She helped nudge America Online away from hourly pricing to flat monthly charges. She persuaded the Weather Channel to begin distributing its info via links on thousands of other sites. Its Web site now counts among the top 25. She's spot-on at identifying trends, and she can articulate them in a way people understand,'' says Dennis H. Jones, FedEx chief information officer. Her latest insights could change the way people size up Net consumers.
Marketers traditionally pigeonhole consumers by their age, income, or occupation.
Modahl thinks that when it comes to e-commerce, it's much more important to consider their attitudes toward technology. She separates the U.S. population into tech optimists and pessimists. After graduating from Harvard, she worked for three years as a loan officer scrutinizing credit applications. I was never going to fit. I was too outspoken,'' says Modahl.