Elaine Zanutto, Ph.D.

As Vice President of our Methods & Advanced Analytics function, Elaine leads a talented department of statistical programmers and statisticians who advise project teams throughout the firm on modeling, advanced statistical analysis, and sampling methodology. The Methods & Analytics group at NAXION has a well-deserved reputation as one of the most inventive and experienced teams of methodologists in the industry, noted for their authoritative understanding of theory and their skilled, pragmatic application.

Elaine’s areas of specialized expertise include Hierarchical Bayesian (HB) modeling for estimating individual-level preferences in complex choice situations, segmentation analysis for a broad range of audiences and industry sectors, and the design of highly customized forecasting models that rely on a variety of choice modeling platforms, including dynamic models that account for market evolution in the post-launch environment. She is an expert on structural equation modeling and other tools for driver analysis in challenging markets where it is difficult to disentangle the impact of specific sources of influence.

Before joining the firm, Elaine was an Assistant Professor of statistics at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. While at Wharton, she was awarded several research grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health to study the representation of women in IT careers, the success of youth anti-drug media campaigns, and the effect of public information on cancer. As a Senior Fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics during her tenure at the university, she provided statistical direction to various researchers affiliated with the institute, especially on optimal sample designs. She has also consulted to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Elaine has published many articles in peer-reviewed academic journals in the fields of market research methods, statistics, and survey research methods. She is also an Associate Editor for the Journal of Official Statistics, Program Chair (2023) of the American Statistical Association Section on Statistics in Marketing, was a member of the Statistics Canada Advisory Committee on Statistical Methods (2017-2021), and was Chair (2017) of the American Statistical Association Survey Research Methods Section.  Elaine received a Ph.D. in statistics from Harvard University and a M.Sc. in statistics and a B.A. in mathematics and statistics from Carleton University (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada).