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Harris Co-Founder to Retire

February 28 2008

Harris Interactive has announced that Len Bayer, who co-founded the company more than 30 years ago and currently serves as Chief Scientist, Chief Technology Officer and Director, is to retire at the end of March. He will be replaced by Harris veteran David Bakken.

Len BayerBayer helped found Harris Interactive's predecessor Gordon S Black Corporation in 1975 as Statistician and Mathematical Modeling expert. He previously worked for the Practice Development Corporation as VP of Research and Development, and before this he taught mathematical statistics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. He has an MA in Statistics, a BS in Astrophysics, and a BA in Mathematics from the University of Rochester.

During his 32-year career with Harris, he is credited with designing GlobalSynch - the firm's multi-lingual, multi-country platform for conducting online surveys. Since then, the company has spent approximately $60m developing the system. 'It had never been done before. We started with best-of-breed components, and had to develop the software, the hardware configurations, the panel, the methodology experiments and all of the controlling code to tie it together,' said Bayer. 'We were incredibly ambitious - and we pulled it all off. I'm very proud to have been a part of it.'

In his retirement, Bayer is looking forward to increasing his support for protecting wildlife as well as collecting orchids. 'Our research platform is nearing the end of its strategic build out and is very stable now; and I know that I'm leaving it in good hands. It's time for new leadership. Besides, I promised my wife that we'd get to Zimbabwe and Easter Island', added Bayer.

The firm's President and CEO Greg Novak noted that Bayer will be missed; not only for his technical abilities, but also for his wise counsel and business acumen.

Bakken takes over Bayer's role after 17 years with the firm, most recently as SVP of Marketing Sciences. He has an AB in Psychology from the University of Michigan and a MA and PhD. in Social Psychology from Boston University.

Harris Interactive is on the web at www.harrisinteractive.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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