Conrad has been tasked with leading sales and growth efforts at Hotspex, which has 94 staff spread across offices in Toronto, New York, Boston, London and Geneva.

Founder Shane Skillen said: “Over the last decade Hotspex has become an established player in the research industry and our investments in developing breakthrough capabilities are paying off.

“James Conrad’s leadership and vision will add further momentum to our team as we continue to drive global brands through research and market intelligence.”

Clients of the agency include Procter & Gamble, McDonald’s, Microsoft and Unilever.

Conrad comes to the firm after more than a decade at Millward Brown, starting in 1999 as a regional manager for Latin America, then moving to Atlanta to take the role of group director.

He joined the agency’s Canadian business as a vice president in 2004, before being promoted to managing director than to president in November 2007 – the position he held until leaving for Hotspex this month.

Millward Brown has yet to name Conrad’s successor. He is the current chairman of the Canadian Advertising Research Foundation and chairman of the research agency council at the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association.

UPDATE @ 16.42: Millward Brown has emailed the following statement: “Nick Findlay, executive vice president at Millward Brown will take on the interim role as head of Millward Brown Canada while the company recruits for James Conrad’s successor. Findlay, who has over 30 years of experience in sales and marketing, has overseen Millward Brown’s businesses in the Midwest and Canada for the past four years and is very familiar with the Canadian research environment.”