New 2010/11 SAMRA Council

2 Sep 2010

The new Southern African Marketing Research Association (SAMRA) Council, were duly elected at its recent AGM.

The newly elected Council is as follows:

Chairperson	Elsa Thirion-Venter
Chair Elect/Treasurer	Rob Powell
Immediate Past Chair	Salomé Barnard
Johannesburg Chair	Marna Kirchner
Cape Chair	Stina van Rooyen
Pretoria Chair	Sanchen Henning
KwaZulu Chair	Peter Highley
Namibia Chair	Cornelius D'Alton
Fieldworkers Forum Chair	Claudette Dearnaley
Research Users Forum (RUF) Chair	Neil Govender
SAMRA Corporate Chair	Lydia Rolando
Professional Practice Chair	Elaine Alder
Membership Chair	Jan Wegelin
Communications Chair	Kathryn Ann Robinson
External Communications Portfolio Chair	Anina Maree
International Communications Portfolio Chair	Leonie Vorster
Membership Diversity	Mzwandile Khanya
SAMRA Journal Chair	Dion van Zyl
Conference and Awards Chair	Kim Larsen
Yearbook Chair	Cletus Dube
Accreditation Chair	Alex Kessel
Training and Education Chair	Noluvuko Mathibe
Code of Conduct Chair	Shirley Harding
Services Seta Chair	Margaret Constantaras

Forthcoming goals

Says SAMRA chairperson Elsa Thirion-Venter, "High on our agenda is to increase membership numbers among individuals and companies involved in the marketing research industry, as well as among students as potential future marketing researchers." Other goals are:

Increase visibility and awareness of SAMRA at universities
Entice more marketing research users to join SAMRA by strengthening the Research Users Forum (RUF) to better represent the interests of users
Assist in training of young researchers through SAMRA training courses and the SAMRA bursary scheme
Promote and uphold professional, ethical and sound research practices
Continuously drive to eliminate unethical research practices and to stimulate an ongoing passion for superior quality and standards.
Encourage co-operation between industry stakeholders and interdisciplinary co-operation
Actively encourage and promote the SAMRA Accredited Researcher programme.

Go to www.samra.co.za for contact details of the new council.