Directors
The ILR consultancy is managed by four individuals with extensive experience in the lottery field. Our diverse backgrounds in the social science, law and business allow ILR to craft unique, versatile research and strategies.
Michael Jones
michaelj@ilresearch.com
312.546.5925x1
Michael Jones is one of the country’s most knowledgeable authorities in legalized gaming. Mr. Jones’ involvement in the gaming industry began with his tenure as head of the Illinois State Lottery, which, under his direction, experienced one of the most widely acclaimed lottery industry success stories.
Michael Jones and Company, founded after leaving the Illinois Lottery, is involved in a number of North American and international lottery jurisdictions, works with both lotteries and lottery vendors and interacts directly with top-level lottery and government officials. Among the jurisdictions in which Mr. Jones and his staff have been involved are Missouri, West Virginia, Washington, New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Louisiana, Oregon, Colorado, Western Canada, British Columbia, Great Britain, Ukraine and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Recently Michael Jones and Company developed strategic partnerships with several major motion picture studios and music companies to create synergies between the entertainment industry and the lottery industry worldwide. Michael Jones and Company is currently working on the first Internet sale of online products in the United States.
Michael Jones is a graduate of the University of Florida and was an officer in the United States Army.
Gary Kubo
garyk@ilresearch.com
312.546.5925x2
Gary Kubo is president of the Kubo Group Ltd (KGL), a strategic marketing firm that provides brand analysis, research services and insight to Fortune 100/500 companies and government agencies both domestically and internationally. With a background in strategic planning and research in the advertising industry spanning 21 years, Gary has held senior positions in major agency groups in Chicago, including Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning and Research at Ogilvy & Mather.
Clients seek Mr. Kubo to assist in the development of branding and marketing strategic plans. The proprietary elements of his programs provide tailored solutions for clients on an on-going basis. KGL has a long standing history in the lottery business. During his 15 years in the industry, Gary has served in senior strategic positions for the Illinois, Michigan and Florida lotteries and served in an advisory position for lottery advertising agencies in Kentucky, New Jersey and Colorado. His accomplishments include development of strategic marketing plans, game evaluation, brand positioning and creative development and evaluation.
Gary Kubo is a graduate of Illinois State University. He serves on the Chicago board of Prevent Child Abuse America and is an advisor to the Chicago White Sox Training Academy.
Margaret Mueller
margaretm@ilresearch.com
312.546.5925x3
Margaret Mueller is a Director of Independent Lottery Research and a Senior Research Analyst at Leo J. Shapiro & Associates, a Chicago-based market research and behavioral consulting firm.
A sociologist by training, Margaret offers clients a unique balance of specialized advanced training in both social psychology and demography. Throughout her career, she has designed and supervised qualitative and quantitative surveys of consumer behavior and opinion, employing a wide range of research techniques for clients representing nearly every industry. She has developed expertise in both consumer attitudes and behavior, as well as advanced research methods and statistics.
Dr. Mueller has received numerous academic awards and grants, served as associate editor for a peer-reviewed journal and taught advanced courses on sociological research methods. She has also served as an expert consumer research consultant on a number of legal matters. Her academic published work includes two segmentation studies of grandparents. She has also written a research paper involving a segmentation of “Elder” consumers. Margaret has been in charge of ILR ‘s national lottery polling for the last year and is also the author of several recent columns in the NASPL Lottery Insights magazine. She was the project head of a successful research project involving online games in another lottery state.
Margaret Mueller received a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2002, an MA degree in Social Science from the University of Chicago, and a BS in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Matthew Smith
matthews@ilresearch.com
312.546.5925x4
Matthew Smith is president of Leo J. Shapiro and Associates, a research firm in service to decision-makers across the three key economic sectors– business, government, and nonprofit. Mr. Smith specializes in branding and communications research and was instrumental in the development of the Ameritest® diagnostic system for advertising and marketing communications.
Over the years, Matthew has conducted thousands of behavioral research studies for his clients. His list of clients represent almost every group and institution that has important relationships with the public, including manufacturers and other industrial organizations, invention and engineering groups, retailers, multi-channel marketers, publications, television and radio broadcasters, advertising agencies, financial institutions, trial lawyers, health care organizations, federal, state and local government offices, philanthropies, professional and trade associations.
Matthew Smith majored in History of Architecture and Art at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is Chairman of the Chicago Council on Urban Affairs, where he has secured several large-scale grants from the MacArthur Foundation to study the impacts of juvenile crime and justice in the City of Chicago.
Email: matthews@ilresearch.com
Phone: 312.546-5925 x4