Qualvu Team
Leadership Team
John Williamson – CEO
John founded Qualvu in 2008 with a vision to radically change the $6 billion qualitative research category, by taking research out of traditional settings and into real and candid lives of consumers. Qualvu provides businesses a innovative online platform to gather video-based insights from customers faster and more cost effectively than ever before, while delivering insight quality that exceeds other methods. As Qualvu’s Chief Executive Officer, John is responsible for the company’s strategic vision and execution, and has grown Qualvu from start-up to the leader in video-based qualitative intelligence, more than tripling revenues in 2010 with over 700 projects and over 100,000 video responses. Qualvu’s clients include some of the world’s most influential brands, including Procter & Gamble, Yahoo!, Unilever, Chrysler, Toyota, eBay, Leo Burnett, and General Mills.
Formerly, John was a founding partner of Verus Live, a pioneer in the field of online in-depth interview techniques, which was re-branded as Qualvu in 2008. Innovations he helped design have been used by companies such as Microsoft, Ericsson and Comcast to conduct webcam interviews across the globe. John also co-founded Jabbits, the world’s first video-based online Q&A community. John has held early positions in the technology industry, including Guardent (acquired by VeriSign) and eSoft, where he served as Managing Director in London. John has also successfully built various start-ups. He founded and ultimately sold Maxwell Express, a transportation logistics firm that pioneered technology-based delivery systems. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Marketing and Advertising from Southern Methodist University.
Rodney Holm – CTO
As Qualvu’s Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder, Rodney provides the technical vision and development strategy for Qualvu’s market research methods. Rodney is a proven technology leader who has created industry-altering web solutions in market research. Before joining Qualvu, Rodney was CTO of VerusLive, where he designed the architecture and developed the foundational software systems of Qualvu, including the web-based Video Diary™ application, database infrastructure, and administrative CRM systems. During his time at VerusLive, he also created the architecture for Jabbits, the world’s first video-based online Q&A community, and created a licensable video player for small and mid-size businesses. Before VerusLive, Rodney led the web services group at eToys and was responsible for the application-level software behind an e-commerce system that generated more than $100 million in annual revenue. At eToys he was also responsible for the development of the online payment processing systems. Rodney started his career at Apexx Technology in Boise, ID, which was later acquired by eSoft Inc. in Boulder, CO. At eSoft he served as Software Development Manager, where he led a team of software engineers.He was instrumental in the construction of eSoft’s engineering team and software development methodology as well. Rodney’s highlight achievement at eSoft was leading the architecture and development of the patented SoftPak Director. Rodney is a named inventor of this patented technology, deployed in more than 10,000 corporate locations worldwide. He holds a degree in Computer Science from North Dakota State University.
Brooks Pettus – COO
Qualvu hired Brooks to further drive the company’s explosive growth in the online market research industry. Brooks brings a serial entrepreneur’s background, a wealth of executive leadership in a wide range of dynamic early stage environments, and a proven track record of leading companies through accelerated growth periods. Brooks has been fortunate to identify and work with companies that have led their market segment during the critical offline to online migration phase, making Qualvu a natural fit for his talents. In every case, Brooks has seen radical revenue growth coupled with the efficient scaling of the enterprise. As Chief Operating Officer, Brooks is responsible for operationalizing the Executive Team’s business strategy. Before joining Qualvu, Brooks served as the SVP of Sales and Marketing, and then Chief Revenue Officer, at Beatport, an industry-leading online music distribution business. Brooks holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington and Lee University.
Anne-Marie O’Sullivan – Director, Qualvu EMEA
Anne-Marie O’Sullivan is Director, Qualvu EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and manages the company’s Dublin office. Anne-Marie has worked as a consultant, strategic planner and qualitative researcher. Formerly, she was a Senior Brand Planner at Bartle Bogle Hegarty, London, and more recently was Director of Strategic Planning and a board member at McCann-Erickson, Dublin, where she was responsible for strategic planning for clients such as Coca-Cola, Heineken and Unilever. She also led new business thinking at the agency and managed a specialist qualitative and consultancy unit. She came to Qualvu with a strong background on both sides of the brand development process, and with a particular interest in digital and direct marketing and how they interact with each other.
Matt Chambers, Director, Project Operations
Matt has the distinction of joining Qualvu as its first employee in late 2007, starting as the company’s original Project Manager. Today Matt leads the company’s Project Management teams as well as Recruiting and Panel Operations. Matt provides leadership to an operations culture that delivers clients unmatched responsiveness, and this unwavering customer centricity has differentiated Qualvu and helped it establish leadership in the marketplace.
