Synovate Inc.

The role of the regional management organisation is to stay close to the clients and the markets. Each region, and many countries, have dedicated customer loyalty teams on the front lines.

Ian has recently joined Synovate and brings with him over 20 years research experience the majority specifically in mystery shopping-- and 15 years commercial and management experience. Since joining Synovate, Ian has re-organised Synovate South Africa's approach to mystery shopping which has seen exponential growth in the past two years. Ian is a Sector Director for Synovate sub-Saharan Africa and, amongst other responsibilities, he looks after mystery shopping for the region. Prior to Synovate, in 1993, Ian set up React Surveys and established it into one of South Africa's leading mystery shopping providers. He subsequently went on to manage the company for eight years, winning a number of key global mystery shopping contracts. In 2002, Ian was appointed Group Managing Director of Lodge Service Holdings. Their main business included retail security as well as being the majority holder in React Surveys. Ian has a Masters degree in Social Anthropology completing a study of popular culture and community, living for periods of time in the South African township of Sharpeville during the turbulent era of anti-apartheid mass action in the 1980's. He subsequently contributed a number of papers on popular culture to various academic journals and newspapers. He later completed a Management Advancement Programme (which provides credits towards a Masters of Business Administration.) Thereafter Ian decided to complete a PhD combining his Masters with his commercial research focus, looking at popular culture and customer service. He completed two years of his PhD but de-registered on the arrival of his second child, Alexia, now four years old. He intends to resume his PhD once his daughter is 21 and/or married whichever comes first. Ian is an avid reader and prefers it to watching TV unless there's sport on. He enjoys playing golf, is passionate about music and excellent food. Right now he insists that his biggest joys in his life are his children and the trick is balancing the demands of work with the need to spend quality time with them. Life is too short to miss out! Ian is curious about the male ability to fall into a deep sleep holding the remote control but still be acutely aware of any changes to the TV channel. If stranded on a remote island he would do what he normally does when a beach is involved: lie inert with a good book, spend time swimming with the kids and when the sun starts disappearing beneath the waves, repair to the closest grass hut (miraculously replete with a fridge of cold beers) and ponder the meaning of it all (for a few short minutes.)

In a voluntary capacity as the co-founder and Executive Director of the Alchemist Foundation, Shane is responsible for overseeing both the development and operations of the organisation. He is also the owner and General Manager of Australian Youth Enterprises, an incubation company for young people's business ideas. Shane is the President of edventures wa and a member of the Executive Committee of the CreativeLINKS Foundation. In his professional life, as the Executive Officer for Synovate, a global research company, Shane is responsible for implementing strategic initiatives and more specifically to enhance business processes and systems. Prior to this, he held various management roles at Curtin University of Technology ranging from electronic information to community life. Passionate about the development of young people, in 1998, Shane led the growth of Curtin Volunteers! to become Australia's largest and most active student-based volunteer organisation. Since 1997, Shane has also owned and operated Solutions for Tomorrow, a small software development business specialising in content management systems for medium to large enterprises. Shane holds a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science), is a qualified facilitator and trainer, and an experienced traveller having managed several study tours through countries including China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, and Malaysia.