Coca Cola Exec to Co-Chair ARF's Online Initiative

In the US, Coca-Cola veteran Stan Sthanunathan is to lead the Online Research Quality Council (ORQC) established by the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF). He takes over from Kim Dedeker, who recently left Procter & Gamble to join Kantar.

He joins Co-Chair Bob Tomei of IRI as the initial results from the ARF-led Foundations of Quality research project are released. Findings are already being used to create a better understanding of operational procedures to boost data quality, improve online survey response quality, and enhance reliability of results, via metrics guidelines.

Sthanunathan has worked at Coca-Cola for the past ten years, and currently serves as VP-Marketing Strategy & Insights. He previously worked at Pathfinders (Lintas India's market research agency), and has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore.

Outgoing Co-Chair Dedeker, now Chair of Kantar Americas, will remain on the governing board. She comments: 'Stan has been one of our key partners in the war on quality. He is extremely passionate and well versed in the challenges and issues that face the industry.'

Tomei thanked Dedeker for her leadership and support of the Council and welcomed Sthanunathan to the role. The ORQC, which was established in 2007 to improve online survey quality, will begin releasing its findings in June.

New York-based ARF is online at www.thearf.org .