Dick R. Wittink, the George Rogers Clark Professor of Management and Marketing at the Yale School of Management, died on June 4 at age 59. Wittink was noted for his work in the study of conjoint analysis. He served as the editor of the Journal of Marketing Research and was elected with a lifetime appointment to the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences in May 2001.
Joe Belden, who in 1940 founded the Texas Poll, the first statewide opinion survey and a model for others that followed, died on June 16 at his home in Washington, D.C. He was 90. He founded Belden Associates in Austin in 1941, then served as a Navy officer in Washington and Panama in World War II before resuming his polling enterprise. He sold his interest in Belden Associates and retired in 1980. He received the lifetime achievement award from the American Association for Public Opinion Research in 1991.
Correcting a June Names of Note entry, Randa Bell has been named vice president marketing and client services at ASDE Survey Sampler Inc. , Gatineau, Quebec. The earlier entry incorrectly reported her new position as vice president.
Thomas Carley has been named senior vice president for strategic planning at The New York Times .
Heather Stern has been named director of marketing and client development for a new joint venture between AARP and The Kantar Group aimed at researching the 50+ market.
Carol Shellock has joined Atlanta research firm Brain Surgery Worldwide as executive director of account services. She will be based in Philadelphia.
Alex Chow has been named CFO of the Pulse Group , a Sydney, Australia research process outsourcing company.
Walker Information, Indianapolis, has added Jack Shaw to its board of advisors. Steve Walker has been named chairman of the board and Frank Walker has been named chairman emeritus.
Rebecca Anton has been named managing director of operations and quality at Polaris Marketing Research, Inc. , Atlanta.
Firm, an Oslo-based research software company, has named Ken W. Østreng CFO. In addition, Bengt Thuresson has been named chairman of the board and Øystein Moan and Berit Svendsen have been appointed to the board of directors. Henning Hansen has been named president and CEO.
InsightExpress, a Stamford, Conn., research firm, has announced several new hires: Courtney Brown as project manager; Meredith Klein-Hertzel as customer service representative; John Pemberton as director of research development and consulting; Ronald Wainer as senior account executive; Michele McDonald as senior account executive within the emerging markets sector; Lauren Ash as project manager within the customer service organization; Ryan Price as account executive, emerging markets; Todd Thomas Trautz and Russell Kehoe as research manager; Lacey Fabrizio as market research analyst; Marie Minyo as group director; Marriott Dowden as a director in the consumer packaged goods sector; and Megan Rome as director of marketing solutions. Lisa Miller has been promoted to the position of vice president, finance. Jason Tiffer has joined the Los Angeles office as an account manager. In the San Francisco office, Jenna Hensel has been named project manager and Angie Urbanek has been named market research manager.
Jamie Turner has joined Atlanta marketing firm Bennett Kuhn Varner as director of consumer insights.
Bruce Wells has been named CIO of Synovate. Okke Engelsma has joined Synovate Healthcare as senior quantitative director, and will be based in the London office. In addition, the firm’s youth research units have now been organized into a new specialist division - Synovate YC - to be headed up by Senior Vice President Ian Pierpoint. He will be based in Chicago. Paul Cooney will continue to be based in London after being named CIO enterprise solutions.
Elsewhere, Synovate has announced a number of senior appointments in its Central/Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa (CEEMEA) region. Tony Rhodes has become COO for Central/Eastern Europe (CEE), based in Nicosia, Cyprus. Albert McLean has been named COO for Middle East/Africa (MEA), located in Johannesburg. Synovate also named Andy Dalziel chief financial officer for MEA. Jon Salters has been promoted to managing director for Sub-Saharan Africa. Tomasz Jakubowski and Bozena Bobrowicz have been appointed joint general managers of Synovate Poland. This follows the move of Michalis Michael, former managing director of Synovate in Central Europe and Russia, from Warsaw to Chicago to take up a new post as head of global online and panel marketing and operations. Synovate has also named Peter Huijboom CEO global client relationships.
Karl Feld has been named vice president, primary data division, at Johnston, Zabor, McManus, Inc. , a Durham, N.C., research firm.
Portland, Ore., research firm Doxus has named Erin Leedy and Dan Bruner senior researcher. The firm has also hired Amy Reyes as a senior editor and named Vinay Dowray and Rich Jones researcher/analyst.
Stephan Thun has been named vice president, managing director at Maritz Research Europe .
NetRatings, Inc., New York., has named Andrew Reid managing director Australia. He will be based in Sydney.
Angela Mariana Freyre has joined Nielsen Media Research , New York, as senior vice president, deputy general counsel for legal and strategic affairs.
ACNielsen, New York, has named Robert I. Tomei president of global consumer panel services.
Judy Oppenheim has been named director of research at R/GA , a New York advertising agency. Barbara Canning Brown has been named director of analytics/CRM.
The Mattson Jack Group, Inc., a St. Louis health care consulting firm, has added three to its advanced methods group, based in the firm’s Philadelphia office: Mylinda R. Willsey has been appointed quantitative methodologist; William Serad has been named senior director of advanced methods; and Xinghe (Henry) Lu has been named senior statistical analyst.
Market Strategies, Inc. (MSI), Alexandria, Va., has appointed Jack Fyock vice president of the health care sector of its government, foundation and academic research division.
Martin R. Lautman has been named CEO of GfK Custom Research , North America, a new group within GfK encompassing GfK’s custom research businesses as well as GfK NOP and GfK Automotive, the two companies that grew out of GfK’s recent acquisition of NOP World .
Separately, Karen Ahlgrim has joined GfK Custom Research Inc. as senior director, account management, in Dallas. Laura Latshaw has joined GfK Custom Research Inc. as senior director, account management in Philadelphia. In Chicago, Leah Robinson has been named senior director, account management.
