Tonia E. Ries is Executive Director of Intellectual Property for the Edelman Trust Institute, Edelman’s center for the study of trust and a learning laboratory for trust building between companies, institutions, brands and people. Her role includes stewardship of the Edelman Trust Barometer, the largest global survey and foremost authority on trust in institutions and brands.
Now in its 21st year, the Trust Barometer surveys more than 34,000 people in 28 countries. Its cross-cultural insights are widely cited in media outlets such as The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist, Fortune, Forbes and others. The survey informs academic studies on trust and provides insights to thought-leaders and opinion-shapers around the world.
Under Tonia’s leadership, the Trust Barometer has evolved from an annual global study to include an ongoing series of reports that examine trust across stakeholders, and study the expectations for business and other societal leaders across issues such as the return to office, climate change and systemic racism. Tonia works with Edelman teams across practices, sectors and geographies to set the firm’s thought leadership agenda, and create insights that help them to build trust for Edelman clients.
Tonia has more than 30 years of experience in marketing, research, strategy and media. Before joining Edelman, she founded and led Modern Media, a marketing and events agency designed to help publishing companies innovate in a changing media market. Before founding Modern Media, Tonia served as a publishing and marketing executive for a series of business-to-business media brands, including Information Week and PC Magazine.
Tonia grew up in Belgium, is a graduate of Columbia University and now lives in New York. She regularly speaks at industry events and has been quoted on topics such as trust and the business impact of media transformation by news outlets around the world.