MEET OUR PRINCIPALS
TOD JOHNSON
Managing Director
Tod Johnson is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Duo Partners, a New York based investment and consulting firm.
Tod was the Executive Chairman of The NPD Group through July 31, 2022, a company he led since 1971. As of August 1, he became the chair of the board and a consultant to a combined NPD/IRI merger, a $2.3B marketing information company.
Considered an innovator in his field for more than 50 years, Tod has led many industry initiatives with POS data, consumer data, online data collection, etc. and is the lead patentee on the methods patent for in-home scanning. His research expertise is in the areas of brand loyalty and brand equity.
He has been a chairman, vice chairman, secretary, and director of the Advertising Research Foundation and was a Founding Chairman and Director of the Council for Marketing and Opinion Research. He was elected to the Market Research Council Hall of Fame in 2011.
He is also President and Chief Executive Officer of the board of The Metropolitan Opera, a member of the board of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and chairman of the board of CivicScience, a Pittsburgh based new survey technology firm. He was CEO and founder of Media Metrix from 1995 to 2001 and is a past member of the JPMorgan Chase Regional Advisory Board. He is a former vice chair of the Carnegie Mellon University Board of Trustees, his alma mater, where he has been the longest serving trustee for the university and was the second recipient of the university’s Founder Medal.
Tod received undergraduate and graduate business degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, where he also taught in the business school for a brief time.
KARYN SCHOENBART
Managing Director
Karyn Schoenbart is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Duo Partners, a New York based investment and consulting firm.
Previously Karyn was the Chief Executive Officer of The NPD Group, one of the largest global providers of information and advisory services. Under Karyn’s leadership, NPD was named one of the Best Companies to Work For in New York State, earning a reputation as one of the most respected firms in its industry. Karyn played an integral role in the successful August 2022 merger of NPD and IRI, to create Circana, a $2.3B global technology, analytics and data provider.
Passionate about coaching others to greater levels of achievement, Karyn wrote Mom.B.A: Essential Business Advice from One Generation to the Next as a practical guide on everything from effective first impressions and workplace politics to relationship development, skill-building, and achieving balance between work and family. The book is based on the real-life business lessons Karyn amassed during her career.
Karyn has received numerous awards recognizing her outstanding impact as a female business leader including the Accessory Council’s HERO Award, Long Island Brava Award, and the Legacy Award from Women in Consumer Technology. She was also named one of the Top 25 Most Influential Women of the Mid-Market by the CEO Connection four years consecutively and is an inductee of the Long Island Business Hall of Fame.
Karyn currently serves on the Board of Directors of Arpalus, Circana, CivicScience, Revuze and Stylitics as well as a Board Observer to QualSights. Karyn also serves on the Advisory Boards for these worthy non-profit organizations: The Resolution Project, an organization that develops socially responsible young leaders; The Authors Guild Foundation, which educates, supports, and protects American writers, and Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW), an international organization that informs and connects people in the beauty industry to create and build in bold new ways. Additionally, Karyn is a Strategic Advisor to Charm.io, ViralMoment and Wiser Solutions.
Karyn is a highly sought-after moderator, panelist, and keynote speaker – a platform which allows her to drive one of her life passions, elevating women across all career levels. She also has curated workshops on a variety of topics to help employers invest in and grow their employees including developing client relationships, dealing with difficult situations and overcoming the impostor syndrome.