Market Research to unlock growth for your brands
Tsquared was created in 2010 to fulfill the vision of a new paradigm for consumer insights. Whether it is because of shrinking attention span, increasing media fragmentation, the ubiquity of data, or concerns with traditional insights approaches, it is time for a major evolution.
At Tsquared we believe in working together with an open mind to achieve an ambitious vision. We follow the principle applied at some of the world’s leading academic institutions of being soft on people and hard on ideas. Working hard does not have to be boring!
Mathieu Trepanier – CEO & Co-FounderDr. Mathieu Trepanier is the CEO & Co-Founder of Tsquared Insights. He is a regular guest lecturer at INSEAD (France) in both the MBA and HCILP programmes on topics related to digital insights and reputation leadership. He collaborates on a number of research projects in the fields of computation linguistics, behavioural finance, and strategy. Mathieu is also an associate researcher at the Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economic Research at the University of St.Gallen (Switzerland). He holds a Ph.D. in managerial economics and strategy from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University (USA), a M.Sc. in applied economics from HEC Montréal (Canada) and a bachelor’s from Laval University (Canada). He also studied finance at Audencia School of Management (France). In his free time, Mathieu likes to play squash and sail on lake Geneva.
Caroline Thibodeau – COO & Co-FounderCaroline Thibodeau is the COO & Co-Founder of Tsquared Insights. She is primarily involved in combining smart data technologies, human creativity, and the right skill sets to solve important challenges in marketing, consumer insights, reputation management, strategy, and beyond. Prior to co-founding Tsquared Insights, Caroline oversaw consulting engagements at FirstSight Group (USA), a boutique management consulting firm established by professor Daniel Diermeier, now dean of the Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, USA. Caroline holds a M.Sc. in applied economics from HEC Montreal (Canada) and a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a specialization in international business management from Laval University (Canada). She also studied marketing and finance at the Audencia School of Management (France). In her free time, Caroline likes to sail and practice ski touring.
Carole Brousse – Vice President, Human RessourcesCarole is in charge of Human Resources at Tsquared, where she mostly deals with selection and recruitment, on-boarding newcomers, as well as structuring the HR function, tools and processes. Before joining Tsquared, Carole worked both for big multinational groups and smaller companies, in Switzerland as well as abroad. In parallel to her activity in Tsquared, Carole is an independent HR consultant and professional coach and trainer. In her free time, she studies oenology and is an theater amateur actress.
Gilles Haumont – Vice President, Luxury & StrategyGilles Haumont is Vice President Luxury & Strategy at Tsquared Insights. He has a BA. Hons in Political Science from Sciences Po Paris and an MBA from l’ESSEC (French top 3). After 5 years in Finance (Société Générale) and Management Consulting (Accenture), Gilles went to occupy senior management positions for the past 25 years in leading groups in the Luxury Industry such as Richemont and Kering. He led the international expansion of Cartier as Retail Director, and held similar roles at Boucheron (International Director) and Harry Winston (Vice President Retail). Gilles then managed private companies in the Luxury sector as CEO: Muzo International, Hédiard and Mellerio. He has worked in all key markets around the world and has lived in the UK, Australia, the USA and Switzerland. In his free time, Gilles writes novels (three published so far), plays with his five children and runs marathons.
Jim Hershkowitz – Vice President, FMCGJim is Vice President for Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) at Tsquared, helping clients in their quest for actionable insights. Belgian by origin, he holds a Bachelor in Commercial Engineering and a Master in Business from Solvay Business School. For the past 12 years, Jim has worked in growing responsibilities in Marketing, Sales, and Technology. He worked at Procter & Gamble for 7 years, first in Finance for Pharmaceuticals before moving to Marketing where he led award-winning product launches on Ariel in the UK and across Europe. Later Jim co-founded a software start-up gaining 20’000 consumers and many B2B accounts. An expert in Product Development, he is also a trainer for the Swiss Confederation and he mentors startups. On top of his FMCG role, Jim is also Vice President Operations at Tsquared. In his free time, Jim enjoys technology and playing with his children.
Ivan Marinov – Vice President, Research & DevelopmentIvan leads R&D at Tsquared. He has more than 20 years of experience in a leading FMCG company analyzing consumers around the world, discovering insights about their needs, wants, passions and interests. He also worked for the US government seeking pricing “anomalies” for various brands, companies and industries. Ivan holds a Computer Science degree from Sofia Tech University. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling the world (amongst the 80+ countries and islands he has visited, Hawaii is his favorite destination), speculating in the stock and bond markets, reading books and cooking tasty meals.
