Former Harris Leader Joins Northstar

In Toronto, global consultancy Northstar Research Partners has appointed former Harris Interactive exec Stephan Sigaud as Executive Vice President, Corporate Development, to widen the firm's market strategy and expand its suite of offerings.

Founded in 1998, Northstar, which has offices in Canada, the US and the UK, conducts research in more than 60 countries across a broad range of sectors, including automotive, consumer goods, energy, financial services, healthcare, hospitality, retail, technology and telecoms.

Sigaud joins with more than 20 years' experience in senior leadership positions in market research and consulting, as well as expertise in brand development and customer loyalty.

Most recently, he worked at Harris Interactive, where as Group President he had P&L responsibility for the firm's Advertising, Brand, Loyalty, Product and Qualitative research divisions. Before this, he was President of the company's Customer Loyalty Management practice.

In his new role, Sigaud will also provide guidance to Northstar's worldwide business development and account management efforts.

'Stephan has a varied and extensive market research and management background which we know our clients and internal teams will benefit from greatly,' said CEO Stephen Tile, to whom Sigaud will report. 'We are thrilled to have him as a key member of our senior management team, as we build our global platform in new and exciting areas.'

The firm, which is a member of the MDC Partners network of marketing communications agencies, is online at www.nsresearch-usa.com .