Alan Heaton, Microsoft Market Research Excellence Practice Lead
Alan is Senior Manager of Market Research and leads the Market Research Excellence Practice within Microsoft’s Customer & Market Research Team – an organization of 100 market research professionals and business consultants. Alan is responsible for identifying, developing and disseminating research & consulting best practices across the organization, with the goal of making Microsoft’s Customer & Market Research Team the most innovative and impactful market research organization on the planet. Prior to joining Microsoft, Alan worked in market research organizations for a number of pharmaceutical/biotechnology companies, including Biogen, Novo Nordisk and Merck, as well as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Alan earned a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Maryland.