Bill Davis
President
Bill Davis, President, joined Davis Research in 1997. Like his brother and business partner Bob, Bill was drafted into research work at Davis Research at a very early age. Bill and his brother Bob purchased Davis Research from their parents in 1999. Bill now heads the client services group and is also a moderator.
Prior to joining Davis Research, Bill worked as a research analyst at J.D. Power and Associates and an insurance adjuster at Prudential Insurance. At J.D. Power, Bill worked on automotive, power sports and major league baseball research. In his free time Bill enjoys snowboarding, horses and is an avid horse polo player. Bill is also active in the Marketing Research Association (MRA), American Marketing Association (AMA), Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO), and World Association of Opinion and Marketing Research Professionals (ESOMAR).
Bill holds a Masters in Business Administration from Pepperdine and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.
Bob Davis
Chief Executive Officer
Bob Davis, Chief Executive Officer and second generation owner, started working at Davis Research at the age of three taping quarters to outgoing mail surveys. Needless to say, he has seen a lot of change in the industry over the last three decades. Bob leads up Davis Research's web interviewing and online data processing division, as well directing the overall company technical infrastructure.
Prior to re-joining Davis Research, Bob worked as a technology consultant for Accenture where he helped clients such as Netscape, Disney, Geffen Records, and Hunt-Wesson implement complex technical and operational organizational change.
When Bob used to have free time he enjoyed traveling, hiking, cooking, and eating. Now he spends most of his time cooking Macaroni and Cheese for his 5 year old son Zach and 3 year old twins Riley and Jared.
Bob is an active member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), the Marketing Research Association (MRA), the American Marketing Association (AMA), and the Los Angeles chapter of the Entrepreneur's Organization (EO). Bob is also the President of the Executive Council for PAPOR, the Pacific chapter of AAPOR, and a member of the SPSS Customer Advisory Board.
Bob holds a Masters in Business Administration from UCLA's Anderson School of Business and a B.S. in Computer Science from UCSD.
Jason Kerns
Project Management Director
Jason Kerns, Director of Project Management for Davis Research, joined the company in 1994. Originally hired by company founder Carol Davis, he has spent time working in various departments in the organization, but currently is tasked with overseeing the project management department.
Jason has extensive experience and expertise in survey design, sampling methodology and statistical and written analysis. As an active member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), Jason is constantly working to stay abreast of the latest in sampling trends and response rate issues that impact the public opinion industry. In addition to his management responsibilities within the department, Jason manages a diverse group of clients, ranging from automotive manufacturers to companies in the financial services industry.
Jason is married with three young sons and personal interests include running, coaching his son’s sports teams and college football.
Jason holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Azusa Pacific University.
David Fernandez
Senior Project Manager
David Fernandez, Senior Project Manager, joined Davis Research in 1999 and has made several contributions to aid in the progression of the company. He originally began working as a Call Center Manager while obtaining his degree at California State University, Northridge. After making several enhancements to the call center, he advanced to the project management department where he currently oversees several projects, both quantitative and qualitative, across multiple industries ranging from automotive to electronics.
David specializes in both automotive research (clinics, focus groups, ethnographies, drive studies, etc.) and consumer electronics (computers, audio, gaming, etc.). He also manages projects in several other industries including advertising, healthcare, and utilities. As a Project Manager he oversees the entire research life cycle including research methodology, survey design, sampling methodology, quality assurance, analysis, and report writing.
David is passionate about research and is known for always going above and beyond for his clients. His objective is to ensure that each project is carried out with the highest level of quality and always make certain that his clients are satisfied throughout every step of the research process.
During time off, David usually has a difficult time staying in the city as he enjoys spending time with his family camping in the summertime and snowboarding in the winter.
David holds a B.S. in Business Administration – Marketing, from California State University Northridge.
Fred Balch
Project Manager
Fred Balch, Project Manager, joined Davis Research in 1999 and managed the call center before joining the project management team in 2000.
Fred has supervised and coordinated many successful state and national voter election polls for our large media corporation clients. He is currently responsible for the management of research studies, both short and long-term, in the executive corporate recruitment, automotive, healthcare, banking, communications, real estate, education, and floral industries.
