February 2019 marks David Kennedy’s 13th year with Corona. During those 13 years, he has climbed up from quantitative analyst to principal. He also has gone from a local employee to a remote employee to a local employee to a remote employee to (currently) a local employee. But, thanks to his great attention to detail, all of these transitions have been seamless.

David Kennedy, Principal

While pursuing his business degree as an undergrad, David became very interested in market research and ended up focusing on market research and statistics courses. While completing some graduate courses at CSU, he saw an ad for the job at Corona and applied. Like many of us at Corona, David enjoys not just the research aspect of the work but also the variety of our projects. The variety of projects makes the work challenging and engaging, which he enjoys.

At Corona

Although David started as a quantitative analyst, these days his main specialties at Corona are the management of large and complex projects, brand-related research projects (e.g., customer satisfaction, prospective customer research, brand perception research), and membership association projects. In addition to client work, he also manages Corona’s brand and marketing. If you like the look of our website or our reports, then you like his work! Not only do we at Corona benefit from his interest in the company brand, but David also says that his work with the brand has increased his commitment to the company. In 2009, he helped oversee the rebranding of Corona, which won two awards (the 2010 Colorado American Marketing Association Silver Peak Award and the 2010 Business Marketing Association Silver Award).

David also feels very proud of Corona for the work that the company has done to support our employees. In 2008–2009, the company did an organizational design challenge that changed how we think about our benefits and employees’ work–life balance. Since then, Corona has continued to focus on supporting employees by adding additional company holidays, allowing employees to work remotely, and encouraging professional development. David is proud of all these changes.

Having completed more than 110 projects as a project manager, David’s favorite projects are those where he feels like the client really benefitted from the work. These tend to be projects with some of his repeat clients. Additionally, he really enjoys projects that expose him to a wide variety of topics, like the State of Cities and Towns project for CML, projects that he has a personal connection to, like those for Donor Alliance, and projects that touch on a personal interest, like projects with Denver International Airport.

Outside of Work

Outside of work, David has a wide variety of hobbies. From hiking to backpacking to climbing to skiing, he really loves escaping to the outdoors. A love of the outdoors is also what led to his interest in photography. His photography has expanded from a little hobby to a significant one with an Instagram account, a website, a University of Denver course that he is teaching, and even some exhibits. He also loves to travel and has completed 12 trips in 2018 alone, from weekend getaways to three international trips.


David and one of his trusty cameras.

His love of research and spreadsheets is not limited to his work life either. He has impressed many of us with the extensive spreadsheets that he uses to track travel award points or skiing costs to split with his fellow skiers. And several of us have made a decision or purchase informed by David’s research, whether it was an espresso machine, a travel destination, or an outdoor gear purchase.

Charitable Organization

David selected Colorado Fourteeners Initiative as his recipient of Corona’s $500 donation.

David started volunteering with them back in 2006, close to when he started working at Corona. At the time, he didn’t have much money to donate, but he really wanted to give back to an organization that focused on the outdoors. Since finding Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, he has volunteered on trail work projects for them and has just recently joined their board.

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Throughout 2019, to help celebrate our 20th Anniversary, we are profiling our staff and select clients. Corona is also donating $500 on behalf of each staff person to a charitable organization of their choice. Click here to view all of our interviews. 

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