Management

Three senior members of The Brandware Group manage all aspects of iTest Assessments. They are:

David Krysiek, Managing Director. David has been directing the successful research, development, launch and growth of some of the world's most respected brands for nearly two decades.

To help create Brandware and its iTest Assessment services, David sold his partnership in a national brand-consulting firm. Prior to that, he held senior-level marketing positions at Saturn Corporation, Kohler Co., and Saab Automobile AB.

One of the original Saturn team members, David had a key role in developing Saturn's brand profile and initial model line-up-helping to provide a case study for world-class branding. Later, he was instrumental in returning Saab to profitability after the company experienced several consecutive years of declining sales and losses. During his tenure at Saab, David won several international awards for marketing, advertising, web, and media effectiveness.

David has provided marketing and branding assistance to several leading organizations. An award-winning marketing practitioner and seasoned speaker on marketing and branding issues, David also serves as an adjunct professor of brand management at the Henry B. Tippie Graduate School of Business at the University of Iowa. He is a frequent lecturer at business schools and conferences, and has been quoted on branding and marketing topics in The Wall Street Journal, Ad Age, The New York Times, Automotive News, Adweek, Brandweek, American Demographics, and Marketing Management.

Elke Martin, President, Brandware Public Relations. Elke is a co-founder of The Brandware Group, Inc. and President of Brandware Public Relations. Elke has over two decades of client-side experience in marketing communications and public relations. Because of Elke’s communications expertise, she plays a significant role in shaping many of Brandware Research’s product lines and research projects.

Before forming Brandware, Elke held executive positions at Mercedes-Benz, Saab Automobile AB, the American Automobile Association, and Petersen Publishing Company. As General Manager of Corporate Communications at Mercedes-Benz, for example, Elke directed all of the auto maker’s corporate communications strategies and functions, including major product launches and the development of a multinational, multi-office communication channel strategy.

Elke maintains excellent media contacts, from senior auto company executives, to major business and daily news editors, to trade, industry, and broadcast contacts. This exposure provides Brandware Research with a unique “media impact” perspective when developing approaches for a variety of brand research projects.

A native of Germany, Elke maintains her fluency in German and is experienced in business practices on both sides of the Atlantic.

Elke earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Alma College. She and her husband, Bob, reside in the Atlanta area.

Tom Crumlish, VP of Operations, Brandware Research. Tom is a co-founder of The Brandware Group, Inc. and Vice President of Operations for Brandware Research. He oversees all operations of Brandware Research, including Brandware’s in-house survey programming and analytic technologies.

With over fifteen years of experience in information technology and operations, Tom has applied his skills at both agencies and client firms. He was also general manager of a computer-training center, where he not only provided software and hardware training to corporate and individual customers, but also developed neural marketing campaigns that increased retention, generated new business, and significantly grew profitability.

Tom also spent four years with Bloomington Broadcasting Corporation and began his career in marketing at Saab Automobile AB in Trollhattan, Sweden. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Aquinas College.

After spending a good portion of his life in Brazil, Canada, and Sweden, Tom and his wife, Anne, now reside in Atlanta.

Rachel Roscow, East Region VP, Brandware Research. As Vice President in charge of Brandware Research’s East Region, Rachel is charged with further building our already strong presence along the Eastern seaboard. With significant experience as both a supplier and customer of brand research, Rachel has proven herself to be an accomplished director of large quantitative studies and an energetic moderator for qualitative assignments.

Before joining Brandware, Rachel spent more than five years at XM Satellite Radio as Director of Marketing Research and then the Director of Advertising and Media, where she was part of the initial team to launch and build a new brand from zero to more than six million subscribers. She oversaw all of XM’s marketing research initiatives – from ad testing to pricing studies, segmentation & brand positioning to audience measurement, focus groups to complex choice models. Most recently, Rachel managed XM’s ad agency and oversaw the media planning as well as the creative development and production of XM Radio’s advertising including TV, print, radio, and online.

Prior to XM Radio, Rachel came from the healthcare industry, where she was a project manager at a full-service healthcare marketing research and consulting firm. Her clients included major pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, Bristol Meyers Squibb, and Merck, for whom she managed and executed a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research studies.

Rachel earned an MBA from Loyola College and a Bachelor of Science in Business/Marketing from Towson University. A Baltimore native, Rachel, her husband David, and their two children live in the Washington DC area.

Tom Gruca, PhD, Director of Analytics, Brandware Research. As Director of Analytics for Brandware Research, Tom ensures that we are equipped with the industry's most sophisticated tools and techniques for analyzing brand information. Tom is an expert in applied marketing research methodologies and techniques to brand-related issues.

Armed with an MBA and PhD in Decision and Information Sciences from the University of Illinois, Tom is also Henry B. Tippie Research Professor of Marketing at the University of Iowa, where he has earned multiple distinguished faculty awards. Previously, Tom was on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he taught marketing research and buyer behavior, product management, and an advanced marketing models course for PhD candidates.

Tom has provided consulting services to several leading organizations and has received over a dozen research grants, including a project grant from Procter & Gamble. Additionally, his research work has been published in the Journal of Marketing , Journal of Marketing Research , Marketing Science , International Journal of Research in Marketing , Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science , European Journal of Operational Research , Journal of Interactive Marketing , Journal of Service Research , and Psychology and Marketing . Tom is on the editorial review board for Marketing Letters and is a past editorial review board member for Journal of Health Care Marketing .

A Chicago native, Tom and his wife, Rhoda, now live in Iowa City.