Brianna, founder and President of Sylver Consulting, focuses on helping clients identify, create and execute on their visions for growth. An innovation strategist and worldwide speaker, educator, and facilitator of innovation process, Brianna has a reputation in the industry as an “innovation leader within the innovation movement.”
Brianna has a unique ability to see and cut through the clutter of indecision, misstep and confusion that accompanies complex growth initiatives. She brings purpose-driven focus to every problem, thereby eliminating unnecessary steps and inefficiencies and creating a clear pathway forward for achieving swift and measurable impact against critical business goals.
Brianna founded Sylver Consulting in 2003 as a sole proprietor and has since grown the company to an international organization with 9 full-time employees and partnership affiliations with dozens of industry specialists across the globe.
In addition to leading client initiatives, Brianna is a sought-after thought leader, speaker, teacher, educator, coach and facilitator with a national reputation for excellence in Innovation, and in integrating the fields of Market Research, Design and Strategy. She has been publicly recognized for her contributions by such organizations as Product Development & Management Association (PDMA), HSM Management (Brazil) and the Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA). She has spoken widely at conferences, led company-wide strategy sessions, serves on the Board of Overseers at the IIT Institute of Design and was selected as a City Coach to the annual Bloomberg Philanthropies' Mayors Challenge - an initiative that fosters government innovation.
Brianna holds a BFA in communication design from the University of Buffalo and a master's degree in human-centered communication design and design strategy (MDES) from the Institute of Design at IIT.
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Adriano, Vice President of Operations, oversees responsibility for human resources, accounting, vendor relationships, and the office’s physical and digital infrastructure. He has a knack for anticipating the needs of the organization, projects, clients, and employees, ensuring that everything runs smoothly. This holistic view of the business helps Adriano find opportunities and, together with Brianna Sylver, define actionable growth strategies for the company.
Adriano is always looking for ways to improve the business of Sylver, which in turn, translates into improved outcomes, benefits and services for our clients. His journey through the process of business innovation is marked by his attention to details, his due diligence as a way to reach informed decision-making and his excellent negotiation skills. Adriano leaves no stone unturned in his search for “better” and is constantly challenging the Sylver team to reach higher.
Outside of the office, Adriano is an author, speaker and adjunct faculty instructor who teaches User-Centered Design courses at Northwestern University (for the school’s Master of Science in Information Design & Strategy program), and at CEDIM (for the school’s Certificate of Innovation and Design Thinking program.) Adriano is passionate about using design-based principles to drive business decisions and superior results. He is especially known for his work linking the outcomes of consumer research to the New Product Development process and for developing a unique methodology (called Function-Task Analysis) that enables this approach. This work, published in a book titled "Design Relationships: Linking Technical Functions to Users' Tasks,” has received a distinguished award from the ASME-DTM engineering community.
Adriano holds a PhD and a master's degree (MDES) in human-centered design and design methods from the Institute of Design at IIT, and a BA in design and mechanical engineering from the University of Brasilia in Brazil.
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An anthropologist with extensive business knowledge, Peter is a project lead experienced in qualitative market and organizational research, design/facilitation of workshops and ideation retreats, and consultation on intercultural and corporate culture issues. His background includes working as Vice President at Research International/TNS and at Beall Research, Inc. He has conducted market research, organizational research, and consulting projects for nearly 25 years on four continents.
Building on the concept of culture, Peter believes that growth arises in the synthesis of action, perception, and most importantly, imagination. In ideations for corporations such as Humana, Citigroup, and Philip Morris, he designed activities around unexpected metaphors to help people see research findings in new ways as well as imagine new product and service possibilities. Peter has combined deep research insights with organizational activation for dozens of global corporate clients. He also published academic research on imagination and strategy as a Research Fellow at the Imagination Lab Foundation in Switzerland.
Peter excavated pre-Incan tombs in Perú as part of his PhD research in Anthropology at the University of Chicago. In addition to his native English, he speaks Spanish, French, German, and Swiss-German dialect, but he will eat in any language. If Peter had a tattoo, it would be: “小籠包,” the traditional Chinese characters for “soup dumpling.”
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Matt is a research consultant and longtime collaborator of the Sylver team, specializing in both advanced statistics and qualitative interviews — yes, really! He has 20+ years of experience working in academic and multiple industry settings, with both qualitative and quantitative expertise across the full research process.
