Dr. Kristen Guth is Head of User Research at Reddit. Her work informs experiences that reflect a deep understanding of user needs, behaviors, and motivations. She has spent more than 16 years working at corporations, start-ups, non-profits, media, and the public sector. At Reddit, she oversees the User Research organization, which delivers tactical and strategic insights across product areas such as advertising, community, content, growth, and internationalization. Her work informs experiences that reflect a deep understanding of user needs, behaviors, and motivations. Kristen joined Reddit from PayPal in 2020, where she was in charge of the company’s global large enterprise merchant research strategy across more than 200 countries and regions.
Kristen continues to work across both academic and industry contexts. Before joining PayPal, she was a postdoctoral scholar in organizational communication and risk at the University of Kentucky Department of Communication. Earlier in her career, she worked as a journalist at FOX and NBC; a public relations professional at Edelman; a legislative assistant at UPS Corporate Public Affairs; a researcher at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society; and a trainer at the Experiential Learning Center in the USC Marshall School of Business. Her research on organizational change and technology has been published in journals such as Social Media & Society and presented at various conferences, including the Academy of Management and the Association of Internet Researchers.
Kristen earned a bachelor’s degree in Communication from Wake Forest University, master’s degrees in communication from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Southern California, and a doctorate in communication from the University of Southern California.