OUR TEAM
Composed of seasoned marketing practitioners, expert research specialists, and accomplished data scientists, Predictive Branding Partners is adept at making the best use of cutting-edge insights and tools to create marketing strategies that companies rely on for business success.
JERRY HOWARD
FOUNDER & CHIEF BRAND STRATEGIST
Jerry Howard is an incisive marketing strategist with a proven record of unlocking the hidden growth drivers of high-profile, global organizations. Across hundreds of diverse brand engagements, he’s developed laser-focused B2C and B2B brand strategies based on the marriage of predictive data science and masterful interpretation. Jerry’s adaptive approach to zeroing in on what will create top and bottom-line change looks at all facets of a business from a consumer lens.
In an era where brands are increasingly commoditized, marketing executives call on Jerry to lead them in creating a differentiated direction for brand communications, sales, product, innovative strategy, and beyond. In addition to his unique capacity to factor in proprietary research approaches and partners, he excels at having pointed conversations that reveal insights that are tested and interpreted into a compelling story and practical brand roadmap for the future of the business.
Clients value Jerry’s understanding of current business realities and capabilities from their perspective, having run the beauty care business for Procter & Gamble Japan, and later delivering record revenue and earnings while serving as Worldwide Director for Coca-Cola, the world’s most loved brand. Realizing his passion for leading with strategy, he co-founded Strategy First Partners to do the collaborative work that matters most in generating results. After almost two decades of successfully applying this approach with an impressive client list, Jerry evolved it into Predictive Branding.
Jerry earned his MBA in Marketing and Finance from Cornell University and currently serves on the Board of WaterEquity (waterequity.org). He also served as a strategic advisor to the Peter T. Paul Entrepreneurship Center at the University of New Hampshire.
LAWRENCE SCHACK, PH.D.
FOUNDER & CHIEF BUSINESS STRATEGIST
Dr. Schack has distilled core insights into compelling business strategies for high-profile, fast-moving brands for two decades. With his background as an advisor to top business and political leaders and his keen ability to leverage quantitative and qualitative knowledge to hone in on the strategic messaging that will drive market outcomes, Larry is a key asset to Predictive Branding’s capabilities.
Many of the world’s most well-known technology brands, as well as financial services, energy, education, telecommunications and media companies, and politicians such as Tony Blair, have trusted Larry to provide guidance on the most expedient path to reaching their objectives. Whether conceiving insights-driven campaigns, business development initiatives, or strategies for products, individuals, teams, and businesses, Larry believes in working from the inside out to uncover the language that will amplify action and drive growth.
Before founding Shack Strategies, Larry served as the Global Account Director for Fortune 100 corporate clients at Penn Schoen and Berland (one of the most successful global political polling firms to evolve into a corporate market research company) and was Millward Brown’s Chief Client Strategist. After running market insights and communications teams at Microsoft, Larry was President of Global Market Insite (acquired by WPP).
Larry earned a Ph.D. in Government and Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia, a Master of Political Science degree from the University of Richmond, and a BA in Politics from Wake Forest University.
ROBERT “MICK” MCWILLIAMS, PH.D.
FOUNDER & CHIEF DATA SCIENTIST
Dr. McWilliams is an accomplished data scientist known for always being a step ahead when it comes to using leading-edge tools to cut right to the core of solutions to complex problems. A pioneer in the application of predictive analytics, Mick has accrued 30 years’ experience applying advanced quantitative research design and data analysis methods that support marketing planning and business decision-making. His particular expertise in Bayesian network and predictive simulation modeling is the cornerstone of why our approach is predictive of market outcomes.
Mick’s background in quantitative and qualitative research methods—including moderating focus groups—has been derived from both sides of the marketing research industry. He invested a decade on the “client side,” including seven years at Microsoft spearheading product planning research for Microsoft Office. Since 2005, Mick served as a VP-level marketing scientist for three prominent research firms before joining Predictive Branding.
Mick earned his Ph.D. in Sociology, with emphasis on behavioral science research methodologies, from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University.
BEN HOWARD
SENIOR BRAND STRATEGIST
Ben Howard is a Senior Brand Strategist with front line experience working with leading brands and businesses within the WPP network and two premier healthcare research firms. Predictive Branding Partner's clients benefit from Ben's extensive qualitative and quantitative research analysis skills, as well as his strengths in strategy development and messaging. He's particularly adept at moderating interviews with professionals, from doctors to accountants to engineers to financial analysts. His integrity in seeing projects through paired with his ability to distill data into a straightforward story facilitates smart business decisions.
Ben loves partnering with senior marketers who appreciate the value of rigorous research that's designed to yield a better answer. To deliver on their objectives for the engagement, he strikes the right balance between fostering a responsive, team approach and putting his email on pause to focus on evaluating data. Ben first realized his passion for using research to uncover problem-solving insights as an intern at Penn, Schoen, and Berland (PSB). After earning his degree from NYU, he joined PSB full time to advance brand research projects for Citibank, PPG, and Regis and develop analytics models that could adapt to future client needs. At Fulcrum Research Group in Boston, Ben spearheaded strategic research for product introductions and helped a major pharmaceutical company assess biotech startup acquisition opportunities.