The Social Intelligence Lab celebrates the world’s 50 most influential social listening professionals

GLASGOW, UK 8th February 2023 - The Social Intelligence Insider 50, now in its second year, recognises the 50 most influential social listening professionals globally, across brands and social listening service providers. In 2023 the Social Intelligence Lab - organisers of the list - received nominations for more than 300 people from 22 countries, with almost half of nominees being women. This year also saw professionals from more than 140 brands nominated, including from Universal Parks & Resorts, The HEINEKEN Company, Haleon, The Walt Disney Company, Ford Motor Company, and Microsoft. 

The final list makes a clear distinction between practitioners pursuing social intelligence initiatives within brands and organizations - Social Intelligence Evangelists - and service providers developing innovative solutions and methodologies to forward the discipline of social intelligence - Social Intelligence Pioneers. 

“We are delighted to have the Social Intelligence Insider 50 awards in 2023 to celebrate the work and achievements of social data analysis professionals globally. There are many professionals across globally diverse industries who now work in the professional practice of social intelligence”, said Dr Jillian Ney, Founder of The Social Intelligence Lab. Ney continued, “The Social Intelligence Insider 50 is an international award recognising the professional practice of social intelligence whilst celebrating the work and leadership of professionals influencing the development of this expanding discipline.” 

The results for the 2023 Social Intelligence Insider 50 list were announced on the 25th of January during an online ceremony. The overall winner of the Insider 50 award, Desiree Nattell, Senior Analyst in Social Listening and Insight for Universal Parks and Resorts from Orlando, Florida said “I am honored to be named the top Evangelist in the second annual Social Intelligence Insider 50 list. Social Intelligence is a constantly evolving field that has become a valuable and sought-after resource for consumer interest across our organizations. I am proud of the collaborative research work my team at Universal Parks & Resorts has been able to provide our partners throughout NBCUniversal. Thank you to Dr. Jillian Ney and everyone at The Social Intelligence Lab for bringing social media research professionals together from all over the world to advance the field of Social Intelligence.”

The top three Social Intelligence Insider 50 winners are (in placement order)

1st Desiree Nattell | Evangelist | Universal Parks & Resorts | Social Intelligence and Insight
2nd Jack Wai | Evangelist | The HEINEKEN Company | OnTap Content Manager, Corporate Affairs
3rd Danny Gardner | Evangelist | Haleon | Social Intelligence Lead

This year’s list was again sponsored by the AI-enabled consumer intelligence platform Linkfluence “For the second year in a row we are very proud to sponsor the SI Lab Insider 50, and to be working with Jillian and her team at the Social Intelligence Lab who do so much to increase the visibility, impact, and understanding of the work we all do with social data and consumer insights. The Insider 50 program is very important to us at Linkfluence. The right

tools and technology are critical, but people are what really matters, and we are very delighted to be involved with this program to identify and recognise those who are leading the way in social Intelligence” said Andrew Swisher, Head of Global Marketing, Linkfluence. 

The 2023 Social Intelligence Insider 50 Evangelists were announced (in alphabetical order) as: 

Alejandro Garcia de Leon | Evangelist | Hilton | Senior Manager, Social Listening & Insights
Amanda Jeppson | Evangelist | Fetch Rewards | Senior Marketing Manager, Research & Insights
Angela Palladino | Evangelist | Walmart | Senior Director, Insights & Analytics
Ari Berman | Evangelist | Chewy | Senior Manager, Brand Social Media
Chris Thomas | Evangelist | Sage | Social Intelligence Lead
Clara Thibault | Evangelist | Pierre Fabre | Directrice, Intelligence & Social Hub
Danny Gardner | Evangelist | Haleon | Social Intelligence Lead
David Sager | Evangelist | Fox | Associate Director Of Social Analytics
Desiree Nattell | Evangelist | Universal Parks & Resorts | Social Intelligence and Insight
Emily Driscoll | Evangelist | LADbible Group | Research and Insights Lead
Emily Podell | Evangelist | Mattel, Inc. | Sr Manager, Global Business Insights
Jack Wai | Evangelist | The HEINEKEN Company | OnTap Content Manager, Corporate Affairs
Jatin Kuckreja | Evangelist | Changed JOBs | Global Insight Director
Jessica Bundy | Evangelist | The Walt Disney Company | Manager, Consumer Insight
Jorie McLeod | Evangelist | Uber | Social Media Manager, Global Social Team
Justin Gagnon | Evangelist | Taco Bell | Sr. Manager, Social Intelligence Lead
Justin Schoen | Evangelist | Microsoft | Group Manager, Social Intelligence
Melissa Davies | Evangelist | Mondelez | Global Social Intelligence Lead
Melissa MacGregor | Evangelist | Microsoft | Sr. Research Manager
Michael Young | Evangelist | Ford Motor Company | Global Insights Manager
Nand Kishore Poddar | Evangelist | ITC Ltd | Functional consultant - Marketing Command Center.
Natália Leão | Evangelist | Nestle | Global Social Intelligence Development Lead
Rodrigo Milanez | Evangelist | PVH Europe | Director, Consumer Insights
Ross Melinn | Evangelist | Amway | Specialist – Social Listening and Intelligence
Sathyaraj Asaithambi | Evangelist | Novartis | Group Leader – Social Media Listening and Analytics

