Two new positions at AbelsonTaylor

AbelsonTaylor (AT) has hired veteran insights and market research expert Mike Czuba as VP of insights innovation. And recognizing that the pandemic will have lasting effects on how companies do business, particularly in terms of working remotely, the agency has named Kristine Adams to the newly created position of senior director of workplace experience. 

Mike Czuba

In his newly created position, Czuba is focused on elevating AbelsonTaylor’s capabilities in cultivating meaningful and actionable strategic insights through innovative market research and development methodologies, AT executives say. He is also developing practices that operationalize integrated strategy across the agency’s planning, engagement and marketing intelligence teams, all with an eye toward the development of compelling and measurable multichannel marketing strategies. He reports to Christopher Dimmock, senior VP of integrated strategy.

“Mike is a welcome addition to the agency because he has a wealth of experience turning market research into powerful insights that provoke creative marketing ideas that, ultimately, influence better healthcare decisions,” Dimmock says. “He is a student of human decision-making who constantly challenges the models of behavior to gain better insights into the psychological, emotional, social and economic constructs that frame our relationships with our own health, our family’s well-being, and our healthcare provider communities.” 

Kristine Adams

Adams is developing effective ways of increasing connection and community among agency staff as many continue working from home or in a hybrid home-and-office arrangement. She reports to Keith Stenlund, executive VP and chief financial officer.

“With the definition of ‘workplace’ undergoing a sea change and the physical office no longer the primary place where we come together every day, we needed to adapt how we foster our all-important culture and sense of community at AbelsonTaylor,” Stenlund says. “Kristine has the skills for enhancing our work experience no matter where we happen to be working.”

Prior to joining AbelsonTaylor, Czuba was executive VP of strategy and planning at Shapiro+Raj, a market research and insights firm based in Chicago, where he helped develop innovative new methods for cultivating market insights and provided strategic counsel to pharmaceutical companies including Genentech, Janssen, Novartis, and AstraZeneca.

Previously, as VP and planning director at Cavalry Chicago, he served as the insights lead on the agency’s MillerCoors’ innovations business. His work in developing a deep, nuanced understanding of beer drinkers fueled successful new product launches as well as reinvigorating legacy brands like Coors Banquet. This same knowledge also inspired new creative approaches to promoting treatments in prostate cancer and other therapeutic areas, AT management says.

Formerly director of office services, Adams joined AbelsonTaylor in 2009 as facilities manager. Combining creativity with strong organizational and problem-solving skills, AT executives say she has directed everything from agency space planning and emergency preparedness to employee engagement programs and special events. One of her greatest achievements was managing the custom build-out of AbelsonTaylor’s new headquarters in Chicago’s historic Old Post Office, which opened in February 2020.

Before joining AbelsonTaylor, Adams worked for more than a decade in facilities and office management for other advertising agencies, including Draftfcb and Draft. She also founded a local branch of Bottomless Closet, a not-for-profit organization that provides professional clothing, career skills and image coaching for women in transition. During two years as director of the branch, in Homewood, Ill., she helped more than 500 women gain confidence, employment, and economic self-sufficiency through the organization’s services.