Cathy Wray

Cathy Wray Email and Phone Number

Adjunct Faculty @ Three Rivers College
Hartford, CT, US
About Cathy Wray

Consumer Insights and Project Management Professional with 15+ years of experience in strategically thinking outside of the box to develop customer insights and market research projects through strong agile project management leadership methodologies - with cross functional teams and stakeholders. Leverages customer data and market trends to build marketing initiatives that ensure brand awareness and success. Fosters healthy working relationships and develops new programs that increase revenue/loyalty and reduce loss. Global Consumer Insights | Project ManagerEmail: cwray0909@gmail.comA track record of success in applying customer insights to business issues, developing a marketing strategy, and working collaboratively with cross-functional teams to increase the brand’s position and revenue. Develops innovative solutions, tools, and products, identifying potential issues, and determining root causes to lead teams to successful outcomes. Skilled in project management, strategic thinking, and leadership, addressing consumer needs in innovation, A/B testing, product development inception to launch, and solving systemic issues. Enthusiastic team player that motivates and leads by example, thrives in fast-paced, challenging environments, and builds a culture that achieves consumer loyalty and record-breaking sales. CORE COMPETENCIES:• Consumer & B2B Insights• Agile Methodoligies • Synthesizing Data• Market Research & Trends Analysis• Innovative Business Strategies and Workflow Optimization • Customer Experience• Product Development• Brand & Loyalty• Storytelling & Journey Mapping• Customer Segmentation• Team Building & Training• Process Improvement and Strategic PlanningACCOMPLISHMENTS:~ Increased enrollment by 75% and won an award, leading a team that developed a financial model. ~ Identified new segments worth $26M+ in sales and saved $800K+ in costs and efficiencies by partnering with brand and marketing teams in Central and South America. ~Created a retention-based loyalty program for a pharmacy that activated earlier than current state, which resulted in a 50% higher retention overall, while increasing basket size.~ Developed a coaching and training app that increased participation by 81% and action rates by 24%.Please contact me at (812) 344-9280 with any research and consumer insights leadership and project management opportunities.

