Spring 2011 - The University of Akron

cAmPUS NewS
New Executive Director of Taylor Institute and Suarez Laboratories
Kathleen Kennedy brings three decades
of business experience to her new role as
executive director of the Taylor Institute
for Direct Marketing and the Suarez
Applied Marketing Research Laboratories
at The University of Akron.
Her experience and expertise, including
strategic planning, brand development
Kathleen Kennedy and management, customer experience
management, loyalty marketing and marketing research, will
serve students in the College of Business Administration well
as they prepare for their careers. The Taylor Institute and
the Suarez Laboratories, located in the Polsky Building, are
unique learning and research environments — not just for
undergraduate and graduate students, but for faculty and the
business community as well.
Gifts from alumni continually benefit students
UA alumni Gary L. Taylor, founder and chairman of InfoCision
Management Corporation, and his wife Karen established
the Taylor Institute in 2004. Its curriculum is focused on
the ever-changing world of marketing in such areas as direct
marketing management, integrated marketing communications
and telemarketing services. UA students benefit from working
firsthand with the Taylor Institute’s external client base, and the
institute also provides conferences, seminars and certification
programs for the direct marketing industry.
UA alumnus Benjamin Suarez, CEO of Suarez Corporation
Industries, and his wife Nancy established the Suarez
Laboratories in 2008. Designed as a one-of-a-kind marketing
research, teaching and experiential learning facility, students
and faculty today use its resources to develop and translate
knowledge into useful intelligence for the business community.
At the Suarez Laboratories, for example, students use such
state-of-the-art techniques as eye tracking to better understand
respondents’ real time feelings, impressions and emotions toward
marketing messages and products.
The missions of both facilities are what drew Kennedy to UA.
“Over the course of my career, some of the things I’ve been
most passionate about are developing a better understanding
of consumer motivation and behavior, creating direct and
interactive communications that build customer relationships
and sales, and promoting best practices in direct marketing,”
said Kennedy, who earned an MBA at the University of Miami
and a B.A. at the University of Delaware.
Enhanced marketing and business education
“One of my chief goals in leading the Taylor Institute and the
Suarez Laboratories is to provide UA students with real-world
marketing experiences by building bridges between our students
and the professional community,” Kennedy continued. “I am
equally committed to providing UA students and faculty with
access to the latest integrated marketing techniques, and to
information and technology to enhance their marketing and
business education.”
Prior to joining The University of Akron, Kennedy held senior
marketing positions with several major corporations, including
Broadway Stores/Federated Department Stores, Office Depot
and Hancock Fabrics, and held senior positions at leading direct
and interactive agencies, including OgilvyOne, the direct and
interactive marketing division of Ogilvy & Mather.
Kennedy is also a successful entrepreneur, and has had
extensive experience in building public-private partnerships
that foster economic growth through entrepreneurship. She
served as the founding executive director of the Center for
Innovative Entrepreneurship, a nonprofit research and education
organization dedicated to understanding the economic value
of entrepreneurs and fostering business development through
innovation.
More collaborative research under way
“We’re very pleased to have Kathleen Kennedy heading this
initiative, which brings together our students and faculty as
well as the Northeast Ohio business community to focus on
applying innovative approaches to integrated marketing and
advanced market research,” said Ravi Krovi, dean of the
College of Business Administration. “She is already leading a
major collaborative research effort with faculty to apply and
integrate advanced biometric, neurological and neural computing
technology in advertising, branding and media testing.”
Kennedy’s arrival also is welcomed by Stan Silverman, dean of
Summit College. Many of the college’s departments, along with
the Taylor Institute and the Suarez Laboratories, are located in
the Polsky Building.
“One of the University’s most important goals is to
continually add value to the educational experiences of all of our
students,” noted Silverman. “I believe Kathleen Kennedy’s vast
experience in corporate leadership and as an entrepreneur will
help us to do just that.”
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