Nagai (pictured) was previously senior vice-president for global business development at dataSpring. There she was responsible for building the company’s UK business, as well as overseeing sales and operations offices in eight locations, including London, Los Angeles, New York and Singapore.

Her appointment is part of Innovate’s investment to meet growing demand from European-based research agencies.

Matt Dusig, co-founder and managing director at Innovate said: "Our company has worked extensively with clients in Europe for many years. The growing needs of those clients makes it important for us to build a strong team with robust and localised panel assets.

"In her time with dataSpring and Research Panel Inc., Rie was instrumental in launching the first global business division for the company, expanding in Los Angeles, New York, and then London. This commitment to maintaining excellence and quality, while growing new business, will benefit our clients immensely."