Executive Team
Chief Executive Officer
Jerry W. Thomas is Chief Executive Officer of Decision Analyst, one of the top 20 research companies in North America. He founded the company in 1978.
Jerry leads the overall strategic planning for the firm, heads the executive committee, serves as a consultant to Client Service Teams, and plays a key role in the design of firm’s proprietary research services and related mathematical models.
He has served as a research and analytic consultant to many major companies over the years. He worked on the development and marketing of personal computers, word processors, printers, copiers, educational toys, electronic calculators, digital watches, microwave ovens, and many new consumer package goods. He began his career at Hallmark Cards, working in brand management, and then moved to Kraft Foods brand management, focusing on new products. He next worked at a major national research company, before launching Decision Analyst.
He served on the Board of Directors of CASRO (Council of American Survey Research Organizations and now Insights Association) for many years. He also helped launch the graduate program in marketing research at The University of Texas at Arlington and headed its Advisory Board, and he still serves on that Advisory Board, as well as the Advisory Board for the College of Business at UT Arlington. He holds an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin and studied graduate economics at SMU. He is a student of marketing strategy, new product creation, and mathematical modeling.
President
Bonnie manages many account teams and key accounts. She has more than 25 years of marketing research and consulting experience. Bonnie was promoted to president of Decision Analyst in early 2024. She provides strong leadership for guiding the future of the company.
Bonnie focuses much of her energy on global strategy research for Fortune 500 companies, integrating qualitative methods and advanced analytics to provide creative solutions and actionable results. She has a depth of experience in research and consulting for strategic initiatives, including new business acquisitions, new business concepts, global expansion, and brand development and extension.
She has experience in a variety of industries including consumer packaged goods, retail, business to business, beauty/cosmetics, and media. She has moderated hundreds of focus groups and depth interviews, as well as analyzed hundreds of qualitative research projects. She believes that being an experienced moderator, as well as having a strong statistical knowledge, improves her ability to provide insights for businesses.
Prior to joining Decision Analyst, Bonnie worked as a marketing research specialist for a management consulting firm in Dallas, Texas. Bonnie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Statistics from Oklahoma State University.
Corporate Executive Vice President
As an Executive Vice President at Decision Analyst, Felicia’s focus is on helping companies make winning business decisions that fuel growth and success. Her primary areas of focus are innovation, brand strategy, advertising and communications, and customer/user experience.
Felicia supports both B2C- and B2B-focused clients across a wide array of verticals, and she is deeply involved with many of the company’s clients. She serves as the group director on all business activity with her teams’, and she works closely with internal partners in the company’s quantitative teams, qualitative practice, advanced analytics practice, and operational departments.
As part of her executive role, Felicia not only manages a group of Client Service teams, she also serves as a member of the Management Advisory Committee, the Executive Committee, and the Board of Directors. She is heavily involved in strategic initiatives to keep the company’s products, services, and consulting at the forefront of the industry. Felicia joined Decision Analyst in 1989. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration, with a concentration in Marketing, from the University of North Texas.
Senior Vice President, Advanced Analytics Group
Beth leads the Advanced Analytics group and is responsible for design, analyses and insights derived from discrete choice models, MaxDiff analyses, volumetric forecasting and other advanced analytics.
Beth has provided expertise and high-end analytics for Decision Analyst for 25 years. She specializes in product and pricing optimization and market segmentation. Beth is consulted frequently by clients and internal account teams regarding best practices in research methodology.
Her analytic experience spans several industries, such as food and beverage, personal care, high tech, home improvement, appliances and other durables, pharmaceuticals, and travel/hospitality. She has published articles in marketing publications and refereed psychological and statistical journals.
Beth earned a Ph.D. and a Master of Science in Experimental Psychology with emphasis on psychological principles, research methods, and statistics from Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX.
Senior Vice President, Qualitative Research Group & Innovation Group
Clay is an experienced marketing research professional with over 30 years of experience in both leading and delivering qualitative research in the industry.
As the head of qualitative research efforts at Decision Analyst, Clay is responsible for maintaining and improving the quality of qualitative research, identifying new/innovative qualitative research tools, and overall management of the qualitative team.
Clay has conducted qualitative research projects using both traditional methods (focus groups, one–on-one interviews, and telephone interviews) and online qualitative methodologies (bulletin boards and online chat groups, among others). Clay often collaborates with his clients in using research results to develop marketing and communications strategies and formulate tactical recommendations for implementing those strategies.
He brings to each study the ability to draw upon a wide range of experiences, having conducted research in over 20 different categories including products, retail/restaurants, services, organizations, and employee relations. Much of Clay’s work has involved understanding the rational and emotional perceptions and connections that consumers have with products and services through a process called “laddering”. Clay has conducted and led over 200 laddering-related studies around the world. He has trained over 300 interviewers and analysts globally in laddering/values research methodology.
