Christine Kahm

Christine Kahm
Head of Research, Block (Square, Cash App, Afterpay, TIDAL, Spiral & TBD)

Christine Kahm is a senior research and strategy leader whose career has centered on translating complex human behavior into clear, actionable direction for product, brand, and organizational strategy. She currently serves as Head of Research at Block, where she oversees research strategy and operations across the company’s full portfolio of brands—including Square, Cash App, Afterpay, TIDAL, Bitkey and other emerging brands.

In this role, Christine leads a multidisciplinary organization responsible for customer insight, market intelligence, foresight, and strategic synthesis—work that informs decisions affecting tens of millions of independent workers, small businesses, creators, and consumers worldwide.

Before joining Block, Christine built a cross-industry foundation in brand leadership, consumer understanding, and product strategy at two of the world’s most influential companies. At Nike, Christine led brand marketing strategy for key categories and consumer segments, shaping global storytelling, membership engagement, and product positioning. Her work unified consumer insight with brand identity, fueling category growth and strengthening Nike’s connection with athletes and everyday movers. At Meta, she worked at the intersection of consumer behavior, market signals, and product development. She helped product teams make disciplined, insight-driven decisions at a global scale.

With more than a decade of leadership across research, brand, and product organizations, Christine is known for elevating the role of evidence in executive decision-making and for building high-performing teams in fast-moving, high-stakes environments. Her work spans financial inclusion, small-business enablement, creator ecosystems, responsible innovation, and the future of digital economic participation.

Christine’s approach blends qualitative depth, quantitative rigor, and organizational foresight to bring clarity to ambiguous problem spaces and help institutions navigate change with discipline and humanity.

Deeply committed to mentorship and economic empowerment, Christine brings a systems-level perspective to governance, innovation, and long-term stewardship. Rooted in North Carolina and aligned with Wake Forest’s values of integrity, inquiry, and service, she contributes a balanced blend of strategic vision, operational expertise, and principled leadership to the Board.