In Memoriam...
Adrienne Goldbaum, co-founder of LA Research, Los Angeles, died on January 30, 2015, in Oxnard, Calif. She served on the boards of the Southern California chapter of the Market Research Association and the MRA Southwest chapter.
Barry Williams has been named chief customer officer for Asda, the Leeds, U.K., supermarket chain.
TNS has named Federico Capeci chief digital officer and CEO for TNS Italy, based in Milan. Paolo Mistrorigo has also joined as chief operating officer and chief transformation officer.
Alexandre Callay has joined sports marketing research firm Repucom, Stamford, Conn., as global director, media research and content. The firm also tapped Malph Minns for its U.K. and Ireland team based in London and announced a realignment of its European business operations into a single business unit and the departure of current European president Marcel Cordes.
The WaterWalk Hotel and Apartments, Wichita, Kan., has hired Erica Weishaar as business analyst to manage all marketing research for the apartment properties.
Darren Howard has joined Answer Financial, an Encino, Calif., auto and home insurance agency, as chief marketing officer.
Sunshine Bancorp, Tallahassee, Fla., has appointed Michelle Kounlavong as AVP, marketing director. She will direct bank marketing and advertising, including brand identity, strategic planning, market research and communications.
Directions Research, Cincinnati, has hired Lisa Evans as vice president of client services and Margaret Becker as senior project manager. Evans will be based in Austin, Texas.
In Port Washington, N.Y., research firm the NPD Group has added Robby Hart as head of analytics and modeling; Steve Thornberry as SVP solutions consulting and Jim Hirshfield, SVP solutions architecture.
Rita’s Italian Ice, a 600-unit chain based in Philadelphia, has named Robin Seward chief marketing officer.
Matt McNerney has left his position as president of Ipsos Marketquest, New York, after seven years with the firm.
EDigital Research, Hamphshire, U.K., has expanded its technical and research teams with new hires and promotions. Liz Boffey has joined the firm as research director, along with Sian O’Neil as marketing executive and Steve Loton as designer. Lisa Williams and Kat Watters were promoted to senior research managers and Jenny Hilton to research manager. Radoslaw Kurowski and Agnieszka Tambor-Florek have joined the technical operations team.
Knut Aasrud was named CEO at Norstat, an Oslo, Norway, research data collection firm. The firm also named Santa Plivca as country manager for Latvia.
Chris Rife, vice president at Healthcare Research and Analytics (HRA) in Parsippany, N.J., has been appointed to chair the Pharmaceutical Market Research Group, while Jeff Case, also an HRA vice president, was named to the Pharmaceutical Business Intelligence and Research Group Affiliate Advisory Board.
Natalie Gunning has joined London researcher Impact Health as research manager.
The Market Research Society, London, has appointed Michelle Goddard as director of policy and standards.
Lee Naylor, managing director at the Leading Edge, a research firm in Sydney, Australia, has been named chairman. He replaces Nigel Marsh, who is leaving the firm.
Melanie Courtright, executive vice president, global client services at Research Now, Plano, Texas, has been appointed as the U.S. ESOMAR representative.
Simpson Carpenter, a London research company, has hired Pedro Oliveira as research manager and Sophie Mason as a qualitative operations executive.
Peter Flower has joined London researcher Verve as its community development director along with Helen Henderson as research manager, Kamal Chowdhury as senior community manager, Susanna Pecyna as community manager and Radu Stan and Georgiana Calance as quality assurance executive. The firm also completed a round of promotions, with Lawrence Wykes and Chris Leo moving to research manager; Vasiliki Georgiou and Geordie Watson to qualitative senior research executive; Eugen Tuchendria to scripting manager; Jim Lunn to quality assurance manager; Ruxandra Nita and Katie Crabb to community manager and Su Su Mar-McDonald to senior data processing executive.
Surrey, U.K., sampling and panel management firm MARSC has promoted Allan Shaw to director of sales and marketing. Pat Molloy has joined the board as a non-executive member.
Research firm Cint, headquartered in Stockholm but with U.S. offices in Atlanta and Los Angeles, has announced multiple promotions, with Alison Whitmire being named vice president of sales for the West Coast, Steve Zawada and Andrew Jones assuming sales director positions and Katie Gazzuollo becoming the U.S. supply sales manager. Also, Matt Brand and Jay Steffey joined the firm as sales director along with Mark Andrews and Michael Patiero as project managers.
Nuremberg, Germany, research company the GfK Group has appointed Babita Earle head of industry in the consumer experiences business in the U.K. and promoted Ben Walton to U.K. head of market opportunities and innovation. Ben Weedon has joined the company as a director of user experience and Colin Strong is leaving his current position with the GfK Group to join London-based research firm Verve.
Kansas City, Mo., research firm Decision Insight has hired Doug Robertson as vice president of client solutions.
Gap Inc., San Francisco, has eliminated its global CMO positions for the Gap and Banana Republic brands and will create a head of customer experience. The new position will have responsibilities for e-commerce as well those of the CMO. Other changes at the firm include promotions of Scott Key to senior vice president and general manager-customer experience of Gap brand and Aimee Lapic in the same role at Banana Republic.
