our services

tom feeheley

Vice President
Consumer & Market Insight and Strategy
tom@proteusdesign.com
At Proteus: Tom manages, directs and consults on key brand, marketing, product and communication projects for Delta Faucet, Elica, Masco Corporation, MasterBrand Cabinets, Rembrandt Oral Care and Intermatic/Malibu. Recently, Tom helped direct the naming, market and brand strategy, product design, packaging and merchandising of Aura Home Design. Executed in seven months from initial consumer research to launch, Aura debuted nationwide in 2,104 Home Depot stores.
Pre Proteus: A senior executive for many years with the Stanley Works, Tom also worked with Fitch Worldwide and Design Continuum. He has managed major projects and new product launches for Fortune 100 corporations including Coca-Cola, Timberland, Sprint, Johnson & Johnson, Dewalt and Hallmark. He has also guided start-ups including U.S. Genomics, Neuronetics, Zymequest, GMP Wireless, and Vivatone.

steve hoch

Principal Consultant, Retail Brand Strategy
Marketing Professor, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
steve@proteusdesign.com
At Proteus: A recognized authority on retailing, Steve is responsible for the development of retail brand strategy at Proteus. He has played a critical role in helping clients such as Intermatic, Delta Faucet and Aura Home Design formulate distribution, pricing and promotional strategies and consumer outreach initiatives, and he drives many of the consumer research projects we undertake.
Pre Proteus: Steve's professional experience includes positions in both private enterprise and, since 1990, academia. He is currently Chairperson of the Marketing Department at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and was previously a professor at the University of Chicago, where he was a Director of the Micro-Marketing Project. He is the Associate Editor of Management Science and a member of the editorial boards of Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing and Journal of Retailing. Earlier in his career, he was National Sales and Marketing Manager for the Walt Disney Music Company.

bob pietrzak

Vice President, Marketing Research & Strategic Planning
bobp@proteusdesign.com
At Proteus: One word is at the heart of everything Bob undertakes at Proteus, and that word is "insight." His work allows our engineers and designers to create new and different products that are often critical to our clients' success. Virtually no research initiative takes place here that isn't under his direction. He will frequently use online research techniques to tap into the minds of consumers in an effort to better understand their attitudes, conceptions and preconceptions about product categories in general and our clients' products in particular. In recent months, he has managed research projects for Delta, Intermatic, Aura Home Design, Wayne-Dalton and others.
Pre Proteus: Bob began his professional career working for such multi-national corporations as Gillette, Borden Foods and Miles Labs. In the advertising business, he was associated with Ross Roy Communications in Detroit and Schneider Parker Jakuc in Boston. For more than a decade, he ran his own research consultancy.

charlie conn

Vice President, Branding
charlie@proteusdesign.com
At Proteus: Charlie established Proteus' branding competency through such initiatives as defining the brand architecture for Aura Home Design, refreshing the Wellington brand, refining the Hunter Douglas brand identity, creating brand boundaries for Longs Drugs and revising the Malibu brand for Intermatic. His articles on branding have appeared in numerous publications. He has participated in expert round tables sponsored by the Private Label Manufacturers Association and is a judge for the annual Food & Drink Awards. He has spoken on branding at The Wharton School, Emerson College and MassArt and many professional trade shows. He is a longstanding member of the AIGA and the Design Management Institute.
Pre Proteus: Founder of Iconn Brand Architecture, Charlie has two decades of experience in branding, including work with Nantucket Nectars, Organic Cow of Vermont, Kettle Cuisine Soup, Beauty and Main and Finagle a Bagel. Before joining Proteus, he was Brand Steward for the Internet technology consultancy, Viant.

kristen laquatra

Senior Manager
Consumer & Market Insight and Strategy
kristen@proteusdesign.com
At Proteus: Kristen delivers superior client experiences from initial contact through project completion As the liaison between Proteus and our clients Kristen acts as the client advocate on all engagements and provides marketing input on brand, product, packaging, and merchandising which ultimately insures superior deliverables.
Pre Proteus: Kristen brings significant project and marketing management experience to Proteus. As Global Product Marketing Director at Samsonite, Kristen was responsible for the American Tourister brand which propelled annual revenues 25% and profits by 14% through orchestration of the brand vision, strategy and market positioning. Previously Kristen served as the primary leader and strategic planning force for new marketing and project ventures targeting U.S. wholesale and Samsonite's top U.S. accounts.