The 2023 Pioneers list was announced  (in alphabetical order) as: 

Andrew Dawson | Pioneer | Brandwatch | Account Director, Partnerships
Benjamin Long | Pioneer | Crowd DNA | Associate Director
Carlos Serra | Pioneer | Audiense | CDO
Cynthia Vega | Pioneer | Kantar | Global Product Lead, Digital Analytics (Dx)
Ed Keller | Pioneer | The Keller Advisory Group | CEO
Enzo Paolo Bianchi | Pioneer | Ogilvy | Chief Executive Officer - El Salvador
Felix Scherrer | Pioneer | Meltwater | Global Head of Insights & COO Northern-Europe
Hoa Nguyen | Pioneer | Advising into large company (not specified) | Independent Consultant, Firmenich
Jackie Cuyvers | Pioneer | Convosphere | Chief Executive Officer
Jaya Sardana | Pioneer | Ipsos Healthcare | Senior Manager
Jocelyn Swift Harjes | Pioneer | Ayzenberg | Data Strategy & Consumer Intelligence Leader
Katie Hillier | Pioneer | The Liiv Centre | Chief Digital Anthropologist
Martin Miliev | Pioneer | Publicis Groupe | Vice President Social Intelligence
Michael Howard | Pioneer | Nichefire | CEO
Morgan James | Pioneer | PSB Insights | Senior Director, Social Intelligence Research
Nayeli Tusche | Pioneer | Spiegel Institut Mannheim | Senior Director
Patrick Charlton | Pioneer | BuzzRadar | Director & Co-Founder
Paul Quigley | Pioneer | NewsWhip | CEO & Co-Founder
Paula Irigaray | Pioneer | Capture Intelligence | Research & Insights Director
Pierre-Carl Langlais | Pioneer | Opsci | Head of Research
Sam Coates | Pioneer | Ogilvy | Head of Social Intelligence
Tanmay Saraykar | Pioneer | IQVIA | Director - Offerings Management, Social Media Intelligence
Tsvetta Kaleynska | Pioneer | Rila Global Consulting | Consultant
Veronica Ferrari | Pioneer | InsightX Ltd | Head of Insight
Jane Quigley | Pioneer | Converseon | Chief Client Officer

About The Social Intelligence Lab:

The Social Intelligence Lab is a global membership organisation for professionals leading social listening teams in the world's leading brands and agencies. We help organisations get better insights from social data by building a professional discipline for social intelligence and providing support and a community for the professionals leading the development of social listening programs (website: https://thesilab.com/). 

About Social Intelligence Insider 50:

The Social Intelligence Lab is tracking the rise of professionals analysing and using social data to support business decision-making. The Social Intelligence Insider 50 is the first curated list of social listening professionals globally. In 2023, the social intelligence insider 50 list was sponsored by Linkfluence (website: https://thesilab.com/the-social-intelligence-insider-50/) 

About Linkfluence:

Linkfluence combines an AI-Enabled Consumer Intelligence platform with human expertise in market research, data science, and vertical industries to deliver actionable insights for global brands. Founded in 2006, we were acquired by Meltwater in 2021, a leading global provider of media intelligence and social analytics solutions with a global network of 50 offices in 25 countries and 28,000 customers (website: https://www.linkfluence.com/).