For the past 20 years, Joan Fredericks has worked for Harris Interactive—from the acquisition of Total Research Corporation—as a specialist in designing strategic research aimed at enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. Her background includes advanced training in psychometrics and research design, along with years of public and private sector research and consulting. Joan’s work addresses such issues as market positioning, segmentation, and modeling the impact of product and service improvements on market share and profitability.

Joan is an active contributor to the customer-satisfaction and loyalty arena. Her engagements include presentations, workshops and tutorials for The Conference Board; American Marketing Association; American Society for Quality Control; ESOMAR; American Quality and Productivity Council; and Dr. Bradley Gale’s Customer Value Network. Her articles on customer value management and customer loyalty have appeared in The Journal of Quality and Productivity, Quality Progress, and Management Review. Joan received a B.A. from the University of Chicago, and an M.Phil. from Columbia University.

John Fricker
Vice President and Senior Consultant, Loyalty Research Practice

John Fricker has nearly 20 years of experience to both the client and supplier sides of loyalty and commitment measurement and management. His expertise spans industries, including consumer packaged goods, automotive, retail, travel and tourism, and restaurant services. During his career, John has worked with a number of noted brands and companies, including The Coca-Cola Company; BP; P&G; GSK; L’Oreal; PepsiCo; Frito-Lay; General Mills; Heinz; Gap; Toyota; Lexus; GM; Honda; Hyundai; UPS; Universal Studios; Pizza Hut; IBM; Xerox; HP; Lexmark; Kodak; Sprint, and Verizon.

Before joining Harris Interactive, John served as vice president for Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) business solutions group, where he focused on growing the organization’s loyalty consulting services. Earlier, he directed the commitments and satisfaction consulting services group at Synovate. John also gained valuable client-side experience managing and integrating customer loyalty programs within Xerox and AT&T. John’s dual agency and corporate roles, coupled with his expertise in client management and consulting, follow the tradition of strategic consulting that the Harris Interactive Loyalty Research Practice is noted for.

John is a regular speaker on the subject of loyalty and commitment management at national industry conferences, and currently serves as vice president of research for the Central Florida Chapter of the AMA. John received a B.A. in psychology from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

Dr. Heisler has over 35 years of experience in the market research industry. He began his career in Chicago, Illinois as associate research director for an advertising agency. Prior to joining Harris Interactive, he spent 19 years at Opinion Research Corporation and five years at Market Facts, Inc. in senior executive roles.

Dr. Heisler’s expertise spans all aspects of B2B and B2C market research, as well as the full spectrum of marketing issues companies face, with particular expertise in customer loyalty. He has designed and managed hundreds of research-focused initiatives for many of the Fortune 500 corporations, in industries that include manufacturing; financial services; technology; telecommunications; healthcare; travel and leisure; consulting; trade and professional organizations, and the federal government. He is well versed in all areas of quantitative and qualitative research and analytical methodologies. 

Dr. Heisler is a frequent industry speaker and university lecturer, and has published a number of articles in his field. Dr. Heisler received a B.A. in psychology from the University of Michigan, an M.A. in psychology from DePaul University, and a Ph.D. in psychology from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Ron Hurd is a leading educator and consultant in the area of market orientation and customer loyalty. He is particularly interested in helping companies understand and identify the linkages between customer loyalty, customer attraction/retention, and their impact on financial results. Ron has a broad range of experience in the development of customer loyalty programs, including the deployment of "Voice-of-the-Customer" through business and marketing strategy, planning and Six Sigma improvement efforts.

During his 26-year career at The Dow Chemical Company, Ron held various marketing positions in both North and South America. His last assignment was in the company’s global growth and expertise center, where he was responsible for the development and implementation of Dow’s global customer loyalty and retention programs.

Ron is a member of the American Marketing Association, the American Society for Quality, and was a founding member of The Conference Board's Customer Strategy Council and Customer Relationship Management Council. He is a frequent speaker at conferences, including those of the AMA, ASQ, The Conference Board, and IQPC, among others. He has authored and co-authored several articles on customer loyalty, including "Connecting Customer Loyalty to Financial Results", which appeared in Marketing Management. Ron received a B.A. in cultural anthropology and an M.S. in international business from Arizona State University.

