CHRIS COMMINS

Senior Partner

Chris Commins has been involved in all aspects of the marketing research process during a career which began in 1958.

After graduating from the University of Toronto, he was a member of the Research Department of two of Canada's leading advertising agencies, becoming Research Manager of Foster Advertising in 1963. He subsequently held senior positions with three major research firms before starting his own company in 1974. He is presently one of the principals of Commins, Wingrove, a marketing research consulting organization in Toronto.

Chris Commins is a member of the American Marketing Association and the Society for Consumer Psychology, and was President of the Professional Marketing Research Society in 1985-86. From 1977 to 1984 he taught marketing research in the MBA program at York University, and for many years was a Course Director for the PMRS "Fundamentals of Marketing Research" program. In 1990 he was named a "Fellow" of the Society, for his "distinguished contributions to marketing research" in Canada.

He has been an invited speaker at the Attitude Research Conference, at the annual conferences of the ARF, CAMRO, CASRO and the MRA, and at numerous conferences of the Professional Marketing Research Society.

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TIM WINGROVE

Senior Partner

Tim Wingrove began his career with Canadian Facts Co. Limited (now NFO CFgroup), the largest research supplier in Canada. In his almost eight years with Canadian Facts, he advanced through a variety of positions to become Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors. His responsibilities included the training and supervision of a group of research executives, servicing the needs of a wide variety of clients. Tim also served as Director of Operations, responsible for the field interviewing, sampling, tabulation and data processing departments of Canadian Facts.

In 1971 he was one of the founding shareholders of The Creative Research Group Limited. He served this firm for five years as Executive Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors. In 1977 he joined with Chris Commins to form the predecessor company to Commins, Wingrove.

Although he has experience in all areas of survey research, Tim has special expertise in FMCG categories, particularly in the area of new product planning. He is the developer of the WILLWIN® Test System for new product concept evaluation.

He holds a B.A. (Honours) and an M.B.A. degree from the School of Business Administration, University of Western Ontario and is a member of the Professional Marketing Research Society. He is a former Chairman of the Qualitative Research Division of PMRS and has also served on the Executive of The Canadian Survey Research Council. Tim has written and spoken widely on many marketing and marketing research topics as well as serving on many industry committees to help further the state of the art.

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ROSEMARY CLIFFE

Partner

Before joining Commins, Wingrove in 1998, Rosemary had a distinguished research career at Bank of Montreal. Her achievements include starting a research department in the Corporate Banking Unit of the Bank, and initiating the first-ever Competitive Intelligence function for Bank of Montreal. Most recently, Rosemary was Senior Manager, Business Intelligence, in the Electronic Financial Services Division. In this role she led a Department of eight professionals who provided a wide-range of strategic research services to Senior Management.

Rosemary also created, built and successfully managed the Research Department of Central Guaranty Trust. Her department pursued a broad mandate encompassing all aspects of corporate decision-making including marketing, new product development, strategic planning.

Rosemary has special expertise in the management of client satisfaction and loyalty research programs. She initiated and managed major client satisfaction research programs which were instrumental in driving improvements in client satisfaction.

Rosemary began her research career as a Senior Consultant with Decima Research, one of Canada's leading opinion research firms. She was a consultant to government departments and crown corporations, banks, life insurance companies and industry associations.

For the past several years, Rosemary has managed all aspects of the multi-million dollar research program for Diageo Canada, one of Commins, Wingrove's largest clients.

Rosemary is a well-known figure in the marketing research and competitive intelligence communities, and has been a featured speaker on competitive intelligence at a variety of professional events. She is a Past Director of the Professional Marketing Research Society and holds a Masters degree in Psychology from Queen's University.

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DEBORAH IRWIN

Partner

Just prior to joining Commins, Wingrove, Deborah managed a corporate in-house competitive intelligence unit offering a full range of competitor tracking and analysis services. In fact, she and her colleague Rosemary Cliffe started the first ever Competitive Intelligence Department at the Bank of Montreal.

Deborah's experience spans a diverse range of industries -- with a focus on financial services, travel and tourism, and packaged goods. As Competitive Intelligence and Research Manager at both a major bank and trust company, she has investigated the full suite of financial services (demand accounts, service packages, mortgages, mutual funds, brokerage services, telephone and PC banking). As a research consultant, she designed and managed a multi-country, multi-million dollar travel and tourism market segmentation project for the Canadian and U.S. tourism departments.

She has worked in both consumer and business to business markets, and her repertoire of research and analytical techniques is extensive. As Head of Decision Systems at Market Facts of Canada, she designed and conducted all the special analyses required, including segmentation, conjoint and other multivariate techniques. At Central Guaranty Trust, she developed and managed an in-house client information database. She has re-designed and managed customer satisfaction programs to provide enhanced coverage, with no increased cost.

Deborah has been an invited speaker at a number of professional and academic conferences -- most recently the Professional Marketing Research Society and the Society for Competitive Intelligence. She has a Masters degree in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Western Ontario.

