At CarbonSix, we build teams tailored to client needs. For every project, we assess the best fit with our strategists in order to create just the right blend of methodological expertise and experience for any research problem.
Take a look at our core team below, and meet the people who make CarbonSix so special.
President of CarbonSix
Margaret Mueller has over 15 years experience in social science research methods and advises senior decision-makers across a range of industries. She created the pharmaceutical and healthcare practice at LJS Strategic Research in Chicago, which has now grown into CarbonSix. With a broad foundation of experience in categories such as CPG branding, trademark and litigation, financial services and communications strategies, Margaret is able to bring the best innovations from other industries to the pharmaceutical clients of CarbonSix. She is an experienced moderator with expert knowledge of statistical techniques, giving her a comprehensive end-to-end understanding of the market research process.
In addition to lecturing and teaching at top schools such as University of Chicago and Loyola University Chicago, Margaret appears on various media outlets speaking to issues such as consumer sentiment, marketing trends, and the economy.
Margaret holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an M.A. in Social Science from the University of Chicago, and a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
She has received research awards from The National Institutes of Health, Harvard University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is currently Alumni Board President for the MAPSS program at U of C.
Margaret has a taste for adventure and a passion for travel that dovetails nicely with a life in global research. After a long day of international investigation, Margaret hunts out the best local spots for a perfect dopio macchiato, fromage blanc, or gogi gui.
She is renowned at the firm for her 2010 launch of a one-day snowboarding career that ended in a broken wrist, and has since vigorously renewed her love for yoga – performed on the solid, flat plane of a studio floor.
Principal, President of LJS Strategic Research
Matthew Smith has been helping clients solve complex research problems for nearly 35 years, including the development of hospital patient and physician satisfaction research at major institutions across the country such as The University of Chicago Hospitals, Northwestern Medical Center, Sloan Kettering and Cleveland Clinic. He is an early pioneer in Cancer research working with the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute to better understand cancer patients concerns and unmet needs including groundbreaking studies in utilization of unapproved treatments.
As President of CarbonSix’s parent company LJS Strategic Research, Matthew conducts global research for a broad range of business categories, with a specific focus on consumer insight testing. He is one of the original founders of the Ameritest™ copytesting system, and brings this considerable customer understanding to the healthcare and pharmaceutical practice of CarbonSix in his role as partner and chief advisor. Matthew also specializes in early pipeline brand development in the CPG and retail spaces, and stays current with industry innovation while maintaining a firm footing in the social science foundations that are the hallmark of his leadership at LJS.
He is a guest lecturer and mentor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and holds a degree in the History of Art & Architecture from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Matthew is a practicing Quaker who has traveled the world extensively. Whether on an ATV in the Rocky Mountains, touring Antarctica, or piloting his boat 2,000 miles to the Gulf of Mexico, he’s always up for an adventure. He’s an active participant in a very musical family, with a performing jazz singer for a mother and three brothers and a sister who make music on the stage as well.
Matthew may not sing for you on command – but ask about Egyptian, Japanese or Modern Art, and you’ll probably want to pull up a chair.
Director
For over 10 years, Ankit Makim has been working in the biotech and healthcare space. First in pre-clinical drug development, and more recently, developing brand management and product positioning strategies for the pharmaceutical industry through his expertise in quantitative market research. His strong business background makes him an excellent resource for clients in need of specific pipeline, commercialization, customer segmentation, and forecast/modeling valuation strategy.
Ankit has successfully managed jobs for global pharma clients in many therapeutic areas, including Cardiology, Inflammation, Oncology, Antifungals, CNS, HIV, and rare genetic disorders. He also lends his strong data and analytics experience to CarbonSix, and is constantly looking for innovative measurement tools to bring over to healthcare and pharma applications.
He holds an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, an M.A. in Biology from Harvard University and a B.A. in Biology and Psychology from Boston University.
Ankit was, at one time, possibly the only New York Yankees fan studying International Finance in Vienna, Austria. To this day, he carefully maintains an unhealthy love-hate relationship with the team―and with thanks to his accommodating pediatrician wife, has already convinced his one-year-old child to be a New York sports fan.
For the record: he used to have hair.
