FUEL CYCLE is excited to announce Mary Lou Barney as our new Vice President of Strategic Accounts. Mary Lou is bringing with her 30+ years of experience working with leading businesses to use research and insights to drive business performance.  She has had the pleasure of taking on global responsibilities that have spanned 60 countries across all continents.

Mary Lou previously led the global corporate relations and market development team for the Executive Education program at Harvard Business School.  Prior to this, she partnered with large clients to link insights platforms to business challenges at Ipsos, Kantar TNS, IRI and other firms.

She says about working on a global scale, “Having such broad research experience enables me to source best practices from across the globe, among all business uses, and from all industries.”

Throughout her career, she has seen the need that companies have for predicting the future and accurately understanding customer wants and needs. “Every company,” she says, “wants a way to make better business decisions. They want a way to compile data that ties individual and separate research initiatives, which tells a cohesive story.” This is what piqued her in interest in FUEL CYCLE and where she sees the platform answers and provides direct solutions. “Just asking people what they want or need can be terribly inaccurate. It is only through different research methods and technologies that you truly receive the answers you are looking for.”

Tools, such as live discussions, chatbots, member submitted videos, and biometrics encompasses and access the natural voice of the customer. “There is a behavioral science to market intelligence and the best part of online communities is that you are inherently gathering longitudinal data that iteratively builds on itself.” She recognizes FUEL CYCLE’s platform as a tremendous engagement tool that is ready to answer all business questions.