Ciao Surveys MD Departs

Richard Thornton has resigned as Managing Director of Ciao Surveys after five years at the firm, saying in a statement that 'it was a natural time to move on'. He leaves today.

Thornton joined in 2003 as a Senior Research Sales Consultant, charged with establishing the London office, and was promoted to Director for Client Development, UK/Ireland/Australia shortly after. He then took joint responsibility for the European client development team in 2006 and was promoted to VP Client Development Europe in 2007.

In November 2007, he and Alberto Abisso were promoted to MDs of Ciao Surveys responsible for sales and operations respectively.

In this role, Thornton has been working very closely with European country directors based in the UK, Germany and France, who continue to run the day-to-day client development business in each of the geographies.

Andy Ellis, Managing Director for Asia-Pacific, takes on the interim management of the European Sales & Marketing business. He will be based in the company's London office until mid-2009. The firm is currently interviewing for a permanent replacement for Thornton.

Ciao Surveys and parent company Greenfield Online are currently for sale after Microsoft acquired them in August, with the intention of selling the online survey arm and keeping the Ciao comparison shopping web sites. A buyer was found, but in November it failed to meet financing conditions and pulled out of the deal.

Web sites: www.ciao-surveys.com and www.greenfield.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

• Ciao Ag
• All news