Matt’s origin story involves a radioactive spider, a decade spent in an academic career, and the opportunity to work on an incredibly diverse range of projects in various consulting roles. He has an uncanny ability to uncover the big picture in any messy pile of data, whether that pile comprises interview notes or rows in a spreadsheet. Matt is a research nerd with practical tendencies: He believes that the fun part of research is in approaching a new problem, determining the best approach, and translating findings back into actionable insights.
On the rare occasions that Matt steps away from his computer, you will most likely find him in a pair of running shoes. In a previous life, Matt held faculty positions at Southwestern University, Bard College, and Arizona State University, teaching courses in social psychology and research methods. He has authored three books and over 30 academic journal articles and book chapters. Matt earned his BA in Psychology from Trinity University, and his PhD in Social Psychology and Statistics from the University of Texas at Austin.
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Robert joined Sylver in 2015 to serve as team project lead of quantitative and hybrid (qual./quant.) methodologies. Robert brings over 15 years of experience in market research and innovation. He is a subject-matter expert and passionate learner who continuously hones his skills for designing and leading quantitative and hybrid-based research to produce actionable marketing management insights.
Robert approaches all of life (personal and professional) from a ‘well-planned explorer’ mindset. At work, every project is a new opportunity to chart new territory – whether it is to improve upon what was already been done or whether it is to head in a wholly new direction. Robert’s knack is for thinking through and planning all details of the journey ahead so that, once embarked on, every activity runs smoothly and everyone involved is fully supported and empowered to enjoy, create, and bring their best to the experience.
Prior to joining Sylver, Robert held various positions of leadership at market research firms, most recently as Director of Market Research Innovation at start-up Lab42 and as Market Research Manager at Home Innovation Research Labs. He has years of experience consulting and managing research projects across a wide variety of industries and project testing modalities, including customer satisfaction/Net Promoter Score (NPS), new product and service testing, point-of-sale testing, brand perception and positioning, pricing, and advertising/media testing projects.
Robert holds an MBA with Honors from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a BA in Marketing from Michigan State University.
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Rebecca has orchestrated all manner of global research — both qual and quant — for more than 16 years. Her work is informed by her experience as a successful marketer and as a failed mechanical engineering student (damn you, extremely boring Thermodynamics and Circuits!). On a positive note, her college education exposed her to design thinking, which has stuck with her ever since. Rebecca's areas of specialty include financial services, technology, healthcare and guacamole, all of which segue nicely into the following ...
Bringing her writing and editing skills to bear, Rebecca is noted for her attention to detail, listening carefully to clients and research participants alike, and getting to the bottom of all matters cultural, linguistic and behavioral. Let's just say that she really gets into her subject matter — whether that's avocados, yogurt or meat alternatives. Literally and figuratively, she can't help but fully consume the subject matter at hand.
A real life case in point about obsession: Rebecca became enthralled with tropical islands at an early age after trips to Puerto Rico, where she visited her grandparents and Disney World's Polynesian Village, where she observed some impressive fire-twirling dancers wearing sarongs. Now, she actually lives on an island in Panamá (9°20'26.0"N 82°10'22.5"W) and often wears a sarong. (Although, she does not twirl fire for safety reasons.) Rebecca earned her bachelor's degree from Stanford University and MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. She is a formally trained moderator and member of ESOMAR, the world research organization.
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Jason is a jovial, young design researcher that seeks knowledge and understanding at every turn. He always aims to bring fresh perspectives from his background as a designer and apply creative solutions to any problem he faces. Whether he is working with coordinating with international partners or conducting qualitative studies himself, Jason approaches every project with passion and an insatiable desire to learn.
Jason strives to form deep understandings of how things, and people, function in the world around him. In his work, this is presented through his ability to dive in and learn each facet of a topic area allowing him to understand how they connect together to form the big picture. It is also evident in the strong working rapport he forms with each client he interacts with, utilizing humor and wit to form connections of mutual trust with any partnering teams.
Jason holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from the Cleveland Institute of Art in Industrial Design with a minor in Graphic Design. His prior experiences stem from roles and grant projects during his time in design school running a gamut of topics including river environmental protection, personal self-defense, Covid-PPE, kids toys, and organizational houseware products.
Outside of his work at Sylver, Jason loves exploring the city, working with tech, and keeping his creative skills sharp through graphic design and other artistic projects.
