Teresa Sinopoli, Vice President, Product Management at Environics Analytics

Claus Rinner: Good morning, Teresa. You are working for a company that offers marketing and analytics services focused on location. How important is Geography to the continued success of Environics Analytics?

Teresa Sinopoli: Geography is essential to our business. Our company is built on the study of Geodemography. Geodemography is a branch of market research that assigns the attributes of small areas–usually neighbourhoods–to the consumers who live within them and, based on this assignment, divides the consumer marketplace into meaningful segments that are locatable and reachable. The discipline leverages spatial and mathematical patterns in how people live and shop to help marketers make inferences about consumer behaviour. Although the marketplace has changed somewhat in the last decade with the new digital world–geography still plays a key role and we continually develop more sophisticated ways to use it.

CR: How much of your work as Vice President of Product Management is still grounded in your education as a Ryerson Geographer?

TS: I’ve worked in many departments at Environics Analytics, from Standard Research to Client Services & Training, to Product Management, and my education as a Geographer played a role in each position I’ve held. There isn’t a day that goes by where I’m not using my education as a Ryerson Geographer, its helped me manage our product lines and services lifecycles, guides the development of new products, and more recently helped with the development of our analytics platform, ENVISION.

CR: After completing your BAA in Applied Geography in 1996, you started working for a company called Compusearch. Can you tell me a little bit more about that time?

TS: Joining Compusearch was the best decision I’ve made. I was about to graduate and I worked part time at the Centre for the Study for Commercial Activity, when I found the job posting for Compusearch. Many of my fellow geographers were disappointed at the fact that the ‘pay’ was substantially less than other companies, so few students applied for the position. I will never forget Dr. Ken Jones telling me that this is the place you want to work at if you’re a Geographer. I jumped at the chance to hone my Geography degree and was hired. This is where I met Jan Kestle, who later founded Environics Analytics, and I’ve been working with her and so many of my fellow colleagues for the last 20 years.

CR: Teresa, thank you for your time and for helping us illustrate the key role of Geography in contemporary marketing!