Certification Advisory Board

Each Certified Brand Strategist candidate must demonstrate and pass a rigorous program of learning, oral and written examinations, text book discussions, personal visits and regularly-scheduled teleconference meetings to achieve Certification in their respective markets. In addition, each agency principal, having completed the coursework, must also submit and be reviewed, graded and critiqued by the Brand Establishment’s Certification Advisory Board (CAB). The CAB is an independent authority of respected leaders in the marketing field and they are the final arbiters of whether a CBS candidate has achieved the right to be recognized as a Certified Brand Strategist.

Michael Hanley
Ball State University

Michael Hanley is Director of the Institute for Mobile Media Research and Associate Professor of Advertising in the Department of Journalism at Ball State University. He teaches advertising, branding, media planning and buying, and media research and is recognized as one of the leading academic mobile advertising and marketing researchers in the United States.

He has more than 20 years of corporate brand management, advertising and marketing experience with two Fortune 500 financial services companies (Lincoln Financial Group and Conseco), a Fortune 500 energy company (Vectren), a national accounting and consulting firm (Crowe Horwath), and an energy systems distributor (WaterFurnace of Indiana).

He holds a Master of Arts in Journalism from Ball State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Design from Purdue University.

 

Helen I. Thomas
H. I. Thomas Consulting Group, LLC

Helen Thomas is President of H. I. Thomas Consulting Group. She has been involved in market research for 27 years on the research supplier side, as a research director for an advertising agency (Wyse), and marketing executive on the corporate side (Ernst & Young). She formed the business in 1994 in response to the growing need for advanced qualitative research techniques, and skilled moderators who think like strategic planners, not just interviewers.

Over the years, her practice has become known for their ethnographic, real world research techniques, which take them directly into consumers’ homes, vehicles, shopping trips, and daily lives. H. I. Thomas has helped a variety of companies get closer to their customers, and understand how and why they interact with their products and services, including Hoover® vacuums, KraftMaid® cabinetry, Moen® faucets, Huggies® diapers, and Target® stores.

Helen has spoken at AMA research conferences on conducting ethnographic research, as well as workshops for her clients who want to know more about the advantages of qualitative research.

Anthony P. Mikes
Second Wind Network

Second Wind’s chief guru and managing director Anthony P. Mikes is a former advertising executive who spent twenty-five years managing and owning advertising agencies and graphic design studios. Mr. Mikes came to recognize the value of shared information as it relates to successfully managing an advertising agency. Second Wind (Mr. Mikes' second life in advertising) was the result. Eighteen years later, Second Wind continues to help our members succeed and grow by sharing our collective industry wisdom.

Mr. Mikes conducts agency management workshops, serves as a management consultant to individual agencies, and has addressed many advertising associations and trade organizations. He is also a contributing writer to numerous industry trade publications.

 

John E. Thomas
H. I. Thomas Consulting Group, LLC

John is Managing Partner at H. I. Thomas Consulting Group, LLC, and has over 25 years of experience in all facets of marketing and marketing research. His primary role with H. I. Thomas Consulting Group is to serve as a senior level brand strategy and market research consultant to a wide range of clients, including those in consumer products, business-to- business, and e-commerce.

Prior to joining H. I. Thomas Consulting, John was a senior marketing executive at KeyCorp® and Owens Corning®. His work included building and growing marketing databases, establishing their Consumer Insights Groups, and heading up marketing for major lines’ of business. In addition to John’s corporate side experience, he spent over 12 years working at advertising agencies, running research and account planning for many major brands, including: Cleveland Clinic®, Dirt Devil®, Dow Corning®, Sherwin Williams® and many others.