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 About Context : People
Context-Based Research Group is an ethnographic research and consulting firm located in Baltimore, MD with a global network of cultural anthropologists located around the world. Professional anthropologists Robbie Blinkoff, Ph.D. and Belinda Blinkoff, MA, ABD created Context in partnership with Chuck Donofrio, the President and CEO of Carton Donofrio Partners, Inc., an international brand experience design firm also located in Baltimore.
Robbie Blinkoff, PhD - Principal Anthropologist and Managing Partner
Robbie is an ethnographer and anthropologist and has overseen operations at Context since helping found the company in 1999. Robbie's project responsibilities focus on creating research designs that lead to breakthrough insights and solutions. He's also currently speaking on Lefteous - a talk that tracks current cultural trends and models them for business.

Under Robbie's direction, Context has worked with clients such as: American Express, Adobe Systems Inc., Campbell's, Procter & Gamble, Kodak, General Motors, Kimberly-Clark, Fisher-Price, Sony, Microsoft, Kraft Foods, Oscar Mayer, GlaxoSmithKline, Herman Miller and Nike.

In addition to Context's extensive client work, Robbie has guided several proprietary studies that have helped define American and international culture including work on 9/11 and its impact on our culture, a study on wireless behavior entitled: "The Mobiles: Social Evolution in a Wireless Society," and Context is currently producing an ethnography entitled: "The China Middle: Coming of Age in Consumerism."

In 2003, Robbie was identified by Fast Company magazine as one of its prestigious "Fast 50" innovators, people who are changing the way business is done. His insights into consumer behavior have appeared on the CBS News and the CBS Early Show and in Inc., Wired, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Newsday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Philadelphia Enquirer, and many other publications.

An experienced speaker, Robbie recently presented at Sun Microsystems Brand Summit and gave the keynote address to Adobe Systems Global Marketing Conference in Napa Valley. He's also addressed Universal Pictures on the relationship between consumer trends and the entertainment industry; chaired and spoke at the International Institute for Research's symposium on New Ethnographic Methods; and was a key presenter at Yahoo!'s "Born to be Wired" Conference. He holds a doctorate in anthropology from Rutgers University, where his dissertation focused on ideas of ownership among hunter-gatherers in Papua New Guinea.


Belinda Jo Blinkoff, MA, ABD - Principal Anthropologist and Managing Partner
Belinda leads design and analysis for Context projects and oversees management of Context's anthropologist network. Belinda is currently on leave to take care of Shayna and Max - Belinda and Robbie's two children.

An experienced researcher, Belinda has conducted research in Papua New Guinea, Newfoundland, and across the Mid-Atlantic states. Her dissertation work in Papua New Guinea examines ideas of modernity and development and how they have influenced individual and group identity in the region. While there, Belinda and Robbie helped the Sokamin (the group they lived and worked with) develop a community-based management plan for the wildlife preserve located in their territory. The Wildlife Conservation Society (commonly known as the Bronx Zoo) and Conservation International supported this work.

Belinda is currently working on her PhD and holds a master's degree in anthropology from the University of Kentucky. Belinda's undergraduate degree (a B.S. in anthropology with a biology minor) is from East Carolina University.


Chuck Donofrio - President & CEO, Carton Donofrio Partners, Inc.
Managing Partner, Context-Based Research Group
As the president and chief executive officer of Carton Donofrio Partners, Inc., Chuck Donofrio oversees the development of new businesses and products that improve value for clients' customers and constituents. Chuck is a role model for Carton Donofrio's team of 70 partners and is intimately involved with fostering a culture of creative thinking.

In 2001, after a five year period in which the company doubled in revenue, Chuck led the transformation of Richardson, Myers & Donofrio, an integrated marketing communications company, into Carton Donofrio Partners, a brand experience design firm specializing in advertising, public relations, interactive media, anthropological research, brand consulting, and customer experience management.

Prior to joining the firm in 1983, Chuck spent the earlier years of his career in account management at Young & Rubicam/New York where he worked on the General Foods International Coffees account and related Maxwell House Division new products, The United Negro College Fund, and Eastern Airlines. Before joining Young & Rubicam, he worked in Seattle for Cole & Weber, a subsidiary of Ogilvy & Mather, on the Westin Hotels account.

Chuck is a cum laude graduate of Union College. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of Goucher College (Towson, Maryland) and as a Director of the Children's Hospital at Sinai Foundation. He is also a member of the National Advertising Review Board, and the American Association of Advertising Agencies' Agency Management Committee. Chuck also previously taught freshman Composition at the University of Montana.

In addition to his work and civic responsibilities, Chuck is also an avid birdwatcher, poet, writer, outdoorsman, and most importantly a husband and father to three girls.


Stephanie Simpson - Director of Strategy & Client Service
Stephanie worked in advertising and marketing prior to joining the Context team. Throughout this time she worked in both traditional advertising and interactive media. The majority of her work included the overall strategy and development of client's businesses as well as internal production process of the company.

Stephanie is responsible for driving direction and innovation of strategic initiatives for Context Research and cultivating business growth. She leads the teams in developing client relationships and delivering the most effective projects and strategic insight in order to achieve overall client satisfaction and project success for all Context clients.

She has worked for a multitude of clients and within a variety of categories from consumer food products to automobiles and electronics, financial and technology products, associations and non-profits. Some of these clients include: Kraft, General Motors, Sony, American Express, National Association of REALTORS®, Campaign for Our Children, GlaxoSmithKline, Philips, Fisher Price and Nike.

Stephanie received her B.S. in Marketing from the University of Maryland School of Business and Management.


Tracy Pilar Johnson, PhD - Research Director
Tracy is a cultural anthropologist with over 10 years of experience in ethnographic and qualitative methodologies. She focuses on developing action-oriented research plans and innovative methodologies, which allow us to capture a holistic vision of the study topic and deliver insightful and impactful findings to the clients business.

