Rich Thau is the founder and president of Engagious, Inc. His company is the industry leader in scientifically testing and refining the effectiveness of issue-advocacy messages, moment-to-moment. His firm helps its clients become more successful by applying the power of behavioral science and social psychology to dial test focus groups.

Specializing in focus group dial testing, Thau has spearheaded groundbreaking research not only in public policy, but also financial communications, TV shows and movie trailers, insurance, trial consulting, and infomercials. He has moderated focus group dial tests for many of America’s leading trade associations and advocacy groups. These include PhRMA, the National Association of Realtors, the American Bankers Association, ClearPath, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Thau is also the creator and moderator of the high-profile Swing Voter Project, which Engagious has conducted in partnership with Axios since 2019. Each month, Thau moderates focus groups with “Trump-to-Biden” swing voters to probe on attitudes towards policies debated in Washington as well as recent political developments. Axios covers the focus groups first, and then Thau comments on Sirius XM’s POTUS channel and via an op-ed at Smerconish.com.

During the current election season, Thau is also conducting quarterly focus groups for the Washington Post with different categories of persuadable voters in key states.

Thau’s recommendations have shaped the national debates over Social Security, climate change, and tax reform. His firm’s policy messaging projects have focused on prescription drug pricing, clean energy, ESG, housing affordability, immigration, trade, banking, government spending, healthcare, intellectual property, labor/management issues, and franchising.

He is a 1987 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Haverford College, where he received a B.A. in History (with honors). Raised in Roslyn, NY, Thau lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife, Nicole Tell, Esq. Their son Ezra is a student at the University of Virginia.