New Chair for UK's Independent MR Group

The Independent Consultants Group (ICG) which represents more than 300 consultants in the UK market research arena, has appointed Andrew Smith as its new Chairman; taking the reigns from Tim Williams who steps down from the role after two years.

Smith's background includes more than 20 years' experience working at Account Director level at agencies such as TNS, NOP, ORC International and GfK. He formed his own company Andrew Smith Research (ASR) in 2004, and has been an ICG committee member for several years.

The ICG was formed in 1993 as a special interest group within the Market Research Society (MRS) to represent the interests of 'solo' researchers. It is now an independent group affiliated to the MRS and representing small research consultancies and independent market researchers.

Three additional new committee members have also been appointed, namely Anumita Sharma of The Third Eye who is responsible for PR and external communications, Penny Edwards of Pentacon in charge of membership, and Hazel Fletcher who will control the organisation's finances.

The organisation's web site is at www.indepconsultants.org.