Market Strategies Man Reg Baker to Join MRII

Non-profit educational body the Marketing Research Institute International (MRII) has named research industry veteran Reg Baker as Executive Director. He will take up the new post on October 1st, following the retirement of Don Marek the previous month.

The MRII, which was founded in 1995 by a group of industry leaders and is affiliated to the University of Georgia's Center for Continuing Education, provides two online distance-learning courses - the Principles of Marketing Research and the Principles of Pharmaceutical Marketing Research. To date, around 7,000 research practitioners have enrolled.

Baker (pictured) will join after a 35-year market research career, having spent the past nineteen working for full service agency Market Strategies International - previously as President and COO, and since retiring in 2012, as a Senior Consultant. Earlier, he spent eleven years at social science research specialist NORC at the University of Chicago, where as VP for Research Operations he was responsible for the organization's national field staff, telephone interviewing and data preparation facilities.

During his career, Baker has also been a Consultant to ESOMAR's Professional Standards Committee; served as a member of the International Journal of Marketing Research Executive Editorial Board; and has co-chaired the AAPOR Task Force on Non-Probability Sampling.

Barry Watson, MRII's President, comments: 'Reg Baker brings a broad understanding of current trends in the market research industry and the challenges they present to market research educators. MRII is fortunate to have an industry leader with such a wealth of experience help us with our important mission.'

Marek, whom he replaces, has held the MRII post for the past eight years following a 28-year career at AT&T. Marek also served as President of the Marketing Research Association, and still serves on its Professional Standards Committee.

Web site: www.mrii.org .