J. Michael Dennis is a senior vice president in NORC’s Business Ventures and Innovation unit (BVI) and Executive Director of AmeriSpeak, NORC’s multi-client panel-based research platform. Dennis oversees all of AmeriSpeak’s operations, including business development and panel recruitment.  

Dennis is a nationally recognized expert on survey research methods, with a particular focus on online surveys and household panels. He has overseen more than 100 statistical studies using online data collection and was appointed to serve as a member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) Task Force that developed online survey recommendations for researchers. His areas of methodological interest are in mixed-mode data collections, measurement of non-response bias and panel conditioning, uses of administrative data for enhancing survey sampling and analysis, and passive measurement of digital behaviors.  

Prior to joining NORC, Dennis held several executive positions over fourteen years at Knowledge Networks, which was acquired by GfK Custom Research in 2012. Dennis founded Knowledge Networks’ Government and Academic Research Unit and managed all of the company’s federal, academic, and foundation funded research for clients such as the Centers for Disease Control, the Environmental Protection Agency, University of Pennsylvania, the National Science Foundation, and Stanford University.  

In addition, Dennis provided management and scientific oversight for KnowledgePanel®. Before joining Knowledge Networks, Dennis directed telephone and field data collections for Abt Associates on federally funded surveys, including the National Immunization Survey.  In addition to his work on publicly funded studies, Dennis has designed and directed consumer market research studies regarding food products, smartphones, personal computing, and other products. He has authored more than 60 articles, conference and seminar papers, and book chapters and is a frequent speaker at annual meetings of the American Association for Public Opinion Research.