Cathy Wray's Current Company Details
Three Rivers College

Three Rivers College

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Adjunct Faculty
Hartford, CT, US
Website:
trcc.edu
Employees:
217
Cathy Wray Work Experience Details
  • Three Rivers College
    Adjunct Faculty
    Three Rivers College
    Hartford, Ct, Us
  • General Dynamics Electric Boat
    Senior Quality Specialist
    General Dynamics Electric Boat Nov 2023 - Present
    Groton, Connecticut, Us
  • Post University
    Associate Faculty
    Post University 2020 - Present
    Waterbury, Ct, Us
    Post University is based in Waterbury, Connecticut. It is the first university in the State of Connecticut to offer full degrees online. Post University is licensed by the State of Connecticut through the Office of Higher Education and is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE).Design and teach undergraduate courses in communication, media studies and marketing online. Working with students individually during the term to meet their individual academic needs, support the department chair and adjunct leader for special requests, trainings, and pilot programs to help with student retention.• Highly rated by students every term, securing an average 4+ rating from students on 5-point scale.• Valued by leaders with high ratings and reviews, given the opportunity to teach preferred classes.• Respected reputation for effective and engaging communication with students in an online environment.• Significant increase in student retention rates and student academic grades. • Nominated by students for Associate Faculty Impact Award (multiple times)
  • Kantar
    Senior Director Research & Insights, Advisory Retail Delivery
    Kantar 2021 - 2023
    London, Gb
    One of the largest marketing data and analytics companies in the world in 100 countries, about $3.3 B in research revenue worldwide with approximately 30,000 employees.Supported a team of insights professionals who leverage a broad toolkit of qualitative and quantitative techniques to understand customer needs and deliver insights influencing business needs in product strategy, shopper journey, segmentation, go-to-market, and retail strategy for clients in healthcare, retail, CPG, financial and pharmaceuticals. Mentored and coached junior team members, developing talent and skills, while having a focus on employee retention.• Develop approach to meet client’s business objectives, including being first to market, beating competition, and improving shopping experiences, through research support and consultation to 7+ internal and external partners.• Design research story, to bring clients along data journey and transfer knowledge of data meaning and ways to implement while enhancing current offerings to better meet client and marketplace needs.• Design research to understand consumer e-commerce retail experience, touchpoints, path to purchase by combining knowledge of consumer advocacy, digital media, and usability skills.• Formulate capabilities, including shopper journey mapping and path to purchase, in partnership with 8 consultants and team of 5 • Teach team of young researchers on best-in-class research approaches and ways to be scrappy to meet needs of growing businesses, without compromising quality and respecting science and art of research.• Understand and develop the ideal customer experience, path to purchase, UX experience, e-commerce, omnichannel including touchpoints for retail, pharmacy, CPG, healthcare products and services, which lead to store redesigns, new product launches, improved in-store and online communications and increased revenues.
  • Cigna
    Global Marketing Contractor
    Cigna 2020 - 2021
    Bloomfield, Ct, Us
    The fourth-largest major medical insurance company in the US, headquartered in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Cigna offers health insurance and health services to companies throughout the world.Contractor for the Global Marketing Research Team while colleagues out on leave. • Partnered with internal product teams, applying segmentation and consumer insights, to develop the best go-to-market plans for healthcare products and services.• Worked on Net Promotor Score study for 21 international markets synthesizing data and writing actionable reports for assigned countries.• Led test and learn, case studies for B2B segmentation, measuring the investment and further usage, to grow the business by using targeted marketing.• Developed a process for B2B segmentation projects to track KPI, ROI and key metrics for case studies.
  • Massmutual
    Director, Client Lab
    Massmutual 2018 - 2020
    Springfield, Massachusetts, Us
    One of the largest providers of life insurance, disability income insurance, long-term care insurance, retirement/401(k) plan services, and annuities; ranked 93 in the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations of total revenue. Co-created company’s acclaimed, inventive, and innovative Client Lab – a business acceleration initiative combining data, tech, and community solutions to increase acquisition, retention and engagement. Client Lab was the creation of the CMO to support the sales and education teams as a “service” to apply and support what’s next – executional and whitespace using any element of the marketing mix and beyond to translate to revenue/profit, in many cases a test and learn environment was initiated. • Launched proprietary platform to provide VOC in live feedback loop to clients, producing in-the-moment insights and content, securing utilization by key clients, producing thousands of assets, and increasing revenue. • Built a “Needstates Model,” a guided consumer insights engagement selling solution, matching consumers to the right products; drives sales to the P&L. Recognized for being first of its kind in industry. • Created personalized outreach programs, leading to increased actions rates from 10-40%.• Developed, wrote, and created ThoughtLeadership for C-Suite and sales team for internal and external use to illustrate an understanding of users, markets, and trends by building a pipeline and hub of 30 case studies, white papers, and podcasts. • Developed team to provide customer strategy and engagement tools, including virtual education and personalized outreach, to enable customer leadership with deep, end-to-end view and metrics throughout relationship.
  • Meijer
    Consumer Strategy & Insights
    Meijer 2016 - 2018
    Grand Rapids, Michigan, Us
    Meijer is a leading Supercenter located in six states throughout the Midwest, with over 200 stores and more than 71,000 employees. A multi-billion-dollar retailer, Meijer is ranked as the 19th largest privately held company in the country.Senior market research lead focused on strategy, innovation, and customer experience across the organization. Facilitate discussions across teams to align on strategic intents, metrics, and white space opportunities for Meijer. Responsible for three of the strategic pillars of the business; Private Label, Pharmacy and Softlines (apparel, shoes, and accessories)• Led cross functional team to understand pharmacy needs, prioritized conversion for pharmacy, including role of digital and loyalty program.• Support private label product team in closing the revenue gap to becoming more competitive in 4 key growth categories. Informed agile product development by establishing consumer product expectations and acceptability, which served as leading indicator for when formulas or manufacturing changes are made.• Supported brand team of 7 in becoming more competitive by developing product testing process, benchmarks, and customer insights standards while integrating sensory research into decision process, contributing to up to 20% growth across categories.• Spearheaded initiative and cross functional team, creating 360-view of Softline’s customer, understanding behaviors, attitudes, shopping basket, and promotional behavior leading to growth.
