Management Team

Michael Lehman
Senior Partner, President

Michael has over 25 years of experience in the wireless and high technology sector, with a particular focus on new product development and innovation, positioning and messaging, and user experience assessment. Michael is adept at clarifying and translating business objectives into effective designs, and offering strong insight based on industry expertise. He spends considerable time assessing convergence-related technology trends.

Before co-founding Zanthus, Michael headed the information technology research unit at Market Strategies. He has also worked on the client side of the business, including an eight-year stint as a senior research manager and a strategic planner for a major communications and wireless services company.

Michael has a B.S in Business Administration and Psychology, from the University of Oregon.

Hobbies
Road bike racing (well, hanging on for dear life), running, skiing, reading, extensive coffee drinking.

Desired superpower
The ability to track back through time; it would be great fun, educational and allow me to reconfigure my stock portfolio.

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Sarah K. Kyle
Partner, Director of Operations & Human Resources

Sarah uses her superior organizational skills to hold everything together at Zanthus. As Director of Operations, Sarah oversees the Operations Team to ensure that all projects are executed according to our defined best practices. Human Resources and Finance are her other areas of focus.

Sarah was one of the original staff members at Zanthus and has been with the company since August 2000. She has over 18 years of experience in market research.

Sarah holds a B.S. in Business Administration, with a minor in Psychology, from Portland State University.

Hobbies
Gardening, traveling – especially Maui!

Desired superpower
Invisibility, though just to perform good deeds anonymously.

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Custom Research Division

 

Sarah L. Marin
Partner, Senior Research Consultant

For over 20 years, Sarah has been providing research insights that enable her clients to confidently make strategic business decisions. She manages projects which focus on new product development, brand and advertising tracking, positioning and messaging development, and customer satisfaction with new products and services. Her attention to detail enables Sarah to adroitly manage complex engagements, including multi-stage, multi-method, and long-term tracking studies. Her clients include a leading video game hardware and software company, a major wireless services provider, and a major communications company.

Sarah currently leads Zanthus’ Consulting Relationships and Research Reporting best practices initiatives. Prior to joining Zanthus in 2001, Sarah worked as Study Director at Market Strategies and as Project Manager for Market Trends.

A native Oregonian, Sarah holds a B.A. in Communications from Lewis & Clark College with a concentration in Interpersonal and Organizational Communications.

Hobbies
Choral singing, travel, trying out new restaurants and food carts, watching lacrosse matches in torrential spring downpours, gardening, fitness walking.

Desired superpower
Teleportation—the ability to instantly transport myself to another place—primarily to avoid 15-hour international flights to visit family!

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Doug Wicks
Partner, Senior Research Consultant

Doug has worked as a consultant and researcher for over 15 years, working closely with clients in the technology, telecommunications, and media industries. Client engagements include work with a major wireless company, a major regional telephone company, a leading connected home industry association, a premier global ISP, and top tier colocation and interconnection firms. Doug is skilled at managing both qualitative and quantitative studies across assessment areas, with a particular fascination with new product development and innovation. Before joining Zanthus, Doug was a study director with Market Strategies, and prior to that, spent ten years in the television industry.

Doug holds a B.S. in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University's College of Communication, and an M.A. in Communications Management from the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California. Doug is also a member of the American Marketing Association, and co-chairs the Beaumont Middle School Foundation.

Hobbies
Reading industry trades and the New York Times, hiking, skiing, cycling, and remodeling the house – though not necessarily in that order.

Desired superpower
To selectively read minds.

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Carole Wiedmeyer
Partner, Senior Research Consultant

Carole brings more than 20 years of combined experience in research, consulting and marketing communications to her role at Zanthus.

Her work has contributed to industry understanding of how consumers react to multi-purpose, “converged” technology, and to “connected” or “smart” home concepts—including energy management. Her articles on these and other topics are available on the Zanthus website (www.zanthus.com).

Her research at Zanthus spans both qualitative and quantitative engagements in the areas of concept testing, usability testing, brand management, positioning and messaging, and customer satisfaction/loyalty. She also co-leads the Data Quality and Business Development initiatives at Zanthus.

