Depending on the dimensions of the project, the project manager works with a research associate, an assistant, and a network of research experts and suppliers to provide findings in the most time-efficient, economical, organized, and accurate manner possible.

	Laura Oswald, Ph.D.,, is director of Marketing Semiotics, Inc. Dr. Oswald is an expert in the areas of brand strategy, consumer research, and semiotics—a branch of anthropology devoted to understanding the ways signs and symbols shape culture. She conducts consumer studies in a variety of formats, including focus groups, in-depth interviews and on-site ethnographies in North America, Europe and the Far East. Her qualitative research consulting practice and her academic career encompass a variety of application areas, including automotive, cosmetics, food, entertainment, electronics, retailing, health care, corporate culture and financial services. In addition to her consulting practice, she teaches advertising and Consumer Behavior at the University of Illinois, and writes and gives seminars on current issues in consumer research and advertising, at meetings of the Association for Consumer Research, the American Marketing Association, the Qualitative Research Consultants Association, and the American Sociological Association.
	Lisa Gaines McDonald, M.B.A. has over ten years of qualitative research experience in a range of formats,focus groups, dyads/triads, in-depth interviews, bulletin boards and ethnographies. Areas of expertise include: financial services, healthcare, insurance, advertising, social issues, automotive, retail, new products and services. Prior to moderating Lisa McDonald worked fifteen years in both consumer and health care marketing for such notable companies as General Mills, Inc., The University of Minnesota Hospital and Clinic, Avery Label, Eli Lilly and Company, and TomTec Medical Imaging Systems, Inc. Lisa has a Masters of Business Administration degree from The University of North Carolina, Kenan- Flagler School of Business. Professional affiliations include: Market Research Association, Qualitative Research Consultants Association, Inc. (Chair of Chicago Chapter, Membership Committee), Chicago Minority Business Development Council (Steering Committee), Leadership Illinois and Chicago Arts and Business Council (BVA Volunteer).
	Jean McDonnel, M.A., has serve both business and non-profit organizations since 1981, Jean is a respected moderator, facilitator, analyst and consultant with special knowledge of the research process as a means for making good decisions, and spent twenty years as a partner at Creative Research Inc. in Chicago. Jean's passions and experience include children and youth issues, new advancements in education, teaching, and learning, the innovation-design movement, creativity methods, and research as a tool for creating meaningful change within an organization and/or a community. Jean brings innovation and creativity to the design process, in leading and engaging groups toward a common goal, and helping to translate research insights into powerful, results- oriented strategy that benefits and mobilizes everyone concerned.
	Mary Ruth Clarke has been an innovator in qualitative market research and creative ideation for over 20 years. As an independent consultant, she does ethnographic analysis and summations, is an ideation "trained brain", a facilitator, and a real-time stenographer in branding, naming, and ideation sessions. She's named a theme park, interviewed kids on Ritalin, and made coherent sense of all sorts of ideas and data. Her market research work inspired her to write the play "Zap! The Unauthorized History of the Microwave Oven," a comedy that examines paradigm shifts through a series of focus groups spanning the second half of the 20th century. She also wrote the screenplay for "Meet The Parents." She is a member of Writer's Guild East, The Dramatist Guild, and the Screen Actors Guild. She's also a poet and managing editor of Persiflage Press, an avant-garde literary journal.
	Myra Margolin joined Marketing Semiotics four years ago and brings her expertise as a documentary filmmaker to the study of market trends and consumer behavior. A graduate of the prestigious Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, Myra brings a multi-cultural perspective to consumer research, having most recently completed a documentary on community gardening in Brazil and an educational film on HIV research in Rwanda. She has been invited to show her video ethnographies at festivals throughout North America.

Research Affiliates:
Staffing draws upon the talents of experts in the U.S. and abroad.

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