Kimberly Till quits TNS over Americas restructuring plan

US— Kimberly Till has left her position as head of TNS’s US custom business after being told of plans to bring together its North American and Latin American custom businesses under one regional management structure.

Global chief David Lowden told Research Till had “no desire to stay on” with the company after he met with her yesterday and explained that her position in its current form would be scrapped to make way for a new role overseeing the entire Americas region.

Lowden said the company was looking for someone with “knowledge and experience” of both the North America and Latin American markets to fill this position.

Pedro Ros, TNS’s managing director of global clients and sectors, will oversee the US custom business following Till’s departure. He has also been given responsibility for planning the regional change, which takes effect from 2009, with support from former Information Resources and Synovate executive Tim Bowles in a consulting capacity.

Lowden said the restructure was prompted by multinational clients, who are co-ordinating their research for Latin America through the US. He said the opportunity for reorganising the business along these lines was noted a while back, but the company has spent the past couple of years focused on stabilising and restructuring the US business.

Till, a former Microsoft executive, was brought in to lead this restructure in May 2006. She was tasked with moving the business ‘up the value chain’ – away from data provision towards analytics and consultative services – after revenues slumped due to client losses and fierce price competition in the data collection space.

In a statement, Lowden said the restructure had been successful – with North American revenues up year-on-year in the most recent annual results – and he credited Till with putting the company “on a very stable footing in this important market”.

He added: “We are grateful for her valuable contribution and wish her every success in the future.” Till could not be reached for comment.

Author: Brian Tarran

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