Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Thank You Larry Brownell

As many of you know, Larry Brownell recently stepped down as CEO of the Marketing Research Association. Larry is an Association Management Professional, so he is not confined to the marketing research industry. He has accepted a CEO position in the film industry. This change in careers also gets him back on the west coast, where he has wanted to be for a long time.

While I spoke with Larry last week and personally thanked him for everything he did for the MRA, I also wanted to publicly thank him. He was the driving force behind much of MRA’s recent success. He was also instrumental in the development of two products very important to me – Professional Research Certification (PRC) and the Research Industry Index (RII). My first serious involvement with MRA was on the PRC task force. This is when I got to know Larry. He has a way of reeling you in, and over time convinced me to take on other volunteer roles within MRA. While I believe volunteering to help your profession is important, Larry played an important role in my decision to make MRA the place I volunteered. His professionalism, enthusiasm, and dedication are addicting.

So thank you Larry. And I’m ready to meet you for that Dim Sum the next time you get up to San Francisco.