ESOMAR names Dr Parves Khan as director general & CEO: 'It is a great privilege'

ESOMAR, a global not-for-profit membership organisation for data, research and insights on Monday (25) announced the selection of Dr Parves Khan as its new director general and chief executive officer. She will take over on September 1, succeeding Finn Raben who left earlier this year.

Khan, who is the first woman and Asian to lead the Netherlands-based body in its 75 years of history, belongs to a family of first-generation Bengali migrants in the UK. She was born in Sylhet in present-day Bangladesh and currently lives in the UK and travels frequently to Amsterdam and several countries in the world.

She has more than 25 years of experience of driving growth and building teams in the insights industry and won awards as an researcher and leader.

Khan brings with her expertise from both client and agency sides of the market research sector and made a positive impact on business growth at a global level.

Hailing Khan's achievement, Kristin Luck, president, ESOMAR, said, “Dr Khan’s contribution to the global research community and her unwavering commitment to innovation, education and championing insights across business sectors is inspiring. She brings a diverse perspective to leadership and coalition building as a result of her varied experience within the broader market research ecosystem. We are incredibly fortunate and truly thrilled to have her at the helm of ESOMAR.”

Khan comes to her new role as with executive-level experience from a range of sectors from across the world, including FTSE 100 companies.

During her tenure at digital-first insurance company Ageas, she helped in transforming the insight function into an analytical powerhouse. She also brings agency-side experience, running her own research consultancy for six years and supporting a wide array of private- and public-sector clients.

Most recently, she worked with Canada-based Research Strategy Group to scale their operations in the UK and across Europe.

Khan was designated as one of the Iconic Women Creating A Better World For All by the Women Economic Forum (WEF) at its 2020 annual conference held in Cairo, Egypt. The award is given to upcoming leaders who, through their entrepreneurial spirit and creative actions, bring cultures and countries closer.

Last year, she was named one of Women in Data UK’s Twenty in Data and Technology, an honour that goes to leading female data professionals. She was recognised for her exceptional career in bringing traditional market research and data analytics together and her commitment to helping other women carve out leadership roles in fields that are traditionally dominated by males.

Since 2019, Khan has been involved as a mentor for the 30% Club UK and Women in Research, two organisations that seek to promote gender diversity surrounding board-level roles and contributions to research. She is also a former member of the board of the Market Research Society in the UK.

Khan said, "I am honoured and excited to have been chosen as ESOMAR’s next director general. It is a great privilege to lead an organisation that is the global voice of the data, research, analytics and insights community.

We are an association led by a purpose – championing the conviction that the projects you conduct and the insights you generate add value and positively impact people’s daily lives and organisational objectives. I will do my best to serve ESOMAR’s global member base by continuing to deliver high quality services and innovative solutions to enable our community of data professionals to fulfil their passion to make a difference.”