Valerie Kroll

In my current role as an Optimization Director at Search Discovery, I specialize in helping our clients build and scale their optimization programs. As a former market researcher, I’m passionate about infusing VoC and other qualitative sources of insight into optimization strategy. And as a true believer in Radical Candor, I embrace the tough conversations that come with the change management necessary to truly invest in a test and learn culture. From building out evidence-based hypothesis libraries, to leveraging the advanced features within the software platforms such as AI and machine learning to drive personalization, I focus on solutions and techniques that help our clients achieve meaningful and lasting business results.In my last role, I led the Digital Analytics Program for the Investment Research Division at UBS. The goal of our team was to find ways to amplify the most precious resource on the sell-side, the research analysts, by optimizing for readership and content engagement with our marketing and product teams. Our Research Analysts created over 300 pieces of content daily with a half-life of 36 hours, so despite being a financial services firm, we studied, approached, and valuated our research product more like that of a media company. As the first Investment Bank Digital Analytics team on the street, I’m proud of the impact my team had in promoting data driven decision making and changing the culture of our company. Our work helped the firm achieve first place in Institutional Investor’s ranking of the top equity research firms globally (previously ranked 6th place out of 8 in 2014).