trinity associates
Trinity Associates are experienced and independent providers who work under the Trinity banner in collaboration with the client and the Trinity project team to provide specific services that are sometimes needed by Trinity clients.
Dr. Steve Tipps, Ph. D.
Associate
Steve plays a mean blues guitar, and on weekends can often be found jamming at local watering holes.
Dr. Steve Tipps has been designing and managing custom survey research projects for two decades, translating complex statistical and technical information into understandable and actionable recommendations and marketing plans for clients. Steve has worked on myriad projects, including helping to define a global brand’s core business, designing and pricing new products and services that both meet the needs of target customers and quickly become profitable, and forecasting one year sales of a specific service for a small start-up. He has segmented numerous consumer and business markets in order to provide profitable targets for clients to pursue, and has particular expertise in demand forecasting.
Prior to becoming associated with Trinity, Steve lead the forecasting and evaluation practice at Copernicus Marketing Research and Consulting, a multinational research company that provides qualitative and quantitative research to B2B and B2C clients worldwide. While at Copernicus, Steve employed simulation technology to evaluate the performance of marketing programs before dollars were spent in the real world. Steve also served as VP at Yankelovich Clancy Shulman, directing the statistical modeling group and the firm’s research and development efforts. He moved to Yankelovich Clancy Shulman after three years as a senior marketing research analyst in the industrial and consumer products groups at Polaroid.
Steve has published articles on media research, simulated test marketing, and other marketing strategy topics in academic and practitioner journals and given presentations at marketing conferences including the American Marketing Association’s annual Marketing Research Conference, the DTC National Conference for pharmaceutical marketers, and the Outdoor Advertising Association. Steve received his B.A. in English from Tufts University, and an MBA and Ph. D. in Marketing from Boston University. His doctoral dissertation focused on the relationship between media involvement and advertising effectiveness.
Michele Ruttenberg
Associate
Michele has over 20 years of experience managing a diverse variety of market research and competitive intelligence projects for companies in financial services and other industries. She is known for designing and implementing qualitative and quantitative research studies tailored to provide actionable information for decision-making.
Michele has been working as an independent research consultant since 2002, and began working with Trinity in 2009. She has designed and conducted market research to address both strategic and marketing issues for a range of clients, including Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, Boston Private Bank & Trust, and the law firm Bingham McCutcheon. Previously, Michele was Senior Manager of Market Research and Competitive Intelligence at John Hancock, where she was responsible for primary research and competitive intelligence initiatives for Hancock’s life insurance, long term care insurance, and annuity businesses.
Prior to Hancock, Michele spent several years at Fidelity as Director of Market Research for retirement services, and as Senior Research Analyst within Fidelity’s retail marketing division.
Michele has a BA in Communications Research from the University of Pennsylvania.