Dr. Lax has more than 20 years of research experience on both the client and supplier sides of industries that include financial services, information technology, energy, healthcare, and higher education. His impressive list of clients have included Bank of America; Citicorp; Merrill Lynch; The Hartford; Microsoft; Yahoo!; Westinghouse; Exxon; Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer. 

Prior to joining Harris Interactive, Dr. Lax served as vice president for Opinion Research Corporation's customer strategies group, focusing on customer loyalty. Previously, he was director of market and customer information at Freddie Mac, where he led all market research initiatives to support the company’s diverse lines of business. While at Freddie Mac, Dr. Lax oversaw a highly sophisticated customer satisfaction research program, which enabled Freddie Mac to successfully model the impact of customer satisfaction and perceptions concerning customer behavior, market share, and key business outcomes.

Prior to that at Claritas, Dr. Lax directed market research activities, as well as the marketing of information products and services for the financial services sector. He also headed the product marketing group, which was responsible for marketing the firm’s databases, segmentation systems, and marketing information systems.

Dr. Lax has authored a number of publications, and is a recognized public speaker in his field. His most recent publications include "Reflections on Loyalty: Confessions of a Financial Services Customer", "The Generational Factor: Managing Customer Loyalty and Commitment Across Customer Life Stages", and "Net Promoter Scores: The Pros and Cons of Relying on The One Number You Need to Grow."

Dr. Lax received a Ph.D. and an M.A. in political science from the City University of New York, and has held adjunct lecturer positions for M.B.A. programs at Rider University, Mary Washington College and The George Washington University. Dr. Lax has also lectured on political science at Queens College and Baruch College.

Michael Lowenstein, Ph.D. CMC, has more than 30 years of management and consulting experience in customer and staff loyalty research; customer relationship management (CRM); loyalty program and product/service development; employee alignment; and strategic marketing and planning. His experience as a thought leader in his field, his broad skills and expertise, and his comprehensive understanding of customer behavior apply to various industries, including technology and telecommunications, on both national and international levels.

Michael is the author of two widely regarded books, “Customer Retention: An Integrated Process for Keeping Your Best Customers”, and “The Customer Loyalty Pyramid.” He also co-authored “Customer WinBack: How to Recapture Lost Customers-And Keep Them Loyal.” His latest book, “One Customer, Divisible: Linking Customer Insight to Loyalty and Advocacy Behavior”, was published in September 2005. He has authored or co-authored more than 125 customer-related articles and columns for print and online periodicals. He is the customer life cycle workshop developer/facilitator for the Direct Marketing Association, and has been a customer loyalty instructor at a number of institutions and organizations, including The Pennsylvania State University, the American Marketing Association, as well as at many corporations, such as Charles Schwab, Daimler Chrysler, Prudential, Sprint Nextel, Met Life, Wachovia, and Toyota. Most recently, Michael served as the senior vice president of the customer management center of excellence at GfK NOP.

Michael is listed in several regional, national, international, and professional Who’s Who editions; and he is an expert panel or advisory board member of several customer loyalty, HRD and CRM information sources, including CustomerThink, the leading CRM/customer loyalty portal at www.customerthink.com/advisory_council.

Michael received an M.B.A. in marketing and management from the University of Pittsburgh, and a B.S. in economics and marketing from Villanova University; and a Ph.D. in strategy and program management from ISGI Groupe Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Lille (ESC Lille) in France. Also, he holds a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) professional designation, awarded by Institute of Management Consultants USA.

Dave Smallen is a recognized expert in addressing the consumer dynamics of customer loyalty management. His experience spans 30 years, during which he has worked in the consumer packaged goods industry, both on the client and research supplier sides.

Dave began his career in consumer packaged goods research at Hanesbrands Inc. where he managed research for the L'eggs brand division. Later, he spent several years at Fisher-Price Inc. Over the years, he has worked with some of the leading consumer and B2B brands, including HP, Microsoft, and Sprint. 

Dave specializes in designing strategic research aimed at enhancing customer satisfaction and commitment, perceived value, and loyalty. His work addresses such issues as value positioning, market segmentation, and modeling the impact of product and service improvements on market share and profitability. He is also actively involved in helping companies develop action plans based on customer-derived information.

Dave received a B.A. in sociology from Case Western Reserve University, and an M.A. in sociology from The Pennsylvania State University.