Tarrant Moves to Chairman at BVA BDRC, Costin to CEO

In the UK, consumer insight consultancy BVA BDRC has appointed Matt Costin as Chief Executive Officer, replacing co-founder Cris Tarrant who takes the position of Chairman. Meanwhile Caroline Ahmed has been named Chief Commercial Officer.

Originally set up in 1991 under the BDRC name, the group comprises main agency BVA BDRC, mystery shopping and store observation firm ESA Retail, digital agency Alligator, operations business Perspective Research Services, and Viewpoint, a qual recruitment and studio specialist. In 2008, the company was acquired French research and consultancy company BVA.

Costin joined the company twenty years ago as a junior researcher, and has since held senior roles including Managing Director, and most recently Director, Americas, based in Washington DC. Ahmed began her career at GfK, before joining BVA BDRC as an RE in 2005 and rising to Research Director before leaving in 2011. She served as Head of Practice and Insight at product and service design company Foolproof, and re-joined BVA BDRC ten years ago as a Director.

Tarrant comments: 'After just over 30 years, I am proud to say that BVA BDRC is a leading provider of business intelligence to help clients transform and grow. I have every confidence that Matt and Caroline will apply this mission to our own business, further building the agency's position at the forefront of research, including rapidly expanding capabilities in behavioural science'.

Web site: www.bva-bdrc.com .