Think Conservatory

Building on the tradition of turn of the century Explorer’s Clubs, THINK is a hybrid of researchers, strategists, artists, musicians, bloggers, writers and photographers who live passionately and apply our diverse experiences to building stronger brands.

Dr. Nicola Nice

As Founding Partner, Nicola provides intellectual leadership at THINK based in academic rigor, pragmatism and the ability to distill great complexity into simple truths. In addition to ensuring that team ideas have a solid intellectual footing and are transformable into actionable goals, she also keeps everyone sensible, on course and on time. Nicola specializes in participatory research methods, bringing consumers into creative dialogue with her clients. Her experience ranges widely from personal care to mobile technology to frozen foods.

Nicola attended Oxford University and went on to complete a doctorate of Sociology at Imperial College, London. As a social researcher she acted as a specialist advisor to the UK House of Lords and then moved on to work for LEK Consulting. After a few years of fighting to keep public opinion an active part of government function, and many long nights in the private sector, Nicola turned to market research. She acted as President of Evo Research in New York, before starting THINK in 2009.

In Nicola's case, the apple does not fall far from the tree. At the age of 16, her father joined the post department of a London advertising agency, and proceeded to climb the rungs to account director positions at Benton & Bowles and Grey, counting Sir Frank Lowe and Sir Charles Saatchi among his peers. Just like Nicola, a stubborn belief that he could do things better himself led him to found his own agency. And, further back in the ancestral line is a spate of champion featherweight boxers...just in case anyone was thinking of starting something.

Ben Allen

As a founding partner, Ben heads up THINK Conservatory's strategy and innovation practices. His ability to thread disparate and varied pieces of information into a coherent and compelling commercial story is core to why clients come back to THINK with some of their most tangled problems. After some political science study – and much rabble rousing – at Marietta College, Ben made his auspicious debut in the marketing world at Wieden + Kennedy
in Portland.

He then moved on to account service at what was then Hal Riney, but it wasn't long before he found his stride as a creative strategist working his way up to become SVP of Brand Transformation at Sterling Brands and President at TATTOO brand strategy, both in San Francisco. In 2009 he moved to the east coast to Evo, where he joined forces with Nicola and set the groundwork for what would become THINK Conservatory a few months later.

Integral to Ben's professional and personal philosophies is his zest for the undiscovered and the open road. He has spent time working and exploring the world from the farms of Ohio to the war zone of the Ivory Coast, and most everywhere in between. On his rare days off, he explores the world behind a camera lens as a documentary photographer.

Nori De La Cruz

Nori is a Partner at THINK and Managing Director of the Chicago office. Nori' s key strength is in fusing the intellect, strategic insight and creativity behind the THINK process, with a persistent focus on the logistics of real-life business decision-making. She holds the THINK team responsible for anticipating how clients actually use information, and is expert at the practice of understanding and visualizing what really happens to data long after a piece of research has finished. She uses this foresight to guide her clients seamlessly

through the research process, starting with identification of the true objective
behind the objectives. Nori's consultancy expertise stems from a long history working as a client-side insight manager at Motorola, a matrixed, fast-paced and protocol-driven Fortune 500 company. Prior to working for Motorola, she lived in Florida, where she earned her BA in Psychology. Before pursuing an MBA at the University of Miami, Nori worked as a forensic psychiatric case manager.

She interviewed institutionalized individuals and evaluated them for their readiness to re-enter the community. In doing this she learned what it takes to get at the underlying cause of any human behavior: never take anything at face value and leave no
stone unturned.
Nori's problem solving style involves patience, diligence and warm resilience, which she gets from her parents, who immigrated to the US from the Philippines.

Gideon Feldstein

As a Director at THINK, Gideon conceptualizes and executes research and strategic projects for a wide range of brands, designing for each a bespoke methodology. During the research process, Gideon immerses himself in the various consumer perspectives on a brand, giving him a highly nuanced understanding of consumer relationships to a brand and its competitive set. It also gives him great flexibility and reach when providing strategic interpretation of research results.

Gideon's particular approach to projects, which couples theoretical rigor and creative fluidity, is born of his varied background. He went to conservatory as an undergrad for Jazz performance (B.M.), mastering the art of improvisation. He worked as a professional saxophonist for 10 years, touring with the LCJO and Wynton Marsalis. He then switched gears, completing a Masters in Social Psychology at CUNY Graduate Center with a focus on intergroup dynamics and identity.

