Walter Eduardo Meneses

Mr. Meneses founded Meneses Research & Associates (MR&A) in January 1995 and Meneses Consulting in 2018 and brings over 30 years experience to his clients providing full service qualitative and quantitative research.  Mr. Meneses specializes in the Hispanic/Latino market in the United States and Latin America.  He has conducted fieldwork in Latin America since 1975 and has spent the last twenty-five years headquartered in the U.S. giving him critical insights into sensitive differences in cultures and social classes of the Latin American consumer, living in the U.S., and abroad.

As a Hispanic Focus Group moderator, he has conducted over 1,000 focus groups and has experience in dealing with Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central and South American populations, and has supervised hundreds of thousands of personal interviews.  Target groups have ranged across all socio-economic segments. 

Mr. Meneses has developed a Level of Acculturation model to identify the level of acculturation of the Hispanic/Latino population in the United States.  During the development of this model, thousands of people were interviewed to identify cultural differences among Hispanic/Latinos and the various sub-groups which comprise the Hispanic/Latino.  These cultural differences and similarities were identified to understand consumer behavior and social behavior.  He has prepared numerous consumer psycho-graphic profiles defining interests, activities and opinions as well as demographic, socio-graphic and behavioral profiles of various subgroups within the Hispanic/Latino market for a variety of applications.

Mr. Meneses holds several annual seminars on the Hispanic/Latino consumer and is a highly regarded speaker on this subject.

Publications

Published "Financial Education & Personal Development" 2019,  "How to Effectively Reach the Hispanic Consumer" 2011.  Publisher of a yearly “Ask Hispanics” Reports-2001 to 2008, “Ask U.S. Hispanics” Report 2004, “Ask Tijuana” Report-2002, “Ask Hispanic Teens” Report 2003

Expert Witness

Mr. Meneses’ experience qualified him as an Expert Witness in several legal cases (CASE No. 03C-4230) and (BC 376889) in January 2009, and (CIV CASE NO. 02-CIV-4890) in February 2003.   He provided his professional consulting and expert testimony services on consumer behavior of Hispanic/Latinos in the U.S and the cultural implications in dealing with this consumer segment.   He also provided testimony as an Expert Witness, case # 2002-036939, in San Francisco, December 2003 for an Employment Discrimination Case.

Meneses Research & Associates and Meneses Consulting

As President of MR&A and MC, Mr. Meneses is renowned for maintaining the highest levels of quality by applying American standards to each and every project, both nationally and internationally. MR&A is a full-service marketing research firm and services include qualitative and quantitative research from study design, implementation, and execution through complete analysis.  This includes full report preparation to client specifications and requirements to appropriately address the specific research need.  Mr. Meneses provides bilingual focus group moderation, dyads, or one on one interviews as per specifications.  Also provides secondary research as necessary.

Mr. Meneses works effectively with client company internal staff and external vendor partners including other research firms, facilities, advertising agencies, and government agencies, both nationally and internationally. 

MR&A has relationships with research associates in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala and Costa Rica.

 

Work Experience

Prior to founding MR&A, Mr. Meneses joined MDI as a Director of Operations, conducting studies in the U.S., and Latin America.  Prior to MDI, Mr. Meneses was employed at NFO Research as Sr. Operation Manager in 1990, managing the Hispanic Research Center located in San Diego, California.  Provided marketing guidance to over 50 account executives nationwide on proposal development, methodology selection, and input on cultural implications on final reports and presentations of findings. 

At the Hispanic Research Center facility, he managed 85 people in the /40 CATI stations which included office manager, supervisors, team leaders.  One of the primary objectives achieved at the Hispanic Research Center was the compilation of an Index of Acculturation/Assimilation among the Hispanic population in the U.S.

Prior to NFO Research, Mr. Meneses was an Executive Vice-President for Analysis Research Limited, a marketing research firm conducting studies since 1988.  From 1978 to 1988, Mr. Meneses was involved as a Regional Manager, in charge of sales and promotions of financial services, insurance, and financial planning for the largest fraternal organization in the world, The Independent Order of Foresters.

 

Mr. Meneses began his marketing research career in 1975 at Alegre & Asociados, International Corporation, located in Lima, Peru, with operations in several South American countries as Director of Operations, Sales, and Promotions.

 

Education

As further enhancement to the Bachelor degree he earned in Business Administration from the University Inca Garcilazo de la Vega of Lima, Peru, in 1975, Mr. Meneses pursued Post Graduate studies in Marketing Research, Consumer Psychology, Public Relations and Investments at the University of Lima, Escuela Superior de Administracion de Negocios of Lima (ESAN), Peru and the University of Reno, Nevada. Mr. Meneses has participated in seminars as a speaker and on panels, both nationally and internationally, on subjects related to the Hispanic population and the cultural similarities and differences between Americans and Hispanic/Latinos. 

 

Associations

Mr. Meneses is an active member of the following associations and boards:

• Marketing Research Association, Inc.

• The American Marketing Association

• San Diego Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

• Qualitative Research Consulting Association

• Ad Club of San Diego Advisory Board Member

• Board Member at the University of San Diego for the Hispanic Family Business Council

• San Diego Consulate of Peru.