Tokyo-based AURNI Names Chris Duston MD

In Tokyo, qualitative research management specialist AURNI has named co-founder Chris Duston Managing Director.

AURNI is one of only three Japanese research businesses with an ISO 20252 quality certification for qual and quant research. Duston (pictured) co-founded the company last year, with more than twenty years' MR experience across Northeast Asia markets. For the previous six years, he ran his own healthcare/pharma and B2B firm Asia Medical & Professional Research (AMP Research), prior to which he founded brand innovation consultancy Akakawa Knowledge Activists (AKA). Earlier, he was a director at SevenSeas Marketing Research, and held senior roles in Japan with Ipsos; Kantar companies Lightspeed Research and TNS; and Nielsen; and he worked at Gallup in Taiwan.

In his new role, Duston will manage AURNI's research services in Japan, while developing partnerships with researchers in the China, South Korea, and Taiwan markets. 'Extending AURNI's quality-based research management offer not only will provide a new option for research buyers who want certified quality assurance, but also will heighten the appreciation for the value of quality-based research among research providers in Northeast Asia,' Duston stated.

Web site: www.aurni.com .