Mimi Nichols, founder of Nichols Research, Sunnyvale, Calif., died in November 2012 at age 63.
Paul L. Arndt, former vice president at Maritz Research, St. Louis, died in November 2012 at age 73.
Buffets Inc., a Greer, S.C., restaurant group, has hired Tama Looney as director, consumer insights.
Panera Bread Company, St. Louis, has elected Diane Hessan of Boston research company Communispace to its board of directors as an independent director.
New York research company Kantar Health has hired Hettie Han as director, Kantar Health China. Han will be based in Beijing.
Milwaukee research company Market Probe has hired Steven Marks as vice president and head of operations, St. Louis.
Jeff Hunter has been hired as associate at Cambiar, a Phoenix research consultancy.
Shelton, Conn., research company SSI has hired Tom Johnson as senior vice president, sales and client services, North America.
Pulse Group PLC, a Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, research company, has appointed Katie Lee as senior account manager, research.
Shachi Kurl has been named director, communications, at Vancouver, B.C., research company Vision Critical. Additionally, the company has appointed Alexandra Samuel as vice president, social media.
Cincinnati research company Burke, Inc. has promoted Rene Watanabe Day to vice president, senior account consultant, client services.
Harpeth Marketing, a Franklin, Tenn., marketing firm serving the market research industry, has hired Jacqueline Hayes as program specialist to oversee the firm’s Lead Nurturing Program.
Thoroughbred Research Group, Louisville, Ky., has named Janelle Cambron-Mellott director, research design and analytics. Cambron-Mellott will be based at the company’s headquarters and in Houston.
Dan Coffin has joined London research company Illuminas as research director, global health care.
Surrey, U.K., research company EasyInsites has named Alastair Macmillan sales director.
Insight Strategy Group, a New York research company, has promoted Slaine Jenkins to research manager and Amalia Branaa to senior designer.
Sue Symons has rejoined Roswell, Ga., research company Moore & Symons Inc. as senior vice president and head of its Coupeville, Wash. office.
Walter Patanella has been named CEO, media monitoring and evaluation, at London research company Kantar Media.
Mike Mallinson has been named president of The Access Partnership, a London research company.
San Mateo, Calif., research company Aggregate Knowledge has named Rob Gatto president.
New York research company Repucom has hired Bruno Lalande as director, strategy, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Lalande will be based in Paris.
Robert Clark has joined Rochester, N.Y., research company Harris Interactive as senior vice president.
Matthew Hurst has joined Bangalore, India, research company Borderless Access as associate vice president, sales, Europe. Hurst will be based in the U.K.
Chaordix, an Alberta, Calgary, research company, has named Carey Houston COO; Jim Gibson executive vice president, global markets; and Randy Corke vice president and senior principal, crowdsourcing advisory services.
MMR Research Worldwide, Oxfordshire, U.K., has made the following appointments: Janine Gamon, director, client services; Tom Pile, Dan Hibbs and Tim Button, associate director; Helena Nilsson-Ghosh, research manager; Mark Osborn, survey programmer; and Alice Parry, trainee research executive.