As Research Director, Tracy's main responsibility is developing and expanding Context's ethnographic research toolkit, and customizing research approaches to answer client questions and needs. She designs the ethnographic methodology for studies and oversees the field research, analysis, and development of final deliverables.

Tracey has designed and led research projects for Target, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, UPS, Arby's, Florida's Natural OJ, The Clorox Company, The Maryland Lottery, The Associated Press, Booz Allen Hamilton and Oscar Mayer. These projects covered a range of topics as well as diverse audiences and delivered experience models that have helped to shape the client's understanding of their core customers as well as employees in some instances.

Tracy also has extensive experience in the areas of human rights and education. In her previous position managing an Anti-Trafficking Task Order for the Office of Women in Development/USAID, she managed a cutting-edge research agenda and was responsible for the design, writing, and oversight of Congressionally-mandated studies regarding trafficking in persons on a global scale. She also provided technical support to USAID field missions across the globe, developing and overseeing a series of rapid country appraisals to identify trafficking in persons problems that drew on various ethnographic methods, including interviewing techniques, participant observation, participatory mapping, and media analyses.

For her doctoral work Tracy worked with a Hmong community in Thailand, designing and implementing a comparative analysis and evaluation of two formal curricula to provide a qualitative assessment of the effects of multicultural practices on Hmong girls' educational experiences. She continues to speak and publish on anthropology and development.

Having lived and worked throughout Southeast Asia, Tracy brings to Context an international understanding and global awareness that informs her research. She holds a Bachelors degree in Psychology from Wesleyan University and a PhD in Anthropology from Columbia University.


Leah Kabran - Analyst
As an Analyst, Leah is responsible for working with the Research Director to design research methodologies and conduct field research such as in-depth interviewing, observation or shadowing, behavior and relationship mapping and self-expression exercises. During field research, Leah has often brought clients along on interviews to interact with their consumers and observe the ethnography in progress. She collaborates with the research team to analyze the research findings and develop business implications for product development and marketing clients.

She has assisted in the design and conducted research in the field for Adobe Systems, Army National Guard, Fisher-Price, GlaxoSmithKline, Herb Alpert Foundation, Kimberly Clark, Kraft, Nike, Philips Oral HealthCare, T.Rowe Price, Wyeth, Florida's Natural OJ, and others.

Prior to joining Context, Leah worked with a nonprofit organization specializing in promoting the human rights and cultural heritage of Indigenous peoples and oppressed ethnic minorities. She researched and wrote articles for a quarterly newsletter distributed across the country. Leah continued her interest in Indigenous issues during her work as a researcher in the Knowledge and Learning Cluster of the World Bank. She independently researched, synthesized, and published seventy-three traditional practices of Indigenous communities worldwide on the Indigenous Knowledge online database to inform internal development practitioners.

Leah is a cum laude graduate of Boston University where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology, along with a minor in Religion. She participated in the International Honors Program, a four-month integrated study of indigenous knowledge systems, governance and polity structures, and social movements in the United States, India, New Zealand and Mexico. Leah also spent a year and a half living and studying in Israel.


--> Shannon Gray, MA/MBA - Analyst
Shannon has completed many projects as an ethnographer observing shopping behavior, interviewing customers and providing direction for customer experience improvement. Her most recent projects were for The Associated Press, The Maryland Lottery, UPS, The Clorox Company and General Mills. During her degree she constructed an ethnographic project entitled "Model Zero Waste Mixed-use HOA Study". During this project she evaluated the implementation of a compost facility in a Boulder community in cooperation with Ecocycle. She made recommendations on how to achieve zero waste in this community made up of commercial as well as residential buildings.

Shannon's responsibilities at Context include working with the research Director to design research methodologies and conduct field research using methodologies such as in-depth interviewing, observation or shadowing, behavior and relationship mapping and self-expression exercises. She collaborates with the research team to analyze the research findings and develop business implications for product development and marketing clients.

Shannon also completed traditional ethnographic research in Pucullpa, Peru studying the importance of music in Ayahuasca Healing Ceremonies of the Peruvian Amazon. She has also published an article entitled "The Business End of Anthropology" A Student's Exploration of a Culture of Commerce" in the High Plains Applied Anthropologist Journal.

She received her B.A. in Ethno-Religion Studies with a concentration in Anthropology from Eckerd College and her dual degree of an M.A. in Anthropology and M.B.A. with emphasis on organizational development from the University of Colorado at Boulder -Leeds School of Business.


Amy Eddy - Operations Manager
Amy brings 4 years of business and operations experience to Context, as well as a background in Education and Education research. Amy is responsible for managing the overall workflow of the office as well as developing programs to increase efficiency as Operations Manager.

Amy's previous accomplishments include developing, managing and scaling Quality Assurance efforts and monitoring return ratios. She has experience systematizing business practices to increase efficiency and reduce cost, documenting contract language and internal work-flow procedures, and in analyzing data trends.

In earlier work, Amy interned at the British Embassy working with their marketing department to increase the awareness of study-abroad opportunities in the United Kingdom for U.S. students.

With a background in Education, Amy holds a holds a Masters in Teaching English (MAT) and has helped facilitate longitudinal studies on early academic intervention within Baltimore City Public Schools. Amy's experience in Education research, Business Operations and Marketing provides a rich foundation for her position as Operations Manager at Context.
About Context Consumer Insights

Context Consumer Insights provides a lens into consumer behavior based on our ethnographic research. This year, we cover Simplexity. We will identify key pieces that comprise this insight, illustrate examples from the marketplace and offer recommendations on what to do with this information from a marketing and product development standpoint.

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