Former Nielsen Product Head is New YouGov Data Chief

YouGov has appointed long-time Nielsen employee Michelle Gelman as Chief Data Officer, a new role leading the development of the company's data portfolio, supporting its broader growth and innovation initiatives.

The high profile data and insights firm has offices in the UK, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, India and Asia Pacific. Its 'Living Data' platform analyses feedback from 26 million registered panel members worldwide, and feeds into offerings such as Profiles, BrandIndex and CategoryView. After a challenging 2024, culminating in the return of co-founder Stephan Shakespeare as CEO in February this year, the company has recently announced new and extended partnerships with firms including Havas and Metricomm, and launched a new feature called Video Voices.

Gelman (pictured) has worked across the media, technology, advertiser, agency and e-commerce sectors, most recently as Global Head of Product at Nielsen, responsible for the end-to-end product management of its highest-value assets, including the Nielsen TV Ratings. Prior to that she held a variety of senior roles in both product and data science; and earlier in her career she helped to design and launch a number of Nielsen innovations, including solutions for measuring out-of-home media exposure and census data integrations for local television measurement. She spent eleven years in total at the company, and was recently named in Adweek's inaugural 'Innovator 50' and selected as a 'Top Woman in Media and AdTech' in 2024.

In her new role, Gelman will oversee the design, collection and analysis of YouGov's proprietary longitudinal dataset, ensuring its quality, consistency and strategic value across the organisation. The company says the introduction of the role will deepen its understanding of how customers use data, and broaden its range of connected, scalable data solutions - and thereby ensure clients have faster and more incisive insights into real-world business challenges.

CEO Stephan Shakespeare states: 'Michelle will spearhead the design and evolution of YouGov's data and ensure the company's connected data assets continue to set the standard for quality, consistency, and innovation. Michelle's deep experience in developing innovative, scalable products globally will help drive the acceleration of our growth initiatives.'

Web site: www.yougov.com .