Brian J. DiVita | PRESIDENT
Professor DiVita has been a practitioner in the field of management consulting for the past 30-years, specializing in research, analytics and business strategy. Having served in operational, analytical, managerial and executive roles, DiVita worked in a Fortune 500 capacity for more than a decade, before transitioning to an international consulting role servicing multiple industries throughout North America, Asia & Europe.
Serving as President of the West Michigan Research Institute since 2007, DiVita also balances his time as an academic, serving as a tenured professor in the School of Business and Graduate School of Management at Aquinas College. Prior to this, DiVita held multiple executive roles over the years, including Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Analytics; Sr. Vice President of Strategic Research at HDI Consulting; Vice President of Client Services at Decision Insight; Corporate Manager of Marketing Research & Analytics at Spartan Stores, Inc.; Marketing Research Supervisor at Miller Brewing Company; and Global Marketing Research Associate at Amway Corporation. Aside from this, he has also held chair, director, dean and international liaison titles during his academic service.
As a nationally known authority in the field of strategy and research, his background in marketing science includes authoring hundreds of quantitative and qualitative studies for some of the world's largest brands, including American Seating, Amway, Bissell, BMW, Coles, General Motors, Gordon Food Service, Hallmark, Jaguar, McKinsey & Company, Michelin, Miller Brewing Co., Motorola, Mercedes-Benz, Pizza Hut, SpartanNash, Steelcase, Taco Bell, Unilever and Zondervan, to name a few.
In addition to his Fortune 500 experience, he has also consulted with dozens of small businesses and not-for-profit organizations, including K-12 schools, public & private universities, hospitals and national associations; as well as local, state & federal governments, including the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, United States Secret Service, and the State of Texas, to name a few.
DiVita’s academic credentials include:
- Master of Science in Communication with a concentration in marketing communications research from Grand Valley State University (MS)
- Master of Management with a concentration in Marketing Management from Aquinas College (MM)
- Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a minor in Marketing from Aquinas College (BSBA)
- Post-graduate certification from the School of Marketing Research at the University of Notre Dame (SMR)
- Insights Professional Certification from the Insights Association (IPC)
- Expert-level Professional Research Certification from the Marketing Research Association (PRC)