KJT Announces Staff Moves

KJT Group is pleased to announce 13 recent staff moves, recognizing exceptional 2021 performance and rewarding employees with new responsibilities and growth opportunities.

“KJT increased headcount by over 45% last year,” said Michaela Gascon, KJT, CEO. “We also grew revenue and earnings and accomplished a number of critical initiatives such as ISO 27001 accreditation and a refresh of the corporate brand. It was a year of achievement made possible through a lot of hard work and dedication on behalf of KJT’s employees. Based on these great outcomes, and the positive influence they’ve had on the KJT culture, we’re moving a number of our best performers into expanded roles, as they continue along their KJT career path.”

KJT staff advancements are as follows:

FINANCE

David Graham?has been promoted from?Controller to?Chief Financial Officer.?During his first 15 months with the company Dave has elevated KJT’s financial reporting, converted us to a new ERP system and created evidence-based financial models that have supported corporate strategy sessions. He is a collaborative member of the Senior Leadership Team who is always thoughtful, analytical, reliable and fun to work with. Late in 2021, the Board elected Dave as our Corporate Treasurer which is a testament to their confidence and support of him leading us to a strong financial future.

HUMAN RESOURCES

Joy Rios?has moved from?Human Resources Manager to?Human Resources Director.?Joy has done a remarkable job recruiting new employees in one of the most challenging labor markets the U.S. has ever experienced. Her success with talent recruitment in 2021 has allowed KJT to plan for another strong year of corporate performance. Joy also embodies the KJT corporate value of?Ever Better?by ensuring KJT’s compliance with federal and state HR laws, given the greatly expanded footprint of our employees. Joy has several important initiatives planned for 2022, and we can’t wait to see them rolled out!

OPERATIONS

Troy Allen?has been elevated from Business Operations Associate to?Business Operations Manager.?Troy can do it all! Last year he showed tremendous independence, growth, and a service mindset. He helped KJT transition to Salesforce, managed a diversity of project budgets and vendors, while providing operational support across the business. Troy had a consistent positive impact throughout the organization, as evidenced by his multiple awards and employee recognitions in 2021. Looking towards 2022, Troy will help make KJT?Ever Better?through optimizing our sales operations, budgeting, and strategic initiative support.

RESEARCH

Rebecca Casbeer?has become a?Sr. KJT Manager, promoted from her previous role as Research Manager.?Since joining KJT, Rebecca has grown tremendously, becoming instrumental in the success of our team. She is a “natural” when it comes to market research, and in the past year has showcased her ability to grow as a leader as well. She is incredibly independent, willing to continuously learn and be challenged, while exemplifying our core values on a daily basis. We’re looking forward to seeing Rebecca?grow her team in 2022!

Alex Castello?is one of three?Senior Directors to?become a?KJT?Vice President.??More than ten years into her KJT career, Alex has positively impacted numerous clients and colleagues. Her passion for buttoned-up research has always been clear and her commitment to high quality work product could never been questioned. In 2022, Alex is taking on additional responsibilities to support evergreen process improvement, including those pertaining to Research/Research Operations, Q Reporting, and Mavenlink. Alex is also chairing our newly formed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in Research Committee, and we expect this group to greatly benefit KJT’s future research and sampling designs.

Mike Lionetti,?former?Sr. Associate, has been promoted to?Manager.?Since he joined us as an intern in 2017, Mike’s upward trajectory at KJT has continued. Mike has taken increasing ownership over his work and was instrumental in executing several high stakes projects in 2021. Whether seamlessly tackling routine ATU projects OR learning Q then teaching it to others OR partnering on experimental projects, Mike can do it all, without skipping a beat. His growing stature as a researcher and his ability to uncover hidden insights led one client to endearingly refer to him as the “Diamond Miner.” We look forward to seeing Mike in his new role as Research Manager.

Johan Mohd Sani?has been elevated from?Senior Director to?Vice President.?From argenX to Biocryst to Boston Scientific to GE Healthcare and beyond – KJT’s clients are lucky to have Johan and his team assigned to support their important research initiatives. It’s been a pleasure to see Johan grow and develop a high-quality delivery team that has consistently delighted clients. In addition to his leadership role, Johan will lend his talents this year to KJT’s Project Support Team (PST), helping to attract and develop our newest colleagues.

Clare Murphy?has moved from Qualitative, Manager to the rank of Sr. Manager.?Clare is a force of nature who adds a critical qualitative presence to the team. Her growth as a moderator has been exciting to see. Beyond that, she has also brought much needed structure/training to KJT’s qualitative processes. Clare is also continually seeking new methods/platforms/study design to bring to the table and is peerless in her qualitative reporting abilities. This promotion is truly deserved, and we’re all excited to see Clare grow her skills further in client and project management in 2022 and beyond.

Sheena Peebles?has graduated from?Associate to?Sr. Associate.??Sheena joined KJT’s team in 2019 and has been a tremendous asset since Day 1. She is exemplary in the care and personal ownership she shows towards her work, often taking on more than expected to facilitate her own personal growth. In 2021 she participated in the company’s ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) Communications Committee and in the rollout of Q to help KJT be?Ever Better. We know Sheena will continue to learn and grow in 2022 and look forward to her contributions!

Julia Schildwachter?is a great example of a Project Support Team intern being hired full time to become a?KJT Research Assistant.?As an intern, Julia demonstrated her positive attitude, passion for data, and willingness to learn. She continues to show the corporate values of?Balance?by being the first to offer up her assistance if anyone needs help, and?Mutual Respect?through her thoughtful communication with peers. Above all, Julia’s?Ever Better?attitude is exemplary, and she is quite intentional about facilitating positive change for herself and KJT – going as far as to partner with other teams on some of their upcoming initiatives.

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH TEAM

Paul Durlak?transitioned this year from Sr. Research Associate to?Qualitative, Manager.?Since joining KJT Paul has been a strong asset to his team, consistently taking on challenging projects and mastering the day-to-day responsibilities of a Research Associate. Paul quickly scaled the learning curve and is now mentoring others on his best practices. Early in his first year at KJT Paul volunteered to moderate his first set of TIDIs, and since then has grown into a skilled moderator for a diversity of clients across the company. With Paul’s true talent and passion aligned to qualitative research, he will be moving to the new Qualitative Research Team in the coming months as a Manager.

Paige Pray?has been promoted from?Sr. Research Associate to?Qualitative, Manager.?Over the past two years, Paige has excelled as an incredibly strong researcher – with a penchant for qualitative! She can hold her own in research design, as demonstrated across several qualitative research studies, and has been challenged during her tenure at KJT with some of the more difficult studies the agency has conducted. Clients rely on her knowledge to provide insight into research design and analysis. In addition, Paige consistently advocates for process improvement, helping to grow and nurture KJT’s qualitative offering. Paige will be acting as a Manager on the new Qualitative Team.

SALES

Tim Brewer?steps into an agency VP position this year, moving up from his previous role as Sr. Director of Strategic Accounts.?Tim’s natural ability to build client relationships has been a key factor in his success as a lead generator for KJT. Tim continues to grow his network and build the agency’s new business pipeline, which resulted in him exceeding his 2021 sales quota by 106%!

Interested in joining a team that offers work-life balance, great benefits, career growth and long-term wealth building??Check out KJT’s open positions. We’re always interested in adding skilled, passionate and insightful research professionals to our team!

This article originally appeared at https://kjtgroup.com/kjt-announces-staff-moves/