  • Cargill
    Market Research Manager, Global Marketing
    Cargill 2015 - 2016
    Wayzata, Minnesota, Us
    One of the largest privately held companies in the world; Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial, and industrial products, and services with 150,000 employees in 70 countries. Company eliminated Global Marketing.Lead market researcher for two business enterprises providing strategic customer and market insights for fact-based and customer driven market mapping, buying process analysis, customer, and consumer segmentation initiatives. A lead professional on the Cargill global marketing center of excellence team, developed brand rationalization, portfolio rationalization, product launch and action segmentation for Central America. • Partnering with brand and marketing teams in Central and South Americas, identified new segments worth $26M+ in sales, saving company $800K+ in efficiencies.• Created concept and product testing research process for international cocoa and chocolate business to support new product development pipeline and enable refinement of offerings to move product to launch stage.• Lead the assessment of ingredient research to support both natural organic growth and new product development growth. Developed a food ingredient platform with one dashboard and one overall plan which created standardization, benchmarks, KPIs and increased overall revenue. Demonstrated leadership and internal collaboration and influencing of marketing leaders from five business units to jointly fund this broad cross business unit research to successfully develop the platform.
  • The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
    Consumer Insights Manager, Product And Innovation
    The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company 2014 - 2015
    Akron, Oh, Us
    A $21 billion global provider of commercial, consumer, aviation, and off-highway tires with 69,000 associates in 52 countries. Provided strategic direction that leveraged consumer knowledge and business acumen on business plans, while driving brand equity and business growth for product marketing, new product development and innovations. Represented insights on the corporate strategic team, setting strategy for the organization and identifying measurable metrics. Led cross-functional teams and managed a budget of $900K.• Provided strategic direction utilizing consumer knowledge and business acumen on business plans, while driving brand equity and business growth for product marketing, new product development and innovations.• Supported the Technology Innovation Team by developing a new best practice and internal process for fueling continuous revenue growth, based on consumers’ current and emerging needs. • Facilitated market share growth and streamlined operations by leading a team to develop the ideal product portfolio. • Supported business growth in identifying opportunities for product enhancements, successors, gaps in the marketplace and competitive advantages to meet consumer needs.
  • Consultant
    Wray Consulting
    Consultant 2009 - 2015
    • Studied consumer needs when shopping and preparing food, developed needs-based segmentation, used for strategic planning to gain market share in China.• Helped drive a $270 million increase in company revenue by facilitating strategic new product effort by leading a successful new product effort for Energy beverage. • Designed and executed a multi-stage study to understand consumers’ needs, habits and desired benefits for a market which has grown 620% in 15 years. • Increased demand by improving the usability experience of the website, social media, and e-commerce touch points, by combining knowledge of consumer advocacy, digital media, and usability skills.• Improved customer experience program, improving metrics, driving down churn, while connecting results to ROI. • Developed a program for a common scorecard across South America and leverage opportunities for centralization and common programs, when applicable.• Increased demand by improving the usability experience of the website, social media, and e-commerce touch points, by combining knowledge of consumer advocacy, digital media, and usability skills.• Improved the consumer shopping experience by understanding their behaviors and needs. Persuaded retailer to expand facings of product into three different store sections increasing consumer visibility and overall revenue. • Developed a new research approach, qualitative and quantitative, that leveraged technology and met the needs of a changing environment and budget for a major client, resulting in 50% cost-savings for client.• Worked with companies and completed qualitative and quantitative research in the Americas, APAC, and Europe countries.
  • Goodmind
    Consultant - Research & Operations
    Goodmind 2009 - 2014
    New York, Ny, Us
    Independent Research & Marketing Consultant (Wray Consulting)
  • Qualvu
    Consultant - Quantitative Research & Strategy
    Qualvu 2009 - 2014
    Lakewood, Colorado, Us
    Independent Research & Marketing Consultant (Wray Consulting)
  • Sprint
    Senior Manager, Consumer And Product Insights
    Sprint 2001 - 2010
    Overland Park, Kansas, Us
    US telecommunications company providing wireless services and major global Internet carrier. Sprint and T-Mobile merged April 2020.Led development of consumer and business products and services to disrupt the wireless market. Grew the consumer base, developing and measuring customer retention programs, and spearheading segmentation. Developed brand loyalty programs and metrics, optimizing retail experience, and improving customer service through all touch points. Built proprietary panels, usability, customer experience for apps, handsets, website, and understanding impact of merger on brand. Oversaw four direct reports, led multiple cross-functional teams, task forces, managed annual budget of $8MM to $10MM.• Designed and managed the VOC program, a longitudinal advisory panel to assist the company in making marketing decisions by understanding current state versus the ideal customer experience. • Led Sprint's cross-functional Innovation to create a robust new product pipeline. Key initiatives included identifying strategic opportunities, uncovering consumer/customer unmet needs, developing, and testing a range of new product concepts that answer the needs and fill the strategic opportunities, recommending winning concepts for development, and leading the team to bring the resulting products to market.• Reduced the number of customer calls for billing inquiries, by improving the online customer experience. Designed and tested 3 different wireframes, created a beta site with programmers and engineers to meet consumer needs, and provided metrics and reports to senior management. • Authored a range of topical white papers which were used by executives to make business decisions and by Wall Street analysts.

