Greenbook Podcast

Greenbook’s inaugural IIEX West brought together the insights community for two days of innovation, collaboration, and fresh perspectives on the future of the industry. In this special event recap, Karen Lynch is joined by Margaret Mariani to reflect on the highlights, standout sessions, and conversations that made the event memorable. They explore the growing convergence of market research, UX, C...

What does it take to stand out in today’s evolving insights job market? In this special episode of the Greenbook Podcast, host Karen Lynch welcomes Karen Goldstein, a seasoned research and technology leader formerly at Qualtrics, and Matt O’Mara, Founder and Managing Director of Cranbrook Search Consultants, for a candid conversation about career transitions, experienced talent, and hiring strateg...

AI is reshaping research, marketing, and professional services, but real human insight remains a critical part of the equation. In this episode of the Greenbook Podcast, Lenny Murphy sits down with Andrew Au, Co-CEO of Intercept, to explore why organic human signals remain essential—even as synthetic data and AI-powered personas become more sophisticated. Andrew shares how Intercept uses its Watch...

What if one of retail’s most valuable datasets has been hiding in plain sight? In this episode of the Greenbook Podcast, Karen Lynch sits down with Charlotte Kiddle and Yasmin Ayoub Sanusi of Vazen, formerly Virtual Store Trials, following their double win at IIEX Europe’s Insight Innovation Competition for both the Audience Favorite Award and Industry Impact Award. Charlotte and Yasmin explain ho...

Fresh from IIEX AI, Karen Lynch and Sarah Snudden unpack the ideas that stood out across two packed days of conversations about AI and the future of research. They explore why AI’s biggest opportunity isn’t simply greater speed or productivity, but creating more room for strategic thinking, stronger relationships, and better business decisions. Sarah and Karen discuss accountability in AI-assisted...

What if an insight doesn’t lead to action? Does that mean it failed? In this episode of the Greenbook Podcast, Karen Lynch speaks with Nadine van Rooyen, Senior Effectiveness Manager at WEX, about challenging one of the insights industry’s most persistent assumptions: that value is defined by actionability. Nadine explains why insights can create meaningful business impact even when recommendation...

What happens when AI becomes more than a tool and starts shaping the interface itself? Josh Clark and Veronika Kindred of Big Medium, co-authors of Sentient Design: Crafting Intelligent Interfaces with AI , join Karen Lynch to explore a new approach to designing AI-powered experiences. They discuss treating AI as a design material, moving beyond chat-based interfaces, and creating products that ad...

How can established insights organizations innovate with AI without sacrificing the rigor and trust that made them successful? Thania Farrar, Senior Vice President of Corporate Innovation at Burke, joins Lenny Murphy to explore how the firm is evolving from traditional market research toward decision intelligence. They discuss building AI-enabled systems that connect fragmented data, deliver insig...

What happens when evidence, communications, and AI converge? Crispin Beale, Worldwide CEO of IDX, joins Karen Lynch to explain why organizations must rethink how they manage their narratives in an era shaped by answer engines, synthetic audiences, and machine-led discovery. He shares how IDX is integrating data and insights across performance marketing, corporate communications, and investor relat...

Mary Beth Jowers, VP of Americas Consumer and Market Insights at Heineken, joins Karen Lynch to explore how insights professionals can become more effective drivers of organizational change. Drawing on her leadership experience across global, regional, and developing markets, Mary Beth explains why insights teams should operate like internal businesses—prioritizing work that delivers measurable va...

In this episode of the Greenbook Podcast, Karen Lynch speaks with John Gilfeather, President of John Gilfeather & Associates and 2026 Market Research Council Hall of Fame inductee for Lifetime Achievement. John reflects on a career that spans Yankelovich, Roper, TNS, Logica Research, and his own consultancy, sharing lessons from decades of B2B, public affairs, corporate reputation, and public-...

What if convenience isn’t just about saving time—but about reducing stress, mental load, and friction? In this episode of The Greenbook Podcast, Karen Lynch sits down with Maxalan Vickers, Senior Insights Manager at Overtime, to explore how empathy, accessibility, and convenience intersect in modern consumer experiences. Drawing from his popular IIEX North America presentation, Maxalan shares why...

