Welcome to The Sentis Group

Mary got her start in research over 25 years ago as a data analyst at MarkTrend Research. This was a time when data analysts had to rely on things called “mainframe computers” and use arcane programming languages to process data – back then you had to wait weeks to get your results. There was nothing quick about it.

Since her days as a data analyst in the pre-internet era, Mary has held progressively senior positions in research operations and client development. She is now a trusted consultant to major organizations across Canada and the U.S. Public and private sector organizations turn to Mary for her unique ability to translate research results into practical recommendations that help solve problems and identify opportunities.

Mary is particularly passionate about helping organizations find ways to deliver better service, work more efficiently, be better places to work, and become more profitable. The sweet spot for Mary is when she can apply a research solution to help organizations achieve these goals.

Mary is an important mentor and advisor to our younger researchers, guiding their work and supporting their development in the industry.

Mary is Sentis’ Privacy Officer, responsible for ensuring that our policies and procedures always meet and exceed the requirements of the FOIPPA and PIPA.

Areas of expertise:

VOE and VOC program design, corporate reputation measurement, performance management, program evaluation, privacy legislation.

Sectors/Industry practice areas:

Government and citizen services, public opinion, energy and utilities healthcare and pharmaceuticals, security services, financial services.

While in the office, Mary has mints, she always has mints. Outside the office, Mary is an avid reader, a CrossFit enthusiast with her husband, and strangely, seldom has mints…

Ask Mary about… canards.

Born and raised in Edmonton, Rachel moved to Vancouver in 2018 to pursue her BCom at the UBC Sauder School of Business. During her time at Sauder, Rachel specialized in Operations & Logistics and Business Analytics. With her background in customer strategy and retail experience design, Rachel has already made significant strides early into her career, proving herself to be a strong, data-driven researcher.

Rachel previously worked under the eCommerce Merchandising team for one of Canada’s largest retail companies. She helped integrate automated pickup lockers at retail stores nationwide by conducting in-depth interviews to enhance the user experience. As a Consultant at Deloitte, Rachel supported clients by leading transformative customer and digital strategies. In her position, she gained vital experience in mixed-method research, building customer personas and journey maps, and facilitating client workshops.

As a Project Manager at Sentis, Rachel’s role includes survey testing, project management, data analysis and report development.

Rachel is an avid fan of art and history. In her free time, she can often be found carrying her film or digital camera around Vancouver, shopping at local markets, or strolling through a museum. After attending a chocolate-making workshop, Rachel has now recently taken up baking and desserts as a hobby as well - her friends and family couldn’t be happier.

Ask Rachel about… watching videos at 2x speed.

Adam arrived in Vancouver in August 1991, sight unseen, to study psychology. Six long years later, he netted a PhD – but it was a PhD with no realistic prospect of a job in the academic world. So he needed to find another world, or at least a job so that he could stay in Vancouver.

That job was officially titled “Research Consultant” – a misleading title because he initially wasn’t asked to consult on anything. He was given fairly low-level tasks, which he performed dutifully but with no idea how these tasks could be classified as research. Having heard the term “insight” repeatedly around the office, Adam was anxious to prove himself by generating some.

His first opportunity came with a project about “what drives consumer milk brand choices”. Adam’s analysis was exhaustive and he was confident that he’d found the key driver. Using a respondent comment for dramatic effect, he summarized for his audience that consumer choice was pretty straightforward – they “prefer the brand with the biggest jugs!”

Fast-forward quickly to 2011. Adam founded Sentis to apply his research skills in a way that would really help clients solve problems and make sound investments in marketing and operations. Luckily, Adam’s insights have sharpened from the early days, and he now helps clients across a range of industry sectors to attract and retain customers and employees, to strengthen their brand and reputations, and to identify new areas for growth.

Today he runs Sentis with fellow Managing Partner, Julie Winram. Their successful partnership is based on a shared commitment to doing what’s right for our clients’ business and investing in our team. It’s a pretty simple formula.

Areas of expertise:

Brand development and positioning, KPI development and tracking, VOC program design, program evaluation, public opinion, corporate reputation, employee commitment and well-being.

Experimental design, segmentation, advanced analytics, in-depth interviewing, focus group moderating.

Sectors/Industry practice areas:

Tourism, energy and utilities, transportation, financial services, government and citizen services, and healthcare.

Adam received his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in psychology from the University of British Columbia (UBC). He received his qualitative research training from RIVA, and his Indigenous culture awareness training from The Path Institute.

Adam was born in Jersey City, New Jersey and came to Vancouver by way of Madison, Wisconsin. When not at Sentis HQ, he often can be found gardening or golfing – both which he pursues with enthusiasm and mixed results.

Ask Adam about… working with pigeons.