Cathy Wray Skills

Market Research Segmentation Customer Insight Marketing Strategy Strategy Competitive Analysis Product Management Project Planning Product Development Strategic Thinking Program Management Cross Functional Team Leadership Business Development Digital Marketing Business Strategy Customer Acquisition Secondary Research Marketing Research Consumer Behaviour Leadership Marketing Competitive Intelligence Customer Experience Market Analysis Management Quantitative Research Qualitative Research Focus Groups Product Marketing Strategic Planning Consumer Behavior

Cathy Wray Education Details

  • Tiffin University
    Tiffin University
    Global Leadership And Change
  • Wichita State University
    Wichita State University
    Research And Marketing
  • Newman University
    Newman University
    Business Administration And Marketing

Frequently Asked Questions about Cathy Wray

What company does Cathy Wray work for?

Cathy Wray works for Three Rivers College

What is Cathy Wray's role at the current company?

Cathy Wray's current role is Adjunct Faculty.

What is Cathy Wray's email address?

Cathy Wray's email address is ca****@****jer.com

What is Cathy Wray's direct phone number?

Cathy Wray's direct phone number is +181234*****

What schools did Cathy Wray attend?

Cathy Wray attended Tiffin University, Wichita State University, Newman University.

What are some of Cathy Wray's interests?

Cathy Wray has interest in Children, Volunteer Work, Spending Time With Family, Change, Reading, Developing New Ideas, Scrapbooking.

What skills is Cathy Wray known for?

Cathy Wray has skills like Market Research, Segmentation, Customer Insight, Marketing Strategy, Strategy, Competitive Analysis, Product Management, Project Planning, Product Development, Strategic Thinking, Program Management, Cross Functional Team Leadership.

Who are Cathy Wray's colleagues?

Cathy Wray's colleagues are Staci Foster, William T. (Buddy) White, Diane Patterson, Emily Thurman, Lisa Rose, Debbie Lathum, Moriah Joplin.

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