Amy Fenton is New Toluna CEO

Toluna has found a CEO to step into the substantial shoes of founder Frédéric Charles Petit: Amy Fenton joins from MarketCast, where she was also CEO, and brings experience from senior roles at Kantar, Ipsos, and a quarter of a century at Nielsen.

Toluna announced last week that Petit would be stepping back from the role he has held for 25 years, and said a structured succession process was underway - that process appears to have concluded very quickly.

Fenton has more than 30 years of experience in the insights and analytics industry. She was Chief Operations and Analytics Officer and Chief Insights & Analytics Officer at MarketCast, before taking the CEO role, and earlier she served as Chief Client Officer, North America at Kantar and as Chief Client Officer and CMO, North America at Ipsos. She spent 25 years at Nielsen - the first sixteen of them in its BASES division, and in global and regional leadership roles across North America, Europe and Latin America. She began her career at Procter & Gamble. She has served on the Board of Trustees of the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) since 2021, holds a BSBA in Marketing from Xavier University and a degree in Strategy from Harvard Business School Executive Education.

Toluna Chairman Bruce Haymes says of the appointment: 'The Board set out to find a leader who combines deep knowledge of the insights industry and its clients with hands-on experience of transforming a research business through technology and AI, and Amy is that leader. She joins a company with a strong platform, a talented team and a clear strategy, and she has the Board's full confidence to lead Toluna into its next phase of growth.'

'Frédéric and the team have built exceptional foundations over 25 years,' says Fenton. 'My first priority is to spend time with our clients and our world-class team to understand the decisions that matter most to clients, and to make Toluna indispensable to them. I am grateful to the Board for its confidence, and to Frédéric for his partnership through the handover.'

Petit comments: 'When I said this was the right moment for new leadership, I hoped we would find a leader like Amy. She has spent more than 30 years in our industry, close to its clients, and she understands what makes Toluna different. I look forward to supporting her and the team as a Board member, advisor and shareholder.'

Toluna's corporate home page is at www.tolunacorporate.com .

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