Hunter Knifton

Senior Research Manager

Hunter is an experienced quantitative and qualitative research professional with a strong background in business and politics as well as extraordinary expertise in cutting-edge analytics and data science techniques. He is passionate about applying these talents to both the design and analysis of every research project, in order to provide our clients with clearer understanding and direction, and to uncover the key motivations and insights that lie deep within every dataset.

Although Hunter leads the execution of research projects for clients in a wide range of sectors, he has developed specialities in the financial services, energy, health care, telecommunications, gig/app worker, consumer packaged goods, alcoholic beverage, and political sectors. He has also worked as a pro-bono consultant for various charities, as a research analyst at a think tank, and in various research and communications capacities for a number of municipal, provincial, and federal election campaigns.
Prior to joining Pollara, Hunter worked at a national public affairs and crisis communications agency, where he led public opinion research studies and advised clients based on his analysis of their custom survey research, relevant social media, and available primary and secondary datasets. He is a regular guest lecturer at the Ivey School of Business and Carleton’s Political Management program.

Hunter is a graduate of Western University, where he graduated from the Ivey School of Business on the Dean’s Honours List after having spent his first two years studying towards an Honours Bachelor of Finance. He is also a graduate of MIT’s Applied Data Science program and the University of Michigan’s Understanding and Visualizing Data with Python course. Hunter is fluent in Python and SQL.

Khadeeja Sajid

Senior Research Manager

Khadeeja is a quantitative and qualitative research professional with a decade of experience leading research projects of every type across the private, public, and non-profit sectors. She is known for her human-centric approach to research and her exceptional ability to derive meaningful narratives, clarifying insights, and actionable strategic and tactical recommendations from every dataset.

For every client and every project, Khadeeja turns her attentive eye, inquisitive mind, and deep methodological expertise towards understanding the target audience’s mindset, emotions, aspirations, and experiential journey. Her survey design and analytical approach is laser-focussed upon discovering the needs, challenges, and motivations of customers, stakeholders, the general public, and relevant key segments. And, she always finds creative ways to synthesize, condense, and visualize research results in order to empower clients with digestible insights and clear direction.

Khadeeja has wide-ranging research experience, holding numerous community and client-facing research department roles in organizations of varying sizes, from small to medium-sized enterprises to municipalities to global corporations. As a research supplier, she conducts research for clients across most sectors and subject matter, with particular specialties in the agricultural, automotive, consumer packaged goods (CPG), e-commerce, financial, health care, and retail sectors. Notably, she has extensive experience conducting brand health and loyalty research, as well as research amongst diverse and marginalized communities.

Prior to joining the market research industry, Khadeeja gained experience in a variety of industries and and countries, including mining, hospitality, and municipal/regional government. Prior to joining Pollara, Khadeeja held key roles at Ipsos, YouGov, and other research firms. She holds a BA Honours degree from the University of Waterloo in Urban Planning, with a specialization in Design.

Reem Hassan

Associate Vice President

Based in Saskatchewan, Reem is an empathetic and analytical researcher who applies an extensive degree of expertise and global perspective to all of her research projects. She has spent over a decade exploring the hearts and minds of a wide range of respondents for public, private, and not-for-profit sector clients across three continents. In addition to leading quantitative and qualitative research studies at Pollara, she also enjoys investigating and applying project management efficiency breakthroughs and groundbreaking new research methods to projects for the benefit and delight of our clients.

As a quantitative researcher, Reem is known to eagerly and meticulously searching for key themes, patterns, drivers, and undercurrents below the surface of the topline data – in order to provide clients with a clear understanding of what matters and what steps to take next. As a qualitative researcher, she has moderated hundreds of focus groups, in-depth interviews (IDIs), shop-a-longs, online bulletin boards, diaries, and home visits – always keeping her trained eye and active ear attentive to true, emotional reaction and impact.