In this episode of the Greenbook Podcast, Karen Lynch sits down with Adam Bai, Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Client Officer at Panoplai, winner of Greenbook’s inaugural Industry Impact Award at IIEX North America. Adam shares how his background in anthropology, innovation, and enterprise transformation shapes Panoplai’s approach to modern insights. The conversation explores digital twins, synth...

In this episode of the Greenbook Podcast, Karen Lynch sits down with Future List Honoree Dan Parker-Smith to explore how documentary filmmaking techniques can transform the way insights are communicated. As the co-founder of EXPLNERS, Dan shares how his background in film, music, and creative collaboration shaped his approach to making research findings more human, memorable, and actionable. The c...

In this episode of the Greenbook Podcast, Leonard Murphy sits down with Samuel Cohen, co-founder and CEO of Fairgen, to explore the rapidly evolving world of synthetic data and AI-powered digital twins. Samuel shares how Fairgen has evolved from synthetic sample augmentation into building category-specific digital twins that help brands test ideas, concepts, ads, and products faster and more effic...

In this episode of the Greenbook Podcast, Karen Lynch sits down with Haley Kiernan, Insights Manager at Mars Petcare and a 2026 Greenbook Future List honoree, to explore the evolving realities of modern research. Haley shares how behavioral science shapes her approach to understanding “pet parents,” and why the infamous say-do gap continues to challenge even the most sophisticated studies. The con...

What does it take to turn millions of fan interactions into meaningful insight? In this episode, host Karen Lynch sits down with Craig Swaisgood, VP of Data, Analytics & Business Intelligence for the New York Mets, to explore the intersection of data, fandom, and experience design. Craig shares how his team blends behavioral data, survey insights, and segmentation to understand what truly driv...

In this episode of the Greenbook Podcast, Karen Lynch sits down with Tucker Mitchell, Senior Manager of Innovation Insights & Strategy at Pernod Ricard and 2026 Greenbook Future List Honoree. Tucker shares how innovation actua...

In this episode of the Greenbook Podcast, Karen Lynch sits down with Morgan Williams, Director of Qualitative Insights and Strategy Operations at CMB and a 2026 GreenBook Future List honoree. Morgan shares her career journey from advertising and quantitative research into qualitative insights, and explains how curiosity, empathy, and a “can-do” mindset shaped her path. The conversation explores th...

Karen Lynch sits down with Nikki Quast, Senior Market Research Manager at Microsoft and the creator behind “Data Driven Nikki,” to explore how research, content creation, and AI are reshaping the insights profession. Nikki shares career milestones from launching products at Kraft Heinz to simplifying insurance at American Family, and how those experiences fueled her passion for innovation and ment...

2026 Future List Honoree Feranmi Muraina joins Karen Lynch to explore what it really means to lead AI transformation inside a global brand. With a background in engineering and brand management, Feranmi brings a scientific mindset to insights, demanding evidence, challenging assumptions, and teaching teams how to work with AI rather than blindly accepting its outputs. From building AI protocols an...

Dr. Bridget Dalton, Head of Truth Futures at Truth Consulting and a 2026 Greenbook Futurist honoree, joins host Karen Lynch to unpack what it really means to “understand the future through culture.” With a background spanning academia, poetry, and semiotics, Bridget shares how cultural analysis can act as connective tissue across quant, qual, and AI-powered unstructured data to create sharper stra...

Karen Lynch sits down with Karen McFarlane, Founder of Kaye Media and longtime fractional CMO, to unpack what board service really looks like beyond the shiny LinkedIn headline. From her early career pivot (HBO home video by day, creative “startup” projects by night) to leading through uncertainty, Karen McFarlane shares how board work can sharpen leadership, expand networks, and create impact bey...

In this episode of the Greenbook Podcast, host Karen Lynch sits down with Emma LaPorte, Group Insights and Strategy Manager at Crown Resorts, to explore what it truly means to be a high-integrity insights leader. Emma shares her unique career journey from academia and agency life to healthcare, FMCG, and now experience-led research in the entertainment and hospitality sector. Together, they unpack...

In this episode of the Greenbook Podcast, host Karen Lynch sits down with Joanna Byerley , founder of Talent Pools AI , to unpack how AI is reshaping hiring, leadership, and careers in the insights and ResTech space. Joanna explains the shift from traditional executive search to talent intelligence —a more strategic, data-informed way to map markets, pipeline talent, and benchmark salaries before...