I left ESOMAR earlier this year as a paid staff member, having worked for 10 years as the Head of Public Affairs and Professional Standards, and then later on as Head of Marketing. And for me, what I’ve always found enriching is making the case on behalf of the industry as to why the industry matters to society. And that was always a reality, it was always great to be able to educate stakeholders like public officials because I thought about what market research brings to society, whether it be helping businesses to succeed, keeping employment going, and helping governments understand what citizens are looking for from them.
Being able to bring the voices and the challenges that market researchers are experiencing day in and day out into the public sphere is always powerful. Now we have a new role at ESOMAR, which is the Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee. So I’m still in the same space, but I have a slightly different role and my role as Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee is to make sure that our Legal Affairs Committee operates and monitors legislation, and we guide the industry to remain legally compliant, but also to anticipate new discussions which might impact the way we do research in the future.