Due to her curiosity and passion for research, Reem has acquired an eclectic and broad swath of expertise. Her research specialties include branding, customer segmentation, e-commerce, web/app and user experience, ad testing and tracking, usage and attitude studies, persona profiling, and population attitudes and trends. During her time working in the food and beverage industry she provided research-based strategic advice on product launches, new concepts, advertising campaigns, and countless re-branding initiatives. She has extensive experience working on customer experience in the retail sector, and she has also conducted numerous research studies for provincial governments, municipalities, and educational institutions in Western Canada. Her clients appreciate her keen interest in deeply understanding the dimensions of their business situation in order to provide them with a tailored solution, comprehensive analysis, and succinct recommendations that are relevant to their objectives.

Before joining Pollara, Reem was a Senior Research Manager at Federated Co-operatives Limited, where she was a director of research initiatives and trusted advisor to numerous Co-ops across Western Canada. Her career began in the in-house research department of a multinational food manufacturer operating in the dynamic Middle East and North African markets. She has completed the Market Research Society (MRS UK) Advanced Certificate in Market Research, and holds a Bachelor’s degree with double majors in Marketing and Strategic Management from the German University in Cairo.

Dan Arnold

Chief Strategy Officer

Dan loves data. He has a Masters in Statistics from the University of Alberta, and plays around with spreadsheets in his spare time. During his 14 years in the research industry, he has used data to help clients better understand their customers, political parties better understand voters, and governments better understand their citizens.

Dan started his research career at Pollara, where he led projects for banks, hospitals, environmental groups, magazines, telecoms, and transportation companies. He was regularly quoted in media stories on behalf of his clients who publicly released polling data.

In 2014, he joined the Trudeau Liberals as their Lead Research Strategist, overseeing the party’s research in the lead up to and during their historic third-to-first 2015 election victory. He moderated focus groups, led the nightly tracking, and used his seat projection model to map the path to government. And he did it all again when they were re-elected in 2019 and 2021.

Following the 2015 election, Dan joined the Prime Minister’s Office senior staff, as Director of Research & Advertising. Through this role, he led the Government of Canada’s extensive quantitative and qualitative research program, digging into the issues facing virtually every sector in Canada. He kept tabs on what mattered to businesses and “real people” outside the Parliament Hill bubble, and gave hundreds of engaging presentations to staffers, caucus, and Cabinet.

Through his work overseeing the Government of Canada’s extensive advertising program, he was active in all steps of the advertising process from concept testing to production to audience targeting to analyzing campaign effectiveness. This kept him on the cutting edge of the latest advertising tools and tactics being used to reach target audiences.

Now back at Pollara as Chief Strategy Officer, Dan starts every project for his clients with a deep understanding of what matters to Canadians. From there he finds the story the data is telling, and uses this to help his clients reach their objectives.

Andrew Zhao

Andrew is a curious and driven researcher with a strong reputation for distilling large, complicated datasets into clear, actionable insights for clients. He has extensive experience conducting research for clients across numerous sectors, including finance, pensions, education, environment, transportation, not-for-profit and non-governmental organizations, and municipal and provincial governments.

In addition to his role as a researcher, Andrew is Pollara’s Director of Advanced Analytics, applying his expert use of a wide array of industry-leading advanced statistical techniques to most Pollara projects. Holding a specialized skillset, he is always eager to leverage cutting-edge analytical methods in order to provide a deeper, more accurate, and more strategic lens onto the data.

Andrew also plays a leading role in managing our groundbreaking election polling subscription service. Subscribed to by a wide range of private and association sector clients, this service conducts more than 1,000 survey interviews per day throughout the writ period of an election campaign via live-interviewer telephone, IVR, online panel, and social media platforms like Facebook – and merges, analyses, and presents the results in realtime on our interactive online dashboard.

Prior to joining Pollara, Andrew worked at Forum Research. He got his start in research at the University of Toronto as a Research Assistant to Professor Neil Nevitte, where he graduated at the top of his program with an Honours B.A. in Political Science. He was also a student journalist. His academic work focussed on elections, political behaviour, research methods, and the immigrant experience in democracies. Andrew is also the Executive Director of the Seminar on the United Nations and International Affairs (SUNIA), a member of the International Political Science Association (IPSA), and sits on the board of the Harold Innis Foundation.

