Marianne M. Szymanski
Founder & President

Marianne Szymanski is founder and president of Toy Tips, Inc., an international child development research group that conducts independent on-going academic and scientific research on products from the toy and juvenile product industries. A national author, entrepreneur, speaker, lecturer and media personality, Marianne has led her organization's unbiased tests of over 34,000 products from more than 900 manufacturers.

A former retail sales representative for an international toy manufacturer, Marianne saw the opportunity to provide parents with unbiased information they can trust on how to select products that enhance a child's development. This inspired the 1991 formation of The Toy Research Institute, a year-round program of toy evaluation and testing that does not accept revenue from manufacturers. (toytips.com)

In 1996, she launched Toy Tips Magazine to provide parents with unbiased information about toy reviews, toy safety, durability, learning value, age appropriateness and enjoyment. To date, seventeen million copies have been distributed through retailers, hospitals, pediatricians and educators. Now renamed, Toy Tips & Parenting Hints, the publication has grown to include research on parenting, child safety and juvenile product reviews. An online version of Kid Tips Magazine is available free on the company website at toytips.com.

In 2002, in order to serve her local community with toy lending, Marianne created the Toy Tips Toy Lending Library in conjunction with the Franklin Public Library in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

For the last thirteen years, Marianne's research has been regularly featured on Oprah, CNN, Today, The Discovery Channel, FOX, Lifetime, HGTV, Oxygen, Living It Up with Ali and Jack, The History Channel, and numerous publications across the country. As the resident toy guest on ABC's Good Morning America, Marianne and her research has been featured 53 times.

Marianne is the 1996 recipient of the Wisconsin Small Business Association Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and a delegate of the 1995 White House Conference on Small Business in Washington, D.C. She is a past adjunct Associate Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at The USC Marshall School of Business and guest lectures at a number of colleges and universities worldwide. Marianne's work has been published in research journals in the United States and United Kingdom and she currently has her own semi-monthly feature segment on FOX news.

Marianne sits on the marketing commitee board of the Betty Brinn Children's Museum and the auxillary board of the Boys and Girls Clubs in Milwaukee, WI. She holds a dual degree in psychology and marketing from Marquette University. She is the mother of a preschooler son, Maximillian and a newborn daughter, Mia.

To view Marianne on her various television appearances <click here>.

Marvin W. Berkowitz, Ph.D.

      Marvin W. Berkowitz is the director of The Toy Research Institute and the inaugural Sanford N. McDonnell Endowed Professor of Character Education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He was also founder and Associate Director of the Center for Addiction and Behavioral Health Research in Milwaukee and Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
     His research interests are character education, moral development, adolescent development, and risk-taking. He is editor of Moral education: Theory and application (1985) and Peer conflict and psychological growth (1985), and author of more than 50 book chapters, monographs, and journal articles. He serves as a board member of the Character Education Partnership and serves on the editorial board of the Merrill-Palmer Quarterly. He is the father of a teenage son.

Scott A. Langenecker, Ph.D.

Scott is a graduate of the Clinical Psychology Program at Marquette University and is currently engaged at a Research Fellowship at the University of Michigan Medical Center in the Division of Neuropsychology. He has been the Director of Toy Research at the Toy Research Institute since 1997 and has focused on developing the research design and methodology for the Institute.

His research interests are quite varied, as he is interested in studying development across the age spectrum in numerous areas including cognitive, moral, social, affective and educational realms. He is also involved in research using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to understand age-related changes in cognitive functioning. He is the father of a 4 year old daughter.

Cecilia Lillegard

     Cecilia Lillegard is a manufacturing engineer with a master's degree in Engineering Management from Marquette University. Her background includes production support engineering, new product introduction leadership, order and process quality for General Electric. Cecilia has been associated with Toy Tips since 1991. She is the mother of two young daughters.