has published more than 60 articles in leading scholarly journals and his research has been featured in popular media outlets such as the New York Times, Scientific American, the Wall Street Journal, and the Economist. He regularly leads seminars on various marketing and management topics for senior executives.

Michael Platt is a neuroscientist known for asking some of the most challenging questions in 21st century neuroscience - and conceiving innovative ways to find the answers. Principle questions focus on the biological mechanisms that underlie decision-making in social environments, the grasp of which has broad-scale implications for improving health and welfare in societies worldwide. Broad expertise in psychology, economics, evolutionary biology and ethology, in addition to collaborations with colleagues in these fields, have enabled him to reach ever-deeper levels of understanding about the neural bases of cognitive behaviour. Michael received his B.A at Yale and his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, both in anthropology, and did a post-doctoral fellowship in neuroscience at New York University. Current teaching at Wharton includes Introduction to Brain Science for Business.

Prof. Kate White is the Senior Associate Dean, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Sustainability at the UBC Sauder School of Business in Vancouver, Canada. Kate is Professor of Marketing and Behavioural Science and her research focuses on sustainability marketing and how to encourage ethical, prosocial, and sustainable consumer behaviours.

Kate is the author of “The Elusive Green Consumer” in Harvard Business Review and has published over 50 research articles. Kate was honored as one of the top 5 Marketing Researchers in the world by the American Marketing Association and has been inducted to the College of Arts and Sciences, Royal Society of Canada. She was awarded a Canada Clean 50 Award for thought leadership in sustainability and the American Marketing Association’s Award for Responsible Research in Marketing.

Kate currently serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Marketing Research and is on the editorial review boards of the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Marketing, and the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

Kate has collaborated on various behaviour change projects with organizations such as The City of Calgary, Big Rock Brewery, The United Way, MakeWay, the SPCA, Celgene Healthcare, Brands for Good Collaboratory, Unilever, Lululemon, and Starbucks.

Tiffany Barnett White is Associate Professor of Business Administration and Advertising and Bruce and Anne Strohm Faculty Fellow in the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois. She serves as Academic Director of the M.S. in Management program and Faculty Athletics Representative for the University of Illinois. She received a Ph.D. in marketing from Duke University and BS and MS degrees in Advertising from the University of Illinois. Her research addresses affective and behavioral aspects of consumer-brand relationships with a particular emphasis on a) drivers and outcomes of consumer (dis)trust; and b) (unintended) consequences of consumer brand attachments. Professor White has presented on the topic of branding and brand strategy to national and international audiences. Her research on the “Brand Connected Consumer” is a featured TEDx presentation. She is an award-winning teacher and consistently featured on the University-wide list of faculty rated as excellent by students. Professor White is President of the Society for Consumer Psychology, a member of the American Marketing Association (AMA) Board of Directors, and (outgoing) Chair of the AMA’s Consumer Behavior Special Interest Group. She is a member of the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Consumer Psychology, the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing.

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

At the intersection of research, strategy, branding and design, Kari has 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.

Leading Y&L’s Brand Strategy and Analytics practices, she understands the critical business equation of establishing meaningful audience insights, building sound strategies around those audiences and measuring those strategies’ impact on business. She’s a firm believer in uncovering the often unspoken, subconscious influences that drive consumer decision-making, while, at the same time, measuring any changes that marketing makes to reach and connect with its audiences more effectively.

When 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—she 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 M.B.A in Marketing from the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University-Bloomington, and a B.A. in Economics from Wabash College.