ESOMAR Fires Two, Loses CEO and will Re-Run Election

December 2 2022

Industry body ESOMAR is to rerun its elections for Council after uncovering ‘serious misconduct’ by two of its staff, who have now been fired. ESOMAR stresses that no complaints have been made about the conduct of candidates, but says recently appointed CEO Parves Khan has stepped down.

Last month, ESOMAR announced the election of Nikki Lavoie as its 2023-2024 Council President, along with eight newly elected representatives hailing from five continents. The association now says an investigation into the election has turned up sufficient evidence to conclude that interference occurred during the process, and the results must be considered invalid.

In a statement, ESOMAR said: ‘Regrettably, the investigation has identified serious misconduct on the part of members of ESOMAR staff during the course of the most recent election cycle, as well as during the subsequent investigation’.

Dr Khan was named ESOMAR Director General and CEO in July, replacing interim CEO Pravin Shekar who now returns to the role.

The Association’s President, Kristin Luck, said: ‘Ensuring the integrity of ESOMAR’s processes, both internal and external, is our top priority as a Council. Concluding this process, including conducting new elections, will ensure we can best represent our members as the global voice of the data, insights and analytics industry’.

Web site: www.esomar.org .