Kristin Howell (formerly Schwitzer)

President

Beacon Research

Kristin has three decades of marketing and market research experience, including both client-side brand management at Procter & Gamble and agency-side strategic planning at two ad agencies. She launched her own consumer insights consultancy, Beacon Research, in 2000. She is a pioneer and thought leader in online and mobile research and was dubbed the “Queen of Cool Research” by her peers long before Zoom became a household brand.

Kristin is a past QRCA Vice President and founding long-term Chair of QRCA’s Online Special Interest Group. Her work focuses heavily on new product innovation, branding, shopper insights, communications research, and website/mobile app development. Personally, she is the older sister/acting parent of her Down’s Syndrome brother, which makes her more sensitive to championing the voice of the underrepresented. Kristin is also the mom of two successfully launched young adults, a pickleball fanatic, and a lifelong boater.