I am a passionate independent market researcher with well over 1,000 focus groups and 2,000 in-depth interviews under my belt. Following a background in brand management (Nestle) and advertising (McCann Erickson), I fell in love with the dynamic engagement of qualitative research at the very first focus group I ran for The Leading Edge in 1996. I am in my element conducting engaged discussions which allow me to explore multiple layers of decision making – primarily in relation to brand and communication strategy, product design, customer acquisition and customer retention.I am very at home with both consumer and b2b audiences, and draw on experience across a range of industry categories – especially in financial services, IT&T, education, retail, government policy and advertising.However my primary focus is now centred on my qual recruitment and fieldwork business, Research Connections along with the pro-bono research service, Research For Good.