Kyle Kretschman

Kyle Kretschman has a diverse work experience spanning across various roles and industries.

Kyle started their career as a Research Assistant at the University of Pittsburgh in 2005, where they conducted research in economics. In 2006, they joined the University of Texas at Austin as a Teaching Assistant while pursuing their Ph.D. in Economics. Kyle completed their Ph.D. in 2011, specializing in Industrial Organization, Political Economics, and Applied Econometrics.

During their time at the University of Texas, Kyle also worked as a Student Intern at the Office of Management and Budget in 2008, gaining experience in policy analysis.

After completing their Ph.D., they joined CNA, a non-profit research center, as a Research Analyst. In this role, they led research teams, conducted empirical analysis, and developed performance metrics to evaluate government programs. Kyle also built relationships with sponsors to develop new business opportunities. Their tenure at CNA lasted until April 2014.

In 2012, Kyle ventured into the fitness industry, working as a CrossFit Trainer and Yoga Instructor at CrossFit Adaptation and CrossFit Falls Church. Kyle contributed articles to Boxlife Magazine, emphasizing the benefits of yoga for CrossFit.

Later in 2013, they served as an Economic Consultant at Outline.com, a startup focused on improving government communication on tax and fiscal policies. Kyle designed and built econometric tax forecasting and incidence models for the government budget simulator.

In 2014, Kyle joined Amazon as the Economist, Senior Manager, leading the Economic Trends & Insights team. Kyle played a key role in informing strategic decisions, creating forecasting and demand attribution systems, and combining econometrics with machine learning to understand demand factors. Kyle contributed to Amazon until April 2020.

After their tenure at Amazon, they joined Spotify in May 2020 as the Head of Economics. In this role, they lead the Economics team, applying economics, data science, and machine learning to improve product, strategy, and marketing. Kyle built the Creator Economics team and expanded internal teams across the company.

In September 2021, Kyle took on the role of Chief Economist Community at the World Economic Forum.

Kyle Kretschman completed their education starting with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of Pittsburgh, which they obtained between 2002 and 2006. Following this, they pursued a Master of Science degree in Economics from The University of Texas at Austin between 2006 and 2008. Finally, they successfully completed a Ph.D in Economics from The University of Texas at Austin between 2008 and 2011.