Brand, Marketing, and Customer Experience Expert Joins Hansa/GCR.

PORTLAND, Oregon -- Hansa|GCR, marketing research specialists who help clients improve business performance using the lens of customer experience, announces today that Mr. Soumya Roy, Ph.D., has joined the senior leadership team as Executive Vice President, Brand and Customer Practice, and Chief Consulting Officer. Dr. Roy was most recently Sr. Vice President at Lieberman Research Worldwide (LRW), holding the positions of General Manager and Practice Leader for brand loyalty.

Dr. Roy brings both strong academic and commercial marketing research credentials to Hansa|GCR. As a faculty member at both Temple University's Fox School of Business and New York University's Stern School of Business (where he continues to hold the position of Adjunct Professor), Dr. Roy has lectured extensively in his specialty areas including customer behavior, marketing, brand management, and market research. Not just a subject matter expert, he has also consistently earned above-average student evaluations. As a doctoral student, he presented his paper entitled "Role of Affect in Strategic Decision-Making" at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management and received the "Best Paper by a Doctoral Student" award.

In 1996 Dr. Roy began his commercial marketing research career by joining Maritz Marketing Research as a Senior Methodologist. His talent for developing critical insights for clients and effectively advising them on marketing decisions and business process improvements propelled his career through senior consulting and leadership roles at The Gallup Organization (where he was a multi-year winner of the firm's "Best Consultant Award"), Research International, and LRW. During his career he has published many articles and spoken at events all over the world. His clients have included many of the world's largest and most successful firms in industries such as pharmaceuticals; financial services; consumer foods, beverages, and packaged goods; retailers; information and consumer technology manufacturers; and telecommunications. At Hansa|GCR, Dr. Roy will have the opportunity to offer both his thought leadership and advisory services, building even further on his track record of helping clients successfully meet their marketing and business challenges in the areas of creating and managing brand assets; understanding and improving customer experience, loyalty, and advocacy; and building stronger employee engagement.

In welcoming Dr. Roy to the firm, Wayne Marks, President, said, "I am thrilled that Soumya has come on board to provide his expertise and experience to both our clients and our senior leadership team. He embodies exactly what the Hansa|GCR brand is all about: intelligent and practical customer insight that drives improvement in our client's marketing and results. Providing high quality, reliable market research information is necessary but not sufficient to help our clients win in today's complex and fast-changing business environment. Soumya joins his Hansa|GCR colleagues in making a difference for our clients by bringing them what they need: real answers and the know-how to apply them."

Dr. Roy earned his Ph.D. in Business Administration from Temple University with a major in Marketing Sciences. He also holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Missouri and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from St. Xavier's College at Calcutta University, India. Dr. Roy will be based in New York City.

About Hansa|GCR

Hansa|GCR, a full service marketing research and advisory firm and part of the R K Swamy|Hansa Group of India, is built on a legacy of over three decades of experience. Industry expertise includes Technology, Financial Services, Media, Telecom, Consumer Products, Restaurant and Retail, and Healthcare. Domain specialties include: customer experience and advocacy, brand strategy, and product and process innovation; sustainability and the psycho-economics of "green"; and thought leadership for conducting business in emerging markets.