Fred has an extensive background in the horticultural and floral industry, where he introduced many of the floral marketing concepts now employed in the food and non-food retail mass markets. Fred was also a MarCom Manager for a small NASDAQ company here in the Los Angeles area, that pioneered the first 3-D audio from two-speakers in an integrated circuit. He has a great depth of experience working with advertising, research and public relations agencies, as well as creating award-winning trade booth designs at both COMDEX and CES in Las Vegas. Fred is married, enjoys gardening and loves to travel.
He holds an AAS degree from the State University of New York with continued studies at the University of Georgia.
Aren Gelfond
Assistant Project Manager
Aren began working at Davis Research while attending Cal State Northridge to obtain his Bachelor’s Degree. He originally began working in the call center and was quickly promoted, working in various supervisory roles in the department. Eventually he was placed in the role of Quality Assurance Coordinator for the call center where he built and developed a team that was responsible for the training of staff, as well as quality of work delivered. After obtaining his degree he was offered the position of Assistant Project Manager where his vast knowledge of call-center operations and survey administration help in the making of key decisions for the direction of projects.
Aren spends his free time playing music and hanging out with his family and friends. He enjoys camping and considers himself an amateur astronomer.
Aren holds a B.S in Business Administration – Marketing, from California State University Northridge.
Carla Johnson
Recruiting Specialist
Carla Johnson heads up the Recruiting Department of Davis Research. Her role is to recruit individuals to participate in research projects at Davis Research and around the country. These research projects vary according to the client. Some examples of projects Carla has recruited for include automotive, entertainment, mock juries, kids toys, and electronics to name a few.
In her spare time Carla enjoys hiking and camping.
Carla holds a BA in Psychology from U.C. Santa Barbara and a Masters degree in Communications from the University of Washington.
Nick Mitchell
Project Manager
Nick came to Davis with extensive managerial experience in the qualitative research industry. For over eight years, he worked at the Los Angeles branch of Savitz Field and Focus, where he managed the recruiting center and oversaw all aspects of focus group research. The many roles he was required to perform prepared him well for a position with the project management team at Davis.
Nick possesses a strong research etiquette and an almost obsessive attention to detail. He prides himself in implementing research of the very highest quality.
Nick is recently married, and he and his wife enjoy playing softball – where they first met and where he proposed. He is also an accomplished French horn player and can be heard performing in several local ensembles. His other hobbies include basketball, golf, trivia and karaoke.
Nick holds a B.A. in Psychology and a B.A. in Music Performance from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Ashley Rice
Project Coordinator
Ashley Rice joined the Davis Research team in 2005 working on a variety of projects leading to her position as project and marketing coordinator. She currently manages logistics for qualitative projects with an emphasis in automotive clinics, as well as coordinating company marketing efforts.
Ashley came to Davis Research in her senior year of college fresh from an internship at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. Her position at the Pacific Design Center allowed her to assist in managing many of their onsite events such as their annual market showcase, the Elton John Oscar Party and nightly SAG screenings during awards season. In her spare time, Ashley enjoys scrapbooking, reading and decorating her home.
Ashley holds a B.S. in Business Administration from California Lutheran University.
Greg Shmavonian
Project Manager
Greg Shmavonian became a Project Manager at Davis Research in the fall of 2002. Since then he has taken significant roles in managing quantitative studies for the automotive and financial services industries and has managed several automotive static clinics since his arrival.
Previous to landing at Davis Research, Greg was employed as a civilian Research Assistant for the Navy Personnel Research & Development Center, as well as the Navy Health Research Center in Point Loma, California. At both centers, he had roles in the data collection, analysis, and report writing for studies centered on several programs and benefits in place at Marine Corps bases. He also managed a longitudinal study that focused on the health and satisfaction of Navy recruits.
While Greg was enrolled in graduate school, he took on the position of Research Associate at the market research analysis firm Matters of Fact. There he wrote analysis reports on automotive studies, managed focus groups, and assisted in daily logistics for mail-out studies. Greg also worked as a contracted research analyst, presentation consultant, and group moderator for a training & development/executive coaching firm.
Greg enjoys spending time with his wife and two young sons and you can often find him at local amusement parks.
Greg holds a Master’s degree in Organizational Psychology from Alliant International University in Alhambra, California. He received a B.A. degree in Psychology from Cal State Northridge.