GfK hires Villain to lead new US customer experience unit

Villain (pictured) was most recently president of media and technology at Ipsos MediaCT and has a market research career spanning 25 years with previous spells at Added Value and Millward Brown. He joins GfK as the research giant says it is has reconfigured its US brand, customer experience, and innovation teams to give clients greater access to a broad range of the company’s expertise.

Alongside his appointment, Audrey Rosen is promoted from heading up the shopper and retail strategy arm to become managing director of market opportunities and innovation, which now incorporates all staff from the existing strategic innovation, consumer trends and multicultural teams.

Interscope founder Gary Schanzer will replace Rosen as the new managing director of shopper and retail strategy, while Don Simons will become the new managing director of consumer goods and consumer healthcare in the shakeup.

David Krajicek, CEO of GfK Consumer Experiences North America, said: “We have reconfigured our organisation to deliver both depth of insight and greater simplicity in addressing a broad range of marketing challenges. Our new leadership is committed to helping clients take a holistic view of their marketing efforts, and our solutions are fully aligned with GfK’s unmatched global resources.”