Our senior team

Mike co-leads Verian in New Zealand. For more than 25 years, Mike has advised clients in both the private and public realms delivering deep insight into how people think and behave. Mike works across a wide range of policy areas. He especially relishes tackling the seemingly impossible whether that be measuring the ROI of a public intervention or using theory and multiple data sources to predict how many people will act or where society or a market is headed next.

Jocelyn Rout has recently transitioned into a new role as Executive Director. This reflects her desire to dedicate her focus to the areas she is most passionate about – working directly with clients and delivering hands-on strategic support. Jocelyn is looking forward to deepening those relationships and continuing to contribute to the company’s growth in a more focused capacity than in her previous role as co-MD.

Rachel leads our Cultural Insights Practice. With more than 17 years’ advisory experience, Rachel has a strong track record in working with the public and private sectors, including Kaupapa Māori organisations and iwi. She is a strong advocate and practitioner of Kaupapa Māori research, and facilitates engagement that builds deep insight into te ao Māori values and perspectives. A career highlight for Rachel was the award winning work she pioneered during her time at Whakaata Māori (Māori Television) for successfully isolating and measuring the impact of the broadcaster on the revitalisation of te reo Māori, a world-first for indigenous broadcasters.

Kathryn is a senior strategist and consultant, with 20 years’ experience specialising in communications and behavioural insights. Kathryn advises a range of clients in the public sector, with especially deep expertise in the areas of risky behaviours and family violence. Prior to joining Verian in 2018, Kathryn held senior creative agency positions in both the UK and NZ.

Céline heads up our qualitative insights offer at Verian. Whether Céline is listening to the stories of our most vulnerable New Zealanders, or interviewing senior Government ministers, she is driven to truly understand the reality of people’s experiences and worlds. For more than 20 years, Céline has used this understanding to shed new light on complex problems in the public realm. Céline’s advisory work has been recognised globally at the ESOMAR research effectiveness awards for behaviour change research that led to a reduction in New Zealand’s growing student loan debt.

With 10 years’ experience in qualitative research and behavioural insights, Tom is passionate about surfacing rich insights that enable clients to see the world through the eyes of their audience. Prior to joining Verian, Tom was a strategist and research consultant advising global clients on behaviour change in the healthcare setting. With his background, he brings deep knowledge of the healthcare sector and behaviour change within complex multi-stakeholder systems.

Susan has more than 25 years’ experience in the private and public realms advising a wide range of clients. She has a deep expertise in the transport sector. Susan especially enjoys the challenges of projects involving complex methodologies and needing specialised quantitative techniques such as segmentations and modelling.