People on the move

US online panel company uSamp has appointed Steven Sobolevsky as chief technology officer. He joins from e-commerce software firm RazorGator where he was vice president of technology.

Directions Research & Marketing in the UK has promoted Gemma Lewis to research manager and Kelly Saward to senior research executive. Glen Buchanan has rejoined the firm as research manager following 18 months working strategic consultancy at the Central Office of Information.

Market Probe, based in Wisconsin, has hired Michael Lowenstein as executive vice president. The firm describes Lowenstein as “a leading authority on stakeholder, brand and enterprise advocacy”.

Synovate has established a qualitative business unit in South Africa, led by director Maree Fouché.

Meanwhile, Synovate’s Marketing Management Analytics business has hired Mitch Weintraub as vice president of account management and Matthew Abrena as associate director of client services analytics. Weintraub was previously director of business analytics for Novartis, while Abrena was director of marketing analytics and insights at Dratfield Analytics in New York.

London-based marketing insights consultancy SCB Partners has hired Beth Broughton as senior strategy director. She was previously managing director of Oscar Marketing Solutions. Former Canadian Broadcasting Corporation journalist Jakob von Baeyer has also joined the firm as account director.

InsightExpress has appointed Meghan DeBerry as senior account executive and Jesse Epstein as account executive, both within the digital research agency’s US custom research team. DeBerry was previously with Opinion Research Corporation while Epstein joins from SmartAnalyst.

Online research and technology firm Vision Critical has made two hires in its Australian office. Daniel Alexander-Head joins as engagement strategy director, while Bala Rajan becomes qualitative business head for Australia and New Zealand. Both were previously with Colmar Brunton.

Research software and services company MarketTools, based in San Francisco, has appointed David Rusher as senior vice president of enterprise feedback management sales. Rusher was previously regional vice president for RightNow Technologies.

The UK Advertising Association has appointed Karen Fraser as head of research. She previously acted as a research consultant to sports broadcaster ESPN.