James Endersby elected MRS chair

Endersby (pictured left), who has led Opinium since 2010 and is a fellow of the MRS, will take on his new role in April 2023 and will serve a three-year term, becoming chair after a year as chair designate.

Sinead Jefferies, senior vice-president at Zappi, is currently chair of MRS.

MRS has also appointed Georgina White (pictured right), director of customer experience and insight at Holland and Barrett, as chair of the senior client council.

White takes over from Robert Kitching, vice-president consumer and market insight, beauty and personal care division at Unilever, who has stepped down by rotation but who is remaining on the council.

This year’s MRS election had 14 candidates for four available places on the main board and two candidates for chair designate. Turnout was 20.8%.

Josephine Hansom, vice-president youth at Savanta, Shazia Ali, director and founder at Mint Research, and LaShanda Seaman, qualitative research manager at Opinium, were all elected to the main board for their first terms.

Rebecca Cole, managing director at Cobalt Sky, was re-elected to the main board.

Jane Frost, chief executive at MRS, said: “This was an incredibly tough competition with an incredibly experienced and diverse list of candidates, all of whom would have been an asset to the board.

“I am excited to be working with an incredibly diverse board and want to extend my heartfelt thanks to those who did not make it through this time.”