Maurice Straetmans – Vice President, Health IndustriesMaurice leads the Healthcare business at Tsquared Insights, focusing on the specific needs of the medical industry and other players in the health(care) domain. This includes for example Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, Biotech and related Life Sciences companies. Maurice held various international marketing & sales roles at leading companies within this industry (Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic and Boston Scientific) consecutively prior to becoming an independent consultant. He has an educational background in Healthcare Policy and Management, Business Administration for Healthcare and holds a Master Degree in Health Economics. Ever since his study his focus has been on healthcare and the value it brings to a patient’s life. Dutch by origin, Maurice lives with his family nearby Lausanne, Switzerland and in his free time enjoys all mountain activities that this country has to offer.
Charles Upchurch – Chief Financial OfficerCharles Upchurch is the CFO of Tsquared Insights. He has more than 25 years’ experience as a CEO, CFO and COO in organizations ranging from a 5-person technology startup to a 4’000-person global business unit in the service industry. Born and educated in the United States, Charles started his professional career with 9 years in the offshore oil & gas exploration industry. Marriage brought Charles to Switzerland where he began a 16 years career in the service industry with SGS, in Europe, Asia and North America. Charles has led technology SMEs in Switzerland for the past 15 years.
Rainer Valentin – Vice President Sales Central & Eastern EuropeRainer Valentin is a passionate researcher, fascinated by the many opportunities big data analysis offer. He was building his professional experience intentionally in different industries, always in research, working for both, the agency and the industry side. Rainer was head of global research for DaimlerChrysler, Japan Tobacco and Exxon, led R&D at Baloise insurances and held leading positions at A.C. Nielsen, Infratest Burke and was Managing Director for Ipsos. His academic degrees in corporate finance, international marketing and research come from the University of Essen and from the Ohio State University. German by origin he lived in 4 countries and 9 cities. Rainer is married with 6 children, loves sailing, cooking and working on classic cars, boats or bikes. His favorite place after travelling the world is the Greek island Milos.
Lewis Armitage – Junior Analyst, Consumer InsightsDr. Lewis Armitage is an Analyst and Data Science specialist for Tsquared, where he leverages modern computing languages and statistical techniques to deliver advanced data insights. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and a Master’s degree in physics from Cardiff University. Before joining Tsquared Lewis worked for the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) where he specialised in big data analytics, with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) where he focused on the latest scientific research techniques and at Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) as an assistant researcher on cancer detection in biotechnology. Some of Lewis’s favourite leisure activities include hiking, skiing and wine tasting.
Mikael Bourqui – Senior Analyst, Consumer InsightsMikael is a Senior Analyst at Tsquared, where he leads consumer insights projects across markets and industries and develops new ways of understanding consumer behavior using data science. He holds undergraduate degrees from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) and the University of Geneva and a Masters from Oxford University. Prior to joining Tsquared, Mikael spent a number of years doing graduate work in sociology at Oxford, including a stint as a visiting scholar at Tokyo University where he researched the future of urban societies. He is fluent in a dozen programming languages and six natural ones, including Japanese and his three native languages, Finnish, English, and French. When not at the office, he can be found reading, cooking, playing music, and especially spending time with his family, preferably near a lake.
Pascal Cuendet – Analyst, Consumer InsightsPascal works with the Geneva Tsquared Insights team, contributing to projects across a variety of industries for world-leading FMCG companies. In his job he is motivated by tackling the latest and most challenging questions facing clients in any given country market. His areas of particular interest include luxury and the food industry. When he is not at work, Pascal can be seen on his bike, in the Alps, practicing team sports, or cooking homemade pasta. He loves to travel around the world discovering new cultures … and eating amazing specialties. Bilingual in Swiss German and French, Pascal is also fluent in English, standard German, Mandarin Chinese, and … (to be continued). Some of his latest academic credentials include an MS in Asian Studies from the Geneva Graduate Institute, and a CAS from Peking University.
