Alan Steinberg, Ph.D

Director, Quantitative Research

With more than 25 years of experience in a wide range of research platforms, including advertising tracking, patient and physician studies, employee and organizational needs assessments, and program evaluation in non-profit organizations, Alan has held positions at a number of global research companies, including Harris Interactive, GfK Market Measures and Ipsos.

Throughout his career, he has trained dozens of researchers in survey methods. Alan has conducted studies for Fortune 100 companies, including Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer and MetLife, for educational institutions, such as the Harvard School of Public Health and the National Sleep Foundation as well as federal agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health.
Alan earned his Ph.D. from Rutgers University and lives with his family in New Jersey.

Jill Montaigne

President

Born in Philadelphia, Jill spent her formative years in Guadalajara, Mexico after her parents retired there. She attributes her keen listening skills to being dropped into a Spanish speaking school before she knew how to say her first ‘hola’, and she has been actively listening ever since.

Prior to founding Original Spark, Jill served in a variety of senior positions including: Sullivan (Partner and Media Practice Lead; eMap Publishing (GM of JV with the NFL); Time Inc (NY Regional Manager); CBS Television (Director, Market Development); Vintners International (VP, Marketing); Campbell Soup (Brand Director); and Coopers & Lybrand (Staff Auditor).

Jill is actively engaged with her community, previously as the Chair of more than 18 major Ad Women of New York (“AWNY”) events and now serving on the Executive Committee of its Board of Directors (2nd VP/Executive Committee) for a third year. She also advises Brooklyn’s Brave New World Repertory Theater Company on best practices. Most importantly, she volunteers her (somewhat shaky) skills each week in the kitchens of God’s Love We Deliver. Jill resides in Brooklyn with her family, and as often as possible, can be found swimming laps at her local Y.

Hal Espo

Hal is President of Contextual Connections, LLC, a NYC-based consultancy which focuses exclusively in the digital services arena, including content, distribution, and applications. He provides guidance and hands-on assistance so that content owners and related technology companies can develop products and enter markets as well as identify and secure distribution/licensing partners.

Hal has more than 35 years experience as an operating executive as well as a business and product development professional in the electronic information industry. He served as Chief Operating Officer of Index Stock Imagery, Inc., and at CORSEARCH, Inc. Earlier he served as a strategist at Insurance Services Office, Inc., and for more than 10 years worked in strategy and planning at LexisNexis and Knight-Ridder Information/Dialog Information Services, Inc.

He began his career as a librarian at both Earlham College and Cornell University. Hal holds a B.A. from Earlham College, an M.L.S. from Indiana University, and an M.B.A. from San Diego State University.

Dan Forno

Retired IBM Vice President Dan Forno has over four decades of solid business experience specializing in the leadership of large scale Information technology organizations, projects and missions. His fields of executive management expertise include: leveraging adaptive management techniques; project management expertise; leadership skills; and employee empowerment designed to produce outstanding business results accompanied by high levels of employee satisfaction.

Currently Dan is the CEO/owner of a small software development company, Stembrain Software, providing Android based applications for smart devices in a variety of categories. He also serves on the Board of Directors for The Draco Fund, a not-for-profit enterprise which exists to support the research of the broad spectrum anti-virals known as DRACO or double stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligormerizer. The mission is to raise the funding necessary for the testing and optimization of DRACO against viruses that cause human and animal suffering.

Dick Roth

For over 30 years, Dick Roth has been advising executives of some of America’s largest corporations regarding critical marketing and communications decisions. 20 years ago Dick founded Roth Associates which has become the premier advertising search and agency compensation consultancy in the United States.

In 2007 Roth Associates and The Observatory, a like consultancy in the UK and all the major regions of the world, merged to form Roth Observatory International a truly Global advertiser facing consultancy to advise regarding industry best practice, seamlessly executed worldwide. In the US Dick is considered the originator of agency search and selection consulting business now a practice area Of Roth Observatory International.

Prior to forming Roth Associates Dick was Executive Vice President of Scali McCabe Sloves and part of the core team that founded and built the company from a creative boutique into a respected worldwide agency. As Executive Vice President, he was responsible for the agency’s marketing and account services, where he was advisor to marketers such as Revlon, Volvo, Chase, and many consumer package goods marketers.

Dick began his career in market research and new product development at General Foods before joining Grey Advertising, where he managed Procter & Gamble and General Foods businesses in the U.S. and Europe.
DIck is a sought after speaker at industry events and holds a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Dartmouth’s Amos Tuck School of Business Administration.