Brand impact awards judges

The Panel of Judges. The study results were reviewed by two distinguished panels of judges – a panel reviewed B2C brands, while the other evaluated B2B brands. The judges provided insight into the story behind the numbers, commenting on the winning brand’s ability to create an emotional connection with its customers, and identifying the brand to watch in each category.

Tim Bajarin is recognized as one of the leading industry consultants, analysts and futurists, covering the field of personal computers and consumer technology. Mr. Bajarin has been with Creative Strategies since 1981 and has served as a consultant to most of the leading hardware and software vendors in the industry including IBM, Apple, Hewlett- Packard/Compaq, Dell, AT&T, Microsoft, Polaroid, Lotus, Epson, Toshiba, Philips and numerous others. His articles and/or analyses have appeared in USA Today, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Time and Newsweek magazines, BusinessWeek and most of the leading business and trade publications. He has appeared as a business analyst commenting on the computer industry on all of the major television networks and was a frequent guest on PBS' The Computer Chronicles. Mr. Bajarin has been a columnist for US computer industry publications such as PC Week and Computer Reseller News and wrote for ABCNEWS.COM for two years and Mobile Computing for 10 years. He currently writes for PC Magazine and his technologypundits.com blog is a popular site to get inside information on the PC and CE industries. His various columns and analyses are syndicated in over 30 countries.

Mr. Bajarin is known as a futuristic analyst, credited with predicting the desktop publishing revolution three years before it hit the market, and identifying multimedia as a major trend in written reports as early as 1986. His writing and analysis has been on the forefront of the digital revolution and he is considered one the leading experts in the field of technology adoption cycles. He has authored major industry studies on PC, portable computing, pen based computing, desktop publishing, multimedia computing and the digital home.

Mr. Bajarin serves on multiple conference advisory boards including ZD's highly successful Digital Life event and is a frequent featured speaker at computer conferences worldwide. He also serves on technology advisory council's for IBM, Lenovo, Hewlett Packard, Dell, Toshiba and NXP.
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Rob is President and Principal Analyst of the Enderle Group, a forward looking emerging technology advisory firm. Recognized as one of the best general Inquiry Analysts in the world, Rob specializes in providing rapid perspectives and suggested tactics and strategies to a large number of clients dealing with rapidly changing global events. Rob lives emerging technology and has a passion for personal technology and market strategy.

In addition Rob writes for TechNewsWorld, DarkReading, Digital Trends, Tom's Hardware Guide, ITBusiness Edge and Datamation. Rob appears regularly on WSJ Radio, CNBC, NPR, and Bloomberg Radio/TV.

Before founding the Enderle Group Rob was the Senior Research Fellow for Forrester Research and the Giga Information Group. While there he ran the eCommerce, Security, and Mobile research practices.

Before Giga, Rob was with Dataquest covering client/server software where he became one of the most widely publicized technology analysts in the world. Before Dataquest Rob worked for IBM as was in IBM's executive resource program. As part of that program he managed projects and people in Finance, Internal Audit, Competitive Analysis, Marketing, Security, and Planning. Prior to IBM he was a Marketing Director and sat on the board of the Southern California Marketing Director’s Association.

Rob holds an AA in Merchandising, a BS in Business, and an MBA.

Rob sits on the advisory councils for Lenovo, Toshiba, AMD, HP, Dell, Philips, Trusted Computing Group, and the Lifeboat Foundation.

Rob's hobbies include Sporting Clays, PC Modding, Science Fiction, Home Automation, and Computer Gaming.
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Kathy's evangelism of disruptive technologies has garnered global media attention including appearances in international TV (BBC, CNBC, CNN), newspapers (The Sunday Times, The Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Daily Mail, Die Welt), radio (BBC, NPR, Bayerischer Rundfunk), and business and lifestyle magazines (Fast Company, Red Herring, Woman).

Her pioneering ventures include co-founding blinkx.tv, the world's first video search engine; Firefly, where she developed the international channel and distribution strategy before it was acquired by Microsoft; and the introduction of online loyalty, where Kathy was pivotal in the creation of international strategies for companies including Bertelsmann, Vivendi-Universal, BT and Dentsu. She was voted "2004 Agenda Setter" by www.silicon.com alongside Apple's Steve Jobs, eBay's Meg Whitman, and Chinese Premier Hu Jintao.

