Key Leadership Changes at KJT: Update to Research Firm’s Board of Directors
Today, KJT is pleased to announce David Vaden is the new Chairman of its Board of Directors. Vaden, who steps in to replace Dr. Kenneth J. Tomaszewski as Board Chair, is currently President-elect at Bryant and Stratton College, where he has previously served in both the school’s COO and CFO positions. Prior to joining Bryant and Stratton, Vaden was CFO at Chobani, and President of North America and Global Operations at Harris Interactive. Vaden is located in Rochester, NY.
Michael Brereton has also joined the KJT Board as its newest Director, replacing Lynn Sullivan, who is stepping down after several years of service. Brereton is the former President and CEO of Maritz Research, which was ranked as the 12th largest market research firm in the United States when he retired in 2014. Since then, Brereton has joined the faculty at Michigan State University’s Graduate School of Management where he teaches Marketing Strategy. He is heavily involved in the market research industry and authors the Insights Association annual US insights and analytics market segmentation and sizing reports. Brereton lives near Detroit, MI.
“We are delighted to welcome both David and Michael to the KJT Board,” said Michaela Gascon, KJT President and CEO. “Their unique combination of talent, industry knowledge, leadership experience and academic tenure will serve KJT well as we navigate the next chapter of our company’s growth and move confidently into the future.”
The KJT Board of Directors acts as its governing body and is responsible for oversight of the company’s annual budgets, strategic objectives, and the monitoring of its leadership team’s performance. The Board consists of five Directors. Each one is elected by KJT’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) Trustee, Spinnaker Trust, to serve on behalf of its shareholders, which are the company’s ESOP participants (aka KJT’s employees).
In addition to Vaden and Brereton, the make-up of the current KJT Board consists of: Director Richard Yates, a corporate lawyer who also serves as Chair of KJT’s Governance Committee; Director Mark Armbruster, President of Armbruster Capital; and Director Matt Cannuli, President of Powerline Business Advisors.
Last month, KJT marked 15 years of incorporation as an evidence-based consulting firm focused on healthcare. Since 2007, KJT (www.kjtgroup.com) has helped transform and empower its clients in the pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and medical service industries through evidence, insight and collaboration. Today, KJT employs over 60 full-time staff across the United States and is 100% employee owned.
“While welcoming David and Michael to the Board, I would also like to acknowledge our founder Ken Tomaszewski’s ongoing contributions to KJT,” said Gascon. “From the beginning, he sought to build a better delivery model and we have undoubtably achieved this. He instilled in all of us the importance of achieving balance in order to strengthen our corporate culture as well as our client delivery. In recent years, he focused his attention on developing our core values and ensuring we have the right people and structure in place to thrive. Ken’s decision to transition KJT to an ESOP leaves the company in the hands of its greatest asset, our employees. Our employee ownership culture and our approach to research can be directly traced to Ken – and his legacy will remain.
We thank Ken and Lynn for their service, as well as our board, colleagues, customers and partners for helping to make KJT the company it is today.”