Senior Strategist
Kari Terzino brings 12 years research experience to the CarbonSix team, with a specialization in quantitative analysis. She has expertise in managing research to assist pharmaceutical companies with product development and prioritization, branding, concept testing, positioning, and messaging. Kari is involved throughout the entire research process – from designing, through coordination and administration of the project, to the statistical analysis and report writing of the final deliverables.
She is currently adjunct instructing for undergraduate psychology courses, on subjects covering research methodology, social psychology, and testing measurement. Kari has been awarded national and international fellowships to conduct research in her academic career.
Kari holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Social Psychology from Iowa State University, as well as B.A. in Psychological Science with Highest Research Honors from Purdue University.
While not performing research, Kari can likely be found researching performances – she takes photographs for a music review website, and is frequently front and center at concerts across the city.
She’s an avid world traveler, and has experienced several natural disasters in her endeavors, such as: earthquake, fire, flood, typhoon, and living in Japan whilst completely unable to speak Japanese.
Kari would also like you to know that she loves all animals and thinks you should, too.
Senior Strategist
Brian is a research consultant with a background in qualitative data collection and analysis. He strives to maximize the clarity, consistency, and explanatory power of data by helping clients ask the right questions of respondents during interviews and to leverage the best analytical methods against the responses.
Prior to joining CarbonSix, Brian worked as a research consultant and project manager for a boutique healthcare research firm, designing qualitative data management platforms. He’s passionate about striking the right balance between the spark of insight and the satisfaction of using efficient technology.
Brian is a professionally trained moderator and member of the Pharmaceutical Marketing Research Group (PMRG).
He holds an undergraduate degree in Behavioral Science & Law and Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also earned an M.A. in Communication Studies at Ball State University.
Aside from building data platforms, Brian has actually been known to build more real-world platforms… for example, out of plywood—perhaps on a stage. He regularly volunteers with technical direction and theatrical production for concerts and events in his community, and is always looking for an excuse to start his next home improvement project.
When he’s had his fill of sawdust, and if it’s just the right kind of warm summer night, you might even catch a glimpse of him around the far north suburbs of Chicago, waving to you as his glides by on his motorcycle.
Strategist
Esther Newman comes to the CarbonSix team with a background in public health and small business development, as well as expertise in qualitative project organization and analysis. As an experienced qualitative data analyst, she focuses on designing projects that provide insightful and relevant data that directly speaks to the business need of clients.
She has worked in a variety of therapeutic areas such as IBD, Oncology, Diabetes, and Pain Management, as well as with methodological challenges such as bilingual fielding and cross-cultural analysis.
Esther holds a B.A. in Sociology from Knox College.
Esther is adept at jazz saxophone and biking, although never (yet) at the same time. She gets hands on with her hobbies by volunteering bi-weekly at the Ladies-Only Bike Maintenance Seminar in Chicago. She is also a fluent Spanish speaker, which is much more conducive in combination with cycling.
Oh, and is your food too spicy? Pass it on over, Esther will eat it.
Strategist
For over eight years, Jennifer Rosner has been developing expertise in longitudinal quantitative and qualitative research and analysis. She has research experience in variety of therapeutic areas such as IBD, Diabetes, and CV disease as well as broad category applications such as managing multiple large-scale pill and packaging design development studies.
As a project manager, she is also skilled in all aspects of developing and executing research, beginning with study design and stimuli creation through to conducting interviews and ethnography, and on to report creation and presentation to key stakeholders.
By age 25, Jennifer had already won a campus-level Excellence in Teaching award at the University of Illinois. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Social Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.A. in Psychology and Political Science from Northwestern University.
Although widely published in top-tier psychology journals and books (i.e., Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Psychological Inquiry); Jennifer’s most significant publication to date may just be her chapter “Vampires and Werewolves Aren’t So Different After All” in the genre opus The Psychology of Twilight.
Jennifer can swear in Yiddish, loves lox and bagels, and recommends that if she ever goes missing, you begin the search in Miami.
