CINCINNATI, June 5, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — ThinkVine, a marketing mix optimization software company, announced today the appointment of two key executives to its executive leadership team. The additions are for a newly created position to lead product management and a new head of analytical consulting services. Both hires are in response to continued market demand for ThinkVine’s software and the company’s commitment to market leadership in terms of product and service delivery.

According to CEO Mark Battaglia, Elan Long has been appointed vice president of Product Management and Gregg Ambach has been appointed vice president of Analytical Services. Both will report to Founder and Chief Strategist Damon Ragusa and will be a part of the executive leadership team.

“We are excited to have Elan and Gregg on board,” said Battaglia. “Adding their expertise to our senior management team now will help support and further accelerate our growth. Elan will help us put greater rigor around our product planning to continue to meet customers’ needs and to ensure that we continue as the category leader in terms of software capabilities. Gregg will build out our analytical services offerings to provide our customers with the additional, custom information they need to make informed decisions about consumer segments, product features, pricing and channels. And, because the results of consumer and market studies can be leveraged by the ThinkVine Marketing Mix Optimization software, the services will deliver even richer sets of decision-making information with each and every scenario the customer runs.”

Long has a strong background in strategy, product marketing, and product management in the software industry, specifically in the analytics sector. She joins ThinkVine from SpringSmart, a corporate strategy and new venture consulting services firm she founded and was president of for over 12 years. At SpringSmart, Long helped clients such as SPSS, Initiate Systems, and BeatBox Technologies to achieve successful growth and exits and provided strategic and tactical consulting for a wide range of early stage companies like AdStrategist, PartScription, Metronome Labs, and Illumitek. Prior to SpringSmart, she was senior director of corporate marketing at SPSS, Inc., a worldwide provider of analytical software and services. Long has a bachelor of arts degree with distinction from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, and a master of business administration degree from Columbia University, New York. She is a member of the American Marketing Association and the Illinois Technology Association.

Ambach has an extensive background in marketing and market research, particularly in the consumer products industry. He comes to ThinkVine from SymphonyIRI Group where he was a principal in the Consulting practice focused on client delivery of the Hendry Market Structure. Ambach has worked for a number of market research and analytics firms, including Analytics Partners, ImmediateFX and Knowledge Networks/Promotions Decisions. Additionally, Ambach has experience on the client side, including market research work with Kraft Foods, Campbell Soups and SAMI. He holds a bachelor of science degree and a master of science degree from Miami University, Oxford, OH.