Who We Are

Terry Socol is an accomplished research professional with more than 30 years of experience translating research into effective marketing strategy. His experience working in telecommunication, financial services and agency provides a broader perspective into the use of research for making business decisions.

Terry has had a dedication to servicing clients developing qualitative and quantitative research to generate research solutions to business issues.  He has experience moderating virtual and in-person focus groups across a wide range of B2B and Consumer product categories and targets. During his tenure with SRP, Terry has offered guidance in more than 40 product categories over as many as 350 projects.

In his free time Terry enjoys biking, working out, and movies.

Dr. Gene Topper is truly a Chicago-area resident, having grown up, gone to college and professionally worked exclusively in the Chicago metro area. Gene was an undergraduate Psychology major at Northwestern University and was known as the “ad man” in grad school, where it was known that he wanted to work in advertising. He obtained his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Loyola University of Chicago.

Gene subsequently spent 15 years in senior ad agency research positions and then moved over to the marketing research “supplier” (vendor) side of the business. For the past 20 years he has worked at Strategic Research Partners.

Gene’s years in advertising and the particular clients he has worked for have given him a wide range of special expertise in the following areas:

• Brand and advertising tracking–particularly for grocery retailers
• Brand positioning development and copy testing
• Segmentation analysis for both B2C and B2B clients
• Identifying new markets for University expansion

Professionally, Gene has served as president of two associations—Chicago’s American Marketing Association and the Society for Consumer Psychology.

Gene currently resides in the north suburbs of Chicago. His wife, who has several graduate degrees of her own, is a library director. He has two daughters who work in Chicago in business/marketing research. Gene is a devoted fan of Northwestern University athletics and Cubs baseball; he jokes that is used to many tough losses. His big joy right now is becoming a grandpa for the first time. He cannot wait to spoil his granddaughter.

Dr. Hans Wolff is an accomplished statistician with the keen business sense necessary to make complicated analyses pragmatically executable and usable.  His 20+ years of experience in the research industry span the supplier side of the business and on-site corporate experience, coupling extensive technical knowledge with a depth of business insights. 

Traditional and breakthrough designs yield insightful results for concept and product optimization, feature and benefits optimization, consumer segmentation, equity extension, and strategy development and tracking. Experimental designs, perceptual & quadrant mapping, conjoint analysis, discriminant analysis, discrete choice modeling, Maxdiff analysis, hybrid designs, and traditional as well as newer segmentation tools, like reverse segmentation, are all in his wheelhouse.

Dr. Wolff’s experience and expertise is primarily in Experimental  Design & Analysis:

• Ph.D. in Educational Psychology
• Independent Statistical Consultant (10 years on-site at S.C. Johnson Wax 2-3 days per week)
• Manager of Marketing Sciences for M/A/R/C Inc. Chicago (9 Years)
• Graduate Statistics Instructor at Keller Graduate School of Business (3 Years – part time)

Lydia Wozniak has been delivering valuable and actionable insights in the marketing research industry for more than 25 years, including senior-level positions in Fortune 50 corporations, research suppliers, and advertising agencies. 

From her first day on the job at Burke marketing research, where she was tasked with intercepting conference attendee farmers for an Attitude & Usage study, to her most recent corporate position guiding creation of a global portal for marketing, Lydia has always been fascinated by how businesses work, and how they might work better for their customers.  

Since joining the SRP team in 2010, Lydia has worked with SRP clients in numerous industries and a variety of business issues. Let her put her curiosity and analytic insights to work for you.

Relevant Work Experiences include:

• Group Research Director – Zurich in North America Insurance
• Senior Vice President – Guideline Chicago, Inc. (now part of ORC)
• Group Research Manager – Kraft General Foods
• Account management and Project management positions at NPD, M/A/R/C, and Burke Marketing Research.

Education:

• M.S. Advertising – University of Illinois
• B.S. Advertising – University of Illinois

Other experience:

• Co-author: Teachers manual for Advertising Theory and Practice, (Sandage, Fryburger & Rotzoll).
• Trainer: analysis & report writing, research frameworks.
• “Two truths and a lie”: Avid opera fan, enthusiastic gardener,  and semi-retired home-flipper.