Before joining Zanthus, she was a senior researcher with Gartner, where she directed a wide variety of projects for major technology providers. She also has worked in research and marketing for an international airport, and managed public relations for a university.

Carole has achieved Expert level Professional Research Certification through the Marketing Research Association. An active Toastmaster, she enjoys honing her presentation skills, and helping others to do the same.

She holds a B.A. in Journalism with an Economics minor from Western Washington University, and an MBA with a concentration in Marketing from Arizona State University.

Hobbies
Writing, gardening, travel and scuba diving. Combining these together is even better.

Desired superpower
To breathe water. What a joy it would be, gliding gracefully alongside the fish, free of clumsy air tanks and noisy bubbles.

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Amanda Durkee
Partner, Senior Research Consultant

Amanda directs a range of quantitative and qualitative engagements at Zanthus, primarily relating to innovation/product development and user experience/satisfaction. She has over 12 years of experience managing research studies of both domestic and international scope for high-tech companies. Amanda is Zanthus’ most outspoken advocate of using new and hybrid research methods, such as social media monitoring, to inform research insight.

Prior to joining Zanthus, Amanda worked as a research consultant for several other firms, including BN Research and Gartner, and survived a brief foray in corporate planning and development at a biotechnology startup. She is currently President of the Northwest Chapter of the Marketing Research Association (MRA).

Amanda has a B.A. in Psychology from Pacific Lutheran University and an MBA from Willamette University with an emphasis in Statistics and Marketing. She holds a Qualitative Expert Professional Researcher Certification through the MRA and is a RIVA-trained focus group moderator.

Hobbies
Bicycling long distances on the road and racing short distances in the mud, snowboarding, hiking, and yoga. When not traveling to locations far and wide with her husband, she can be found at home doting on her two little dogs.

Desired superpower
The ability to freeze time and go back ten seconds. It sure would come in handy for those embarrassing moments.

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Brian Moffett
Research Consultant

Brian set his sights on research-informed consulting after brief management forays in state government, circuit board manufacturing and lingerie manufacturing and marketing. He has eight years of experience in technology-focused market research, including six years at Zanthus. Brian is particularly adept at managing complex quantitative studies, including attitude and behavior trackers. Before joining Zanthus, Brian was a project manager at Lieberman Research Worldwide and a research consultant with Rubenstein Justman Management Consultants.

Brian earned his B.S. in History and Religious Studies at Willamette University and his MBA at the University of Oregon.

Hobbies
Determining how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop; virtual online quilting; watching spelling bees in foreign languages I don’t speak; collecting velvet, glow-in-the-dark fine-art reproduction paintings; adding to my Alvin and the Chipmunks 8-track tape collection; oh, and spending time with my family.

Desired superpower
To be able to throw something away in the garbage can and have it land in the can more times than not.

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Kassie Chaney
Research Consultant

Kassie has three years of market research experience, focused primarily on technology products and services. She is involved in all stages of the research process – from questionnaire design to reporting. Across these stages, Kassie blends strong technical skills with exceptional project management. Prior to joining Zanthus, Kassie was an analyst at Market Strategies. She began her research career ten years ago studying K-12 education policy at a non-profit institute.

A California transplant, Kassie holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and an M.A. in Sociology with an emphasis in Mass Communications from San Jose State University.

Hobbies
Reading, traveling, (more recently) gaming, volunteering at the Oregon Humane Society, and cuddling with my two kitties.

Desired Superpower
The ability to fly. It would not only reduce travel costs but would eliminate having to ensure the stress of airports.

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David W. Edwards
Director of Business Development

David has over 20 years of experience in market research-based consulting for high technology companies. He serves as an internal consultant on research design, helping to translate clients’ needs into creative and effective engagements. He also helps assemble account teams to achieve the best fit. Before co-founding Zanthus in 2000, he served as a vice president in Market Strategies International’s information technology research unit.

As the founder of a media entertainment company, David has practical experience producing and marketing feature films, books, music and video games. He is also a former two-term state representative and remains active in community affairs, notably, on arts and education issues.