Matt has led the development of Qualvu’s project processes, lifecycle workflow and overall operations framework. His zeal for innovation and value creation are key drivers in both Qualvu’s panel growth as well as the continuous streamlining of Qualvu’s technology to connect brands with their most important audiences. Matt has also developed strategic relationships internationally, enhancing Qualvu’s global footprint and project delivery.
Prior to Qualvu, Matt was a Project Manager for VerusLive, an international Qualitative Research and Consulting firm. VerusLive was a pioneer in the field of online in-depth interview techniques. Before VerusLive, Matt worked for an online technology company called Jabbits with Qualvu’s co-founders, where he lead Business Development efforts and supported internal operations. Jabbits was a variant to Yahoo! Answers and was the world’s first video-based online Q&A community. Matt holds a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from the Whitmore School of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire where he graduated Cum Laude.
Cache Hamm, Senior Manager, Software Engineering
Cache Hamm is Qualvu’s Senior Manager, Software Engineering. His responsibilities span software architecture, release management, version control, code reviews, and hiring and mentoring of the Qualvu engineering team. Cache also leads Qualvu’s quality assurance team and is responsible for both optimizing and maintaining the performance of Qualvu.com and leading Product Management for crucial parts of the system. Before taking on his current position, Cache built many key modules including Vupoint ( Qualvu’s innovative video processing ), the project management system, a comprehensive role-based access control system, and a report builder that helps Qualvu specialists design and deliver functional reports that seamlessly integrate video highlight reels. All this was done while helping to expand the engineering team from three to 12. Cache graduated from Colorado School of Mines in 2007 and worked for chess.com before joining Qualvu in April 2009. Away from work, Cache enjoys skiing, brewing beer and long walks on the beach (not necessarily in that order!).
Lyndsay Knupp | Manager, Recruit and Panel Operations
Lyndsay joined Qualvu as a project manager, and was quickly recognized for her strong contribution and leadership skills, and picked to establish, build and lead Qualvu’s Recruit and Panel Operations team. Under Lyndsay’s leadership, the recruit and panel operations have grown to play a crucial part in building world-class partnerships, leveraging proprietary software to optimize sample quality, meeting rigorous recruiting deadlines, and providing key strategic value to help power Qualvu’s explosive growth.
Lyndsay has filled exacting recruits for some of the world’s most discriminating clients such as Walt Disney, P&G, Hanes, and Kellogg’s, Chrysler, Kohl’s, Pfizer, eBay, Ford, and many more. Lyndsay has grown Qualvu’s own video-enabled and rated panel from its grass roots into an integral part of Qualvu’s value proposition. She has created Qualvu’s internal work flow and proprietary systems now integrated into Qualvu.com’s proprietary “Design, Collect & Deliver” processing. Lyndsay also manages relationships with Qualvu’s domestic and international recruiting partners. Lyndsay graduated from Cornell University with a major in Applied Economics and Management, and a minor in Communication.
Research & Strategy Team
Shelley Krasnick – Managing Director, Research & Strategy
Shelley Krasnick leads the Research & Insights Team at Qualvu. Shelley has a successfully proven ability to build and maintain client relationships, as well as manage internal teams. Her job is to create a solid foundation to ensure that her team meets clients’ needs and objectives through rich, insightful research. Shelley started her career working with Lieberman Research, Inc, and since then has held research positions of increasing responsibility at The Coca-Cola Company and Microsoft, where she executed both qualitative and quantitative research initiatives.
She possesses significant experience in a variety of industry sectors, including CPG, technology, media, advertising and sports. Shelley earned a BA in Psychology from The University of Vermont and an MBA in Marketing from the University of Texas at Austin.
Dean Macko – Senior Director, Research & Strategy
Dean has more than 16 years of pre- and post-launch automotive consulting experience, with emphasis on brand strategy and market research. Prior to joining Qualvu, Dean was Manager of Brand Strategy and Development at Hyundai Motor America where he uncovered insights leading to the launch of the Hyundai Assurance program, implemented a new company-wide segmentation, helped craft a five-pronged marketing communication strategy that resulted in significant brand growth, and managed all brand tracking and website satisfaction research. Prior to Hyundai, Dean was a Director at Compete Inc. where he leveraged his automotive expertise to help OEMs evaluate and maximize their marketing programs and vehicle launches by tracking the clickstream behavior of online shoppers.
Earlier in his career, Dean worked for several automotive research firms, consulting primarily to Ford Motor Company and General Motors. His research experience includes product design, packaging, positioning, pricing, brand equity, intentions/shopping and macro industry trends. Dean has an MBA from Wayne State University, where he graduated magna cum laude majoring in Marketing; and a Bachelor of Business Administration (with honors) from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada.
