The senior staffing commitment, made personal
Most consultancy leadership pages exist as a corporate formality. We treat this one differently because it does substantial commercial work. The single biggest frustration buyers tell us about working with research and consultancy firms is the gap between the senior person who pitches and the team that turns up to deliver. Senior at the pitch, junior at the project, senior reappearing only for the final readout.
FIS Group does not run that model. The senior person who shows up on your first scoping call is the senior person who runs the project, presents the readout and follows up after the output has gone round the business. The names on this page are the names on your proposal, the people in the room at kickoff, the senior judgement at every decision point. This is the structural commitment that makes the integrated insight and innovation model work in practice rather than just structurally.
The page below introduces each of the seven leadership team members with a substantive bio, the challenge areas they work across, and a direct contact route. Read it to find the right named senior contact for your specific commercial question, or read it to see who you would be working with before you book a scoping call.
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Mike Faers
Founder and Group CEO
Mike is the founder of FIS (2010) and Group CEO of FIS Group today. He leads the strategic direction of the firm and senior-level client engagement across the most significant briefs, with particular focus on the integrated insight and innovation model that runs every FIS Group project.
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Kelly Dowson
Group Managing Director
Kelly leads day-to-day strategic work at FIS Group, specialising in premium positioning, challenger brand strategy and food and drink trend foresight. With over a decade in the speciality and fine food category, she co-hosts the Future Food Trends webinar series and leads the Appetite Shift research programme.
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Danny Butt
Group Innovation Director
Danny leads Innovation at FIS Group, overseeing ideation, concept development and co-creation. He developed the firm's integrated innovation methodologies, including the Hothouse and Future Food Pipeline Builder frameworks, and is the senior contact for NPD pipeline work and multi-year innovation programmes.
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Helen Blair
Group Insight Director
Helen leads Strategic Insight at FIS Group, covering consumer immersion, category dynamics and trend foresight. She oversees major multi-market research programmes and syndicated work including Appetite Shift, and is the senior contact for insight commissions, continuous insight infrastructure and the Future Food Trend Tracker.
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Dave Hughes
Commercial Strategy Director
Dave leads commercial strategy at FIS Group, focusing on decision frameworks, opportunity scoping and translating consumer evidence into commercial thinking. He works with branded manufacturers, retailers and foodservice operators, and is the senior contact for briefs requiring both consumer insight and commercial framework expertise.
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Emma Wood
Group Commercial Director
Emma leads commercial operations at FIS Group, overseeing planning, delivery and the structures that translate engagements into delivered work. She bridges operational and commercial relationships at scale, and is the senior contact for procurement, multi-year framework agreements and the operational architecture of major programmes.
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Chris Moxon
Group Sales Director
Chris leads new client acquisition and relationship management at FIS Group, serving as the senior commercial contact for prospective and existing clients. He handles initial scoping conversations, determines the right capability fit, and bridges commercial discussions with operational delivery before formal proposal development begins.
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James Jackson
Head of Quantitative Insights
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Read full bio →
Jules Greene
Qualitative Specialist
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Read full bio →
Andrea Steel
Senior Insight Consultant
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Read full bio →
Olly Henshall
Innovation Consultant
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Read full bio →
Sophie Blott
Senior Research Consultant
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Will Beagles
Research Manager (Fresh Produce specialism)
And the rest of the team
The wider team includes Georgia Goodrum (Insight Manager), Sarah-Jayne Koen (Insight Manager), Rosie Doyle (Insight Manager), Evie Morrice (Senior Innovation Consultant), Kate Walker (Innovation Consultant), Megan Holden (Junior Innovation Consultant), and others across insight, innovation, research, fieldwork and support functions. The full team is documented on The Team page with individual bios and contact details.
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Decode People, Categories and Emerging Trends
Book a call with HelenConsumer research, category dynamics, trend foresight. Senior contact: Helen Blair, Group Insight Director. Secondary contact: Kelly Dowson, Managing Director (for trend foresight work specifically).
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Unlock Growth Opportunities
Book a call with DaveStrategic opportunity scoping, platform building, future food pipeline. Senior contact: Dave Hughes, Commercial Strategy Director. Secondary contact: Danny Butt, Group Innovation Director (for innovation-led opportunity work).
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Create and Refine
Book a call with DannyIdeation, concept development, co-creation. Senior contact: Danny Butt, Group Innovation Director. Secondary contact: Kelly Dowson, Managing Director (for premium and challenger brand innovation specifically).
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Build, Test and Refine What Wins
Book a Call with DannyProduct development, product testing, recipe work, sensory validation. Senior contact: Danny Butt, Group Innovation Director. Secondary contact: Helen Blair, Group Insight Director (for the consumer validation components of product work).
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Launch and Scale Innovation Successfully
Book a Call with DaveRetailer pitch support, briefing pack creation, manufacturing solutions, launch infrastructure. Senior contact: Dave Hughes, Commercial Strategy Director. Secondary contact: Danny Butt, Group Innovation Director (for the innovation-to-launch continuity).
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Stay Ahead with Continuous Insight
Book a Call with HelenSyndicate studies, consumer closeness programmes, benchmarking, meal tracking. Senior contact: Helen Blair, Group Insight Director. Secondary contact: Kelly Dowson, Managing Director (for the Appetite Shift syndicated programme specifically).
Not sure who to start with?
Tell us a little about your brief and we’ll connect you with the right specialist.
More of the About section
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Our approach
How we actually work on a project. Our five guiding principles, how we scope around a decision rather than forcing a lifecycle on it, and why our team stays senior from brief to readout.
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Our story
How FIS, Good Sense Research and Cambridge Market Research came together to form a single group brand. A short history of how the business got here and why the group makes sense now, without the corporate throat-clearing.
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Careers
Open roles, what it is like to work at FIS Group, and what we look for in the people we bring in.
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Locations
FIS Group headquarters at Mission Kitchen, London, plus dedicated NOTED Fieldwork facilities at Bury St Edmunds and Birmingham. The contemporary geography behind the work.
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Our Partnerships
The strategic partnerships behind the FIS Group work, including G Force and The Food People. The partnership model that extends our capability where specialist expertise sits outside the core team.
FAQ
Can I really contact a senior lead directly?
Yes. Every senior lead on this page has a direct email and a calendar booking link on their card. There is no gatekeeper layer. The fastest
way into a conversation is to go straight to the lead whose specialism fits your brief.
Who will actually run my project?
The senior lead who shows up on your first scoping call. They will be named on the proposal, they will run the work, and they will lead the readout. No handoff to a junior team, no anonymous delivery pool.
How do I know which lead is the right one for my brief?
Use the specialism tags on each card to find the closest match, or use the filter bar to cut the team by capability or location. If you are still not sure, start with one of the three capability heads in the ‘Not sure who to contact’ block, and they will route you from there.
Can I book a meeting directly from the page?
Yes. Every senior lead has a calendar booking link on their card. Pick a time that works, and you will get a confirmed twenty-minute scoping call with the right specialist without a back-and-forth email chain.
Do you publish email addresses or do I have to go through a contact form?
We publish direct email addresses for every senior lead. A contact form exists for general enquiries, but the direct route is faster and lands with the right person first time.
Can I follow the team on LinkedIn?
Yes. Every senior lead has a LinkedIn profile linked from their card. Following the team is a good way to see what we are working on,
what we are writing about and what is happening in food and drink more broadly.