# Michele Salomon

> Michele Salomon is an Allentown-based market researcher, founder of M&A Consulting and adjunct instructor whose career has moved among public-opinion research, consumer insights, nonprofit work and teaching. A former vice president at The Harris Poll, she is known publicly for turning survey design into practical decisions, presenting research on modern opinion leadership, and explaining why a useful report should reveal its story early.

- **Role:** Founder, M&A Consulting
- **Organizations:** M&A Consulting, The Harris Poll, Harris Interactive, Nielsen, Big Sofa Technologies, Temple University Fox School of Business, Sunrise Toastmasters Lehigh Valley
- **Education:** Juris Doctor, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, Graduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education, Temple University College of Education
- **Known for:** Co-authored peer-reviewed research on measuring charitable giving and volunteering using multiple waves of the Harris Interactive Donor Pulse., Co-developed and presented a 2024 AAPOR framework for updating the definition of opinion leadership in a digital environment., Served two terms as president of Sunrise Toastmasters Lehigh Valley; the club earned President's Distinguished recognition in both terms.

## Career timeline

- **2010** — Worked as a Senior Research Director at Harris Interactive and co-authored research comparing methods used to estimate charitable giving and volunteering.
- **2013** — Joined Sunrise Toastmasters Lehigh Valley, beginning a seven-year period that included board service and two terms as club president.
- **2016** — Presented Nielsen research at the AAPOR annual conference on approaches to measuring perceived stress.
- **2019** — Appeared at Temple's marketing speaker series as Big Sofa Technologies' Vice President of Consumer Insights, speaking about video in research.
- **2020** — Completed Temple University's graduate certificate in Teaching in Higher Education.
- **2021** — Was publicly described as Managing Partner at M&A Consulting and an adjunct instructor teaching marketing research and consumer buyer behavior at Temple.
- **2023** — Moderated an AAPOR conference session on attitudes, methods and measures while affiliated with Harris Insights and Analytics.
- **2024** — As a vice president at The Harris Poll, co-presented research on modern opinion leadership at AAPOR and consumer research on technology-enabled retail experiences at P2PI Live.
- **2026** — Publicly focused her work and writing on independent research consulting, thought-leadership studies and the practical meaning of consultative research.

## Achievements

- Co-authored peer-reviewed research on measuring charitable giving and volunteering using multiple waves of the Harris Interactive Donor Pulse.
- Co-developed and presented a 2024 AAPOR framework for updating the definition of opinion leadership in a digital environment.
- Served two terms as president of Sunrise Toastmasters Lehigh Valley; the club earned President's Distinguished recognition in both terms.
- Taught marketing research and consumer buyer behavior to undergraduate and graduate students at Temple University's Fox School of Business.
- Presented national consumer research on retail technology and AI at P2PI Live in 2024.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Shared a framework distinguishing public-opinion, public-relations and public-affairs research, emphasizing that the intended use changes study design and deliverables.
- **2026-08** — Published practical reflections on what consultative behavior means in market research and why researchers should design with the final decision in mind.
- **2026-08** — Highlighted the role of the human experience in research after attending an American Marketing Association of Central Pennsylvania conference.
- **2025-11** — Explained the common building blocks shared by social-science, market and user research.
- **2025-09** — Outlined her walk-and-index-card method for distilling long research reports into a useful executive summary.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michele-salomon

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/michele-salomon
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-27