Connolly joins the company from consulting business Cardno, where she was most recently vice-president, principal strategy development and communications for Cardno Emerging Markets.

Prior to that, she was a programme specialist at Deloitte Consulting.

Based in Kantar Public’s Washington, D.C. office, and part of the global senior leadership team, Connolly will lead the development practice, partnering with the company’s Africa and Middle East teams on evidence, evaluation and consultancy.

Michelle Harrison, global chief executive, Kantar Public, said: “Caroline will drive the next stage of growth for our development practice – leading our specialist development practice teams and building on the next wave of evidence-based public policy making with our proprietary data infrastructure while deepening our advisory offer.”