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Brady supports our quantitative research capabilities, doing everything from project design and material development to analysis and communication. He loves being able to balance deep dives into the data to see what patterns emerge with careful and targeted tests on the effects clients are the most interested in.
Brady prides himself on his ability to pay attention to the things that really matter and the things others may not notice, giving him a critical understanding of the issues at hand. It also affords him the ability to empower collaborators and stakeholders, making sure voices and perspectives that would not otherwise be heard are heard.
Brady holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Biology from Southeast Missouri State University and a Master of Science in Psychology from the Ohio State University. While at Ohio State, his work focused primarily on quantitative research investigating social psychological phenomena like identity and the self, as well as issues such as stereotyping and prejudice. His background allows him to be rigorous in his approach while still keeping real people at the center of every project.
Outside of work, Brady loves trying new recipes, reading, and collecting weird trivia facts and the stories behind them.
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Paul is a design researcher who seeks to empathize with the users’ needs in order to have a direct, measurable, and positive impact on the way organizations approach and solve strategic problems. He aims to synthesize research in a creative and innovative fashion in order to bring a valuable perspective to Sylver’s clients. Paul has always been drawn to uncovering the “why” behind human behavior and looks at each project as an opportunity to learn a little more about why people make the decisions that they do.
Paul has a natural ability to adapt to new environments and see the benefits that can come with change. He leverages this adaptability to quickly grasp the needs and experiences of a wide variety of clients and user groups, and help facilitate positive changes for both. On a more human level, Paul's adaptive nature means that he works easily and productively as part of any team.
Paul graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2021 with a B.A. in Economics and History. Prior to joining Sylver, he began his career as a market research analyst at iHeartMedia. Through his educational and professional experiences, he has developed a broad range of qualitative and quantitative research techniques that enable him to contribute effectively to a variety of design projects.
Outside of work, Paul loves to use his creative and strategic mind to write music with his bandmates and play grand strategy board games. He is also an avid reader, tennis player, and passionate about living a healthy lifestyle.
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Briel is a design researcher that has over 12 years experience in human-centered research. With a background in anthropology, she specializes in a variety of qualitative methods that include in-depth interviews, ethnography, and concept testing. She enjoys drawing on her broad range of experience to align the details of any project with its broader objectives.
While fascinated by human behavior in general, Briel is particularly interested in how others experience emotions. She excels at observation and finding the words for an otherwise unarticulated feeling. Her genuine interest in others enables her to fully adopt the perspective of users and project stakeholders throughout the research process.
Briel joined Sylver in 2024 after working as a UX Researcher with a focus on medical devices. Prior to that, she earned a PhD in anthropology from the University of Chicago where she studied rural retirement and aging.
For fun, Briel enjoys researching all the different ways to fold butter into pie dough, biscuits, and other baked goods. When the weather is nice, she is also likely to be out running or walking on the lake.
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Sabina is a Market Research Analyst & Research Recruiter with a unique blend of academic and professional experiences. With a foundation in biology and wildlife conservation, Sabina brings a diverse skill set to her role, adept in various research methodologies. Her thirst for new experiences and information fuels her analytical mindset, allowing her to generate a wide array of possibilities and make informed decisions.
Sabina’s superpower lies in her strategic thinking, allowing her to navigate through complexities with ease and identify the best route forward. This unique perspective enables her to discern patterns within chaos, envisioning alternative scenarios and preparing for future situations with precision.
Sabina graduated from the University of Vermont with a B.S. in Animal Science. She spent over 10 years working in the world of veterinary medicine and wildlife conservation before embarking on a career change within the realm of product research and project management. Transitioning seamlessly, Sabina acquired a UX/UI certificate from Northwestern University in 2023, further enriching her skill set and paving the way into market research.
Outside of her professional endeavors, Sabina is still deeply passionate about wildlife conservation and is relentlessly compassionate for animals. She is a lifelong equestrian and can often be found at the barn, indulging in her love for horses. Additionally, she enjoys traveling abroad, hiking, and embracing the great outdoors, embodying her adventurous spirit and itch for new experiences.
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Robyn hails from the land of creativity, passion and professionalism but with a dash of spice. Ever since she was six years old, Robyn had a camera in her hands. She brings extensive experience in video editing and video production to Sylver Consulting and thoroughly enjoys creating visual content for an audience. Robyn is particularly skilled in communication, empathy and organizational skills (you should see the color coordination of her social calendar)!
