David J. Reichman
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
RKS Research & Consulting
Over 30 years of experience in designing, implementing, and analyzing opinion research for a variety of private sector, government and non-profit clients have taught Mr. Reichman that the answers to most questions are available simply to those who first know how to ask, and second, know how to listen. Even in today's complex world where people seem to be more suspicious than ever of probing questions, Mr. Reichman feels strongly that people have a great need to express their views about the things that matter to them. Mr. Reichman believes his career in opinion research demonstrates this.
Mr. Reichman started his own full-service marketing and opinion research firm in 1974 after spending seven years as Vice President and Senior Project Director at the national polling firm of Louis Harris and Associates, Inc.
RKS Research & Consulting specializes in marketing and opinion research for energy utility companies and has completed a variety of assignments for investor owned, municipal and cooperative utilities.
Mr. Reichman holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. in Banking and Finance from New York University Graduate School of Business Administration. He taught Marketing Research at Rutgers University in New Jersey, is a member of the American Association of Public Opinion Research and is the author of many articles.
Carmine Grastataro
President
RKS Research & Consulting
Since joining RKS in 1994, Carmine Grastataro has focused on assisting clients to optimize the value obtained from marketing research with customers, employees, suppliers, trade allies, subsidiaries and advertising agencies. Turning research into action is the cornerstone of his services to RKS' clients. Strategic planning, tactical implementation, branding and positioning are his forte.
He joined RKS after 15 years at American Electric Power (AEP), an energy company serving seven million people in seven states. Prior to joining AEP, he was a Systems Engineer for IBM Corporation. His experience includes marketing, customer service, advertising, branding, sales, and marketing research. His AEP career highlights include the establishment of the marketing research, national accounts, and business services divisions of AEP. As the Manager of Business Services, he was responsible for 330,000 commercial customers and annual energy sales of $1.2 billion. He earned the electric industry's first customer service award for his work with national account customers.
Carmine Grastataro holds an MBA in Marketing Management from Capital University and a BBA in Statistical Analysis and Marketing Research from Baruch College. He is frequently asked to speak at marketing and advertising conferences. He authored several papers published by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). He has been quoted in Forbes Magazine on establishing brands for electricity, and several articles written about his customer research have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Energy Daily, Electrical World, AGA Monthly, California Energy Markets and a dozen more trade publications.
Michele Dreyfus
Executive Vice President, Operations
RKS Research & Consulting
Michele Dreyfus is Executive Vice President at RKS Research & Consulting . Her responsibilities include the direction and coordination of projects. Ms. Dreyfus' responsibilities are to ensure that all projects are carried out according to specification. An integral part of her job involves the daily monitoring associated with all projects.
Ms. Dreyfus heads up our New Jersey location that handles database management, programming of survey instruments, supervision and direction of field interviewing agencies, quality control, coding and tab coordination. Ms Dreyfus has 20 years of experience in research operations. Prior to joining RKS, Ms. Dreyfus was employed as Assistant Field Director at Louis Harris & Associates where her responsibilities included the supervision and coordination of in-person studies specializing in corporate executive research, the healthcare industry, social research and the government sector.
Prior to that Ms. Dreyfus was employed as Field Director at Lieberman Research East where she managed field studies for product placement and testing, awareness and usage tracking, and advertising awareness. Ms. Dreyfus holds a BS degree in Economics from The College of Staten Island and an Associates degree in Business Administration. She has been a member of the Marketing Research Association (MRA) since 1980.
Richard Claeys
Vice President, West
RKS Research & Consulting
Richard G. Claeys is Vice President, West, at RKS Research & Consulting. Based in Silicon Valley, he extends the reach of RKS product and service offerings throughout the Western U.S. and writes the monthly California Customer Insights newsletter, distributed exclusively to RKS national clients. He is also responsible for RKS national industry communications and news media relations programs.
Prior to joining RKS, Mr. Claeys served as Vice President and Senior Advisor at Neale-May & Partners, a $6 million strategic marketing and communications firm headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with offices in New York City and Austin, Texas. At Neale-May, he led account teams serving clients in the energy, healthcare, and professional services fields and counseled senior executives of client firms on strategic communications issues.
In the energy field, Mr. Claeys spent nearly 10 years in charge of the Corporate Communications Division at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). He has also handled consulting assignments for such clients as Southern California Edison/Edison International, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), A.T.Kearney, Inc., Ernst & Young, Coopers & Lybrand, and Addison, Seefeld and Brew, an international branding and identity firm with leading utility clients.
Earlier, Mr. Claeys held senior communications positions at Connecticut General Life Insurance Company (now part of CIGNA), and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York. He earned a BA in English from St. Mary's College of California and an MS in Journalism from Boston University. He is a founding director of the San Francisco Public Relations Academy, a member of the Advisory Board, San Jose State University, and past chair of the College of Fellows, Public Relations Society of America. He remains active as a member of the Institute of Management Consultants and the Arthur W. Page Society.
James Porco, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President & Director of Research
RKS Research & Consulting
Dr. Porco's principal responsibilities include sampling design, methodology recommendations, and developing new strategies of data collection. He is also responsible for managing RKS's in-house tabulations. Prior to joining RKS in a full-time management position in February 1999, Dr. Porco was Senior Research Analyst for American Electric Power, one of the nation's ten largest investor-owned utilities. In that capacity, Dr. Porco was the key contact and principal investigator on new product developments at AEP.
Dr. Porco conducted numerous quantitative and qualitative investigations on new products including a market assessment and evaluation of natural gas microturbines, interest and penetration expectations for an energy information, management and advisory system (AEP Datapult), outdoor lighting program options and pricing, lightning detection software market acceptance and penetration, and an Electro Magnetic Interference product test.
Prior to his work at AEP, Dr. Porco was a consultant to Columbia Gas, where he was responsible for product testing, DSM program evaluations, advertising tracking, and focus group moderation.. A graduate of Cleveland State University, he earned a Master's degree in Applied Communication Theory and Research Methodology for Cleveland State and a Ph.D in Telecommunications from Ohio State University.
Ray P. Tricarico
Director of Business Development
RKS Research & Consulting
Bringing some 30 years of marketing and sales achievements in apparel, high tech and business consulting, Ray Tricarico develops and manages programs for attracting, growing and retaining client organizations for RKS’ marketing research products and services.
He most recently served as director of sales operations for Onscreen Technologies, a Florida-based technology company. He joined Onscreen during its startup phase in 2004 and guided its sales operations while establishing strategic partnerships, defining markets and establishing internal forecasting processes. He was instrumental in bringing Onscreen’s first products to market and exceeding initial sales objectives.
Previously, Mr. Tricarico spent most of his career in marketing and sales at a publicly traded Fortune 500 corporation--Playtex Apparel, Inc., part of Sara Lee, Inc. Over more than 25 years at Playtex, he assumed increasing responsibilities for sales administration, national brand management, and trade marketing. His management assignments included marketing services, national accounts, and sales merchandising.
After leaving Playtex in 2001, Mr. Tricarico performed management consulting assignments for a diverse array of clients, ranging from Jockey International in the apparel business to publishing and health care enterprises.
Mr. Tricarico earned a BBA degree in marketing from Pace College, New York. He is based in RKS’ headquarters office in Danbury, CT.
