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Stagwell has appointed market research veteran Jonathan Gardner as the Chief Executive Officer of Harris Quest, the AI-powered suite of market research and brand management software tools under The Marketing Cloud and The Harris Poll. Gardner, with over three decades of experience, will lead the advancement of the platform's mission to deliver trustworthy, accessible data through a combination of artificial intelligence and human-led analysis.
Quick Intel
Stagwell appoints Jonathan Gardner as CEO of its AI market research suite, Harris Quest.
Gardner brings 30+ years of expertise, including former COO roles at The Harris Poll and The Marketing Cloud.
Harris Quest unifies AI tools from The Marketing Cloud with research capabilities from The Harris Poll.
The platform focuses on self-service, real-time insights for data-driven business decisions.
Leadership aims to evolve tools by blending AI speed with human analytical quality.
Gardner will report to Elspeth Rollert, CEO of The Marketing Cloud.
This executive appointment strategically places a leader with intimate knowledge of both the service and technology sides of Stagwell's research offerings at the helm of Harris Quest. Jonathan Gardner's extensive background, including nearly a decade as COO of The Harris Poll and prior operating roles at The Marketing Cloud, provides a multifaceted understanding of client needs, research methodology, and product development. This expertise is critical for guiding the platform's evolution in a competitive marketplace.
Harris Quest represents the unified brand for Stagwell's market research technology, combining The Marketing Cloud's AI-enabled SaaS tools with The Harris Poll's legacy of trusted polling and analysis. The platform is designed to empower clients with self-service software for brand management and surveys, delivering real-time, actionable insights. Gardner's leadership is expected to deepen the synergy between cutting-edge AI that increases speed and accessibility, and the human-led analysis that ensures quality and reliability—a balance essential for maintaining client trust.
Gardner's mandate involves spearheading Harris Quest's next chapter of growth by evolving its toolset to set the standard for AI innovation in market research. The strategic focus is on meeting clients where they are with solutions that are both technologically advanced and deeply informed by research best practices. This approach aims to differentiate Harris Quest in a crowded field by offering not just data, but intelligent, context-rich insights that drive measurable business outcomes.
The appointment is endorsed by leadership across Stagwell's network, highlighting Gardner's proven track record in operational excellence and market understanding. His transition from overseeing client fulfillment at The Harris Poll to leading the technology product built on its capabilities signifies an intentional blend of service heritage and product innovation. This move is designed to ensure that Harris Quest's development is consistently guided by a profound, practical understanding of the research challenges it aims to solve.
The appointment of Jonathan Gardner as CEO of Harris Quest underscores Stagwell's commitment to harmonizing the art and science of marketing through technology. By leading this AI-powered suite with a service-oriented and operationally experienced perspective, Stagwell is positioning Harris Quest to transform how businesses access and utilize market intelligence, making sophisticated research more actionable and integral to strategic decision-making.
About The Marketing Cloud
The Marketing Cloud (formerly Stagwell Marketing Cloud) is a data-driven suite of AI-powered SaaS and service solutions built for the modern marketer. Powered by proprietary data and advanced tools spanning research, communications, creative, and media, it enables organizations to achieve measurable business outcomes by making smarter decisions, faster. The Marketing Cloud was born out of Stagwell's (NASDAQ: STGW) award-winning network, known for delivering creative performance for ambitious brands.
About Stagwell
Stagwell is the challenger holding company built to transform marketing. We deliver scaled creative performance for the world's most ambitious brands, connecting culture-moving creativity with leading-edge technology to harmonize the art and science of marketing. Led by entrepreneurs, our specialists in 45+ countries are unified under a single purpose: to drive effectiveness and improve business results for our clients.
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