Sigma: Research Management Group, Cincinnati, has promoted Debra Templeman to project manager.
Opinions... of Sacramento has named Zeyad El Sayed director of operations.
Peter Cain has been named director, econometric analysis, Millward Brown Optimor, London. Michael Simpson has been named vice president, global human resources, at Millward Brown. In addition, Christine Schoeff has been appointed vice president, human resources and organizational development, Millward Brown North America.
Research International has appointed Brooke Courtenay managing director, Thailand. Serene Wong has assumed the new position of CEO South Asia and Rosalynn Tang has taken over as managing director, Singapore. In the Stamford, Conn., office, Alastair Bruce has been named global head of healthcare. Mike Patrick has been named senior vice president. He is based in Phoenix.
Chicago-based Information Resources, Inc., has named Sunil (Sunny) Garga president of its analytic insights group. Separately, Thomas J. Blischok has joined IRI as president of retail solutions, strategic consulting, and integrated solutions.
Global Market Insite, Inc., Seattle, has named Larry Schack vice president of global client services, and promoted Mark Houston chief marketing officer.
Mark Menne has joined the San Francisco office of Data Development Worldwide as vice president.
Lightspeed Research, Basking Ridge, N.J., has named Karen Rabinowicz North American CEO. She will be based in New York City and Basking Ridge.
Mediamark Research Inc., New York, has formed a new division, MRI Market Solutions, and tapped Sharon Polansky to run it.
Rob Iles has been named managing director of Schwartz Consulting Partners, Inc., the Tampa-based full-service division of Schwartz Research Services, Inc. In addition, Stephanie Salerno has been named research solutions manager.
U.K. research firm ESA has named Bernice Perkins data processing executive and promoted Stephen Choonos to marketing executive. Michael Hyatt has been named data processing executive, and Jeminee Patel has been named senior executive. Michael Virks has joined the analysis team as data processing manager while Melanie Banks has been named business improvement administrator.
Greenfield Online, Wilton, Conn., has announced four promotions:Michael McCrary to vice president West Coast sales; Terence McCarron to vice president East Coast sales; Colin Livingston to manager, client development; and Pete Aitkin to manager, client development.
Jennifer Huston has been promoted to the newly created position of director, Portable People Meter implementation, atArbitron Inc., New York.
G&S Research, Carmel, Ind., has namedRyan Foxworthy project manager and Wendy Martin analyst.
Pat Pellegrini has been named senior vice president of TNS Media Research, New York.
C&R Research, Chicago, has made two additions to its qualitative InVision group: Casey Sloan has been named research director and Liria Barbosa has been named qualitative research analyst.
MORPACE International, Inc., Farmington Hills, Mich., has appointed Susan L. Cornish as vice president.
Steve Saxty has joined J.D. Power and Associates , Westlake Village, Calif., as executive director, marketing solutions for the U.S. Auto Group.
Chicago research firm the Blackstone Group has named Ken Seeger vice president of marketing and client services and named Norman Kane vice president of client development.
Mill Valley, Calif., research firm MarketTools, Inc., has named Amal Johnson CEO.
Tara Olson and Sherrie Aycock, owners of Winston-Salem, N.C.-based AllPoints Research, Inc., have been named president and president-elect of the North Carolina chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners. Olson took office on July 1, and will remain in office for a full year, at which point Aycock will assume the role of president.
Baltimore, Md., marketing firm Vertis has named Jim Litwin vice president of marketing research.
Joan Triestman has joined M/A/R/C Research, Irving, Texas, as executive vice president. In addition, Janet Savoie has joined as senior director, client development.
Itracks, a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan research firm, has named Isaac Renfro corporate account executive, Atlanta.
At eQuesta, the online division of London research firm Fieldwork International, Sarah Flinn has been named U.K. managing director. In addition, Matthew Seabrook has taken over for Flinn as the manager of eQuesta. And Peter Boyle ’s title has changed to global managing director.
Alan Steele has joined Euro RSCG 4D Chicago agency as president of Euro RSCG Discovery North America.
Atlanta research consulting firm Marketing Data Management Associates has added Joel Reish as senior research consultant and Amy Hebard as senior study design and analysis consultant in its affiliate consultant team.
Paris-based Ipsos has named James T. Smith chairman and CEO of Ipsos in North America. Smith replaces Simon Kooyman, who is taking a sabbatical. In addition, Fred Church has been named vice president for the company’s health practice in North America. And Becki Meyer has joined the consumer products division of Ipsos-Insight as vice president in its Cincinnati office.
Rodney A. Carver has joined Decision Analyst, Arlington, Texas, as director of the company’s newly created database analytic services group. Clint Klein has been named senior director of business development. And Ming-Hong Huang has been named vice president of the company’s database analytic services group.
New York-based Arbitron Inc. has named Sean R. Creamer executive vice president, finance and planning, and chief financial officer. He replaces Bill Walsh, who announced his intention to retire by the end of the year. The firm has also named Anthony D. Sciulli vice president, manufacturing and supply chain management.
St. Petersburg, Fla., research firm HealthFocus International has named Rohit Vaidya vice president for research and analysis.
TNS has appointed Marie Lee to the newly created position of director AP global accounts. She will be based in Bangkok.
The NPD Group, Port Washington, N.Y., announced three new hires: Ed Manzitti as director of primary research; Neil Strother as research director, mobile devices; Charul Vyas as senior account manager. Also moving into the group from other NPD divisions are Eileen Brown, director of business development and Ellie Burgess , director of program management.
Ronin Corporation has named Marek Vaygelt U.K. general manager, based in the company’s London office.