Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill + Bar has tapped Steve Levigne to join its executive team as vice president of insights and analytics.
Carlo Fava has joined Seattle-based Discuss.io as chief financial officer.
Hall & Partners has appointed Gabrielle Bell as its new CEO of Europe. She will be based in London.
Sir Martin Sorrell has stepped down as CEO of ad giant WPP. Roberto Quarta, chairman of WPP, becomes executive chairman until the appointment of a new CEO. Mark Read, CEO of Wunderman and WPP Digital, and Andrew Scott, WPP corporate development director and COO, Europe, have been appointed as joint COOs of WPP. Sorrell will be available to assist with the transition. A previously announced investigation into an allegation of misconduct against Sorrell has concluded. The allegation “did not involve amounts that are material,” the company said in a statement.
Reston, Va.-based comScore Inc. announced that Susan J. Riley, chair of the board of comScore, has decided to step down from the board, effective immediately. The board expects to appoint a chair and, if needed, a lead independent director, concurrent with the conclusion of its search for its new CEO. Riley will serve as a consultant to the company through the end of 2018. The company also announced that Dale Fuller has joined its board of directors.
Matt Nitzberg has joined Nepa, a Stockholm-based customer experience firm, to work with the company’s roster of U.S.-based CPG and retail clients.
Great Neck, N.Y., research firm FRC, a Lieberman Company, has added Paul Crowe to its quantitative practice as senior vice president.
Austin, Texas-based Acessa Health Inc. has named Kathleen Malaspina chief innovation officer and vice president of marketing.
Alpharetta, Ga., software firm Agilysys Inc. has named Heather Varian Foster vice president of marketing, a new position at Agilysys.
Ascribe, a Cincinnati-based text analytics solutions firm, has appointed Andy Pfau as vice president of sales.
Bas de Vos has been named global director for audience targeting and activation at Kantar Media.
Microsoft has appointed Steve May as its European data protection officer, in compliance with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.
New York-based eMarketer has added Andrew Lipsman to its analyst team. Lipsman will serve as principal analyst covering retail and ecommerce. Prior to eMarketer, he was senior vice president of marketing and insights at comScore Inc.
Philadelphia research firm The Melior Group announced that Sindey Dranoff will take over as leader of its Jewish Community Studies initiative following the retirement of Susan Levine.
Ben Rickard has joined London-based media agency MediaCom as chief digital and data officer.
Roundtable Analytics has appointed Nathan Holt as vice president.
U.K.-based market research company Beam Fieldwork has appointed Hannah Acton as trainee project manager and Jenny Blundell as project assistant.
Johnson City, Tenn., research firm Smarty Pants has added Ken Clark as Insights Mastermind. In this new position, he will direct quantitative research for several of the organization’s media and technology clients. He is based in Dallas.
Information technology and services firm Questback has appointed Mårten Blixt as its new regional director, Nordics.
Information technology and services firm Tru Optik, Stanford, Conn., has appointed Frans Vermeulen as COO.
Chicago-based researcher IRI has appointed Olly Abotorabi to the newly-created role of senior regional insight manager. Abotorabi will be based in the U.K.
Nielsen has appointed Andy Zhao as president, Nielsen China.
U.K.-based technology data firm RealityMine has promoted Chris Shaw to chief operating officer following the announcement of Chris Havemann as CEO.
India research firm Majestic Research Group has appointed Priyanko Sinha as client servicing director, social insights.
San Francisco-based analytics firm Quantcast has appointed Sam Barnett to the newly created role of chief product officer.
Cambridge MR, a U.K.-based market research firm, has appointed Mark Bagnall as managing director, replacing Paul Beresford, who will become chairman.
Dan Coffin has been appointed by U.K.-based market research firm The Research Partnership as director for the EU region.
Watertown, Mass., research firm InCrowd has named Rob DeMento as senior vice president of product.
Research firm SurveyHealthcare has named Matt Walmsley as chief strategy officer, Sal Brucculeri as chief revenue officer, North America, and Randalyn Perry as chief human resources officer. Additionally, Philip Sofia, the firm’s president who joined in early 2017, has resigned in order to pursue opportunities outside of the market research industry.
Edelman Financial Services, Fairfax, Va., has named Letha Steffey CMO.
Researcher Lightspeed made three appointments to its Seoul, South Korea, team in conjunction with the opening of its first local office in Seoul, adding Won Jung as client development director and Songmi Kim and Miseon Lee as project managers.
Stamford, Conn.-based FocusVision has added three to its C-suite team, naming Thierry D’Hers as chief product officer, Mark Sonders as chief revenue officer and Chris Nagy as chief financial officer.
Research company Ipsos has appointed Rami Abudyab as country manager of its offices in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He will be based in the Ipsos offices in Riyadh.
London-based DigitalMR has added Ziad Tassabehji and Mark Hollandas new shareholders and members to its advisory board. Tassabehji is CEO of Green Wave and Holland is managing partner at Carbon to Clean.
Research firm Response: now has named Frederick Barber as its new CEO. After serving as the firm’s managing director of North America, Barber takes over as chief executive of the Dallas- and Prague-based organization.
Portland, Ore., research technology company Dialsmith announced a series of promotions and new hires, including the promotion of Eric Alzuhn to senior vice president and head of day-to-day operations. Alzuhn takes over daily operations from Founder and CEO David Paull, who has shifted his focus to leading the company’s recently launched Engagious venture. In addition, the firm has added Amanda Paull as vice president, marketing and Cindy Ng as director, projects and client services, as well as promoted Clinton Godeke to director, projects and client services, Greg Treat to director, projects and client services, and Brian Izenson to director, marketing and business development.
MFour Mobile Research, Irvine, Ca., has added three new staff members to its sales and operations teams. In sales, Jim Timony joins as a senior solutions executive and Sarah Chung joins as solutions executive. Joan Martinez has been named research consultant on the operations team.
Kantar has appointed Nitin Nishandar to the newly-created role of chief commercial officer of its Insights division, comprising Kantar TNS and Kantar Millward Brown. His role covers Southeast Asia, North Asia and the Pacific. Nishandar takes over from Jon Foged, who was recently named Kantar CEO in Australia.