Wes Patterson, research and insights leader

Wes is
a researcher.

I turn messy data into decisions people act on. I build AI into every stage of the research, and I still get a little too excited about a well-designed chart.

LinkedIn·jwpatter@gmail.com·914.443.7546
Wes Patterson, research and insights leader Wes, served up on a checkered tablecloth

AI is a big part of how I work now, backed by human review and judgment

A few examples below. Plenty more are in use, in the works, or were tried and dropped. There's usually a new one in testing.

  1. Plan

    • Pricing and proposal scoping tool
    • Research repository that answers questions in plain English

  2. Design

    • Questionnaire and discussion guide drafter
    • Questionnaire reviewer
    • Survey length estimator

  3. Field

    • Word doc to ready-to-field survey converter
    • Invitation email drafter
    • AI interview moderator
    • Bad-respondent spotter

  4. Analyze

    • Interview summarizer
    • Open-end coder
    • Statistical significance calculator

  5. Results

    • Story and structure builder for decks
    • Takeaway writer for charts
    • Deck critiquer
    • Automated builder for recurring reports
    • Results reformatter for interactive, audio and chatbot versions
    • Findings packager that makes results easy to share and spread
Field notes, 2005 to present. Redacted for length. (hover to restore the noise)

Everything I hear: hundreds of projects, millions of survey data points, more focus groups than I ever counted, thousands of in-depth interviews in more countries than I can list, current customers, lapsed ones, people who've never heard of the brand, business leaders, innovators, product teams, salespeople, the crosstabs and the driver models and the segmentations, the transcripts that run hundreds of pages and the open-ends that say the same thing a hundred different ways until you can finally hear it, all of it, gets reduced to with good questions and a healthy dose of skepticism, the one thing you need to know.

What the work looks like: everything, then only what matters.

Curious. Creative. Occasionally obsessed with charts.

I help organizations understand what their audiences and customers need, then turn that into stories that move the business.

I've spent 20+ years at the intersection of rigorous research and clear communication, on the belief that a finding only matters if someone acts on it. I've run studies of every size and shape, from tight qualitative sprints to large quantitative tracking, across media, tech, healthcare, CPG, finance, and more.

I’ve built deep experience on both sides of research: agency and in-house. Agency work taught me to move fast, learn new categories quickly, and solve a wide range of problems. In-house work taught me how to make research matter inside an organization, from shaping decisions to pushing change forward.

"He has changed the way many teams make decisions. We are lucky to have him."

Chief Marketing Officer

I build research functions from scratch

In every role, I hire and develop the people, set up how the work gets done, and turn research into something leadership counts on.

Departments from zero

Set up research and insights functions from the ground up, both agency-side and in-house, including processes, best practices, vendor relationships and hiring.

Research as a revenue line

Launched a custom research business, from selling the work to delivering it.

Teams that grow and stay

Designed the hiring and onboarding program that grew a team more than fourfold, with 95% annual retention. I manage, mentor and write real development plans.

Systems that scale

Built project workflows, research repositories and a newsletter that got far more people reading the research, along with the budgets, vendor deals and training behind them.

A career built on delivering results

20+
Years in research,
agency & in-house
Agency Client-side Current
500+
Research projects
led end-to-end
Quantitative (75%) Qualitative
200+
People trained to use
data and research better
1,000s
Stakeholders who've
put the work to use

Data Visualization

The way you show data is part of the finding.

Visualization is how I make sense of the data, and it’s how I get everyone else to see what I see. A good chart does both jobs at once. I’ve trained hundreds of people to make better ones.

"Your session on making better visualizations has been such a game changer. Every single time I'm making charts I'm cleaning up things I never did before. It was one of the most valuable teaching sessions I've ever had."

Director of Analytics

What people say

"

He is more than the head of research. He is a business partner who takes the time to understand the business need and work with people to ensure research helps make decisions. He does not just deliver a piece of research. He is invested in the follow-up and in making the next one better. He has changed the way many teams make decisions.

Chief Marketing Officer
"

I've been paging through the report and am stunned by the presentation of results, the sidebars, call-outs, quotes, and the overall visual impact. It's so impactful and visually exciting.

Director of Marketing
"

We know so much more about our audience intent based on the crucial research that Wes is doing for us. All of this combined is about to make us untouchable.

Executive Leader
"

He truly is a subject matter expert when it comes to building research studies and presenting the data in an impactful and consumable way. He always replies fast (even after hours) and offers to discuss further.

Head of Marketing
"

Your research has saved us SO MUCH time and energy by keeping us from going down a dead-end road. As always, incredibly valuable.

Audience Manager