Robyn thrives off taking control and creating something beautiful yet exciting. Whether it’s assembling a social media campaign, producing a video, hosting a themed party with her friends or planning Sylver’s next company BBQ, she loves it all. Robyns passion for detail while brandishing the “woo” trait makes her perfect for being a leader/the girl who takes charge. The task of coordinating may be daunting to others but Robyn embraces it with full confidence and excitement.
Originally in media, Robyn graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a BA in Television with a concentration in Directing and Production in 2018. At the age of 21, the web-based talk-show she was the Executive Producer for, “The 30 with Joshua Short”, was nominated for a NATAS Midwest Student Emmy. After graduation, Robyn gained experience with an Alternative Herbal Supplement company as their Social Media Manager and Videographer while actively working as a social media/video freelancer for local Rogers Park and Chicago businesses from restaurants and wine shops to insurance agents and realtors.
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Lacey likes to emphasize the importance of leading with empathy AND analytical thinking. With an academic background in consumer behavior, this knowledge allows her to understand the psychological motivators, attitudes, and emotional appeals that influence consumer habits. She puts this skillset to work in her writing, research, and collaborative efforts with the team!
Working with non-profits, mental health providers, or multicultural organizations, Lacey values the voices of diverse perspectives. Whether it's the ideation stage for event planning, strategizing for a marketing campaign, or using motivational interviewing techniques for her friends, curiosity is what drives these conversations. Curiosity about experiences, approaches to problems, how people think, and the overall journey is what connects Lacey to her peers on a deeper level.
“Without curiosity, how would we discover? How would we innovate? How would we reach beneath the surface of human connection?”
Lacey graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.S. in Consumer Behavior and Marketplace Studies in May of 2025. The previous experiences that continuously help her as a marketer are founding AdopT., an organization for transracial adoptees, and PR work for a real estate capital markets team.
Outside of work, Lacey loves journaling, listening to R&B music and true crime podcasts, meal prepping, watching college basketball, and meeting new people!
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Matheus is a Graphic Designer whose passion for creating began at an early age. Today, he combines creativity with strategic thinking to create clear and engaging visual communication. With a background in branding and visual identity, he believes every design should reinforce a company's purpose and positioning.
At Sylver Consulting, he creates digital assets that translate the company's strategy into consistent visual experiences across social media and other brand touchpoints.
For Matheus, every meaningful project begins with discovery. He believes that behind every brand, idea, or story lies an underlying essence waiting to be understood. His natural ability is translating that essence into something people can see, understand, and connect with.
Whether through strategy, visual identity, storytelling, or communication, he enjoys bridging the gap between abstract ideas and tangible experiences. By organizing complexity into clear, coherent systems, he helps transform vision into expression and purpose into meaningful design.
To Matheus, the best creative work doesn't invent meaning—it reveals it. That belief shapes the way he approaches every project, always striving to create work that is not only visually compelling, but authentic, intentional, and enduring.
Matheus holds a degree in Graphic Design from Centro Universitário IESB and is currently pursuing an MBA in Marketing and Communication at Centro Universitário União das Américas Descomplica. Alongside his academic background, he has completed specialized training in branding, visual identity, and strategic communication, continuously expanding his expertise through professional development.
Before joining Sylver Consulting, Matheus led branding projects from discovery workshops and stakeholder interviews through brand strategy, visual identity, and communication systems. His experience spans research, collaborative facilitation, and the development of visual assets that translate business strategy into clear, consistent, and engaging brand experiences.
Outside of work, Matheus enjoys strength training, drawing, reading, and exploring philosophy, history, art, and cinema. He believes that creativity is shaped by everything we experience, and that becoming a better designer begins with becoming a more curious person.
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Reach out to set up a free discovery call. On this call, we’ll get clear on your scope of work to be tackled, how your initiative ladders to a broader business goal of your organization, and assess — without attachment — if Sylver Consulting is a “best fit partner” to support you in your scope of work.
Last year, Brianna Sylver worked as an Innovation Coach for three of the 35 Champion Cities selected by Bloomberg for the 2018 Mayor’s Challenge. These cities made such impressive strides ...
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What are the opportunities and potential obstacles for companies in a growing economy? UNESCO published Adriano Galvao’s research into this question in their report on sustainable development.
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In this LinkedIn article, Brianna shares the number one obstacle to business growth that she sees with her clients.
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Listen now to hear her talk with Zack Naylor about the differences between Market Research and User Research.
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