Sharon John

Research Manager

Sharon is an enthusiastic and innovative researcher and research operations leader. She applies her methodological expertise, keen attention to detail, multitasking prowess, and problem-solving skills to ensure that every client project benefits from superior design, smooth workflow, and successful delivery of clear, actionable insights.

Sharon provides top-tier project management and operations support to a wide range of client projects across numerous sectors, including health care, pensions, financial services, government, and membership and stakeholder associations.

She leads Pollara’s IVR survey operations team. She is also a key member of our digital research operations team, ensuring the smooth function of our Online+ research platform – an industry-leading sample engine that surveys respondents across all contact points, including multiple online panels and social media platforms, through a proprietary targeting algorithm, in order to provide our clients with the most representative samples of their target audiences.

Sharon began her career with Nielsen UAE, where she was an Operations Executive responsible for leading the field operations. In that role, she managed project operations for clients across a range of sectors, including telecom, auto, finance, and health. Sharon holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Electronics, and Instrumentation from Sathyabama University.

Soumya Goel

Research Manager

Soumya is a passionate researcher eagerly committed to solving client challenges through sophisticated research design, deep analysis, and concise reporting that brings insights to life in a clear, actionable way.

She has experience conducting quantitative and qualitative research across numerous sectors, with notable specialities in the health care, mental health, brand, reputation and membership association spaces.

Prior to joining Pollara, Soumya held researcher positions at MediaCom and the Ontario Science Centre, where she played a leading role in market research projects and nurturing strategic client relationships.

She holds a Research Analyst certificate from Georgian College’s renowned Research Analyst Program (RAP), a Marketing Management certificate from Humber College, and a B.A. Honours in Political Science from the University of Delhi.

soumyagoel@pollara.com

William Murray

William is a Senior Research Manager based in Ottawa. With more than a decade of experience in public opinion research, he has had the opportunity to work on numerous quantitative and qualitative research projects for both public and private sector clients.

A life-long observer of politics and public policy at both the federal and provincial level, he has used this experience and knowledge to inform his work, including working on nightly tracking projects in multiple federal election campaigns.

His background in public affairs research has included work on projects relating to health care, the environment, veterans, energy, and forestry. He also has extensive experience in media monitoring campaigns.

William has worked with numerous public opinion research firms in his career, including a seven-year stint with the public affairs team at Harris/Decima, where he helped lead the company’s weekly omnibus on the political issues of the day.

William has a degree in political science and history from Trent University.

- williammurray@pollara.com

Phil Terrell

Director, Digital & Creative

Phil leverages his unique and expansive skillset and talents – including graphic design, website development, and social media platform utilization – to help the Pollara team do more for their clients and look better doing it. He increases the quality and range of our research offerings, and makes our deliverables more compelling and easier to understand.

His digital responsibilities include managing Pollara’s digital research operations team and our Online+ research platform – an industry-leading sample engine that surveys respondents across all contact points, including multiple online panels and social media platforms, through a proprietary targeting algorithm, in order to provide our clients with the most representative samples of their target audiences.

His creative responsibilities include the development, design, and maintenance of websites, social media posts, social media survey advertising, and all facets of Pollara’s visual brand. He is also member of our brand research team, providing brand creative for select clients.

Phil began his career at Pollara, assuming roles as a call centre survey interviewer, in-depth interviewer, graphic designer, and ultimately as webmaster. He left Pollara to act as Senior Advisor to the Ontario Liberal Caucus on web, information systems, and brand. For many years, he has also managed an independent design and web consultancy, designing brands and websites for a wide array of clients. The Pollara team has been excited to welcome him back home, to lead our digital team and platform and to take on the role of creative director. Phil holds an Honours B.A. in Science, Sociology, & Psychology from Trent University.

Justine Fedak

A senior branding, marketing, and communications executive for more than 20 years, Justine is Pollara’s Chief Brand Strategist, lending her expertise to our team’s various brand development and redevelopment projects for a wide range of clients across all sectors. Leveraging the extensive experience she has gained designing and improving diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at the Instant Impact group – which she co-founded with Star Jones – she is also a lead contributor to Pollara’s DEI-related research studies for public and private sector clients.