David has B.S. and M.A. degrees in English Literature from the University of Southern California and an M.S. degree in Public Affairs, with a concentration in social and political research, from the University of Oregon.

Hobbies
Writing, filmmaking, reading, hiking and swimming.

Desired Superpower
To live a limitless number of parallel lives in order to fully explore all of my interests.

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Carolyn Stapleton
Senior Data Analyst/DP Manager

Carolyn has worked in primary market research for 18 years, and joined Zanthus in 2004. At Zanthus, she’s responsible for data processing, multivariate analysis, and discrete choice model simulator development. Carolyn manages the overall DP process and standards, schedules DP jobs, and coordinates coding work. Complex logic and programming challenges make her day. Carolyn has gained a reputation for being detailed and dependable, and producing high-quality work.

Prior to joining Zanthus, Carolyn worked at Gartner and Griggs-Anderson Research.. She worked as a proofreader/editor for four years, then moved into the production programming department. There, she supervised the cross-tabulations group for two years.

Carolyn has a B.A. in English Literature from Trinity University in San Antonio, with coursework in European Studies from the University of Antwerp in Belgium.

Hobbies
Coaching youth soccer, reading The Economist, and exploring and enjoying Oregon's great outdoors.

Desired superpower
For sleep to be optional.

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Patty Arnold
Senior Programmer/Project Administrator

Patty has 17 years of experience in the market research industry and has been programming web surveys for Zanthus since 2005. She also works closely with vendors and assists on both qualitative and quantitative project management.

She developed her coding, data tabulation and programming expertise working for a variety of Portland-area research firms, including Market Trends, Griggs-Anderson Research and BN Research.

Patty holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a specialization in Marketing from Central Washington University.

Hobbies
Reading, watching movies, and feeding teenagers.

Desired superpower
The ability to add a day to the week (but only when really needed).

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Kevin Congdon
Programmer/Data Analyst

Kevin has been involved in market research (mainly research for the high-tech sector) for the past 20 years, starting in survey field administration and quickly advancing into survey programming and data analysis. As a quick study, he has engaged in many project phases at one time or another, including survey programming, data tabulation and advanced analytics, graphics-based reporting, and logistical coordination. On the data analysis side, Kevin has extensive experience with WinCross and SPSS packages, as well as Quantum and SAS: in addition, he engages in complex statistical analyses such as Structural Equation Modeling. On the programming side, Kevin has experience in a variety of web survey packages, mostly notably SurveyWriter and Checkbox.

Kevin holds an Associate Degree as a Licensed Veterinary Technologist and has completed college courses in statistical analysis methods.

Hobbies
Listening to music, dancing, and reading (mostly Sci-Fi and/or horror novels).

Desired superpower
The ability to turn into an animal (preferably some sort of feline).

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Kristina Murray
Operations/Publishing Manager

Kristi has worked in the market research field for the past 14 years. She has extensive experience assisting with both quantitative and qualitative research projects.

In the Publishing group, Kristi manages the overall reporting process and standards, and ensures that Zanthus stays up to date on new ways to display data to yield insight. In addition, Kristi assists with building sales presentations, research reports and marketing slicks. As our resident Microsoft products expert, Kristi is adept at using PowerPoint, Word, Excel, and other applications.

In addition, Kristi is in charge of vendor relations to ensure each partner meets Zanthus high data quality standards.

Previously, Kristi worked as an Associate Project Manager at Market Strategies, where she managed projects in the high-technology and utilities sectors.

Hobbies
Camping, hiking, skiing, and biking.

Desired superpower
The ability to heal people with a single touch.

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Amanda Green
Graphics/Project Administrator

Amanda has worked in the market research field for over ten years. Her primary role at within the Publishing team is to create visually compelling graphical reports and presentations that convey a clear story. Amanda also engages in project administration for both qualitative studies and complex survey tracking studies. Amanda blends strong creative instincts with fine attention to detail. Previously, she worked as a Project Services Coordinator at Gartner.

Hobbies
Reading, singing, watching movies, painting, PC gaming

Desired superpower
The Jedi Mind Trick

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