Nasard (pictured) has been at the helm of Bata since 2016, and prior to that held various roles at Heineken, including president of Western Europe Business and global CMO. He has around 30 years’ experience in FMCG and retail, including 17 years at Procter and Gamble.

Nasard succeeds Eric Salama, who departed Kantar in February following the completion of WPP’s sale of 60% of the company to private equity firm Bain Capital in December 2019. 

Since then, Kantar’s executive committee has been led by chief financial officer and deputy chief executive Ian Griffiths.

Adam Crozier, formerly chief executive at ITV, joined Kantar as its non-executive chairman in February.

Crozier said: “In Alexis we have appointed a world-class CEO. As a former CMO and client he understands the value Kantar delivers, and the role it plays in advising the world’s biggest consumer brands. Throughout his career Alexis has built a reputation for innovation, creativity and operational excellence. As we transform our business and position ourselves for growth, Alexis’ leadership and international experience will be instrumental in fulfilling the ambition that we have for Kantar.”

Christophe Jacobs, a managing director at Bain Capital Private Equity, said: “This appointment is another important step on Kantar’s journey to become the world’s leading advisor on data-driven marketing and commercial strategies and a key ecosystem partner for global technology leaders.”

Nasard added: “The combination of Kantar’s deep understanding of consumers around the world, our proprietary data sets and our growing expertise in advanced analytics and artificial intelligence puts us in a leading position to reshape the insights and consulting market, while offering clients superior analytics they can monetise.”