Team News

Innocent’s Worsley heads to Oxford

Jan Worsley has joined The Oxford Research Agency (TORA), the specialist FMCG and customer experience market research company, as associate director. Worsley joins from innocent, where he most recently held the position of head of customer insights. Worsley will work with TORA’s food and drink customers, providing consultancy on all aspects of the new product development process.

TORA advises over half of the world’s top FMCG manufacturers. 62% of the products launched following research undertaken by TORA stay in the market for more than three years, four times the industry average of 15%. It employs 55 people and recorded turnover of £4.7 million in 2009.

“TORA has a reputation for thinking outside the box, and has more commercial acumen than most market research firms,” said Worsley. “Clients are increasingly short of time, and need to work with agencies that they can trust. The economic climate of the last 18 months has challenged everyone, and this year the best agencies will be those that deliver unexpected insight to help their clients to predict consumer behaviour as we emerge slowly from recession. TORA’s research expertise across the whole new product development process means it helps clients to launch products that are more likely to succeed in the market.”

The Oxford Research Agency: New starters and Promotions

New Starters
The Oxford Research Agency continues to invest in all areas of the business to help manage its continued growth.

Richard Mills joins as Research Director having previously been on the Board at MMR Research Worldwide and at Mars, Rothmans and Allied Domecq before that.

Sarah Heather moves to TORA as Associate Director after 8 years working in FMCG adhoc NPD research at Conquest.

Whilst in Mimosa (The Oxford Research Agency’s new Qualitative division), Sunita Bhabra joins from Kids Research with over 12 years of expertise in FMCG, NPD, media and social research.

At the more junior level, Teresa Pereira joins as Research Executive from Marktest, Portugal. Bethany Shinkins joins as Trainee Statistician with a MSc in Applied Statistics & Datamining and a BSc (Hons.) Psychology. Jigna Naik also joins as Senior DP Executive having held several DP and Operations roles previously in the UK and India.

Andrew Tharme – Joint Managing Director – commented: “We are delighted that we are in a position to continue to recruit talent into our business. This will enable us to provide relevant expertise for the benefit of our ever increasing client portfolio. Richard and Sarah bring with them a combined total of over 30 years FMCG NPD experience. Whereas, Sunita brings with her rare expertise in Kids’ Qualitative research”.

Promotions
Meanwhile, Stuart Wright has been promoted to Research Manager in the Customer Experience team whilst Irene Koumi has been promoted to Research Executive from within the FMCG team.

Andrew Tharme added: “Our culture of meritocratic reward allows us to nurture and promote our talented people. Both Stuart and Irene are very well regarded within TORA and by our clients. The promotions reflect their tremendous performance and are thoroughly deserved”.
 

The Oxford Research Agency has made two new appointments to manage the continued growth of its FMCG business.

Martin Brock has joined as Associate Director having previously spent four years with ACNielsen BASES and four years with Research International. His background is in NPD research, focusing on volumetric forecasting.

James Lewis has joined as Trainee Research Executive. James has recently graduated from the University of St Andrews, where he gained a MA in International relations; he is also fluent in both French and Russian.

Andrew Tharme – Joint Managing Director – commented: “Once again we are delighted to be in a position to continue the expansion of our FMCG team. Martin brings over 8 years NPD research experience and will enable us to continue to grow the business by providing excellence in FMCG consumer research for our clients. James joins at a junior level to assist the FMCG team and we are delighted to have both of them on board.”
 

The Oxford Research Agency has promoted Emma Bearpark to Associate Director within its qualitative division, Mimosa, whilst Jonathan Hughes has also joined as Trainee Research Executive within The Oxford Research Agency’s FMCG team. Jonathan has recently graduated from the University of Birmingham, where he gained a BSc in Medical Biochemistry and a Masters in Biochemical Engineering.

Andrew Tharme – Joint Managing Director – commented: “It continues to be an exciting time for all concerned at the agency and I am delighted to announce Emma’s promotion to Associate Director within Mimosa, our qualitative division. Emma has been instrumental in developing the Mimosa brand since its launch in June and this promotion also reflects her commitment to The Oxford Research Agency over the past three years. I am also delighted to be able to announce the continued expansion of our FMCG team with the arrival of Jonathan who will assist the team going forwards.”