Verve Aus Names Leader for New Quant / Analytics Arm

In Australia, culture, community panels and smart digital insight specialist Verve has appointed Rikki Pearce as Managing Director and Head of its new 'Global Advanced Quant and Analytics' practice.

Headquartered in London, Verve also has offices in Manchester, Chicago and Iasi, Romania, and a Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Sydney, Australia office was its first overseas location, in 2009, and it has recently added an Australian CoRE.

Pearce joins from News Corp, where she served as Head of Audience Intelligence; prior to which she served as Senior Manager, Member Strategy & Program Design at airline Qantas, having previously been the latter's Strategic Research & Insights Lead. Earlier, she was a Quant/Qual Researcher at Ergo Strategy, and a Senior Consultant, Customer Strategy at Deloitte Australia.

In her new role Pearce (pictured) will work alongside Dan Alexander-Head, who joined Verve's partner company Potentiate in autumn 2020 as Director of Innovation; and Jason Buchanan, who recently set up the firm's consumer interaction business unit, Verve Collaborations. These three will form the core management team, and the firm is planning to build the Australian operation to a headcount of ten by mid-year.

Verve founder and CEO Andrew Cooper comments: 'Rikki is a rising star who, alongside Dan and Jason, will help us build a dynamic and disruptive business. Verve Australia will provide clients with a new choice which is stimulating, joined-up and above all delivered with passion by a team who really care about great client service'.

Web site: www.addverve.com .