North America

Peter Kim

Managing Director, North America

Peter Kim is recognized as a leading thinker and analyst on social business, which he discusses on his blog, Being Peter Kim. Peter has been quoted in the press by media outlets including CNN, CNBC, NPR, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.

Peter was previously an analyst at Forrester Research, focusing on the intersection of social technology and marketing strategy while winning awards for best research and top keynote. Earlier at PUMA AG, he managed international marketing operations, e-commerce, and digital marketing. In this role, he grew US revenue by 8x and opened online stores in Europe, built the firm’s internal advertising agency, and created the process for worldwide collaboration.

Peter holds degrees from the University of Virginia’s Darden School (MBA) and the University of Pennsylvania (BA).

Follow Peter on Twitter @peterkim.

Kate Niederhoffer

Principal, Engagement Manager

Kate is a founding member and joined the team from Nielsen Online where she was the VP of Measurement Science, liaising between Research, Product, and R&D. 

Kate focused on developing internal methodologies, introducing established Nielsen data to consumer-generated media, and consulting on innovative client requests. Kate has spoken at industry events and conferences including Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, WOMMA, ARF, and ICWSM.

 She has published in several academic journals including the Journal of Advertising Research, Annual Review of Psychology, Journal of Language and Social Psychology, and Handbook of Positive Psychology.

She completed her Ph.D. in Social Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.

Kate blogs at Social Abacus and is on Twitter as @katenieder.

Jevon McDonald

Principal, Engagement Manager

Before joining Dachis Group, Jevon founded the software and services company firestoker.com to help clients redefine and recreate their businesses using social business concepts and tools, providing both strategic guidance and full service enterprise software deployments.

He was previously a partner at The Renewal Consulting Group where he worked on major change projects for organizations such as The Pizza Delight Group, York University, National Public Radio, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and others.

Jevon also served as Vice President at Argenus, Inc., an insurance comparison and recommendation tool for the life insurance industry, and he founded silverorange.com, one of North America’s leading web development and creative firms.

Jevon blogs at Social Write and is on Twitter as @jevon.

Caroline Dangson

Consultant

Caroline Dangson joins Dachis Group with two years experience as a research analyst at IDC covering online advertising, digital media and social business software. In addition to forecasting opportunities and challenges for both vendors and buyers of social software, Caroline has explored the cultural and operational transformation required for companies to realize the full potential of social business initiatives. Caroline has been quoted numerous times in the media, including Wall Street Journal, The Economist, USA Today, Reuters, CIO.com, and VentureBeat. 

Prior to IDC, Caroline served as a research coordinator for Harvard Medical School where she administered a battery of cognitive assessments to patients for research studies sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health. Caroline has also worked in the media as a writer and producer for FOX8 WGHP-TV News in North Carolina and as a video editor for public relations agency Ruder Finn in New York. 

Caroline graduated with highest honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Mass Communication.

Join Caroline’s conversations about #socialbiz on Twitter @cdangson.

Cynthia Pflaum

Consultant

Cynthia joins Dachis Group from Forrester Research, where she focused on helping clients understand how consumers use social technologies through data-driven insights and research. Her reports have been quoted frequently in the press, including media outlets like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Advertising Age. In addition to writing research and consulting with clients across industries, Cynthia helped manage Forrester’s Social Technographics product globally. Her data analyses were featured in the award-winning business book, Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff.

Prior to Forrester, Cynthia worked as a research analyst for Knowledge Networks, where she conducted qualitative and quantitative brand research studies.

Cynthia holds a B.S in Mass Communication and a B.A in Psychology from Boston University.

Join Cynthia’s conversations on Twitter @cpflaum.

Tom Cummings

Consultant

Tom joins the Dachis Group from Forrester Research, where he focused on writing social media research for the Interactive Marketing role. Additionally, as part of Forrester’s internal social strategy team, he helped develop several companywide social guidelines, including Analyst rules for blogging and engaging on Twitter. He also served as a Community Manager for an internal employee community and worked closely with web marketing on several client facing projects.

Previously at Forrester, Tom was a client facing Market Research Data Advisor, providing on-demand insights from consumer technology data to media, marketing, and automotive clients.

Tom graduated with a Bachelor’s in Economics from the University of Vermont and studied econometrics and resource economics at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Follow Tom on Twitter @tomcummings.

Ellen Reynolds

Associate

Ellen Reynolds is an Associate Consultant at Dachis Group, performing both client engagements and internal research. She has experience in listening landscape analysis and social media training and implementation with companies in the finance, software, utility, food & beverage, and service industries. Ellen joined the Dachis Group in October 2008 and was instrumental in the successful establishment of the Austin office.

Prior to Dachis Group, Ellen planned, marketed and executed customer and internal events for boutique event firms, non-profit organizations and large corporations, including National Instruments, the Austin Chamber of Commerce and the Austin Children’s Museum.

Ellen graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in Public Relations from the University of Texas at Austin.

Follow Ellen on Twitter @ellenreynolds.

Kate Rush Sheehy

Associate

Kate comes from a diverse background of business development, non-profit marketing, event planning, and agency experience. Prior to joining Dachis Group, Kate directed the business development efforts for a consulting firm that specializes in Atlassian implementation. She served as the liaison between company and client for a number of enterprise-level software and technology firms. During her time at The Richards Group she worked in account service on interactive campaigns for Home Depot’s ESPN Game Day, La Madeleine, and the National Pork Board. She also developed event planning and marketing expertise working for The First Tee of Greater Austin.

Kate holds a B.S. in Advertising from the University of Texas at Austin.

Follow Kate on Twitter @katerushsheehy.

Brian Kotlyar

Associate

Brian Kotlyar is an Associate at Dachis Group. He joined the team from expert network firm Gerson Lehrman Group where he was Research Manager for a broad portfolio of financial services, professional services and corporate clients. Prior to this, Brian was a collaboration and social media analyst at market research firm Yankee Group.
Brian graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Commonwealth College at the University of Massachusetts with degrees in History and Social Thought and Political Economy.

Follow Brian on Twitter @bkotlyar.

Amanda Johnson

Operations Associate

Originally from Dallas, Amanda Johnson is a communications professional with a breadth of experience in event planning, marketing and social media systems. Amanda recently relocated to Austin after five years in New York City, where she worked as a Senior Analyst on the event marketing teams for both Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers, planning over 1200 events worldwide, and on the marketing launch team for Moet Hennessey’s Hennessy Black. Amanda is thrilled to be back in the Lone Star State.

Amanda holds a Bachelors of Science in Communication from the University of Missouri and is a member of the Austin Junior League.

Follow her on Twitter @akjnyc.