J. Walker Smith is the Knowledge Lead with Kantar. Walker has been described by Fortune as “one of America’s leading analysts on consumer trends.” He is co-author of four highly regarded books, a blogger, a MediaPost columnist, a former podcast co-host and a former public radio commentator. Walker’s insights and ideas appear frequently in news stories, podcasts and webinars. He has been recognized by his peers as an inductee into the Market Research Council Hall of Fame and as the recipient of the American Marketing Association’s Charles Coolidge Parlin Award for outstanding contributions to marketing. He is a three-time winner of the WPP Atticus Award for thought-leadership and an inductee into the N.C. Journalism and Media Hall of Fame. Walker is a former director of Premiere Global Services (NYSE until 2015 sale to Sirius Capital) and a past president of the Foundation Board of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, from which he holds a doctorate in Mass Communication.