Brian Kupersmit
Brian Kupersmit is the Owner of Collective Wisdom LLC, which delivers skilled facilitation to help clients drive growth and breakthrough thinking.
Collective Wisdom focuses on creating action oriented plans that are more effective because they are generated with the alignment of the team. Expertise areas include: Strategy Workshops; Ideation and Brainstorming Sessions; Mission, Vision & Purpose Workshops; Team Training and Development; Process Improvement Sessions; Change Management Programs. Clients include Starbucks, Hilton Worldwide, CareerBuilder, Mars, PepsiCo, and the University of Chicago. Prior to starting Collective Wisdom, Brian worked at Mars/Wrigley in a variety of global marketing, strategy, and innovation roles. During his 8 years there, Brian launched new candy brands in Russia and Australia and a new line of Wellness Gum in Western Europe. He also served as the Strategy lead for the $800MM Confections business driving record growth and profitability. Subsequently, Brian led the Confections Innovation team, responsible for the launch of numerous successful new products, including Starburst Unwrapped Minis. In his final role at Mars/Wrigley, Brian was appointed Innovation Director for Gum, Strategic Growth Customers, and Productivity where he led the launch of a major initiative to restore category growth. Prior to his eight years at Mars/Wrigley, Brian worked for four years in brand management at Kraft and Sara Lee across such categories as Lunch Meat, Coffee, Salty Snacks, and Confections. Brian also spent three years in investment banking with Bank One and Wachovia Securities, where he specialized in syndicated loans and tax-exempt financing. Brian holds a MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a BA in Economics and French from Duke University.