Six Recruits Boost Verve Team Driving VIPs

Pioneering insights firm Verve has made six appointments for its specialist Simulations Studio: Chris Espley and Shaun Johnston join in more senior roles, alongside recent graduates Emma Fullard, Wesley Cooke, Charlotte Davies and Harriet Micklewright.

Verve, which is headquartered in London, began life as a specialist in community panels but now brings together human expertise, cultural intelligence and proprietary technology. Its Verve Vero tech and services platform was launched two years ago this month, and is home to Verve Intelligent Personas (VIPs), which provide dynamic AI-powered simulations. The company says the hires reflect growing demand for VIPs, which is now deployed across more than 40 global brands.

The Simulations Studio is the specialist team responsible for developing, deploying, validating and continually evolving VIPS for clients and partners, and now boasts fourteen members. has grown to 14. Epsley (pictured above) joins as an Associate Director, with around ten years of experience across agency and client-side research - this includes three and a half years as a contract Customer Insight Consultant at financial services giant NFU Mutual, and three as a Senior Research Consultant at Human8. Johnston (pictured below) joins as Senior Consultant, having spent a decade at Human8 and a year most recently at Basis Research.

Verve says the four recent graduates joining the Studio in November are a sign of its commitment to developing the next generation of research talent - alongside the recent nomination of Isla Lees for Significant Insights' Global 30 Under 30 initiative. Founder and CEO Andrew Cooper comments: 'Building plausible customer personas is easy - anyone with a dataset and an LLM can do that. However, building decision-grade customer personas and simulations that are constantly validated, reliable and auditable is a true specialist skill set. One that is reflected in the diverse expertise of the team within Verve's Simulations Studio, working with our third-generation Verve Vero platform.'

Home page: www.vervevero.com .