Beard to Advise Fast-Growing Norstat

Consumer panels Norstat has appointed Randall Beard to its Board of Directors, as it plans further international expansion and continued investment in technology, products and capabilities.

Norstat has proprietary panels of 14 million respondents across 45 countries in Europe and the Americas, and offers sample-only, full-service and digital products and solutions including MyNorstat, Norstat Express and Norstat Studio. The Norstat Expert Network, connecting clients with hard-to-reach B2B decision-makers and niche audiences, further complements this. Last week the firm announced it was consolidating brands, moving its Offerwise, National Sample and Sample Solutions businesses to operate as one company under the Norstat name.

Beard (pictured) brings expertise spanning technology and software, data and predictive analytics, and consumer products. He spent around sixteen years in senior marketing roles at Procter & Gamble in the US, China and Japan, then five years at American Express and two at UBS in the 2000s. In 2009 he joined Nielsen, where he worked for more than seven years, latterly as Global President for Ad Solutions, Expanded Verticals and Innovation, and GM of the Global BASES Business. Since a spell as Group President, Advertisers at purchase intelligence platform Cardlytics in 2018-19, he has served as a Board advisor and NED for a number of companies including Catalina, H.I.G. Capital and Suzy, Bain & Company, Ometria, and AI research platform Metaforms.

Norstat Board member Johan Symmons states: 'We are pleased to welcome Randall to the Norstat Board. His deep understanding of the global market research and insights industry, combined with extensive board and executive experience, will be highly valuable as we continue to execute on our strategy and expand internationally.'

Beard himself comments: 'The market research and insights industry is undergoing a generational shift, moving from producing insight summaries to powering real-time decision-making through AI, prediction and the simulation of business outcomes. That shift depends on one thing above all: trustworthy, validated human data. As the market fills with AI alternatives, genuine, permission-based human insight is becoming more valuable, not less. Norstat's consumer panel is exactly that kind of asset.'

The firm's global home page is at www.norstat.co .