A Principal and member of Edge’s senior management team, Lisa Dropkin has over a decade of experience on both the consulting and client side of the business. A skilled focus group moderator and data analyst, Lisa has developed strategic research studies for a wide range of clients, including Intuit (the makers of Quicken and TurboTax), the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and World Wildlife Fund.
Having conducted hundreds of market research studies, Lisa’s unique ability to blend quantitative and qualitative skills has earned her the respect of clients. “My qualitative background is advantageous in my approach with quantitative projects,” she explains. “I don’t just report the numbers, I think about what the numbers mean in context.”
Lisa believes that Edge’s breadth and depth of experience, including consumer, business-to-business, non-profit and communications research, sets them apart from other market research firms. In particular, she says that Edge’s non-profit practice goes a step further than many of its competitors. “Not a lot of full-service research companies do the same type of in-depth issue examination and advocacy research,” she asserts. “We are able to take the innovative methodologies and approaches that corporations use regularly, and creatively apply them in the non-profit arena.”
In Lisa’s eyes, one of the biggest market research pitfalls is the absence of clear research objectives and an understanding of how the research will be utilized. “It’s important to work with the client to achieve consensus on all of this up-front, so that we can develop a meaningful study that is actionable,” she says. For this reason, Edge has developed a collaborative working approach that allows clients to participate fully in the research process, but asserts which methodology, research tools, techniques and lines of questioning will be most effective at answering the research questions without bias.
Prior to joining Edge, Lisa was Research Director for SeaWeb, an innovative non-profit specializing in ocean conservation communication. Working for SeaWeb, Lisa further solidified the organization's reputation for designing effective campaigns through detailed and contextual understanding of public attitudes. Now an Edge client, SeaWeb continues to benefit from Lisa’s oversight of market research in support of this important voice for ocean conservation. Edge conducted the first ever large scale opinion research of seafood chefs, restaurateurs, retailers and consumers on the intersection of seafood consumption and environmental conservation. This work was recently published in a new report “Growing Appetites, Shrinking Seas ” (available at www.seafoodchoices.com).
Lisa also served as Vice-President at the Mellman Group, a public opinion research and campaign strategy firm specializing in Democratic candidates and progressive issue campaigns.
Lisa graduated summa cum laude from George Washington University with a B.A. in Political Communications. She is a Board member of the Green Media Toolshed, an application service provider supporting media communications for environmental organizations. Lisa’s professional affiliations include the American Marketing Association and coursework at RIVA Market Research. In Lisa’s spare time, she enjoys cooking, running and spending time with her husband Noah and their daughters Lily and Tate. Lisa and her family live in Arlington, VA.
