Nicola Finnerty
Principal
Nicola Finnerty is a Lead Qualitative Consultant and Moderator at ContextualY, specializing in both B2B and consumer research. With more than three decades of experience, she brings deep expertise and a genuine passion for uncovering motivations and delivering meaningful insights for clients across a wide range of sectors.
Having begun her career in Ireland and the UK, Nicola brings a valuable global perspective to her work and is particularly skilled at identifying the cultural context behind her participant’s attitudes and behaviors. She is committed to designing thoughtful, engaging, and investigative research approaches, drawing on her background in social psychology to ensure every qualitative engagement delivers clear, actionable outcomes for clients.
Nicola is trained as a moderator by both AQRP (UK) and RIVA (US) and is also an accredited Unilever Moderator. In addition to leading research, she is dedicated to mentoring and developing qualitative researchers across the United States.
Outside of moderation and analysis, Nicola enjoys walking her two lively labradors, keeping up with her three sporty boys, and making time for tennis and downtime with friends and family.
"I thrive on big questions, diverse research challenges, and creating the kind of conversations where people open up—revealing the deeper truths that lead to meaningful, strategy-shaping insights."