The ICN Origin Story

Real change starts with one person taking action.

By Thanksgiving 2026, Insights Career Network is projected to reach 40,000 LinkedIn followers and nearly 5,000 lifetime members, two massive milestones for the first-year nonprofit helping Insights professionals become more independent as they traverse their careers.

The ICN is completing its fourth year as a community and remains focused on making the insights profession and our understanding of it accessible. Our content, our research, and our events are community-driven and 100% volunteer-powered. But how did we get here?

It took one person to act on one spark for the Insights Career Network to start. In October and November of 2021, Stephen Griffiths, a brand-side consumer researcher with Level2, a United Healthcare Company, observed that the existing social support network for professionals influencing the most important decisions in our economy was inadequate and out of reach for many.

The pandemic had ushered in sweeping changes in consumer research and in the broader industry supporting insights professionals. Retail-dependent industries took a hit, as did many of the traditional insights technology and services agencies. Consolidations among older independent companies were rampant, reductions in footprints were common, and so were founders deciding to retire. Several sectors were reeling from pandemic pain, and the need for support was visible and staggering. 

He was deeply affected by the many stories of colleagues who fell through the cracks or were left completely alone when their work and social lives suddenly fell apart.

Stephen had been supporting individuals and friends with the help of a couple of colleagues who brought their experience and network to help strangers get through their challenges. And they made a difference! They connected people with opportunities or at least connections in their area.

While he counseled colleagues through career trauma, he realized just how essential a professional network is, especially when the COVID hits the fan. The experience also helped him appreciate that access to this support is not equally available. Support networks should be inclusive and accessible to all. Nets don’t have walls

A volunteer-powered community could help more people find their voice and their way through career transitions, and there was clearly more than he and his friends could help directly.

Stephen decided to act. He contacted everyone he knew in his CPG research world, his University of Wisconsin Marketing & Analytics alumni, and to his friends in MRxPros, a free-access community of market research professionals at all stages of their careers, founded by Jamin Brazil and Janet Standen at the start of the pandemic.

MRxPros met weekly for 30 minutes to check in with each other as we processed the changes in the world and profession as the pandemic unfurled. They continue to meet weekly today and maintain an active Google Group.

MRx Pros was filling an important gap in the career support system with pure volunteer community support. The persistent contact and support from real people in the most empathetic of professions was invaluable as they talked people through personal and professional trauma in the immediate wake of the pandemic changes. And it was needed; the number of unemployed among their members was growing swiftly.

Five more good people stepped up to co-found the ICN: Doug Keith, independent research consultant, Jacci Weber, research practitioner with Mars Petcare, Maya Kantak, then a researcher at Disney, Justin T. Hawkins, researcher with Kimberly-Clark, and Brian Fowler, a former research practitioner and ex-research platform executive (CFMC) turned independent consultant.

Brian’s background also included 20+ years of organizing events for professionals and leading volunteer-powered chapters of the Market Research Association, American Marketing Association, and Insights Association. 

Each knew of the pain, isolation, and despair felt by people who were tossed out for one reason or another. Career transitions can be the most emotional and loneliest times in our lives when even our closest friends and family can have difficulty relating and supporting us. What we sometimes need in our support net is for no strings to be attached. 

We recognized the power of Community and how relevance in an industry, trend, or experience can amplify the value of the support you receive. Shared experiences breed open and honest discussions, which can be hard to find in a world dominated by social media, marketing, and exclusivity.  

The co-founders brought their experience, energy, and excitement to the creation of much of what you see in today’s ICN. 

By 3/22, we had rolled out our name, logo, and online presence and were promoting our first ICN meetup. The six worked in entrepreneurial tandem and madness until the end of 2023, when the team expanded.

The founders also realized the importance of providing safe places for important discussions early on and not just at our meetups. We included community leaders across the insights sector, industry, and profession, with universities, publishers, and professional organizations to guide the ICN’s volunteer leaders through new opportunities and challenges. Ten more senior executive volunteer leaders joined our advisory council, including leaders at Greenbook, Quirk’s, UW, IPSOS, and Michigan State.

As of October 30, 2026, the ICN has a volunteer team of more than 30+, a superstar Board of Directors, and eight months as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Our current member count is over 4,653, our total LinkedIn audience counts 39,152+ followers, and our biweekly meetups regularly host 80+ Seekers & Allies from all over the globe.

By the end of 2026, the ICN will have hosted more than 80 virtual events connecting and building new skills, soft and hard. We will also be well underway on a study of exactly which skills insights professionals should be developing.

If you love what we do and believe that Community can be the most powerful and capable form of support and healing, consider donating $5 or more to the ICN.

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