Thoroughbred Research Group, Louisville, Ky., has hired Don Ludemann as director of software engineering.
London researcher Hasson Associates has hired Stephanie Richards as a senior associate and Alex Giurgiu as a research consultant.
Ross Gagnon has been hired as research director for Forbes Media, Jersey City, N.J.
BlueConic, a Boston technology firm, has added Cory Munchbach as director of product marketing.
In Australia, Joe Lunn has joined media agency Mindshare as chief strategy officer.
Lee Sang-chul has been appointed head of strategic marketing for the mobile business at Samsung Electronics, South Korea. He will be responsible for the launch of the firm’s new Galaxy S device.
PulsePoint, an advertising technology firm in New York, has added David Tannenbaum to its senior leadership team as chief technology officer.
Kirstin Knight has joined London research company Kantar Worldpanel in the newly created role of retail director, to manage the grocery retail division.
Gerard Miodus has been appointed vice president at Detroit research firm Morpace.
Alec Schendzelos has joined Marketing Workshop, an Atlanta research firm, as vice president of client services.
Stratford, Conn., technology firm CyberAlert has hired Michelle Hinson as sales director in the measurement market.
Focus Forward LLC, a Wayne, Pa., research company, has appointed Dave Pataki as executive vice president and Beth Carey Fuller as director of qualitative services.
Target Corp., Minneapolis, has hired Mike McNamara to become chief information officer. McNamara was previously an executive with Tesco.
Sandy Lasky has joined Lynx Research Consulting, Boise, Idaho, as vice president/account executive.
Madison+Main, a branding and marketing firm in Richmond, Va., has hired Cassandra Harris as an account executive and Madalyn Parr as a marketing administrator.
Millward Brown, New York, has promoted Chirantan Ray to the role of managing director in its Shanghai office and appointed Robert Fuchs as head of media and digital for greater China and North Asia. He will also be based in Shanghai.
Jennifer Sproul has joined Opinion Matters, a London research firm, in the newly created position of head of client services.
Richard Abraham has accepted the position of director - social and government at the Sydney, Australia, TNS office.
Simon Marquis, chairman of the National Readership Survey, London, plans to leave his position at the end of the year.
Steve Looney has joined Opinium Research, London, as head of consumer goods research.
The Brisbane, Australia, Ipsos office gained three new executives with the hirings of Kathy Benson as strategy and research director and Kylie Brosnan as director of Ipsos public affairs and the transfer of Anna Eden from the Perth office for the role of senior client services director.
Sydney, Australia, marketing firm Beyond Analysis has appointed Jeff Sanders as CEO.
Razor Research, London, has hired Tom O’Dwyer and Lucie Holliday as director.
Paul Gold has joined New York software provider Telmar as vice president, strategic data operations.
At the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in New York, Michael Theodore has been promoted to senior vice president, IAB, and general manager, IAB Education Foundation.
Roy Patel has joined Market Cube, an online sample and research operations company in Charleston, S.C., as European regional head.
TNS UK, London, has hired Sarah Patterson as strategic planning director.
Jason Jacobson has been appointed research director at Koski Research, San Francisco.
London research firm Allegra Insights has hired Simon Mogford as head of business development.
Adam Warner has joined Keen as Mustard Marketing, London, as communications manager.
Ipsos Loyalty, New York, has appointed John Carroll III as the leader of its new customer experience practice within the U.S.
New York social news and Internet firm BuzzFeed has hired Lee Brown as its chief revenue officer.
London researcher YouGov has tapped Alex McIntosh as CEO of its U.K. office. He had held the position on an interim basis since Tim Britton’s exit. He will continue serving as chief strategy officer in addition to his new role.
London mystery shopping firm React Surveys has promoted Nicky Barrell to managing director.
Peter Moloney was named CEO of Loyalty Builders, a Boston customer analytics firm. Mark Klein, the previous CEO, will remain as chairman and chief technical officer.
Dave Perry has joined Acorn Marketing and Research Consultants, Tokyo, as a senior research manager.
Susan Hwang Nanzer has joined Precision Sample, Denver, as chief revenue officer.
Babcox Media, Akron, Ohio, has hired Kent Camino as manager of market research.
Basis Research, London, has appointed Sarah Jenkins as senior director, overseeing its media, content and technology areas.
MarketVision Research, Cincinnati, announced multiple hirings, including Emily Reynolds as research assistant/graphic designer, Quinn Smith as research assistant on the information services team, Daniel Garleb as research assistant on the marketing services team and David Gitonga as senior research associate on the Web development team. Also, Kelsey Schmeckpeper and Nicole Lemen joined the firm as research assistant on the quantitative client services team.
Dallas software firm RealPage Inc., has hired Daryl Rolley as chief customer officer.
Seattle mobile marketing analytics startup Tune has named Steve McQuade as its vice president of engineering.
Sarah Jenkins has joined Basis Research, London, as senior director, with responsibilities for the company’s media, content and technology areas.
DunnhumbyUSA has made six promotions in its Cincinnati office, including Molly Pearson as client lead, Chelsea Oliver as analyst, Neil Pharris as analysis manager, Tim Stoll as senior business analyst, Katie Vogt as senior client lead and Sarayu Sarangan as senior data developer.