Programme Committee

David is an American who relocated to Asia in 1985 and has been a part of the growth and development of marketing research in Asia since 1986 in roles with Unilever, Frank Small & Associates and TNS before becoming the Managing Director for Ipsos Asia Pacific. Currently David is responsible for all businesses of Ipsos in Asia Pacific working with Lifeng Liu; CEO of Ipsos Asia Pacific.

Darryl is the managing partner of WIMI (When Insight Meets Innovation); a boutique agency with offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Darryl's research career spans over 25 years, and has seen him practicing his art in Oceania, Europe and Asia. He has been based in Shanghai and Hong Kong for the last 17 years. Prior to joining WIMI, Darryl was with AMI/Synovate for 14 years. He was awarded the position of MD of Synovate China in 2003, and then CEO in 2008. Whilst leading Synovate China he guided the company's organic growth from 200 to over 550 employees, increased their geographic coverage from 5 - 8 offices, as well as led the launch their CATI, on-line capabilities and media service in China.

Darryl's research focus includes: Strategic market development, brand positioning and brand equity studies, new product development research, and retail experience and strategy. Particular product area expertise: Automotive, banking/insurance, retail, beverages, personal care, digital/social media.

Darryl is a regular speaker and contributor to industry events, eg stand in chair for the 2011 Esomar AP conference , China. Beauty and skincare industry forum (Beijing 2010), Esomar AP conference (Beijing 2009), NPD conference (Shanghai 2006), Advertising and Promotions in China (Shanghai 2006), Youth Marketing Conference (Shanghai 2005), Marketing to the Affluent (Shanghai 2004); Strategies for the Personal Care and Cosmetics Markets (Guangzhou 2003), Consumer Banking in China (Hong Kong and Shanghai, 2001), Measuring Brand Strength (Hong Kong 2000). He has been a regular columnist for Adage China and Modern Advertising, and has been quoted in Time Magazine.

Darryl has a BA (hons) from the University of Otago in Cultural Geography, which includes post graduate papers in Social Anthropology.

Jim Sailor is Executive Search and Assessment Consultant at Russell Reynolds Associates. Jim works with leading consumer and industrial clients across Asia. Based in Shanghai, he leverages his extensive experience providing sector insight and solutions to some of the world's leading companies to develop innovative human capital strategies for his clients.

Jim spent 17 years working for marketing research giant Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) with postings in Hong Kong, Taipei and Shanghai. His most recent position was CEO for Greater China and member of the TNS board of directors for Asia, Latin America and the Middle East/Africa. During Jim's time with TNS he worked with clients from across a wide variety of industries with a focus on the consumer, automotive, technology and healthcare sectors.

Jim received his B.B.A., with honors, in marketing and his B.A. in Asian Studies from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He speaks Mandarin Chinese in addition to his native English.

Pravin has been in the research domain for the past 15 years and continues to contribute in various avatars : Entrepreneur, Technologist, Research-evangelist, Speaker. He heads two entities: 'krea', an India-centric panel research firm and 'The Social Catalyst', a non-profit trust aimed at professionalizing the working of NGOs.

In regular demand as a speaker, Pravin has presented papers and chaired discussions at several conferences. He has organized custom ESOMAR events in India in his capacity as a Representative and is spearheading the thrust for making MR a career of choice for students.

Consistent and Energetic, Pravin's passion is to evangelize entrepreneurship and market research (and leveraging technology towards this cause!).

John Smurthwaite joined Frank Small & Associates in Melbourne in 1971 having moved as a client from Fibremakers (ICI). After a few years as Managing Director of the Frank Small & Associates office in Melbourne, John moved to Asia to head up the fledgling FSA Asia operations in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. John began engineering the rapid expansion of FSA in the region firstly with an acquisition in Indonesia in 1980.

After moving to Hong Kong in 1981 and setting up the regional base there, John developed new companies from scratch in Korea, Taiwan and The Philippines in the mid 80s. China became of interest as well as Omnibus studies were conducted by 1984 from Hong Kong. He then set up the FSA business in Japan and India through JVs and acquisitions and Vietnam from scratch in the 90s.

FSA was subsequently acquired by the French Company Sofres in 1995 and then Taylor Nelson in 1997. John continued on in Taylor Nelson Sofres as Chairman of Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa – the position he held until 2010.

John has seen the original FSA Company grow from a few million dollars turnover in the early 80s to many hundreds of millions today employing some 4,000 staff in the region and prides himself for helping maintain the companies stability through the frequent mergers and acquisitions.

Gloria Jun Zhang, the Senior Partner and COO of Horizon Research Consultancy Group, is the ESOMAR representative for China and AMA（American Marketing Association）member. She got her Master's degree in Economics from Renmin University of China, and owns an MBA degree from George Washington University as well.

With more than 14 years experience in marketing research, Gloria has been invited to give lectures on many high-level conferences and workshops about the subjects of youth trends in China, new product development for young generation, consumption pattern and cultural study of specific consumer groups such as children, teenagers, urban women, blue collars and young men and so on. During her consulting career, Gloria has led various projects for both MNCs and Chinese local companies in the industries of FMCG, Real Estate, Auto, Home Appliances, etc and her specialty is in the field of new product development, branding, culture study and youth study.

Gloria is the co-author of two marketing best-sellers in China - "Fantastic Conference: How To Convene a Focus Group Discussion" and "Innovative marketing mindsets", and she has published several marketing articles such as "Twenty-somethings Transform China's Cities", "Youth Trends in China", "Market research－The pathway from consumer needs to final products" in media.