David Dubois – Senior Academic AdvisorDavid combines 15+ years of research, teaching and consulting experience on: (1) how organizations and individuals can leverage and integrate digital and social media channels to create and capture value and (2) how brands can build iconic products and services by leveraging status and style dynamics. As a recognition of his academic contributions published in top journals, he was named a 2017 Young Scholar by the Marketing Science Institute. He is also a passionate educator and actively contributes to build pedagogical tools to help disseminate cutting-edge business practices around the world. One of his most recent case on the role of digital intelligence in new product development at l’Oréal Paris was awarded the 2017 best marketing case by the Case Center. In addition to accompanying a number of C-level executives in the digitalization of their businesses, he is also a Senior Academic Advisor at Tsquared Insights, a Geneva-based company specialised in digital intelligence and insights generation. At INSEAD, David launched and teaches MBA electives on (1) digital strategies and (2) value creation in luxury and fashion. In addition, he has designed, directed and/or delivered several executive education programs or workshops (for companies such as Sanofi, Abbvie, Biogen, Grünenthal, Moët Henessy, Diageo Reserve, l’Oréal Paris, Pernod Ricard, Ferrero, Adecco, Mizuho, Nitto Denko etc.) and he co-directs INSEAD’s Leading Digital Marketing Strategy Programme. Prior to joining INSEAD, he was a faculty member at HEC Paris where he taught in the grande ecole and PhD programs. To consult and/or download his work, please visit his INSEAD website.
Gaia Gera – Senior Analyst, Consumer InsightsGaia is Senior Analyst, Consumer Insights, at Tsquared. She has worked on cross industry projects, building market segmentation and consumer journeys leveraging advanced data mining technology. She is passionate about discovering hidden patterns in the digital ecosystem, and building solutions that can ultimately boost our clients businesses. Before joining Tsquared, Gaia worked as analyst for two years in Accenture in Milan and Singapore, and as intern with McKinsey & Co in Vietnam. Gaia holds a Bachelor and a Master of Science in physics. When she is not busy with client projects, Gaia enjoys travelling around the world, playing golf, and scuba diving.
Daniel Hernandez – Data ScientistDaniel is a Data Scientist at Tsquared Insights where he leads the development of an application used to analyze online consumer behavior. His background is in Computational Biology and he holds a Master of Science in Bioengineering from the EPFL, and a degree in Biology from the National University of Uruguay. He worked in Colorado as a Mathematical Modeler Biotech Intern, then at EPFL, Switzerland, as an Assistant Researcher in the Laboratory of Computational Systems Biotechnology. His mother tongues are English and Spanish, and he also speaks French. In his free time, Daniel enjoys spending time with his family, partaking in outdoor activities, cooking, and creating music.
Damian Iordanov – Software EngineerDamian is Software Engineer at Tsquared Insights. An econometrician by training, Damian studied at HEC Lausanne and at the University of Amsterdam, from which he holds a MSc. and a Bachelor’s degree, both in economics, specializing in Macroeconomics and Statistics. He currently leads the Predictive Analytics team at Tsquared, having previously worked in the Business Economics division at Caterpillar. Using a combination of programming languages, he is always exploring new methods and sources for creating robust forecasting and big data systems. Born in Bulgaria, Damian lived in the US, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, benefiting from a diversified cultural exposure. Outside of work he enjoys following the technical and strategic evolution of Formula 1, along with learning new Kendama tricks.
Kenichi Ito – AccountantFor the past 15 years, Kenichi worked in increasing levels of responsibility in finance and accounting in both national and international environments. His recent experiences include accounting and controlling for corporate finance functions in the food processing industry at ADM International and analyzing sales data for tracking and determination of royalties in the video game industry at Take Two Interactive. Beyond Japanese, Kenichi is fluent in English and French. He lives in Switzerland with his wife and daughter. Away from the business, he enjoys skiing, cycling and spending time with his family.
Aliona Ogorodniciuk – Analyst, Consumer InsightsAliona is a Consumer Insights Analyst at Tsquared, where she carries out online marketing research for German and Russian speaking markets. Her foreign language skills and cultural insights enables her to participate developing market knowledge and in-depth data analysis. Aliona sharpened her analytical & client management skills while working in private banking in Liechtenstein, as financial planner in Switzerland, before moving to market research with Tsquared. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. In her free time she enjoys discovering new countries and cultures, mountain biking and hiking.
Carmen de la Puente – Junior Analyst, Consumer InsightsCarmen joined Tsquared Insights as a Junior Analyst in mid-2017. She is passionate about unveiling secrets hidden in big amounts of data and what she loves most about her job is being able to apply creativity to every-day data analysis. Carmen graduated in Economics from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid) and participated in the top International Trade program in Spain (ICEX), obtaining a Master’s degree in International Business Administration. Before joining Tsquared, she worked at the Spanish Economic and Trade Office in Milan and at two technology companies in Madrid. When she is not at the office she enjoys cooking, reading recipe books and taking photos for her food-themed Instagram account: @thepantrygeneva. She also likes music and hiking in the Swiss mountains.