Schlesinger Hires Former Lightspeed Exec

US qual and quant data collection firm Schlesinger Associates has appointed Lightspeed's former Vice President of Global Panel Operations, Julian Groeger, as Vice President, Online Communities.

Schlesinger Associates, which was founded in 1966, has 14 focus group facilities across the US, and viewing facilities in London under its Research House subsidiary.

Groeger joins with more than eight years' experience in building national and global panels. Most recently, at Lightspeed, he was responsible for building and managing the global framework of panel operation principles, guidelines and practices, and was instrumental in custom and new panel launches. Prior to that, he was Director of Panel Operations at Greenfield/Ciao, and Manager of International Budgeting & Outsourcing at Harris Interactive.

In his new role, he will be responsible for the overall management and strategic direction of Schlesinger's online patient health and wellness community, 'Inspired Opinions', and for driving the global implementation and execution of best panel management processes, member acquisition and community engagement.

In addition, Groeger will be responsible for the development of speciality consumer, healthcare and B2B panels.

'We are very excited to have Julian on board, and to have the experience and vision he brings to the enhancement and expansion of our existing capabilities,' said CEO Steve Schlesinger. 'His role will place us on the forefront of community engagement via multi-media, blogs, discussion forums and other web 2.0 features through our online panel platform.'

Web sites: www.schlesingerassociates.com and www.research-house.co.uk .