The GutCheck Team

Our Leadership Team

Rob Wengel

Chief Executive Officer

Rob is a seasoned market research executive with more than 20 years of industry experience. Prior to joining GutCheck, he served in executive leadership roles with Kantar, BASES, and Nielsen, specializing in insights, innovation, and analytics. He is also an entrepreneur, having founded Experience Innovation, a consulting firm focused on growth strategy, innovation, and brand building. Additionally, he started his career with global CPG leader Procter & Gamble, and spent a dozen years in client-side marketing and sales leadership roles prior to joining the market research industry.

Renee Smith

Chief Research Officer

Renee has 25+ years experience conducting research into why people do what they do — first as a journalist, then as an academic, and for the last 15 years as a market research professional. Most recently, Renee worked on innovation and re-inventing research solutions as Chief Research Officer at Kantar.

Jessica Gaedeke

Chief Revenue Officer

Jess has more than 15 years of experience in the market research industry, with an emphasis on consultative selling and developing commercial talent. Prior to joining GutCheck in May 2020, she served as the Chief Revenue Officer of Designalytics, a research firm specializing in package design measurement. Prior to her time there, Jess held leadership positions with Nielsen BASES, Affinnova, and InsightsNow, where she drove growth strategies for new verticals, products, and client segments. As Chief Revenue Officer, Jess leads the sales and marketing organizations.

Brian Harmon
EVP of Client Service and Delivery
With two decades of market research industry experience, Brian has consulted dozens of Fortune 100 businesses across a wide range of industries over the course of his career. He is committed to building exceptional relationships with every one of GutCheck’s clients and delivering insights they can rely on to better understand and appeal to their audience.

Kelly Port

EVP of Product Development and Commercialization 

Kelly has more than 15 years of product management and strategy experience, focused on driving growth in technology and tech-enabled services businesses. She has been responsible for portfolio expansion, product strategy, and innovation in a diverse set of organizations, including multiple Fortune 500 and growth stage companies. With expertise in applying technology to drive market differentiation and exceptional execution, Kelly is excited to further evolve GutCheck’s product portfolio to maximize the value we provide for our clients.

Want to join the team? Check out our career opportunities.