Justine is an experienced, well-known speaker across the US and Canada, presenting her views and approaches to marketing and branding at hundreds of industry conferences. She is also sought after for her motivational keynotes and speaking engagements, where she shares her experience living with multiple sclerosis and her advocacy for healthy living.

Justine was a senior marketing and communications executive with BMO for over 20 years, including holding the position of Global Head of Social Media, Brand, and Sponsorships for BMO Financial Group. She has written a regular column in the Chicago Sun-times’ Splash, and recently published a book for children entitled The Happy Magic Chair. Justine holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Sociology from the University of Toronto, and an MBA from Dalhousie University. In 2015, she was honoured as the youngest recipient of Dalhousie’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

She has also been honoured as Out on Bay Street’s 2011 Leading Executive Ally (Toronto), the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s 2013 “Woman on the Move” (Illinois), the Chicago Business Journal’s 2015 Women of Influence, Chicago Sky’s 2016 “Redefine Possible” Women’s Leadership Award recipient, and the 2017 Cohn Weil Memorial MS Honoree.

She is a member of the Board of Directors of The Magnificent Mile Association, the Chicago Police Foundation, and is on the Executive Committee of the Chicago Sports Commission and the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association. She is the past Chair of the City of Chicago Municipal Marketing Advisory Counsel as well as other prominent boards.

justinefedak@pollara.com

Connie Cheng

Senior Research Associate (Vancouver)

A research industry veteran of more than 30 years, Connie is a quantitative research expert providing top-tier design, analysis, and advice to a wide variety of private, public and non-profit clients across the finance, environment, energy, defence, health, and tourism sectors.

Leveraging her extensive background in project management, research methodology, and data analysis, Connie is committed to providing clients with strategic and actionable insights. She is particularly adept at managing complex research projects of any type, including those involving multiple methodologies and long-standing tracking programs.

Connie is a Certified Marketing Research Professional (CMRP). Connie was a senior researcher at Pollara for 18 years, before launching Cohesium Research in 2013. She began her research career in the Vancouver office of Canadian Facts, and has spent time at Mendon Associates and Decima Research. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Marketing from the University of British Columbia.

Mike McDonald

Senior Research Associate (Vancouver)

Mike has built his career at the crossroads of public opinion research, communications, public affairs, and strategy. He led the BC Liberal Party’s 2013 election campaign, hailed as “stunning” and a “win for the ages” by Canadian news outlets – and later served as Chief of Staff to Premier Christy Clark.

As a researcher, Mike adds a strong understanding of the underlying political, socio-cultural, and demographic context that is critical to ensuring that the research findings successfully inform strategy. He conducts research for public affairs clients across numerous sectors, including health care, resources, energy, transportation, policing, sports and entertainment, government, and membership and stakeholder associations. His experience commissioning major research projects while holding other roles in the past has resulted in a superior approach to client service and research reporting.

Mike’s work with Pollara complements his ongoing role as Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at Kirk & Co., a leader in communications and public consultation/engagement. In addition to his work in politics and with Kirk & Co. and his own independent consultancy, Mike was a senior researcher at Innovative Research Group. He holds an Honours B.A. in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

Danielle Armengaud

Research Associate (Ottawa)

Based in Ottawa, Danielle is a research veteran with more than 20 years of experience. She started her career at the Government of Canada, after which she made the switch to the private sector, where she focused on clients in the public affairs sphere. In particular, she has played key roles in projects conducted on behalf of many federal and provincial government departments, municipalities, NGOs, and associations.

Danielle is an expert quantitative and qualitative researcher, with extensive experience designing and analyzing survey and focus group projects, focus group moderating, and conducting one-on-one in-depth interviews. She is well-versed in a wide range of both online and in-person methods and is an accomplished moderator and interviewer who understands the art of both asking questions and active listening. She has also earned a strong reputation as a facilitator of large-scale qualitative public/stakeholder engagement sessions and townhalls – whether conducted via in-person, telephone, or video chat methods.