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GEANA DEMONE

 

A self proclaimed "foodie" and new product junkie, Geana has always had a keen interest in understanding what drives consumer behaviour. Geana began her career immersed in the packaged goods world agency side at FCB Ronalds Reynolds (General Mills), Carder Gray DDB (Heinz), Grey Advertising (P&G) and Bates (Campbells), and then moved to Roche Macaulay & Partners to move into Planning, where she worked on various accounts including Pharma Plus Drugmart, The Egg Marketing Agency and Outward Bound.

After 10 years agency side Geana moved client side to work as the Director of Marketing for Pharma Plus Drugmart where she launched the information strategy based on the trend towards self managed healthcare, and she managed the in-house production team and the private label group prior to the chains buyout from the Katz group. After Pharma Plus, Geana moved to Bell Mobility as Director of Marketing Communications where she launched SOLO prepaid wireless. She also conducted an innovation best practices summary and an employee innovation survey, and then developed an Innovation Plan for Bell Canada & Bell Mobility.

Geana’s passion for new product innovation lead her to join the virtual team of SecondSight Innovation in 1999. For the past 5 years she has worked in innovation consulting for various clients including Cadbury (Canada & UK,), Kellogg's (UK), KFC (US). Pepsi QTG (US & Canada), FUJIFILM (US,) Capital One Finance (US), and Sunkist Growers (US), as well as several health & wellness clients, such as Novartis (Buckley's Neo Citran, etc); Boots Healthcare (UK), and Bayer-GSK (global). During this time she also helped out with planning at CKKC and Planning Ahead.

Prior to joining Commins, Wingrove, Geana spent some time working with the planning group at ZiG on the Unilever business. Geana holds an honours degree in Psychology from The University of Western Ontario and an MBA from Dalhousie University.

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DAN DUBREUIL

Partner

2004-2005:  Principal, BlueMatter

BlueMatter is a small, independent consultancy that offers strategic marketing advice based on consumer insights from syndicated research reports, existing custom research reports, and/or new customer research projects.

 

2001-2003:  Marketing Director, Hellmann’s/Slim-Fast, Unilever Canada Inc

Responsible for the growth and development of two core categories.

 

1998-2000:  Business Director, Bestfoods Canada Inc.

Responsible for the strategic management of Bestfoods’ portfolio of grocery brands including Hellmann’s, Skippy and Mazola.

Responsible for directing the development and execution of all Bestfoods promotional merchandising programs.

 

1996-1998:  Marketing Director, DowBrands Canada Inc.

Responsible for marketing DowBrands’ portfolio of products including Ziploc Bags, Saran Wrap, Fantastik Cleaner, Spray’n Wash Stain Remover.

 

1994-1995:  Senior Marketing Manager, Pillsbury Canada Inc.

Responsible for marketing Green Giant frozen vegetable and fruit products.  Management new business development within these categories.

 

1991-1993:  Pillsbury Canada (Associate Marketing Manager/Marketing Manager)

1988-1991:  Canada Packers (Sales Representative and Product Manager)

 

Education:

1985:  Honors Bachelor of Commerce Degree, Marketing – Queen’s University

1982:  Commerce Diploma, Marketing – John Abbott College

 

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JANE HYLAND

Senior Research Director

Jane was the first employee of Commins, Wingrove. She started with the firm in 1976, when it was founded by Chris Commins and known as "Commins, deWeerdt". At that time she served mainly as Office Manager which included all aspects of office administration and accounting functions.

As the company began to expand, Jane assumed added responsibilities including the organization and supervision of a wide variety of research projects for many of the firm’s clients. This, as well as her valuable link between the company and the supplier community, led to her promotion of Project Director in 1987 while maintaining her office managerial role.

Since that time Jane has provided an increasingly valuable contribution in servicing client research and marketing needs. In recognition, Jane was promoted in March 1996 and now fulfills her dual role as Senior Research Director/Office Manager.

Jane is a Certified Member of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (formerly known as the Professional Marketing Research Society).

She has been an active member in the MRIA/PMRS since 1984, serving on the Executive Committee for its 25th annual conference in 1985, and for the 40th Anniversary Conference in June 2000. As well, Jane was a Board member of the PMRS Qualitative Research Division from 1996 through 2001. She has also contributed to its monthly newsletter.

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TERRY McGOWAN

Senior Research Director

Terry joined Commins, Wingrove in 1994.

Prior to joining the company, Terry was Market Information Manager at Coca-Cola Ltd. In this position she managed, co-ordinated and analyzed information in relation to the beverage, food store and food service industries and guided people in effectively utilizing market information to its full advantage.

Terry graduated from Ryerson’s Business Administration program, majoring in marketing. In addition, she also attended further marketing research courses at Ryerson and through the Professional Marketing Research Society.

As Senior Research Director, Terry manages the planning, implementation and analysis of research studies, and servicing client needs. In addition to this role, she oversees and maintains the computer systems at Commins, Wingrove.

Terry is a member of the Professional Marketing Research Society and has served on the Executive Committee for its annual conference. She also served on the committee for the 40th Anniversary Conference in the year 2000.

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