His thesis explored how and why people chose to align themselves with overarching groups and the role identities play in interpersonal connections. He applies this to his work at THINK, by analyzing how people define themselves and evaluate others via the products and services they use.
All of this Gideon sums up with a quote from High Fidelity: "It's not what you're like, it's what you like that really matters." Gideon, by the way, likes all things tech, auto,
and gastronomic.

Sonya Adams

As Field and Event Director, Sonya has a hand in every project at THINK. An enumeration of her official responsibilities would, of course, include managing research recruitment and venues. However, Sonya makes her unique contribution as a THINK team member via her multifarious other roles: trend spotter, gal Friday, cultural attaché, script doctor, music critic, and getaway driver. Sonya is a walking little black book of all major cities and the third or fourth degree of separation between anyone and everyone else.

Only a background as varied as Sonya's could account for her present ability to make nearly any research plan a reality. She studied English and Photography for her BA, but her real education took place leaning against a wall at a dirty rock club and behind the wheel of many a cross country adventure. The era between school and THINK was spent primarily in the music business, where she did everything from publicity and tour and artist management, to stamping hands at the door after taking your five bucks.

Growing up, she would take her favorite 7" records to show & tell. Today she can be found at her desk, headphones on, listening to her favorite band-of-the-moment no one has ever heard of. It is most certainly quite loud.

Aneesa Moheyuddin

Given her genuine fascination with the stories of people of all stripes, Aneesa has found her niche as a Senior Researcher at THINK. Her keen listening abilities are a reflection of such curiosity and come into play whenever she is conducting interviews or facilitating client workshops. She equally enjoys the creative and intellectual demands of analysis and reporting of learnings, and the idiosyncratic challenges that arise at a small agency with diverse clients.

Aneesa studied Romance Languages at UCLA and went on to earn an MA in Global Marketing Communications from Emerson College. She confirmed her adaptability and open-mindedness while working and living abroad in Spain, France and Italy, and learned the power of storytelling and confident presentation while working in strategic planning at McCann Erickson. The virtue of persistence, however, was recognized in her younger years, when

during a high school summer she took up the mantle of door-to-door knife salesman. Though she wields all the above powerhouse attributes, Aneesa always comes back to the importance of empathy for real learning. Here she quotes Atticus Finch: "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb inside of his skin and walk around
in it."

Jorge

Jorge Vega joined the THINK Conservatory team as a researcher realizing his passion for understanding human behavior at the intersection of marketing communications, business innovation and media. Prior to THINK Jorge was part of Edelman PR, where he helped develop and execute consumer engagement strategies within the multicultural space for clients like Pepsi and Time Warner Cable, including serving as a community manager for both companies as they developed their social media properties for the Hispanic and African-American

communities. Past experiences also include stints at Naked Communications, Adrenalina (now Ramona, part of Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners) and Ogilvy PR. Jorge graduated from Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, where he studied the effects on non-state actors like corporations, drug cartels and religious groups on local and international politics.
He's lived in Puerto Rico and Brazil, and has traveled extensively around the world - mostly behind the wheel of bad cars -

enjoying the many musical, culinary and alcoholic gifts from cultures around the world. Jorge is very interested in social entrepreneurship and innovation, and co-leads organization for The Feast On Good, a cross-disciplinary series of programs addressing social innovation. He also serves as a Young Leadership Board member for New York Needs You, a mentorship program for first-generation college students. Jorge lives by the famous line found in Virgil's Aeneid, "Fortune Favors the Bold."

Todd Nice

Todd is Chief Financial Officer at THINK and handles all legal, financial and operational aspects of the business. He can be counted on for creative yet efficient solutions to all of the economic and business challenges that face a fast-growing business like THINK. Todd lives by the edict, "One's first step in wisdom is to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything", and in so doing he can be relied upon to explore all avenues of opportunity before making financial and administrative decisions at THINK.

Todd holds a BS in Finance and Economics and prior to controlling the purse strings at THINK, spent over 15 years in the private equity industry, building real estate asset management companies from the ground up for the likes of Goldman Sachs and George Soros. Still keeping his hand in investment decisions, Todd has a keen eye for new business and growth opportunities at THINK. Todd's affinity with numbers comes from a family history of engineering. His great

grandfather erected the major power lines of the Tennessee Valley in the early 1900s, while his grandfather and father spent their lives involved in power plant construction across the globe. So, it is no surprise to hear that Todd keeps the lights on at THINK, both literally and metaphorically.