Kendra Speed
Principal KNS Consulting, LLCA marketing and strategy leader, Kendra Speed is an expert in guiding executive teams toward
disruptive innovation. She holds an MBA from Purdue University and is also certified as a Project
Management Professional and Design Thinking professional.
Kendra has partnered with corporations such as BET and P&G to deliver ground-breaking insights that
sparked the Black Men Love campaign. She also envisioned and delivered the foundational insight in
partnership with Unilever that undergird the national CROWN Act.
Kendra has led innovation processes that have ignited over $1 Billion in product and marketing
pipelines for consumer and business brands including Dropbox, Toyota Energy Efficient Platform, and
Olay (face, hand, and body).
In 2016, Kendra led the way with the real estate industry’s first ever psychographic segmentation
actionable to the block group level. This capability produced the foundational insight leading to
the formation of Charlotte based home builder- Fielding Homes and rebranding of national
multi-family developer- Novel.
Kendra has been featured in top publications, including Ebony, and was recognized as South Carolina
State University’s 2017 Distinguished Young Alumna.
Kendra is currently Director of Insights and Integrated Intelligence for Food and Beverage at JM
Smucker (including brands such as Smucker, Jif, Uncrustables, Folgers) and is distinguished as 1 of
5 Black Directors/executive leaders at the company.
