The ICC/ESOMAR International Code

Judith Passingham has worked in the Market Research industry for over 35 years, in many  different roles from General Management, Client Account Leadership, Service Development, to Sales and Operations – on a Global and European basis.

She started her career at the British Market Research Bureau working on the TGI and various media measurements, then working at AGB, subsequently TNS where she ran the UK and then global panel division as CEO of ‘Worldpanel ‘ and as Joint CEO of Europanel – a joint venture between TNS and GFK.

Judith was appointed CEO of TNS Europe and then following the WPP acquisition of TNS oversaw the integration of RI and TNS in Northern and Eastern Europe. In 2014 Judith joined Ipsos to run its Access Panel services where she drove service integration into one global entity, launched device agnostic interviewing and programmatic sampling.

In 2016 she took on responsibility for Ipsos’s Operational capability. She retired in 2019 and volunteers for Pilotlight and for the Maple Lodge Nature Reserve.  In January 2020 she was appointed as Chair of the Professional Standards Committee for ESOMAR.

Kathy Joe served for many years as Director of International Standards and Public Affairs at ESOMAR before retiring in 2016. She currently still works periodically for ESOMAR as its Editorial Consultant for Research World.

Prior to working for ESOMAR, Kathy worked at The Economist and Euromoney and gained a BSc Hons in Politics and Sociology from the University of Southampton in the UK.

With a passion for research and insights and long experience in working with global teams to formulate editorial content, privacy policies and professional standards, she has worked with research professionals from around the world on far-ranging topics including innovation and best practice in consumer insights, knowledge and strategy.

As ESOMAR Director of International Standards, Kathy led the development and promotion of global research codes and privacy guidelines.

She volunteers for projects with NGOs such as Amnesty International and is a Board Member and Secretary of Dance Connects.

Georgiana Degeratu has a diverse background in international organisations, with a focus on global policy, communication, and project management. With a strong educational foundation in European Studies and Language and Linguistic Science, Georgiana has held various positions at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), European Commission, UNICEF, and UNESCO. 

For the past 14 years, she has been with the ICC, where, since September 2022, she has managed the global Marketing and Advertising policy portfolio. In this capacity, Georgiana has coordinated the 11th revision of the ICC Advertising and Marketing Communications Code and collaborated with global business experts to advance advertising self-regulatory policies and promote responsible marketing practices, benefiting consumers, businesses and society at large.

Melanie serves as the Chief Executive Officer at the Insights Association. As the leading voice, resource and network of the marketing research and data analytics community, the Insights Association helps its members create competitive advantage by investing in quality standards, legal and business advocacy, education, certification and direct support that enables our members to thrive in an evolving industry and drive business impact.

Melanie has spent more than 25 years designing, executing, and interpreting research for agencies and corporations, and is an industry voice in market research for quality, trends and the next generation of data collection. Known as an expert methodologist, she started her career at a full-service research firm in Dallas where she spent ten years developing her strong research background. She then followed that with a decade specializing in all forms of digital research including online, mobile and social. Melanie has successfully developed and launched leading sampling platforms, routers, methodology best practices, panels and research products.

Melanie contributes to standards and codes of conduct, is heavily involved in chairing and speaking at industry events, and is an award winning writer, researcher, and voice of data quality and best practices.

Prof. Dr. Raimund Wildner has been active at the GfK Group since 1984, helping to build the GfK BEHAVIORSCAN® micro test market starting in 1985, and in 1988 established the GfK Groupʼs Method and Product Development Department, which he ran until 2009. In 1995, he also became the managing director the GfK Verein and assumed the position of vice president ten years later as well. Currently, he is Vice President at Nuremberg Institute for Market Dicisions (NIM) e.V.

Raimund Wildner is the former honorary professor of business administration and statistics at the Faculty of Law and Economics at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and was a regular guest lecturer at various colleges and universities. Furthermore, he has published numerous articles in the field of marketing science, particularly on the application of statistical methods in market research, and is co-author of the books „Panels in der Marktforschung“ and „Marktforschung – Grundlagen der Datenerhebung und Datenanalyse“.

Vinay Ahuja brings world-wide experience in market research, data analysis, AI, and consumer strategy and business leadership -- from the user/client perspective -- with a career spanning over 30 years in CPG with Procter & Gamble. He is currently Vice-President of European market operations at P&G.

He started his career in India and has lived and worked in China, Belgium, Dubai, and Switzerland, where he has led a variety of local, regional, and global roles in consumer insights and data analytics for P&G. Through these he has an opportunity to engage with a broad spectrum of partners across the world at various stages of evolution of our industry over the last three decades; co-develop, apply and experience first-hand the best of what we have to offer as insights and data analytics professionals and to raise our impact on brands, people and society; as well as work together with industry stakeholders to constructively address some of our most challenging issues over the years. 

Vinay has been a long-standing member of ESOMAR since 2001 and has previously served on the Professional Standards Committee’s Client Sounding Board as well the Editorial board of the Research World. In 2022 he was nominated to the ESOMAR's list of Top250 industry leaders.

Philippe is the former Managing Director of Toluna France and Senior Vice President Quality of the Group. He is now a consultant in research methodology for companies and SYNTEC Conseil, and contributes to the dissemination of rules, standards and best practices in the industry through conferences, academic courses and articles, including his "Did you know?" section on the French website MRNews.

In the 1980s, he developed advanced statistics, survey methodologies and new marketing approaches in research agencies. Then in the 90s, he initiated the survey digitisation by launching an international panel of Internet users, the web audience measurement and the sampling/questionnaire adaptation to the Internet. In 2007, he joined Toluna, a French start-up, to bring his methodological expertise and make it the world's #2 online panel and survey solution. 

Philippe is a member of the ESOMAR Professional Standards Committee since 2014.