The EKOS Team

Our clients have one of the strongest research teams in the country at their disposal, with a reputation for research excellence, creativity and delivering results.

As with the company itself, the leadership team is built around a seasoned group of researchers with experience and expertise in quantitative and qualitative methods, and has been recruited from fields such as sociology, economics, psychology, business, and public administration.

EKOS staff are members of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association and the Canadian Evaluation Society.

EKOS Leadership Team

Frank L. Graves
President

Susan Galley
Senior Vice President, Quantitative Research

Patrick (Pat) Beauchamp
Vice President, Qualitative Research

Charles Graves
Vice President, Toronto

Ken Innes
Chief Information Officer

Derek Jansen
Vice President, Syndicated Products

Ken LeClair
Senior Associate

Andrew Sullivan
Vice President, Strategic Communications

Mira Svoboda
Vice President, Applied Research and Evaluation

Frank L. Graves
President

As founder of EKOS Research Associates Inc., Frank Graves is one of the country's leading applied social researchers, directing some of the largest and most challenging social research assignments conducted in Canada. For more than two decades, under the leadership of Mr. Graves, who remains responsible for the intellectual direction of all major studies conducted by the firm, EKOS has earned a reputation for creative and rigorous research in the areas of public policy, social policy and program evaluation and as a leader in innovative survey techniques and methodology.

Mr. Graves is an expert in a number of substantive fields and has advised some of Canada's most senior decision-makers in both the private and public sectors. He is also a regular commentator on many national issues, and has been described as Canada's most influential pollster.

Recently, he has conducted major national studies in the areas of citizen-centred government, health care, productivity, identity and belonging, technology, and federal government communications. Mr. Graves regularly lectures and publishes on a broad range of topics in research design and related methodological topics. Most recently, he has been writing and publishing in the area of public policy, specifically on the impact of Canadians' changing views towards their governments and their country.

Mr. Graves graduated from Carleton University with a B.A. in Social Anthropology, M.A. in Sociology and has completed doctoral coursework in Sociology.

Susan Galley
Senior Vice President, Quantitative Research

As Senior Vice-President, Quantitative Research, Ms. Galley leads EKOS' quantitative research department and takes an advisory role in all of our syndicated public opinion studies conducted by EKOS. Ms. Galley's expertise lies in developing sound methodologies, designing and finalizing survey instruments and sample designs, and establishing control mechanisms to ensure the efficient and timely collection of data while adhering to established design parameters and working with the complex logistics necessary for large-scale, multifaceted projects. Typically involved in all phases of EKOS' projects include overseeing the questionnaire design and CATI programming, sampling, coordination of the field operations, survey administration, reporting and presentation of results, Ms. Galley is also highly skilled at project costing, outlining costs and schedules associated with most of the company's proposals and projects.

Ms. Galley is responsible for many of EKOS' research design innovations developed in order to meet the challenges of complex multi-dimensional research issues and is instrumental in determining which methodologies or combination of methodologies can best meet the challenges offered by a given project and the needs of clients. Ms. Galley has a BA (honours) in Psychology from Concordia University.

Patrick (Pat) Beauchamp
Vice-President, Qualitative Research

Pat specializes in conducting qualitative public opinion research for use in the development of public policy and related strategic communications (e.g., branding, message development and testing, development and testing of creative materials, disaster checking, market research, etc.). He is one of Canada's most experienced bilingual focus group moderator having conducted over 2500 focus groups during his seventeen-year tenure with the firm. Pat has conducted focus group research across Canada in both French and English with a wide range of participants, including children, youth, seniors, business representative and Aboriginal peoples, to name but a few. He is also an experienced survey researcher and directs the Rethinking Citizen Engagement project; a ground-breaking study now in its fith iteration examining the changing relationship between Canadians, governments and communities.

Pat's substantive expertise lies in Aboriginal issues, labour market and learning issues, transportation safety, public security and civic engagement. He holds an M.A. in Canadian political history from the University of Ottawa and is fluently bilingual.

Charles Graves
Vice-President, Toronto

As the Vice President of Toronto Operations, Charles Graves has ultimate responsibility for EKOS Toronto operations. Mr. Graves has worked with EKOS at different intervals dating back to the company's establishment. Since returning to EKOS in early 1999, he has assumed the lead role in business development and client relationship management in the Toronto market.

Mr. Graves has established a reputation as a project manager who can effectively balance the demands of scientific rigour, methodological creativity and analytic insight. Having worked closely with clients at the most senior levels, he is a trusted advisor who handles sensitive and challenging assignments with his clients' confidence. Mr. Graves has directed and managed dozens of quantitative research projects involving large scale tracking, sophisticated analytics and complex methodologies. Substantively, his expertise lies primarily in strategic communications and marketing with longstanding clients in financial services, advertising, postsecondary education, arts and culture, and the environmental sectors.

