October 8, 2026 — LOS ANGELES, CA — Wire (Women in Research), a global nonprofit dedicated to advancing diversity across the marketing research industry, today revealed the shortlist for this year's MRX Diversity Champion Award, presented in partnership with ESOMAR and FUEL + The Focus Room. The award honors individuals whose work to promote diversity is making a meaningful difference for their colleagues, their communities, and the industry as a whole. This year, 21 market research and insights professionals were nominated.

This year's nominees, listed alphabetically, are:

• Ivayana Abdi, Conveo
• Ashley Anzie, LEGO
• Abidemi Biodun-Oladoye, Precision Edge Research Limited
• Alessia Cavallini, Kantar
• Brandale Mills Cox, Ph.D., Inclusive Market Research Group
• Emily Dirks, PhD, Qualtrics
• James Endersby, Opinium
• Dan Fleetwood, QuestionPro
• Mandie Fox, Everything in Moderation
• Kai Fuentes, Ebony Systems
• Nitika Hopkins, Survey Sherpa
• Natalia Infante, PhD, Hola Insights
• Hannah Kaplan, Southpaw Insights
• Casey Mohan, CMB
• Christina Nathanson, Quest Diagnostics
• Bridget Nelson, MassMutual
• Maria Lucia Parra, Ingenium Research
• Allison "Allie" Pierce, PhD, KS&R
• Inma Rueda, Ipsos
• Crystal Wiese, QuestionPro
• Fantasia Williams, The Link Group

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Nominations opened earlier this year, inviting the industry to recognize people who embody the values of respect, dignity, autonomy, and equality. A panel of distinguished judges will now review the nominees and select this year's honorees, who will be announced this November at the ESOMAR NA conference in Atlanta.

The judging panel includes Wire Founder Kristin Luck; Anne Brown, Founder of Gazelle Global and a past Diversity Champion; Mario Carrasco of ThinkNow, also a past Diversity Champion; and ESOMAR's Gabriela Kusters.

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About Wire
Wire is a global non-profit that champions diversity in the marketing research industry, supporting events and educational programming across five continents. Wire programming facilitates leadership, entrepreneurship, mentoring and other career development goals. Wire’s mission is to foster inclusion and advance the contributions and voice of women and other marginalized groups in research, both for themselves and the greater good of the market research industry. wearewire.org
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About FUEL + Focus Room
FUEL + The Focus Room delivers global front-to-back recruiting and fieldwork management for all your online and in-person qualitative and quantitative research needs. From U.S. nationwide qualitative recruiting to management of international multi-country studies, our consultative and powerful team is equipped to handle it all. Backed by a worldwide network of heavily vetted teams and 24/7 support, we mobilize moderators, recruiters, data experts, facilities, translators, and more—delivering dependable research that empowers clients to make decisions with clarity and confidence. fuelyourworld.com | focusroom.com
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About ESOMAR
ESOMAR is the global voice of the data, research and insights community. Since 1947 ESOMAR’s aim has been to promote the value of data, research, and insights in effective decision-making.

ESOMAR facilitates an on-going dialogue with its 5,500+ individual members, 500+ corporate members and 40,000+ community in over 130 countries, through the promotion of a comprehensive programme of industry specific and thematic conferences, publications and best practice guidelines. ESOMAR also provides ethical guidance and actively promotes self-regulation in partnership with a number of associations across the globe.

All ESOMAR members, as well as their company contact details, are listed in the ESOMAR Members search. Members agree to abide by the ICC/ESOMAR International Code on Market and Social Research, which has been jointly drafted by ESOMAR and the International Chamber of Commerce and is endorsed by the major national and international professional bodies around the world. esomar.org‍

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Media Contact:‍

Jessica Sage, Executive Director, Wire‍

jessica@wearewire.org