| Northwestern University, Bachelors of Science | 2007 |
| Organizational Communication Studies |
Zak is the CEO & Co-Founder of digthevibe and has over four years of startup experience working with developers and researchers to deliver actionable customer insights. He is responsible for digthevibe’s design, user experience, business model and overall vision.
Over the past year Zak worked closely with Charlene Li, Brian Solis and Jeremiah Owyang at Altimeter Group to support their research into the impact disruptive technology has on leadership and business strategy. He joined Altimeter Group after spending three years with Interpret LLC where he was the Senior Analyst in the New Media Group leading custom digital media, advertising and business strategy research for top web and entertainment companies including Microsoft, Yahoo!, Hulu, Universal Music Group, Warner Bros, Fox, Sony, Samsung, Redbox, Electronic Arts and Activision.
Zak’s research has been featured in major publications including the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Business Insider, Washington Post, Variety Magazine, Fast Company and online sources such as the All Things Digital, MediaPost and paidContent. His interviews on social media have been published in the Los Angeles Times, Technorati, Norton Cybercrime News and cvent. Zak was also recognized in July, 2010 as the 130th Most Influential Analyst on Twitter by Johnny Bentwood of Edelman Analyst Relations for Twitter account, @Zak_Kirchner.
Prior to his career in research, Zak developed highly accurate PHP-based sentiment analysis products for the Behavioral Analytics group at eLoyalty Corporation that identified personality styles and distress on phone calls made to customer service centers.
He received a Bachelor of Science from Northwestern University where he majored in Organizational Communication and minored in Psychology.
