Exciting news for our team released today!

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Market Research Firm Alter Agents Expands Executive Team

Strategic market research consultancy adds three to its C-Suite, plus two new more staff members, to execute the team’s vision for the future, positioning the company for ongoing growth and innovation

Los Angeles, CA – 06 December 2022 – Alter Agents, full-service strategic market research consultancy, has added Heather O’Shea as Chief Research Officer, Casey Willard as Chief Analytics Officer and promoted Eddie Francis to Chief Operating Officer. Along with the addition of a new director and associate director, this rounds out a year of new hires for the company, which has doubled its number of employees in 2022 alone. The new members of Alter Agents’ leadership team will collaborate to execute the company’s strategic vision for growth, innovation and value. 

“Our new hires have the perfect mix of experience and skills to complement our existing team, bringing both on-the-ground and strategic expertise to help us meet our goals for the future,” said Rebecca Brooks, Founder and CEO of Alter Agents. “We have had a year of tremendous expansion as we push for evolving the market research ecosystem toward approaches that fit today’s consumer and shopping landscape. This new team will help bring us, and our clients, to the next level of growth.”

Heather O’Shea, Chief Research Officer, comes to Alter Agents from Snap, Inc. where she served as the Global Head of Ad Research and Insights, heading up the social media brand’s initiatives in advertising and media measurement, analytics and research. Prior to this, she served in both brand-side and agency leadership roles at companies such as Kantar, Twitter, Universal McCann and New York Magazine. As Chief Research Officer at Alter Agents, O’Shea will collaborate on establishing and executing the overall vision and strategy for the firm, while also overseeing the research functions within the company. She serves as a mentor for Women in Research (WIRe) and is on the board of the Advertising Research Foundation’s Women in Analytics program.

Casey Willard, Chief Analytics Officer, will develop and oversee the company’s analytics department, working closely with staff on training, processes and protocols, and building out a plan for ongoing growth. Willard will be instrumental in working with the Chief Innovation Officer, Michelle Castle who joined in September 2022, and other team members to pursue the firm’s goals for elevating methodologies and best practices to help fulfill innovation initiatives. Prior to joining Alter Agents, Willard led analytics teams at consumer insights and research firms, such as Hypothesis Group, Bastion Insights, The Modellers, Hall & Partners and Millward Brown (now Kantar).  

Eddie Francis, Chief Operating Officer, has worked at Alter Agents for 12 years, most recently serving as Managing Director. In his newest role, he will build on his deep foundation with the company and be responsible for overseeing critical functions such as information technology, budgeting, staff development and hiring, and vendor relationships. He will continue to work closely with CEO Rebecca Brooks and the rest of the leadership team to ensure company culture is reflected in the employee experience by aligning with company values, policies and practices. 

Also joining the team are Research Director, Katie Zmijewski and Associate Research Director, Rebekah Bell. Zmijewski most recently served as director of insights at analytics and advisory firm, Escalent, working in a wide variety of consumer categories. Previously, Bell served as senior research manager at GfK, and has extensive additional experience in the advertising and tourism industries. 

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