Market Strategies Restructures Senior Team

US full service agency Market Strategies International (MSI) has promoted Melissa Sauter to the role of President, while Christopher Barnes becomes MD of the Financial Services division, Todd Mundorf moves to the post of COO, and Katy Palmer takes on a new role, Chief Solutions Officer.

Founded in 1989, Detroit-based MSI offers a range of research specialities including brand, communications, customer experience, product development, segmentation and user experience. Sauter (pictured), who has more than twenty years' experience, will now lead the development and management of business strategies across each of the company's industry-specific divisions, including custom and syndicated research operations. She was previously EVP and MD of the firm's Financial Services division, and before joining MSI last year, she served as VP and General Manager for the Americas in the Services and Emerging Industries division at JD Power and Associates, where she worked for fourteen years.

Barnes joined the firm in January from qual and market analytics specialist acturus, where he served as Chief Client Strategy Officer, before which he was SVP of The Pert Group, owned Pulsar Research and Consulting, and co-founded the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut. In his new role, Barnes is responsible for leading a team of MR professionals who design and deliver strategic consulting across the wealth management, banking, payments and insurance industries.

Mundorf joined last year after eight years at JD Power, latterly as VP, Product Management. In his new position as Chief Operating Officer, he will tap in to his twenty years' experience in MR and customer experience roles. Palmer takes on her newly created role while continuing as MD of the Health division, and after sixteen years with MSI. She has more than twenty years' MR and forecasting experience in the life sciences industry, with expertise in the therapeutic areas of oncology, autoimmune, infectious disease and central nervous system.

CEO Rob Stone says the company is 'investing in its future by building a dream team of senior executives who bring an incredible depth of experience to their roles' - as well as 'fostering a culture that celebrates continuous improvement'.

Web site: www.marketstrategies.com .