Bios

David L. Sparks – Chief Executive Officer
As the founder and CEO of the company, Dave brings more than 35 years of experience in Marketing Research. He serves as the company's chief methodologist and provides strategic direction to all aspects of the company. Dave began his career with IBM, then earned his Ph.D. in Business (Marketing and Statistics) from the University of Texas at Austin. He has taught at both the University of Richmond and Clemson University. He founded the company in 1971. Dave has been published in a variety of business and professional journals, including the Journal of Marketing Research and the Journal of Retail Banking.

Rich Groom – Senior Vice President - Business Development
Rich brings more than 10 years of marketing research experience. After rising through the ranks at the company, he has experience in all of our core areas, having worked as a senior project manager for many years. Rich now serves as a senior relationship manager for many of our largest clients as well as spearheading our business development efforts. Rich joined the company after working for IBM Credit Corporation for 4 years. He received a Financial Management degree from Clemson University.

Leanna Garrison – Senior Vice President – Client Experience
Leanna has more than 14 years of marketing research experience at Sparks Research. Leanna is a senior project manager and also has strategic oversight of our on-site telephone center. She also is very involved in managing the type of experience that clients should receive. Leanna joined the company after working for Milliken in Manufacturing Management. Leanna received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lander University and a Master's Degree from Clemson University.

David Williams – Assistant Vice President – Senior Project Manager
David joined the company in March 2002 after being employed at Coca-Cola Bottling Company Consolidated for 3 years. He graduated from Clemson University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing. David devotes most of his time to project management, overseeing reporting and coordinating with outside vendors.

Jon Christiansen – Statistics, Analytics and Reporting
Jon received a Bachelor's and Master's degree from Clemson University in Economics and Econometrics and a graduate certificate from Carnegie-Mellon University in Computational Analytic and earned his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Clemson University. Prior to Sparks Research, Jon spent three years in the Institutional Research and Planning field, primarily in database management and quantitative analytics.

Susan Haigh –Financial Services & Qualitative Specialist
Susan’s twenty-plus years in the banking industry began after she received her MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School.  She began her career managing client relationships in the large corporate and commercial real estate businesses and then transitioned into marketing roles, where she led sales training, communications, product development and customer satisfaction programs.  In the bank’s marketing research group, Susan was charged with implementing customer experience research and employee feedback programs across all B2B segments and specialized industries.  As a qualitative researcher, Susan brings her wide-ranging business experience and conversational ability with respondents to every engagement.