Chris has been researching the nature of people, and helping commercial and not-for-profit organisations make better decisions by providing evidence-based advice, for nearly 30 years. He is a QPR (Qualified Professional Researcher) and Fellow of The Research Society of Australia.
After completing a PhD at ANU in quantitative social science and deciding an academic career wasn’t for him, Chris moved to Canada to learn about choice modelling by joining Advanis, at the time global pioneers in the field. He later brought learnings back to Melbourne where the field hadn’t yet taken off in Australia, launching TNS’ Advanced Methods Group. Moving then to Blue Moon, he grew their Melbourne office from scratch to a solid business before exiting to start Nature in 2006. This coincided with his role of Director of Customer Insights and Analytics at Telstra, which gave Chris valuable insight into client-side requirements of external agencies, an experience that has been formative in making Nature what it is today. He has amassed broad-based, multi-sectoral, and multi-disciplinary experience and expertise in a very wide range of research and customer strategy areas.
As well as enjoying the challenge of running a highly successful growing agency, Chris is at his best when working closely with clients to understand their business challenges and imperatives, and in turn developing the ideal evidence-based solutions to deliver the clarity needed to make key business decisions. He’s also passionate about working closely with members of his team to help them grow and develop into the very best they can be, and in seeing Nature’s culture evolve from strength to strength.
A proud father to 3 energetic boys, Chris can be frequently spotted cheering on his kids from the sidelines of their various sporting pursuits, and on the track with them snowboarding, mountain biking, surfing, playing tennis, golf and just generally enjoying the outdoors. Not one for sitting down and taking it easy, Chris is also a lover of cooking and travel. With a slightly alarming knack of learning new languages and local accents, Chris is always eager to use one of his 3 passports to jump on a plane and travel with his family.
Specialty Quiz Topic: Tasmania