Ken Innes
Chief Information Officer

As Chief Information Officer, Mr. Innes is responsible for developing and implementing EKOS' technology strategy. This includes the development of all in-house information systems and developing the company's intranet products. Mr. Innes has considerable experience and expertise in IT management and process re-design, in addition to an extensive background in qualitative and quantitative research. Mr. Innes is fluent in the development of data manipulation strategies and the re-design and adaptation of administrative data sets for research purposes. Mr. Innes has a strong background in survey design and analysis, research population definition, and sampling methods.

Prior to joining EKOS, Mr. Innes spent ten years in managerial, information systems, and data analysis positions in the Administrative Management Group at Carleton University. While at Carleton, he held editorial responsibility for official corporate statistical publications and annual reports, and oversaw the automation of such publications for their eventual replacement by intranet-based computerized executive information systems. Mr. Innes graduated with a B.A. degree in Political Science from Concordia University and holds an M.A. in Sociology from Carleton University.

Derek Jansen
Vice President, Syndicated Products

Derek Jansen has 12 years experience as a supplier of public opinion, public policy, and communications research. Derek has expertise in all aspects of social science research, from questionnaire design through to complex multivariate analysis of research findings. He has held progressively more senior roles and responsibilities within each of public opinion firms he has worked. He has just re-joined EKOS as Vice President, Syndicated Products and Special Studies. Derek was instrumental in the launching of EKOS' groundbreaking syndicated study, Rethinking Government, in 1994. His primary duties at EKOS will be to manage existing syndicated studies, and help launch and design new syndicated studies.

Prior to re-joining EKOS, Derek was a Vice President at the Ipsos-Reid Corporation. At Ipsos-Reid, Derek's responsibilities focused on the management of projects in the Public Affairs Division of the firm. He directed numerous studies, both qualitative and quantitative, for a wide range of public and private sector clients. Derek began his career in public policy and public opinion research in the early 1990s with Environics-DRZ, where his responsibilities focused on questionnaire design, data analysis and report writing.

Derek's particular area of expertise is the design, analysis and interpretation of research studies which involve sophisticated multivariate analysis of survey data (e.g., regression analysis, factor analysis, cluster analysis, etc.).

Derek graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University, and holds a Master of Management Studies degree (with Distinction) from Carleton University.

Ken LeClair
Senior Associate

As a senior member of our Toronto staff, Ken LeClair brings to EKOS a wealth of experience and expertise in research related to public opinion, strategic communications, media and public affairs. Mr. LeClair has a keen interest in the relationship among behavioural, attitudinal and motivational data in understanding social and market phenomena. He offers a full range of research consulting services to clients, managing all aspects of quantitative and qualitative studies from project start-up to completion. He has directed research projects ranging from multi-year quantitative tracking surveys to qualitative focus group projects.

Mr. LeClair has extensive experience working as both a research supplier and as a client, most recently as Research Director of the CBC. Having filled roles on either side of the supplier/client relationship, Mr. LeClair has particular expertise in developing methodological and analytical approaches that recognize the specific decision-making environments within which his clients operate.

Andrew Sullivan
Vice President, Strategic Communications

Andrew brings 18 years experience in public opinion research, public affairs and issues management to our clients. He is an accomplished researcher using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. His particular area of expertise is using research to help clients understand attitudes towards public policies and to develop appropriate issues management and communications approaches. He has moderated hundreds of focus groups, dyads and triads with members of the general public as well as special audiences such as representatives from Canada's small business community, youth, public servants, business executives and international diplomats. Andrew has directed dozens of large-scale quantitative projects on subjects including international trade, health care, labour market programs, Canada's business climate and government service delivery and performance. Most recently he has directed a number of large-scale on-line data collection exercises. His clients include federal government departments, advertising agencies and communications firms as well as national non-governmental organizations.

Prior to joining EKOS in 1997, Andrew spent seven years in research and communications positions at Human Resources Development Canada and Industry Canada. Born and raised in Montreal, Andrew is fluently bilingual and holds a M.A. in Public Policy and Administration.

Mira Svoboda
Vice President, Applied Research and Evaluation

As Vice President, Applied Research and Evaluation, Ms. Svoboda is responsible for overseeing all program evaluations and applied research conducted by EKOS. An experienced project manager and program evaluator, she has managed and played a senior role in a large number of studies including program evaluations and applied research for the federal and Ontario provincial governments, cost-benefit assessments for Regulatory Impact Assessments, and studies related to cost recovery in federal government programs. Many of the studies she has managed in recent years relate to healthcare, the application of the Official Languages Act, research and development, and Aboriginal issues.

Ms. Svoboda has substantial expertise in evaluation design as well as with qualitative data collection. She regularly conducts focus groups, interviews, workshops and presentations in both official languages.

Ms. Svoboda holds a B.A. in Economics from McGill University and an M.A. in Economics from Carleton University.