She has a keen understanding of the importance of using sound research to support policy development, communications strategies and messaging, advertising development and evaluation, stakeholder engagement and collaborative decision-making. Taking research findings to the “next level” is her specialty, integrating them successfully and seamlessly into client communications and strategies, and translating them into actionable insights for any audience, whether high level executive decision-makers within governments or businesses, or the general public.

Danielle is a Certified Analytics & Insights Professional (CAIP). She has held senior researcher roles at Earnscliffe, Harris/Decima, and Nielsen, before launching her own independent research consultancy. She holds a Bachelor of Journalism (High Honours) from Carleton University and has attended the Environmental Journalism Academy, University of Maryland University College.

Martin Redfern

Research Associate (Ottawa)

Based in Ottawa, Martin has 25 years of experience in the public affairs and market research industry. A recognized research expert, he specializes in project and survey design as well as analysis of quantitative, qualitative, and hybrid data. He is also an accomplished focus group moderator, having conducted hundreds of groups during his career.

He has extensive experience conducting research for federal government departments, associations, and private-sector clients, including clients in the financial, health care, and post-secondary education sectors.

Martin is bilingual in English and French. He holds an honours degree in Political Science from Dalhousie University and has studied advanced research methods at the graduate level at Carleton University.

- martinredfern@pollara.com
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Mubashera Kothawala

Associate Vice President

Mubashera is a creative and curious researcher who brings a wealth of experience and perspective to the quantitative and qualitative research projects that she leads and supports. Over the course of her career, she has conducted research in Canada, the U.S., and the UAE for a wide variety of clients in the private and public sectors.

Mubashera has a passion for sifting through layers of data and a gift for extracting the hidden gems of insight and strategic direction that clients need. She is an expert at leveraging segmentation and key driver analyses to develop realistic, actionable recommendations. Mubashera applies these talents across numerous sectors, including health care, pensions, financial services, IT, aviation, travel and tourism, numerous verticals within government, and membership and stakeholder associations.

Mubashera is a key member of our brand research team, with extensive experience leading quantitative studies and facilitating large qualitative sessions for an array of different clients. She is also a research pioneer, conducting unprecedented diversity, equity, and inclusion studies that provide an in-depth understanding of public attitudes towards, and experiences amongst, women and Indigenous, racialized, religious, LBGTQ2, and disabled populations in Canada. Her groundbreaking track record also extends to her work for private and public sector clients in the cannabis and psilocybin sectors. As recognition of this work, Mubashera sits as a member on the Canadian Research Insights Council (CRIC)’s Cannabis Insights Committee.

Prior to joining Pollara, Mubashera worked at Nielsen UAE, where she was responsible for managing very large, complex, multi-methodology research projects requiring a high level of sensitivity and attention to detail. With education and work experience in Canada, India, the U.S., and the UAE, she brings the valuable perspective that comes from this diverse cultural experience. She holds a Masters in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Southern California.

Daniel Dharmasurya

Senior Research Manager

Daniel is a Senior Research Manager at Pollara and has almost 10 years of experience as a market researcher. In his role, he leads projects throughout the design, operations, and reporting phases. Daniel has experience conducting both quantitative and qualitative studies leading to actionable, strategic recommendations for many clients in both the public and private sectors.

He is an in-demand presenter among our clients, who also value him for his innovative and efficient survey design skills and his reporting – which concisely delivers sophisticated analysis and actionable recommendations. Daniel is also our leading online discussion forum qualitative research specialist.

On behalf of Pollara’s clients, he has contributed his expertise to a wide range of topics including policy development and assessment research, customer satisfaction tracking, image and impression management, message testing, and new product evaluation.

Daniel graduated with a Master of Arts in sociology from the University of Toronto. He also completed a co-op Bachelor of Arts in sociology from the University of Waterloo.

