Our Mission
Relations Research exists to help individuals, business leaders and organizations enjoy more relationship successes and fewer relations failures, headaches and disappointments.
Every worthy endeavor in lives, communities and businesses is accomplished through relationships. Business strategies succeed or fail based on the strength of their relational underpinnings.
We are a professional services firm that's establishing a new paradigm of relations professionalism. We're committed to your strategies and transformations succeeding.
Our Story
Our story began many years ago with a team determined to fundamentally improve workplaces and relations within. This innovation initiative lead to the development and maturation of an applied science and tools for diagnosing, designing, forming, managing and improving any crucial business relationship.
Relations Research’s work resides upon a foundation of substantive research and development, and has been battle-tested in customer engagements across a spectrum of organizations from complex healthcare organizations, large-scale retail, manufacturing operations, governmental agencies and technology firms.
Experienced Leadership
Kimberly Evans
Kimberly serves as the CEO of Relations Research. Across her career, she’s enjoyed leadership roles in a number of entrepreneurial ventures. Kimberly is passionate about helping customers be more successful in the execution of their strategies and in finding creative solutions to complex needs and challenges with customer, supplier and workforce stakeholders. She has extensive experience advising clients across many different industry sectors such as big box retail, healthcare, insurance, and manufacturing, and leading client implementation teams around business relationship design and stewardship, strategy execution, change leadership, innovation, organization design and development, and cultural transformations. In her downtime, Kimberly enjoys adventure travel, cooking, reading, and watching her son play soccer.
Kimberly is a proud Hokie, having received her masters and undergrad engineering degrees at VA Tech.
Theresa Royster
Theresa serves as a Client Relations Director. She has over 30 years’ experience as an Entrepreneur and senior executive leader for a Fortune 40 company. Theresa has extensive experience in profitably growing large, complex markets as well as expertise in talent management, succession planning and leadership development. Theresa is known for her innovative and strategic approach to business problems. Her ability to influence and inspire people for better business results have allowed her to serve in a number of key roles.
In her downtime, Theresa enjoys the beach, walking, biking, and family time. She also loves to paint and draw.
She received her BA in business from Loyola College in Baltimore, MD.
Rendi Black
Rendi serves as Client Relations Director. She has over 30 years experience as a business owner and executive leader for a Fortune 40 company. Rendi was branded as a turn-around market leader growing revenue in highly competitive and dynamic marketplaces. She has substantial experience in creating strategies to grow underperforming and challenging markets, building cross functional support teams, data analytics, the creation of innovative tests, systems and processes while creating high performing teams. She joined Relations Research to leverage her experience and passion in serving leaders and organizations to be even more successful with their most critical stakeholders.
Rendi enjoys spending time with her family raising longhorns and riding her horse on the family ranch in Texas.
She received her BS in education from the University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Robb Dean
Robb has over 25 years of achievements in leading and inspiring creative and technical teams to develop innovative design solutions, from broad concept development through implementation. He has comprehensive experience in strategy, design, development, advertising, marketing and communications.
He received his BS in Communications from the University of Tennessee.
Danny McCall
Danny is the original CEO, founder, inventor, and thought leader of Relations Research; Relations Research is the brainchild of Danny’s work. Danny has led research and development in the betterment of workplace relationships since the late 1980s. During this period of diligent investigation, he’s made many important discoveries leading to extensive new bodies of knowledge known as Work Role Yields Management™ and Durable Relationship Operating Principles™. His inventions and innovative methods have grown into solutions for both organizations and working persons through a variety of business initiatives.
During his eclectic career, Danny has held many leadership and founding positions resting upon a broad foundation of personal experience inclusive of information systems, psychometrics, computer hardware and software, digital interactive photography, digital user interface, heavy truck engineering, commercial sales management, energy, industrial motors and control systems and military intelligence technologies. He holds various patents and has been honored with numerous awards. A few examples: North Carolina Entrepreneur of the Year, Herrmann International's Big Thinker, Discover Magazine's annual "Discover Award", the US Department of Energy's national award for energy innovation and Human Resource Executive magazine's national top award for human resources product innovation. His background encompasses corporate, entrepreneurial, government and community service activities in private and government sectors within large and small organizational environments. Danny is the author of Work Role Yields Management, Career Fulcrum, Talent Steward Primer, Work's A We Thingand Hiring Wisdom.
Dr. Elizabeth Briody
Elizabeth has been involved in organizational effectiveness and organizational change efforts for over 30 years – first at General Motors Research and later through her own consulting practice. Her role at Relations Research involves helping us attract world-class human science talent and lending her experience and expertise to clients. She’s worked with clients in healthcare, petrochemicals, aerospace, manufacturing, consumer products, military, and service industries.
Elizabeth is Secretary of the American Anthropology Association, and the author of over 50 journal articles and 5 books. She received the a lifetime achievement award from the Society for Applied Anthropology in 2020.
Dr. U. Ejiro Onomake
Ejiro has extensive experience as a business anthropologist and insights researcher. At Relations Research Ejiro leads our multicultural women, and AAPI programs and research in our partnership with The Center for Asian Pacific American Women and their corporate sponsors. Ejiro has worked across industries in business, education, and NGOs, for over 20 years in four continents. She has consulted for the United Nations, African Union, Fortune 500, as well as startups. Ejiro also worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Her career has primarily focused on leadership, mentorship, international business and entrepreneurship development, market research, human-centered design, and client engagement.
Jason Goss
Jason Goss is the Senior Developer at Relations Research, where he’s responsible for new application development, maintaining and evolving existing software applications, and working with various IT partners. Jason brings deep experience and expertise in corporate environments such as PPG Industries, Eaton and US Steel as well as in entrepreneurial companies. Jason combines business acumen with technical expertise, and has degrees in computer science, business management and accounting.
Dr. Dawn Rivers
Dr. Dawn Rivers is an applied economic anthropologist with more than 20 years of experience researching and writing about types of human development, particularly community development, economic development, and workforce development. Dr. Rivers received a B.A. in economics and anthropology from Hartwick College in New York, and completed her Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Rivers is a Director for the Society for Economic Anthropology, and is an active member of the Society for the Anthropology of Work. She has advised local and national leaders and policy makers. She has shared her research findings internationally, always seeking to keep the focus on relationships between humans and the things and people around them.