Neuzil was previously vice-president of business development at Kantar Millward Brown, and prior to that spent 30 years at Ipsos, most recently as senior vice-president of brand and communications. His work for clients includes General Mills, Nationwide and Best Buy.

Francie Turk, founder and owner of Illinois-based CCI, said: “The research world is changing and clients need to extract greater insight from each piece of research. They want senior people who can leverage their experience by actively managing a project from beginning to end.”