Verian has announced a series of key leadership changes for 2026. Craig Watkins, Ben Humberstone, Ed Dunn and Gareth Schehage are promoted from the firm’s UK offices.
Launched in 2016, Verian employs more than 700 people in over 20 countries at the time of the deal. The recent backing of Trilantic Europe has enabled the firm to rapidly expand across the continent, via acquisitions like Lithuanian consultancy PPMI, and with marquee appointments such as former UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband or its Global Chair Eric Salma.
As the firm looks to expand its footprint across Europe, Craig Watkins has been named the new CEO of Verian’s European Union and Multilateral Institutions and UK. Previously the UK CEO of the firm, in this new role Watkins takes responsibility for our Brussels and Vilnius offices in addition to the UK, leading a team of researchers and specialist consultants focused on using that insight and evidence from citizen experience and attitudes to help clients navigate key public policymaking decisions.
Watkins noted, “We have a real opportunity to bring together the best of these markets, to align our strengths, sharpen our approach, and deliver an even more powerful, innovative and seamless experience for our clients.”
Following Watkin’s promotion, there will be changes to Verian’s UK leadership. Ben Humberstone, steps up to take on the managing director role for the UK market. With over 20 years of experience in public policy analysis, he has been responsible for the population studies team in Verian for the last 5 years, leading large and complex surveys, including the Crime Survey for England and Wales, Understanding Society, and the Consumer Price Index data collection for ONS.
Meanwhile, occupying Humberstone’s former role will be Ed Dunn, promoted to head of population studies in the UK. Dunn has been senior director for population Studies at Verian since 2022, leading the delivery of complex and high-profile social research projects for a range of public sector clients. Prior to joining Verian, he was deputy director and chief social researcher at the ONS.
Gareth Schnehage will finally join Verian as the company’s new CFO. Previously arriving on an interim basis in 2025, he has had significant impact supporting the firm as we work towards our 2028 strategy and growth ambitions. He has over two decades of international financial leadership experience across multinational and private equity‑backed environments.
Philippa Edward, Global CEO said, “I am delighted to announce a number of leadership changes which I am confident will accelerate the impact of our work and support our ability to offer ever increasing value to our customers.”
Elsewhere, in global roles, Haroldas Brozaitis (currently CEO of Verian Lithuania) will take on a new role as Verian‘s chief AI and transformation officer.
Brozaitis added, “The clients we serve cannot rely on AI that impresses in a demo but doesn’t hold up under institutional scrutiny. What we’ve shown is that AI, embedded into rigorous research practice, can compress delivery from weeks to days while strengthening the evidence base, not weakening it. Scaling that approach across Verian – globally and responsibly – is the heart of this new role.”
Source link
#Verian #announces #leadership