Strategist
Kelly Addison is a Project Manager at CarbonSix with over 5 years of market research experience in the global pharmaceutical and healthcare, retail, and CPG industries. She is responsible for organizing, examining and reporting primary research findings. Throughout her career, she has worked on both quantitative and qualitative projects to develop expertise in questionnaire design and data processing, including extensive work in statistical modeling and diagnostics.Kelly has managed all aspects of research in a variety of therapeutic areas, and is able to easily step into any role during a project, whether interviewing physicians, running multivariate models, or presenting findings to clients.
She holds an M.Ed. From DePaul Unversity, as well as a B.A. in Economics with a minor in French Language from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
A devoted Francophile, Kelly has traveled France from coast to coast while developing her français to fluency – all the better to entice stateside Frenchies to learn a little English (Kelly recently qualified as a certified Teaching English as a Foreign Language instructor). Kelly also loves finding new music to inspire her running, and has worked her way up to half-marathons so far. If you have any tunes to suggest, please send them along – it’s really hard to keep a quick cadence while listening to La Marseillaise or Ne Me Quitte Pas
Director of Resources
Annie Truong has been with the team for four years, deftly managing project organization, logistics, and vendors on a global scale. Her ability to maintain many plates spinning at once across time zones keeps research flowing smoothly at the firm. Seeing projects through from the planning phase through to fruition requires Annie’s superior talents at coordinating logistics, scheduling international interviews and recruiting to seamlessly integrate across markets, as well as dealing with unexpected client-side changes in scope or timing.
She holds a B.S. in Marketing with a concentration in Psychology from the University of Kansas School of Business.
Annie is both a voracious consumer and contributor to social media outlets, and is passionate about discussing technology, fashion, food, Chicago locales, and travel. She can also discuss these topics in fluent Vietnamese if needed! When she’s not reviewing and rating the world, Annie believes in the power of yoga, pilates, and sleep.
In closing: Rock Chalk Jayhawk.
Resource Specialist
Laura Stoynoff came to CarbonSix through an internship program, spending a summer shadowing the C6 team while assisting with research analysis and report writing. She proved to be such an asset that the firm brought her back as a full-time employee on the research project management side. Laura is excited to bring her skills to bear in planning and administration for the many diverse research projects CarbonSix executes each year.
She’s a recent graduate from Loyola University Chicago with a B.A. in Communication Studies, where she also studied Spanish Language and Dance.
Laura has been in love with dancing (especially ballet) since the age of three and is considering keeping a pair of pointe shoes in her desk, just in case. She also enjoys cooking and experimenting with new recipes, and would absolutely love to take those extra concert tickets off your hands. Thanks for asking.
Senior Moderator
Theresa Schreiber adds 27 years of research project experience to CarbonSix. She specializes in discussion development, moderating, and analysis of customer insights, and has conducted in-depth interviews with thousands of physicians, patients, payors, KOLs, and other healthcare professionals. Her decades of experience with one-on-one interviewing lends a personal depth to her research, allowing her to mine the most critical, honest consumer truths from her respondents―then convert those findings into actionable business objectives for clients.
Theresa has conducted research and presented findings at the annual meetings of several medical organizations, such as the American Academy of Periodontics, the American Medical Association, the Berkeley School of Public Health, and has taught courses at Cardinal Strich College and St. Xavier University.
She holds both an M.A. and a B.A. in Sociology from Marquette University.
Theresa is an avid year-round tennis player and is always up for a match. Off the court, she enjoys the vibrant Opera scene in Chicago, whether classics at the Lyric or reinterpretations at Chicago Modern Opera. She always makes sure to get tickets close enough so that opera glasses are never required.
She has also recently completed an epic kitchen remodel, and is happy to be cooking for and entertaining her friends once again.
Designer
Morgan joined the CarbonSix team in 2012 to help standardize and oversee the visual design aspects of our market research. Morgan’s architectural background and expertise in graphic, web, and presentation design ensures that our reporting and research tools are always clear, attractive, and most of all: effective. He also maintains a consistent look and feel to the CarbonSix brand through client communication pieces, special event presence, and new business development initiatives.
Morgan holds a B.F.A. of Architecture from the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Although Morgan loves modern design, he has a special interest in the past. He builds vintage bicycles, collects old books (preferably, first editions), and—while traveling—his architecture degree lets him view historical buildings with an especially trained eye on the history of design.
He maintains his focus on the minutia of pixel-perfect alignment of design elements by drinking coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.
