Board of CRE Holds First Meeting

The first Board meeting of The Council for Research Excellence was held in New York City on June 8th.

Mark Kaline of Ford Motor Company chaired the meeting. The Board discussed governance issues and the process for identifying research projects that will be considered for funding, selected a Steering Committee, and voted on a Chair and Vice Chair. The Council for Research Excellence represents all client segments, including members from national and local broadcast and cable, advertisers, national and local advertising agencies, ethnic media agencies, television station groups, syndicators, and the public interest groups. The Board of Directors will serve as the primary decision-making body of the Council, and a smaller Steering Committee will oversee operations and make recommendations on research to the Board. The nine Steering Committee members selected at the meeting include:

Susan Cuccinello, SVP of Research, TVB

Henry DeVault, SVP Audience Analysis, ABC, Inc.

Don Gloeckler, Manager, Media Research North America, Procter & Gamble

Mike Hess, Director of Global Research and Communication Insights, OMD Worldwide

George Ivie, Executive Director, MRC

John Reardon, Group Vice President, Tribune Broadcasting

Ceril Shagrin, SVP Corporate Research, Univision

Ira Sussman, VP Research & Insight, CAB

Jack Wakshlag, Chief Research Officer, Turner Broadcasting

The Council unanimously elected Mark Kaline to serve as Chairman and Larry Bobo, Professor of Sociology, Stanford University to serve as Vice-Chairman. The Steering Committee will meet in the next few weeks. The Board plans to hold a second meeting in late July. A Technology Advisory Panel, with members from academia and other research disciplines, is being created to consult with the Board and the Steering Committee and will be fully formed later this month.