Kaia Kegley

About Kaia Kegley

For the past 17+ years, I have synthesized consumer behavior and marketplace insights for General Mills, a leading global food manufacturer and marketer with over $18B in global sales.My intrapreneurial spirit shines brightest when I am driving transformative growth, disrupting the status quo, and solving multifaceted and nuanced problems.Throughout my career, I have skillfully woven compelling insights, strategic advantages, and unique perspectives into persuasive stories that humanize data, elevate competitive advantages, and drive conviction to act. My steadfast determination to understand underlying assumptions, coupled with my ability to tap into diverse viewpoints and areas of expertise enable cutting-edge solutions that outpace the competition. I am best known for my ability to expertly consult brand, innovation, and business teams by leveraging insights to provide clarity, build powerful brands, create long-lasting innovation, and bolster business performance. As an inclusive leader, I approach intimidating objectives with a collaborative spirit and pragmatic edge. I have been fortunate to lead many talented teams, and I have always taken pride in challenging those I lead (and those I work alongside) to overcome preconceived beliefs and shape new, more fruitful futures.My Areas of Expertise Include:Segmentation | Consumer Insights | Market Intelligence | Foresights | Trend Analysis | Growth Drivers

Experience

1. Senior Manager, Foresight and Predictive Analytics

   General Mills

   May 2018 — Present · Minneapolis, MN, US

   As Senior Manager of Foresight and Predictive Analytics, I lead General Mill’s first-ever foresights team, marrying foresight capability, analytic modeling, and business activation. Throughout my tenure in this role, I have doubled the size of my team and have taken pride in mentoring emerging leaders so that I can lead through others.In this role, I created and developed the organization’s foresights and predictive analytics capabilities, while translating societal and marketplace signals and trends into transformation initiatives. Amidst the global pandemic, I directed General Mills’ COVID Consumer Control Tower responsible for cross-functional leadership review of business impact, consumer and marketplace response, and recommended brand actions. This work was highly regarded for providing senior leadership the insights and guidance they needed to navigate through uncertainty. Select Achievements Have Included: Steering an initiative to re-invent the future of Consumer Insights through an anticipatory and data-based lens Influencing M&A decisions by delivering an in-depth analysis of behavioral data, competitive intelligence, and marketplace metrics Creating and rolling out a Future of Food framework that has influenced portfolio, brand equity, and innovation strategies Establishing and deploying a proprietary enterprise-wide Strategic Foresight process, resulting in future-forward opportunity maps across macro needs and five strategic growth imperatives Identifying $5B+ of enterprise growth opportunity by modeling future growth potential·

Education

• University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

  Bachelor of Science (BS), Marketing, Spanish, International Business

  1990 — 1995

Skills

• Shopper Marketing
• Market Research
• Quantitative Research
• Marketing Research
• Competitive Analysis
• Marketing Strategy
• Segmentation
• Consumer Insight
• Analytics
• Brand Equity
• Focus Groups
• Customer Insight
• Consumer Products
• Advertising Research
• Consumer Behaviour
• Fmcg