[February 11, 2014]

Mindshare Technologies Appoints Gary Topiol as Managing Director, International and Establishes Global Centre of Excellence in the United Kingdom

Mindshare Technologies, a leader in cloud-based Voice of the Customer (VoC) technologies, announced the appointment of Gary Topiol, former Managing Director, EMEA at Empathica, to Managing Director, International for the newly combined entity, and has established a Global Centre of Excellence in the United Kingdom. In this position, Topiol will leverage his 20+ years of experience in market research and the development and execution of global customer experience strategies for FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies in formulating VoC programs that meet the demands of consumers and consistently deliver great experiences regardless of geography.

"Under Gary's strategic leadership and direction, Empathica's EMEA business grew by 1000% in just six years, with close to 100 new client brands contributing to 40% of Empathica's overall company revenue," said Lonnie Mayne, President of Mindshare Technologies. "This impressive growth is based on both his leadership and his team's true understanding of the market and the customer, which has enabled them to deliver on their promise to help clients leverage their VoC programs to take their customers' experiences to a new and even more impactful level."

As the leading provider of global VoC, the company announced the establishment of its Global Centre of Excellence in Birmingham, UK. This new Centre of Excellence will support multi-unit brands in delivering ulti-market VoC programs. Mindshare currently supports global brands in 125 countries and 28 languages, helping global multi-unit leaders improve their performance at all phases of their customer engagement.

"Our Global Centre of Excellence is centered around helping brands improve their customers' experience through VoC programs across locations throughout the world. A consistent delivery of a multi-market brand experience is a challenge," comments Mayne. "What defines a great customer experience in one country isn't necessarily equivalent in another. Our Global Centre of Excellence will address the challenges associated with putting the customer at the heart of the business in widely different markets, while addressing local customer needs and ensuring global brand consistency."

Nan Russell will head the Global Centre of Excellence, with the support of a highly qualified team of VoC experts with experience in developing and launching multi-market, multi-cultural programs designed to help brands understand their customer experience and drive operational improvements globally.

Russell has more than 25 years of experience in global research design, methodology, and analysis that drives strategic insight, including more than 10 years of experience in designing, implementing and supporting multinational, multichannel VoC programs in 75 countries and in 28 languages. She designed and implemented the first VoC programs ever launched in China, Russia, Japan and Brazil.

"When it comes to creating a global VoC program for a large international brand, it is critical to develop a program that understands what the brand stands for globally, while understanding how this is delivered and valued locally," comments Topiol. "Our team brings the experience and expertise necessary in working with big global brands every day in the development of an effective multi-market approach to the design and implementation of a global business's VoC program ensuring it is mindful of individual countries and their traditions."

In addition to its Global Centre of Excellence, Mindshare will be expanding its international profile with strategic partners with offices throughout EMEA. Each partner office will provide effective local support to the brands it works with throughout the world.

About Mindshare Technologies

Mindshare Technologies is the largest provider of VoC solutions for the food services and retail industries. Using a proprietary customer survey platform, Mindshare collects feedback in real time to help companies retain customers and increase profits. As a full-service partner, Mindshare provides tactical instruction, strategic guidance and customer experience consulting to global brands and multi-unit operators. For more information, visit www.mshare.net.

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