NEWS25 March 2022

Obituary: Andy Cumming

News People UK

Andy Cumming, a managing partner at InSites Consulting, died suddenly of heart failure at his home on 12 January 2022.

Head shot of Andy Cumming

Born in 1972, Andy’s degree at Bangor University was sponsored by Royal Insurance (which later became RSA) and when he successfully graduated in 1993, Andy entered the company’s Graduate Programme. In 1997 Andy began his first role in the market research field, when he joined the proposition development team. 

He excelled in this area with his intelligence, natural curiosity and ability to build relationships, helping him progress to lead this function, expanding its size, reach and influence.  Andy’s success then led him to work directly for the chief executive of RSA’s UK commercial business, as executive office leader. Here he strengthened his understanding of what it took to run a successful business and the challenges a CEO had to manage.

For his last role at RSA, at the start of 2005, Andy took the role of customer leader in the company’s direct personal lines business More Than, before deciding to start a new chapter and bring all of his accumulated experience together.

In 2006, Andy co-founded his own business, the aptly named market research agency Curiosity Research. With a spotlight on driving organisational change, Liverpool-based Curiosity focused upon insight-led engagement and storytelling.  In 2008, Curiosity was shortlisted in the Best New Agency category at the Market Research Society Awards.

From its early start of two people working from their homes, Andy built Curiosity into a 15-person business working with organisations such as the NHS, Cancer Research UK, Tesco, Talk Talk and Allianz.

Andy had a deep interest in understanding motivations and behaviour, becoming an expert in the practical application of behavioural economics-based nudge theory and ethnography. His work with large public sector clients on policy areas such as smoking cessation and breastfeeding resulted in major change initiatives and the implementation of high-profile, successful campaigns across many NHS Trusts and local authorities.

After six successful years with Curiosity, Andy was ready for the next chapter in his career, with a move away from the complex demands of running a small agency, to immersing himself more deeply with clients in the insight process. Andy joined fast-growing, Manchester-based research community specialist Join the Dots as research director.

Andy’s significant talents were immediately recognised at Join the Dots and he was asked to lead the company’s largest client account, GSK. Over the next few years Andy’s exceptional account management skills, combined with his in-depth understanding of research and contagious curiosity helped to quadruple the size of the GSK account. Andy then joined the senior leadership team and eventually took charge of half of the Join the Dots’ consultant teams. He excelled at team management, giving his teams a sense of purpose and ownership that enabled them to grow and enjoy their work.

When Join the Dots was acquired by InSites Consulting in 2019, Andy was immediately picked to lead the combined UK business. After a successful 12 months in the role, Andy’s leadership skills were further recognised in his promotion to managing director of the entire European consultant operation, made up of nine pan-regional teams. During the same period, Andy was selected to take on a key strategic role as a managing partner for InSites Consulting.

Throughout his career Andy stood out in terms of his amazing ability to develop close relationships with everyone he worked with, to make people feel good about themselves whilst challenging and inspiring them to better things.

Clients were always quick to give feedback on Andy’s deep collaboration, and his passion to bring them fresh insight and ideas. He held a clear vision of the type of team he wished to be part of and, whilst serious about what he wanted to achieve, had a superb sense of fun and an infectious laugh, as well as a kind and patient manner.

He was an exceptional human being to work with and will be greatly missed. Andy’s death is a great loss to the research industry and to the many colleagues and friends he worked with over the breadth of an impressive career.

Those wishing to make a donation to the British Heart Foundation in Andy’s memory, can do so via this link

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