- danieldharmasurya@pollara.com
- 416-921-0090 ext. 2210

Lesli Martin

Senior Vice President

A research industry veteran of more than 20 years, Lesli leads many of Pollara’s major client accounts as well as many of our research model and product initiatives. Over the years, Lesli has earned a reputation for client service excellence that is second to none – in no small part driven by her experience as a manager of research departments at a number of storied Canadian brands. Our clients benefit from her research expertise, rooted in a career wherein she has designed and analysed hundreds of surveys and moderated thousands of focus groups for clients in every sector.

Although her client portfolio encompasses every sector, she is well known as a research thought leader in the health care, mental health, ad testing, reputation, retail, financial, and municipal and provincial government spaces. She specializes in discovering the belief and motivational systems at the root of each relevant audience, and illuminating the informational messaging that will provoke and inspire these targets, influencers, and stakeholders.

Lesli is a Certified Analytics & Insights Professional (CAIP). Prior to joining Pollara, she was a senior researcher and account lead at Leger and comScore, and led research departments at Sears, Cossette, and Great Gulf Homes. She has published numerous research-based articles in peer-reviewed medical journals, and her research has been reported in most Canadian media outlets. Lesli holds a BA in Business Communication from Brock University.

Wendy Iwai

Chief Operating Officer

As Chief Operating Officer, Wendy leads the ongoing organizational, administrative, financial and governance elements of Pollara Strategic Insights.

Wendy brings valuable insight from both the private and public sectors. Her private sector business experience ranges from law, Canadian telecommunications to a B2B e-commerce firm in New York City. She served in various senior capacities within the Government of Ontario, and as Strategic Advisor to the Chair of the Toronto 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games.

Wendy’s commitment to community is evident through her roles on the Executive Committee of Toronto’s 2008 Olympic Bid, numerous charitable fundraising projects, and the organizational team for Queen Elizabeth’s Royal Jubilee Gala in Toronto. She is a recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Craig Worden

President & Chief Innovation Officer

In addition to his corporate leadership responsibilities, Craig leads Pollara’s research divisions and the development of our research methodologies, models, products, and service offerings. He provides actionable, insightful counsel to our clients, applying expertise gained over more than 20 years of conducting quantitative and qualitative research for an extensive array of private, public and not-for-profit sector clients. He is enthusiastically committed to providing creative, customized research solutions that deliver clients clarity of understanding and strategic recommendations for the best path forward.

For Craig, research is not our main deliverable – it is the critical foundation upon which we provide our primary value: insightful guidance and advisory partnership. Involved in the design and analysis of many of our projects, his key activities include leading customized segmentation and motivational analyses as well as infusing insights with veteran interpretation, real-world context, and actionable recommendations. He is passionate about digging below the surface of topline results and helping clients identify and reach their key audiences with a sound understanding of the emotional underpinnings, engagement levels, persuadability, and key drivers of those segments.

Craig is a Certified Analytics & Insights Professional (CAIP). His research career began at Angus Reid Group/Ipsos-Reid, where he rose from Analyst intern to Associate Vice President in five years. Over the course of his career, he has designed and analysed hundreds of surveys and moderated thousands of focus groups. Prior to joining Pollara, he founded and managed public affairs research practices at Leger and Angus Reid Public Opinion/Vision Critical. He has appeared in print and broadcast media on hundreds of occasions, providing commentary on public opinion trends, politics and elections, and research techniques. Craig currently sits on the Canadian Research Insights Council (CRIC)’s Cannabis Insights Committee. He holds a certificate in Indigenous awareness and reconciliation education from the First Nations University of Canada for completing their Four Seasons of Reconciliation course. He also holds a BA Honours in political science from Carleton University, and a MA in political science from Brock University.

Don Guy

Don Guy has been described by Canada’s national newsmagazine Maclean’s as a “legendary political strategist”, by Canada’s national newspaper The Globe and Mail as a “brilliant strategist” and by The Toronto Star as “policy wizard”.

He has provided the research-fueled strategies behind many of Canada’s most successful political, public and corporate campaigns over the past 25 years.

Don’s graduate academic training was at the University of Toronto, where he took his MA and doctoral studies in political and democratic behaviour.

- dguy@pollara.com
- 647-962-6754
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