Kantar Public appoints Rowan Foster as Senior Director
Rowan Foster has joined Kantar Public as a Senior Director. The move sees her take a role in the leadership team of the organisation’s UK’s Evaluation Practice.
Kantar Public was created in 2016 to partner with the company’s clients around the world, assisting with the next generation of public policy challenges. The organisation has roots in many of the world’s best known social research businesses, including Infratest in Germany, BMRB in the UK, Sofres in France, IMRB in India, Ibope in Brazil, Nipo in the Netherlands, and Obop in Poland.
Initially part of the Kantar Group, in May 2022, the wider organisation entered into an agreement for the sale of Kantar Public to Trilantic Europe in May. The purchase by the pan-European private equity firm enabled Kantar Public to establish itself as an independent business. With Tilantic Europe partnering with the management team to deliver Kantar Public’s next phase of purpose-based growth, the firm has launched a campaign to grow its 700-strong headcount, across 20 countries.
As it looks to build capacity, the global evidence and advisory business has appointed Rowan Foster as a Senior Director in its Evaluation Practice. In her new role, Foster will work as part of the leadership team in the firm’s UK wing, which provides end-to-end evaluation to UK government and public realm clients.
Kantar Public UK CEO, Craig Watkins, said of the news, “I am delighted to have Rowan join us in the Kantar Public UK team. Rowan’s deep expertise in her policy areas further enhances our rapidly growing Evaluation practice and offer. Rowan brings enviable knowledge and extensive delivery experience with a strong focus on client impact that will strengthen the team’s end-to-end evaluation offer and services we offer our clients.”
Foster arrives from IFF Research where she was most recently a Director within the Work, Welfare and Well-Being Team. Over a six-year period, this saw Foster lead many large-scale, mixed methods evaluations across a range of government clients including DWP, DfE, DLUHC and HMRC. Before this, she worked in the public sector herself, with the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion, and the Department for Work and Pensions. This enabled her to accrue extensive experience of complex evaluation and expertise in a range of policy areas including education, employment, housing and financial inclusion.
