London-based Verve has appointed two new Non-Executive Directors, Zoë Ruffels (pictured at left) and Jon Whitmore (right), to accelerate the implementation of its strategy which is centered on AI and human truth.

“AI is only as good as the human truth upon which it is based,” says Andrew Cooper, Verve Founder and CEO. “Verve’s strategy is to be the source of human truth which fuels AI for Better Insight and be a leader in the reshaped market research industry which is set for substantial disruption”.

At the heart of this strategy are Verve Intelligent Personas – awarded ‘Innovation of the Year 2024’ by client-side researchers (AURA).

Zoë Ruffels joins to bring a senior client-side perspective to the team. Zoë is a proven insights innovator. She spent her first 20 years at Procter and Gamble, following which she has led global insight organizations at Samsung, GSK and Mars. Zoe is now Global Head of Insights at Imperial Brands.

Jon Whitmore was previously CEO and largest shareholder of Trigold, at the time UK’s largest mortgage sourcing platform. Since his exit in 2012 Jon has invested in 14 business across financial services, technology, leisure, education, technology and construction sectors.

The two new members join a five-strong Verve Board, which includes Geoff Westmore, Neil Brown and Andrew Cooper. Chair of the Board, Geoff Westmore, was founder Chairman of Research Now and before that, was Global Head of M&A at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Neil Brown, a former director at Apax Partners, joined the Verve board in 2014 following a long career in private equity with wide international board experience in the financial services, retail and technology sectors. The final member is Andrew Cooper, Founder and CEO of Verve, and previously co-founder of Research Now.
 

Westmore comments, “The advent of AI is a fundamental game-changer for our industry and with our suite of AI products and our enhanced Board, Verve is uniquely placed to continue building on our market-leading position.”