MEET THE TEAM
"A comprehensive, balanced blend of skills and experience."
Jon Darby
Managing Director
Aside from running the day-to-day business side of things, Jon is highly experienced in all methods of data collection and analysis. He enjoys the challenge in creating innovative and practical research & operational solutions to address complex research objectives with focus, quality and efficiency at the core.
Marie Screene
Head of Quantitative Research
Marie has 20 years agency side consumer market research experience (GfK, Nielsen, Savanta (previously The Oxford Research Agency / Future Thinking). A specialist in FMCG business, with a keen interest in new product development research, including concept testing, product testing, ranging, and packaging evaluation. With her friendly professionalism, building close working relationships with clients is one of Marie’s core values.
Rob Bates
Operations Manager
Rob joined Touchstone in 2017 after studying Business Management at Sheffield University and teaching English in Hong Kong for 4 years. Rob is heavily involved in all operational aspects of the business, particularly on the quantitative side, from building virtual shelves and project setup to data analysis, segmentations and report creation. Rob has a keen eye for data quality and can often be found scouring through data at a detective-level to ensure all our data is of the highest quality.
Hannah Daniels
Senior Research Executive
Hannah joined the team in May 2021 as a Trainee Research Executive after having spent three years obtaining her undergraduate degree in Psychology. Since then, she has developed her skills and works closely alongside Anna, focusing on qualitative methodologies, where she supports project management, moderation, analysis, and report creation.
Lauren Chappell
Research Executive
Lauren joined in August 2023 after achieving a higher level diploma within Business and Management, Lauren can be found engaging and working alongside Rob and the quantitative team, helping to collect and analyse data that is later used in reports. She can also be found assisting the team with fieldwork preparations.
Jamie Rayner
Director
Jamie’s experience spans across both client and agency side. From pioneering behavioural shopper insight 20 years ago to today: designing global research programmes, decoding and disseminating insight back into the sales and marketing functions of global companies, to elicit change and unlock brand growth.
Anna Dawson
Head of Qualitative Research
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With over 20 years of qualitative exploration into shopper behaviour, across a variety of sectors, FMCG research is the backbone of Anna’s expertise, kick-started via a strong grounding at IGD. She is a passionate advocate of the power of Qualitative to reveal the real drivers of shopper behaviour and thus category/product performance in-store, delivering shopper insight that engages and moves the conversation forward, rather than just describing the landscape.
Jasper Ferris-Darby
Research Manager
Since joining Touchstone as a Trainee Research Executive in 2019. Jasper has honed his craft as a researcher, working across complex quantitative and qualitative projects, enjoying both the challenges and realities that ad hoc market research presents. Now promoted to Research Manager, he works on all aspects of projects, from commission to delivery of valuable insight to our clients.
Lauren Beedie
Research Executive
Lauren joined Touchstone in September 2022 after recently completing her Masters degree in Forensic Psychology and her undergraduate in the same area. Lauren works alongside Marie on various Quantitative projects on a daily basis. She works primarily on the set-up and the management of projects through to the analysis of data and the creation of reports.
Jessica Martin
Trainee Research Executive
Jess joined in July 2024 after obtaining her undergraduate Sociology degree and recently spent 6 months travelling South East Asia. Jess is eager to get involved in all sides of projects, assisting in both quantitative and qualitative work. She works alongside Rob, collecting and analysing data to aid the development of reports.
All members of the Touchstone team are Members of The Market Research Society