Kathy has also served as a consultant to Prime Minister Koizumi and has been closely involved with Japan's first inbound tourism campaign, "Yokoso Japan," as well as Japan’s FDI (foreign direct investment) strategies with the Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry.

Kathy currently serves as an advisor to global Web 2.0 companies including Xing (openBC), Kyte.tv, King.com, and wunderLOOP.com, amongst others.
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Karen Kang is a recognized expert in positioning and brand strategies. A 25-year veteran in marketing and communications, she founded Karen Kang Consulting in 1994. She has consulted to more than 100 companies and organizations, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. A former newspaper reporter for The (South) Middlesex News and the (Portland) Oregonian, she has held executive positions in marketing consulting, advertising and public relations firms, including serving as a partner at Regis McKenna Inc. and as a vice president at TFB/BBDO.

Karen has deep experience in working on the most challenging positioning and branding issues for such clients as The University of Massachusetts, AT&T, Bandspeed, Cadence, NCR, HP, Italia Global Marketing, National Semiconductor, Sun, SanDisk, the National Venture Capital Association, the Aberdeen Group and the Women’s Technology Cluster. She has taught seminars on positioning and branding to more than 1500 professionals through national and local conferences, RMI and client seminars and through the graduate business schools of UC Berkeley, Golden Gate University and Mills College. She also advises the Global Consulting Practicum of the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. She holds a BA degree with honors in English from Mills College (Phi Beta Kappa) and an MS degree in Journalism from Boston University.
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For the last 25 years, Susan Rockrise has been a passionate brand evangelist working alongside some of the world’s most innovative business and brand leaders.

Susan started her studies at Scripps College and continued her education at Claremont Graduate School, where she learned her strategic approach to thinking and management from Peter Drucker, one of the most prominent business minds of the 20th century.

She launched her career at an ad agency, but was soon recruited by Doug Tompkins to work at Esprit, where she managed the brand in 23 countries. From Esprit she moved to NeXT where she worked directly with another visionary leader: Steve Jobs.

Susan's career continued at Intel where she had the opportunity to work with Andy Grove, the legendary CEO, author and business thinker. In her role as World Wide Creative Director, she was responsible for the management of the Intel brand at a time when it became one of the world's most valuable brands.

These days, when not fly fishing in exotic destinations, Susan spends her time working with agencies and corporations providing consulting services about strategic approaches to brands and branding.
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Edward has worked in the international branding space for the last nineteen years. Mr. Saenz spent 12 of those years at Interbrand during which he co-founded that San Francisco office and assumed the title of Vice President.

He has developed brand strategies, corporate, product and service names, brand architectures, and corporate identity/design systems for a range of domestic and international clients.

He is personally responsible for creating the names Wi-Fi, Expedia.com®, Xterra®, Armada® among others.

His work spans virtually every major industry including the internet, financial services, energy services, technology, automotive, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, and consumer products.

He is an accomplished photographer and is currently engaged in a project to create portraits of influential Bay Area entrepreneurs, restaurateurs and personalities.

His last exhibition was entitled Brave Faces and documented a reconstructive surgical mission to the Ecuadorian Andes. Mr. Saenz's clients have included: Abgenix, ALZA, Apple Computer, Clorox, Family and Children's Services, Genentech, Hewlett-Packard, Johnson & Johnson, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Interplast, Microsoft, Music Choice, Spalding, Saratoga Systems, Sega, Sempra Energy, Sony, Thomson Learning, Toyota, Wacom and Verizon.

Edward is regarded as an authority in branding with a specialty in brand naming. He has been quoted in a number of publications including: The Wall Street Journal, Red Herring, Crain's Chicago Business, San Diego Business Times and Interactive News Daily.

He has addressed a number of organizations including: the Silicon Valley Professional Woman's Symposium, Silicon Valley Marketing Association and the UC Santa Clara University’s MBA program.
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