Enrique Domingo has been appointed as the new chairman of ESOMAR’s Professional Standards Committee for a three-year term starting January 2016. He succeeds Adam Phillips, winner of the John Downham Excellence Award for standards of performance in market research 2015, who had reached the end of his fifth term of office.

Enrique Domingo, who has been a member of the Standards Committee since 2012, will also chair ESOMAR’s Disciplinary sub-committee, which examines complaints received at ESOMAR. This is an increasingly important function noting that ESOMAR received 60 complaints about possible violations of the ICC/ESOMAR International Code on Market and Social Research in 2015, compared to 23 in 2014. All ESOMAR members whether individual or corporate, have undersigned to uphold the Code which has been adopted or endorsed by over 60 associations worldwide as part of the sector’s international self-regulatory process to maintain public confidence.

Enrique went to university in Spain and has a degree in Political Sciences and Sociology, a Masters in Business Administration, and post-graduate qualifications in senior management, corporate governance and problem solving and coaching.

Enrique has spent most of his career in market research, working at Research International-Indecsa before becoming Founder, President and CEO of INNER Strategic Research SA with offices in six countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Following its acquisition by AEGIS PlC, he was CEO of Synovate Iberia and Latin America where he led strategic developments in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, and then CEO of Ipsos Spain and most latterly of Dialogs and Beyond.

Enrique’s association activities include roles as President of ANEIMO (the Spanish trade association of market research companies), chairman of the ISO Technical Committee (which created international norms for market, opinion and social research and for online research) as well as Vice President of EFAMRO (the European Federation of Market Research Organisations) and currently as a member of the executive board of GRBN (the Global Research Business Network).

Enrique also currently serves on the team developing the ESOMAR GRBN Social Media Research Guideline and keenly supports ESOMAR working closely with other international as well as national associations to ensure that the sector continues to promote the highest professional standards through the development and implementation of Codes, Guidelines, advice and disciplinary procedures. Recent collaborations include the ESOMAR GRBN Guidelines on Online Research, and on Online Sample Quality, as well as the joint advocacy work with EFAMRO in ensuring that regulators understand the value and requirements of market and opinion research when developing new laws such as the newly agreed EU General Data Protection Regulation.

Future challenges for ESOMAR’s Professional Standards Committee which has Raimund Wildner, Managing Director of GfK Verein as Vice Chair, include developing guidelines that are ‘fit for purpose’ for the next generation of research. Ensuring that researchers remain sensitive to consumer concerns about privacy and avoid activities and technology practices that risk undermining public confidence in market research, will require underlining researchers’ responsibilities when using new and possibly less obvious ways of collecting data.

Finn Raben, Director General of ESOMAR, said:

“We are delighted that Enrique has agreed to chair ESOMAR’s Professional Standards Committee. With his broad international experience in research and in working with other associations, we are confident that ESOMAR can continue to make a major contribution to raising and maintaining international professional and ethical standards in research in the years to come.”