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MRA Appoints Researchers to Develop Professional Exam
The US Marketing Research Association has established an exam development committee for its Professional Researcher Certification (PRC). The committee will help to construct the first PRC exam, due to be administered in 2007, which will be one of several routes to certification for MR professionals.
The committee, to be chaired by Ken Roberts, President of Cooper Roberts Research, will meet at the MRA's Conference and Research Industry Forum in Las Vegas this November. Other committee members are:- Nancy Kemmeries, VP, Friedman Marketing
- Regina Lewis, Director of Consumer Brand Insight, Dunkin' Brands
- Amy Ienello, MR Manager, Bose Corporation
- Stacey Hurwitz, Consultant, Strategic Research Horizons
- Wasse Alemayehu, VP of Research, GSW Worldwide
- Melinda Denton, Director of Marketing Research, Wells Fargo Bank
- Linda Daniel, Research Director, Harris Interactive
- Margaret Roller, President, Roller Marketing Research.
MRA Executive Director Larry Brownell hopes that the PRC will 'establish an objective measure of MR professionals' knowledge and proficiency, and encourage continued professional development'. He also hopes that the standards will increase consumer understanding of research and foster higher professional standards. There are several paths to certification, and many experienced practitioners will become certified before the exam is launched.
PRC is currently in the process of gaining accreditation by the US National Commission for Certifying Agencies(NCCA), and already has the support of many MR professionals. 'If we as marketing researchers embrace PRC as we should', says Dan Womack of Genworth Financial, 'I see no reason why this certification can't become to our industry what the CPA is to accounting'. He expects the PRC soon to become 'minimal acceptance criteria when selecting suppliers and hiring new staff'.
The MRA's web site is www.mra-net.org.
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