Santander's Saj Arshad to be Next MRS President

Saj Arshad, Chief Customer & Marketing Officer at Santander UK, is to be the next President of the Market Research Society (MRS). He will take up the position at the beginning of April, following the end of Jan Gooding's five-year term.

Arshad (pictured) joins with a more than 30-year background of using data and insights to drive customer, marketing and digital transformation. In late 2020, he joined Santander UK, where he is responsible for customer insight, experience and engagement, as well as marketing, brand and sponsorship. Before this he was CMO of franchise operator M. H. Alshaya; MD Marketing, Sales & Strategy at Bupa; Group Marketing & Brand Director at Vodafone; Director Sales & Marketing for the RAC; and VP, Customer Loyalty Marketing at American Express; having earlier spent more than six years as Director, Product Management at Visa Europe.

In addition, Arshad has previously held voluntary positions as Board member and fellow of The Marketing Society and as a mentor for younger marketers with The Marketing Academy. Gooding, comments: 'Saj is already recognised as an industry leader, role model and mentor, so I am confident his appointment will be widely welcomed. Given his reputation for driving the customer agenda through robust analytics, and exploring new techniques, I am sure he will bring a huge amount to the industry. I hope he enjoys this fascinating and rewarding role as much as I have'.

Web site: www.mrs.org.uk .