Touchstone Research makes five hires

Erik Erwin has joined the firm as senior project director, and  He will work closely with the company’s tech, media and entertainment and youth clients.

Erwin is an anthropologist with over 10 years’ experience uncovering insights about consumer culture for large companies and ad agencies in categories including technology, consumer packaged goods (CPG), finance, health care, food and beverage, automotive and clothing.

Another senior project director is Jack Keelan. Keelan spent time at Radio Flyer as a design researcher, where he was responsible for designing, coordinating, moderating and reporting on research projects around a variety of kids’ toys, as well as electric bikes/scooters for adults. 

Michelle Richard has joined as senior qualitative analyst, and joins Touchstone from North American Cryobank, where she led the marketing department.

Prior to her time at Cryobank, Richard spent time at Ipsos Understanding Unlimited, where she was senior qualitative research consultant and moderator. She was also a product researcher on the research and development team for Procter & Gamble.

Also joining as a senior quantitative analyst is Michael Kozloski. Before moving to Touchstone, Kozloski worked for 16 years in consumer research, primarily in the grocery, household goods and electronics sectors, and worked for one of the largest social science research organisations in the US as a research scientist and most recently as a senior survey research analyst for a large nursing and health professions institution.

Patricia Lopez has been appointed as a senior qualitative analyst. She has more than 15 years’ experience across numerous industries, including media and entertainment, tech, CPG, financial, health and beauty, food and beverage, banking, pharmaceuticals, insurance, automobile and restaurants. 

Lopez joins from Focus Room/Fuel where she was the qualitative lead specialising in cultural insights. Previously, she spent time at PRS In Vivo, where she led and mentored a team of researchers and was a research manager and moderator responsible for qualitative and quantitative studies.

“We are very excited to welcome Patricia, Michelle, Erik, Jack and Michael to our rapidly growing research organisation,” said Touchstone Research chief executive Aaron Burch.

“Each one of our new senior team members brings with them a wealth of knowledge and expertise across numerous methodologies and specialisations that will help to significantly strengthen our teams’ capabilities and bring tremendous value to our clients. 

“We are so pleased to add such a wonderful batch of research pros to the team that really check all of the boxes, including social research scientists, cultural research experts, product design researchers with youth and family expertise, senior moderators with 15-plus years’ experience and anthropologists.”

Pictured above: Top row from left to right: Michael Kozloski, Michelle Richard and Erik Erwin; bottom row from left to right: Patricia Lopez and Jack Keelan