J. Walker Smith

Knowledge Lead

Kantar

J. Walker Smith is the Knowledge Lead for the global consulting and strategy practices of Kantar. Walker has been described by Fortune magazine as “one of America’s leading analysts on consumer trends,” and he consults with clients globally about trends, futures, marketing, growth and business strategy. He is the co-author of four highly regarded books, including Rocking the Ages (1997), a book about generations that is now regarded as one of the standards in the field and included in the Cracking the Millionaire Code list of the top 101 marketing books, and Life Is Not Work, Work is Not Life (2001), selected by The Wall Street Journal as one of the ten best work-life books of 2001.

He is a much sought-after speaker, a blogger, a former columnist for Marketing Management and Marketing News for nearly twenty years, and a former weekly radio commentator for almost ten years on Smart City (a public radio show about cities and community life). Walker is a 2021 inductee into the Hall of Fame of the Market Research Council, an invitation-only organization of senior industry professionals founded in 1927, and the 2020 recipient of the Charles Coolidge Parlin Award, the oldest and most prestigious award for lifetime contributions to the field of market research that is presented annually by the American Marketing Association. His presentation at TEDxPeachtree 2012 led off the program.

He is a 2012 inductee into the N.C. Media and Journalism Hall of Fame. In 2014 and 2015, he won the WPP Atticus Award for thought-leadership in Strategy and in 2013 for Consumer Insights. He was a featured expert interviewed by Tom Brokaw for a segment in the 2010 CNBC special, BOOMER$, as well as one of the authorities narrating the “Generation Boom” bonus content included with the Season 7, Part 2 “Mad Men” DVD. Walker holds a doctorate in Mass Communication from the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.