Lawrence Gibson, former head of marketing research for Minneapolis-based food company General Mills, died in October at age 89. Gibson also served on the board of directors for the American Marketing Association and authored a book on marketing research, Not Just Numbers, which was published in November.
Steve Aukers has joined London-based video analytics firm Big Sofa as president and CEO, North America.
Digital agency Razorfish, New York, has hired Kevin Mercurio as director of data science for its COSMOS platform, a new position.
Montreal-based research and audience solutions firm iPerceptions has appointed Martin Le Sauteur as CEO.
Melissa Baker, CEO Kantar Public – Africa and Middle East, and Surya Av, CEO Kantar Public – India and South Asia, have been appointed as co-chairs of the newly-launched Development Practice for Kantar Public, London.
Dan Hess has joined comScore, Reston, Va., as head of digital audience and advertising products.
Symphony EYC, a California-based software and services firm for retailers and manufacturers, has appointed Adrian Sosa as senior vice president, analytics, Americas for its insights business.
In New York, insight and strategy consultancy Firefish has hired Anita Idnani as research director and Stefanie Lai as senior research executive.
Analytics and insights firm Blueocean Market Intelligence, Seattle, has appointed Anil Damodaran as assistant vice president for its LiNK solution team. LiNK is the company’s market research, data integration and reporting technology.
CSM Research, Marietta, Ga., has hired Christine Suchyna as vice president of sales and marketing.
Germany-based research firm PSYMA has appointed Richard Habis as global health care account director for its global health care practice.
Complete Research Connection, Columbus, Ohio, has promoted Dina Hartman-Wallace to facility manager.
Online sampling firm Innovate, Los Angeles, has hired Michael Krameisen and Erin Fredericks as senior director of business development and Josh Brezner as director of user experience.
India-based research agency MRSS India has associated with Sanjeev Kotnala as media mentor. Kotnala will mentor the firm on its media initiatives.
Directions Research, Cincinnati, has named three new owners: Jeff Hunter, vice president, client service – healthcare division; Aaron Gulley, senior account executive; and Dan Argo, vice president of IT and compliance, bringing the ownership team to 39 members. Separately, the firm named Steve Hoops to its business intelligence group as a senior programmer.
E-mail marketing software company Emma, Nashville, Tenn., has hired Jeff Middlesworth as chief product officer.
Online panel company Gazelle-GoSample, New York, has appointed Jeff Goldman and Stacey Weber as vice president. Goldman will lead the data management group, while Weber’s primary focus will be in the growth of the Go-Sample business from a panel operations and a client services perspective.
Philadelphia-based predictive marketing firm MRP has appointed Joe Smolarski as senior vice president, sales operations.
Chicago-based researcher Shapiro+Raj has promoted Margaret Mueller as president of the firm.
Warren, N.J., researcher Lightspeed has made promotional changes within the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, including the appointments of Andrew Van Wezel as vice president of operations and Simon Buckley as vice president of sales.
Westport, Conn., data and insights company Critical Mix has appointed Heather White to lead the expansion of its repository of profiled survey respondents.
Software-as-a-service company Qualtrics, Salt Lake City, has appointed Zig Serafin as the company’s chief operating officer.
Chris Spadaccini has been named executive vice president of consumer marketing for television network HBO, New York.
David Farmer has joined Chicago-based research consultancy The Connell Group as director of qualitative research within its healthcare and life sciences practice.
Research firm Strategy Analytics, Boston, has appointed Jordan Louviere as chief research scientist for its consumer insights practice.
U.K. researcher Maru/edr has added staff members across its research and technical teams. Jessica Abbott has been hired as senior research manager, while Priya Tanna, Themis Sakkas, Rhea Shears and April Lampard have joined as graduate research executives as part of the firm’s graduate program. Additionally, Robert Pointer has been hired as software development manager and Russel Kingfield and Mara Blaga have been hired as junior developers.
RMS Healthcare, a division of Baldwinsville, N.Y., firm Research and Marketing Strategies Inc., has appointed Elizabeth Kratz as health care associate; Jeanne Winfree as health care analyst; and Sarah Rossetti as health care transformation specialist.
Research products and services firm Marketing Systems Group, Horsham, Pa., has appointed Chris Beebie as online sampling specialist.
U.K. researcher Dub has appointed Rhiannon James as strategy and innovation director and Gail Heather as agile product owner.
Detroit-based research consultancy Market Strategies International has named Melissa Sauter as president of the company. Additionally, Christopher Barnes has been promoted to managing director of the financial services division; Todd Mundorf has been promoted to COO; and Katy Palmer will take on a new role as chief solutions officer while maintaining her role as managing director of the health division.
Jade Bunke has joined MFour Mobile Research, Irvine, Calif., as director of marketing.
Target Research Group, Nanuet, N.Y., has appointed Patrick J. Gorman as its first CMO.
Translation and language services firm GlobaLexicon, London, has expanded its internship program. The company launched the program in its London office over 10 years ago and has now rolled it out to its other offices, creating specialist intern positions across its project management, linguistics, quality assurance and vendor management teams.
Dan Foreman has been appointed to the advisory board for U.K. video insight firm Voxpopme.
Seattle-based marketing and sales strategy consultancy Lenati has appointed David Dorrian as director of research and Jonathan Adler as director of analytics.
Directions Research, Cincinnati, has appointed Beth Finn as vice president, shopper practice lead, client service. She will be based in the firm’s Chicago office.
Adam Rossow has joined strategic research consultancy Benenson Strategy Group as a marketing consultant.
SIS International Research, New York, has appointed Rich Gasparre as a senior strategy analyst for the firm’s market intelligence and strategy unit.
Consumer analytics company Simmons Research, New York, has appointed Steven Millman as chief scientist, Alan Resneck as CFO and Pyeush Gurha as chief technology officer. The company has also retained Bill Harvey as a strategic consultant.