Professional Standards

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 Frankovic is the former Director of Surveys for CBS News and is currently an election and polling consultant for YouGov and other organisations. She is one of the world’s leading experts in public opinion polling. She has been an election and polling consultant for CBS News and other research organizations.

She speaks and writes internationally about public opinion research, journalism and elections as an invited speaker in places as diverse as Italy, Jordan, Hong Kong, Manila, Mexico, Lisbon, Chile and India. In 2009 she retired after more than 30 years at CBS News.

She retired from full-time work at CBS News in 2009, and since then has consulted for CBS News, Harvard University, the Pew Research Center, Open Society Foundations and YouGov. She sits on the ESOMAR Professional Standards Committee and is an active member of both the World Association for Public Opinion Research and the American Association for Public Opinion Research.

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.

Reg is the North American Regional Ambassador for ESOMAR, the global voice of the data, research and insights community. He also serves as a consultant to ESOMAR's Professional Standards Committee.

Previous to his work with ESOMAR, he was Executive Director of the Marketing Research Institute International (MRII). Prior to his retirement from full-time work in 2012, Reg was President and Chief Operating Officer of Market Strategies International, a US-based custom research and analytics company. Before joining Market Strategies in 1995, he served as Vice President of Research Services for NORC at the University of Chicago.

Throughout his career, Reg focused on the methodological and operational implications of new data technologies. He writes and presents on these and related topics to diverse national and international audiences and blogs off and on as “The Survey Geek.”

Kim L. Smouter-Umans is ESOMAR's Head of Public Affairs and Professional Standards, having joined ESOMAR in 2012. He heads a small team of professional standards and public affairs experts championing the value of market, opinion and social research and data analytics.

He leads ESOMAR's advocacy efforts and supervises our Professional Standards activities. Prior to working for ESOMAR, Kim served a stint as Secretary General of the European Network of National Civil Society Associations.

He has also served in various policy roles working for the North East England Office in Brussels and in the European Parliament working in the fields of social policy, education, and employment.

He holds a Masters degree in European Public Affairs and a Bachelor's degree in European Studies and is a graduate of the University of Maastricht. He is also a certified Data Protection Officer from the University of Maastricht's European Centre for Cybersecurity and Privacy.

Srikar Govindaraju is the Senior Standards Programmes Coordinator at ESOMAR, part of the Government Affairs and Professional Standards team. Srikar first joined ESOMAR as a consultant to the Government Affairs and Professional Standards team, before joining full time as part of ESOMAR's Brussels based team in late 2020.

As Senior Standards Programmes Coordinator, Srikar works closely with the Professional Standards Committee, as well as on disciplinary proceedings, and the Plus consultancy service. Srikar also program manages and hosts the Talking Insights podcast series, curating content and inviting guests to share their insights with ESOMAR's members and beyond. He is also the coordinator of the Research Got Talent initiative, working closely with associations around the world to run the competition.

Prior to joining ESOMAR Srikar worked for Mercedes-Benz. He holds an LLB from the University of Birmingham, an LLM from Maastricht University, and is a certified Data Protection Officer.

Contact Srikar at: srikar.govindaraju@esomar.org

Claudio joined ESOMAR as Senior Advocacy Programmes Coordinator. In this capacity he is responsible for coordinating our data protection and privacy advocacy efforts as well as coordinating our compliance support services known as ESOMAR Plus.

Claudio is a certified information privacy professional (CIPP/E) with a background in law, international relations and technology. Prior to joining ESOMAR, he also worked as a data privacy analyst at Tesla and compliance officer in several marketing agencies.

Iliya is the Senior Marketing and Community coordinator here at ESOMAR. An avid traveller, he enjoys exploring the nooks and crannies of different cultures and when all of that becomes too much, can be found getting lost in the mountains or wiping out in a wave.

Born in Russia, raised in England and now working in the Netherlands, Iliya uses his multicultural background to influence, inspire and inform his marketing role to help create a better connected global ESOMAR community.