GMI Expands US and Brazil Offices

New appointees and promotions at GMI include the man who brought kiwi fruit to the USA, and a former consultant who advised Microsoft and Bill Clinton. The company has made six senior appointments in the US and Brazil, as well as recruiting some more junior project management staff in Seattle.

Mark Houston, formerly VP Marketing, becomes the company's first Chief Marketing Officer, following a successful run of national and international marketing programs. His most prominent accomplishment was the introduction of kiwi fruit to America while serving as President and CEO of the California Kiwifruit Commission.

In the newly-created role of VP of Global Client Services, Larry Schak will lead client services in the US, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific. Prior to joining GMI, he established and led the Seattle office of WPP Group consultants Penn, Schoen & Berland. Here, he focused on corporate and political clients ranging from Microsoft and Procter & Gamble to Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.

Jashondra Crockett has been appointed as Director of Operations in the company's Los Angeles office. Crockett joins GMI from Nielsen Entertainment where she was Manager of Data Processing, responsible for Nielsen's Theatrical Ad Test projects. Previously she served as Global Manager for Production Services for SPSS and as Vice President, Director of Online Research for STARS (Survey Tabulations and Research Systems).

New appointments at the company's Sao Paulo office include Marcio Boiajion as the new Sales Director, Catarina Rocha as AD, Latin America, and Juliano Lima as AD of Sales. In his previous role as Executive Director at ABEP (Associacao Brazileira de Empresas de Pesquisa), Boiajion developed relationships with market research companies, and created databases. Rocha has worked as a data architect and consultant for ARO Sistemas, where she was assigned to Brasil Telecom. She also helped build an online global community for Latin American and Iberian markets while working for eCMetrics, a consumer knowledge and customer relationship services company. Lima has more than 10 years of experience in IT, having worked as Sales Executive for Compuware of Brazil, Sales Representative in Brazil for Net IQ Corporation, and Sales Engineer for Computer Associates of Brazil.

In Seattle, the latest recruits include Adam Rubens, Panel Recruitment Project Manager, Amy Tung, Project Manager, and Martin Zych, also Project Manager. Rubens joins GMI from Fisher Communications where he served as a Web Account Executive. Previously he was an Account Executive for Media West Advertising Sales. Tung most recently worked as Editor-in-Chief of the University of Washington's US-China Trade Policy Recommendation. As a student, she interned as a Marketing Researcher for Intel in Bejing. While earning his business degree from the University of Washington, Zych pursued a number of business ventures including developing and testing a cell phone battery design. He also founded Ikonmedia, a web design company, at the age of 16.

Talking about Schak's appointment as VP of Global Client Services, Rob Monster, GMI's CEO, commented: 'This change is about deeper integration and sharpening the focus of Client Services in co-ordination with Global Sales and Marketing to win customers, drive satisfaction and grow the business.'

The company's home page is at gmi-mr.com

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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