At SABMiller Kollman (pictured) oversaw a team of 140 and was in overall charge of the company’s insights, research and analytics. Prior to SABMiller, she held various global and regional insights roles with companies including Mondelez, Allied-Domecq, PepsiCo and Nabisco.

She will be based in London and report to Kantar president Wayne Levings who said: “We have enjoyed a long relationship with Julie, who has been an excellent and challenging client, committed to both innovation and quality. So I am absolutely delighted that she will now be joining us at Kantar. She brings a wealth of industry know-how and management talent to help ensure we continue to focus on and lead in these critical areas.”

At Kantar, she will work closely with the company’s global clients dealing with issues including sampling and mixed-mode research techniques.

Kollman will also work with Kantar data science and operations personnel across all of its operating brands on innovation, best practice and the developing new data streams.

She takes over from Efrain Ribeiro, who took over the role in 2015 but has now retired.