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.
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.