70 Years

Michael Nitsche is an entrepreneur in the Marketing Communications and Research Industry in Austria with broad international experience.

He is owner and CEO of Das Österreichische Gallup Institut GmbH, GALLUP AG Switzerland and D.N.S. Marketing and Communications in Vienna.

Michael started his professional career more than 40 years ago as an interviewer for the renowned Austrian Gallup Institute and was then promoted research manager. Later he switched to the advertising industry and became CEO of the renowned agency Saatchi & Saatchi in Austria, a position he held for many years. In 2008, he founded his own advertising agency, which, among others, managed the brand communication of one of the largest telecoms client in Central and Eastern Europe. 2014 Michael returned to his professional roots by acquiring the Austrian Gallup Institute. In 2024 he was elected President of Gallup International Association after 8 years of Member of the Board and Executive Vice President.

For many years Michael has been involved in professional opinion research and market research organizations, promoting the improvement of professional and ethical standards. He is a member of ESOMAR and of WAPOR, which he represents in Austria, and has been Chairman of the Board of VdMI, the Association of Austrian Market and Opinion Research Institutes, since 2024.

Michael holds several university degrees in Business Administration from WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, in Political Science, Sociology and Media & Communication Science from University of Vienna and completed a post graduate executive program at INSEAD Business School, Fontainebleau/France. Today he teaches Methods of Opinion and Market Research and Brand Communication on a part-time basis at the University of Klagenfurt/Austria, passing on his expertise and decades of professional experience to the next generation.

Ani is an experienced professional in quantitative and qualitative research, media analysis, and research capacity building. She excels in data-driven strategies to enhance efficiencies and is a national representative of Georgia in the World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) and serves as a board member of the Gallup International Association.

As a Senior Research and Business Development Executive at GORBI, a global research company based in Tbilisi, Georgia, Ani leads research projects in countries across multiple continents, as well as building research capacity of partner organizations, and introducing world-class research methodologies and technical and software solutions to new markets. She is also the Research and Strategy Director at Tri Media Intelligence (TMI), a company specializing in television audience measurement in Georgia, powered by Kantar Technologies. Ani played a crucial role in founding this organization in 2015 and has held various positions in the company, from research manager to CEO.

Ani lectures on research methods and medical sociology at Caucasus University and Business and Technology University. She is pursuing a PhD in Sociology at Tbilisi State University, focusing on political protests in Georgia since 1991, and holds a Master’s in Sociology from the same institution. Ani earned her undergraduate degree in Economics and Sociology from Skidmore College, USA, and speaks Georgian, English, Russian, and German.

Arwa is Operations Manager at the IIACSS Group.

She holds a MSc in Business Informatics – Software Technologies from the University of Applied Sciences in Stuttgart/Germany and a BSc in Computer Engineering from the German Jordanian University in Amman/Jordan. She has experience with more than 100 quantitative projects delivered successfully, responsible for all data processes including designing, scripting, quality control and direct supervision over project manager staff and technical support.

Luis Hernández holds a degree in Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid and began his career working in a multinational media company, developing the new technologies division and adapting innovative solutions to new ways of communicating.

In 2002 he co-founded Eurostar Mediagroup, a leading company in Spain in the areas of social research, TV production, IT solutions, and communication.

SIGMA DOS, a pioneering social research company in Spain, is part of Eurostar Mediagroup whose social and political research studies and work are regularly featured in Spanish media. As SIGMA DOS CEO, Luis Hernández has managed relevant national and international research projects for public institutions and private companies from Europe, Latin America, and Africa.

Currently, he is Board Member of Insights + Analytics Spain Association and member of the Spanish Television Academy.

CEO Novus Group International AB (since 2011)
Chairman of the Board: Gallup Nordic AB
Member of the board: Novus Group International AB

Relevant other engagements
Vice president EAPC (European Political Consultant)
Communication consultant of the year (2015 Sweden)
Research published in Nature 2022
Speaker, writer, political opinion commenter, Novus political analyst, regularly commenting in news media: TV, Radio, Newspapers. Have worked with all major news outlets in Sweden.
Lecturer in survey methodologies and actively contributed to most Swedish news media’s checklists to validate reliable research as a basis for news coverage.

Active Member in:
ESOMAR, AAPOR, WAPOR, EAPC

Education
M.Sc.SE (Master of Science Software Engineering)

Johnny Heald started in the industry as in interviewer in the mid-80s and now runs ORB International in the UK.  He has worked in more than 45 countries around the world and counts his work in Iraq, Somalia and Syria as some of his greatest achievements. The overwhelming majority of his research is social and political opinion research with a focus on research throughout the Middle East and Africa. Many studies measure the performance and effect of products designed to drive behavior change.

His particular interests are in campaign evaluation, target audience analysis and wider social, political, and religious trends. Closer to home he has worked on the previous four UK general election campaigns.

He is a Vice President of the Gallup International Association, a post his father and previously head of Social Surveys (Gallup Poll) in the UK held some three decades ago.

Bilal Gilani is Executive Director of the Customized Research Department at Gallup Pakistan. He has gained overall management experience in field operations in Pakistan and has headed key projects relating to New Media and Media Studies.

These projects include the Gallup Media Reports on television, newspapers and radio that give estimates of the size of TV, radio, print and cinema audiences in rural and urban parts of Pakistan. His study on how mobile technology is shaping the culture and community-level changes in Pakistan has been a landmark in mobile phone–based research and has been used by the World Bank, USAID, UNICEF and DFID in their media campaign management.

Dr. Munqith Dagher conducted Iraq’s first-ever public opinion poll and since that time has been responsible for undertaking 1,500,000+ interviews for a range of agencies and topics.  Munqith came up with idea of creating IIACSS back in 2003 while he was a Professor of Public Administration/ Strategic Management at Baghdad University.   He has managed more than 800 public opinion and various market research projects.  He has lectured widely and published several articles and books in different countries in the world.  Due to his wide experience and intense research, Munqith become one of the most cited and referenced source in public opinion in Iraq and Arab world. In 2007 he expanded his research base by completing a program on the Principles of Marketing Research, at the University of Georgia, in the US, models.

On June 16th 2015, he awarded the Ginny Valentine Badge of Courage for Bravery in keeping research alive in multiple conflict zones from the Research Liberation Front.

In 2017 Munqith was nominated Regional Director MENA at the Board of Gallup International Association, in charge of Middle East and North Africa Region.

Munqith holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration from the University of Baghdad, College of Administration and Economics and Master degree in war sciences. He was professor of public administration and strategic management in Baghdad, Basrah and National defense universities.