Renee Smith named Kantar’s chief research officer

Smith (pictured) joined Ipsos last year as vice president of global operations and has previously had a spell with Harris Interactive as vice president of panel quality.

In the newly-created position at Kantar she will take a central role in the development of the firm’s research services and work with all Kantar’s operating companies. She will be based in the US and report to Kim Dedeker, Kantar Americas chair.

In the UK, Millward Brown’s Tim Kelsall has been moved from global business leader for PepsiCo to senior vice president of client strategy, innovation and delivery for Kantar. He will also report to Dedeker.

Kantar chief executive Eric Salama said: “Renee is recognised as one of the top industry experts in the strategic application of research to improve decision making. She will play a pivotal role in helping us achieve our goals for an integrated offer that adds unique competitive advantage.”

On Kelsall, Dedeker said: “Tim has a detailed knowledge of client needs and expectations through his extensive experience in senior account-handling roles.”

• In other news today Kantar World Panel has relaunched its Comtech syndicated mobile study as an integrated offer to examine how consumers engage with mobile, broadband, landlines and pay TV. The study previously studied the four different elements seperately but will now provide integrated data from 15,000 consumers on their relationships with the different parts of the telcoms market.