Carmen leads not just one but two teams at Sentis: She heads up our Call Centre group and oversees Sentis' dedicated squad of Labour Market Information researchers. She's a quality-driven, results-oriented manager who loves taking on new challenges.

With a talent for organization and a calm, steady hand, Carmen expertly manages people, projects, and timelines with near-perfect choreography and a dash of improv. Her sense of humour and practical nature keep things fun and grounded, even under pressure.

Born in Vancouver and raised in Northern BC, Carmen has deep roots in BC. After completing her schooling, she returned to her hometown, where she continues to enjoy everything the West Coast has to offer. Outside of work, you’ll often find her travelling, skiing, relaxing at the beach, jogging the seawall, and hanging with family and friends.

Originally from Barcelona, Javier moved to Canada to pursue his passion for technology and design. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a Minor in Marketing from Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and later earned a Post-Degree Diploma in Web and Mobile App Design and Development from Langara College. This unique blend of education and training informs his user-centered approach to development and design.

Javier builds scalable web applications and internal platforms using clean architecture, responsive design, and practices that ensure data security. Prior to joining Sentis, he worked with a number of startups and non-profits. Of particular note is the ambitious digital transformation project Javier led for the Kelowna & District Genealogical Society. He was responsible for all aspects of the project - from ideation to deployment. The Society now has modernized databases that are easily accessible and intuitive to use.

At Sentis, Javier contributes to the development of robust web applications and supports the team in delivering seamless user experiences through thoughtful design and efficient code.

Outside of work, Javier enjoys learning languages and traveling - he's fluent in Catalan, Spanish and English, and is currently exploring French thanks to the handy bilingual labels on everything in Canada. He's passionate about discovering new cultures through their art, architecture, history, and food. When summer arrives, you'll find him kayaking on serene lakes or rollerblading along coastal paths, soaking in the sun and scenery.

Ask Javier about… pairing tapas.

As Data & Systems Developer, Charan helps manage and optimize Sentis’ internal research systems, processes and platforms. He reviews, programs and test surveys to ensure that they align with Sentis best practices. He also supports project teams in the design, testing and implementation of Sentis’ online reporting sites.

Before joining Sentis, Charan worked as a data analyst – using Tableau and other business intelligence tools to visualize corporate KPIs and help improve businesses processes.

Charan graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Statistics from Simon Fraser University. During his time at university he used statistical analysis and experimental design to understand, explain and predict behaviour and inform decision making.

Charan has a passion for learning new things and regularly takes courses to sharpen his skills in data analytics and machine learning.

When not in the office or learning something new, Charan can be found hiking, playing video games, or practicing Jiu Jitsu.

Ask Charan about… his Teams background.

Kimberly returned to Vancouver after completing her Bachelor of Arts degree at York University, where she majored in psychology. During her time at York, she became drawn to population-based research. She realized that while it’s not the only way to solve the world’s problems, it does somehow satisfy her borderline obsession with drilling down to details.

Through both self-directed projects and supervised thesis research, Kimberly learned all the key elements of the research process, from establishing ethical guidelines, sourcing sample populations, analyzing data, and presenting results clearly and concisely.

In addition to pursuing her interest in research, Kimberly also spent a lot of time volunteering – providing academic support to at-risk youth, conducting music therapy with patients at risk for dementia, and serving as a peer mentor.

As a Senior Project Manager at Sentis, Kimberly plays an essential and varied role in ensuring project success from start to finish. On any given day you might find her programming a survey, prepping a sample, analyzing data, or creating a report.

Kimberly likes to run, do yoga, play piano and collage – although generally not at the same time.

Ask Kimberly about… her favourite terrible movies.

Born and raised in Vancouver, Jessica brings to Sentis a unique educational and work history that has given her hands-on experience in key areas of research and project management.

While pursuing her BSc in Chemical Biology at UBC, she wrote research grant proposals, conducted experiments, analyzed health science data and created press releases and scientific blogs.

While in the Master of Management program (also at UBC), Jessica studied marketing research and strategy, and gained a wealth of practical experience through conducting consumer surveys, analyzing the results, and developing strategic action plans.

Somehow, she also found time to work at BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, participate in the National Strategy Consulting Case Competition, and serve as a mentor to research students at UBC.

As a Senior Project Manager at Sentis, Jessica is part of our survey programming and design team and provides project management and data visualization support for both ad-hoc and tracking studies.

Jessica grew up playing competitive sports (soccer, basketball and volleyball), and now enjoys the non-competitive pursuits of digital illustration, reading and travelling.

Ask Jessica about… her favourite country to travel to.

As Sentis’ Head of Development, Evan is responsible for overseeing the development, maintenance and enhancement of our client online reporting sites and dashboards. He also plays a leading role in creating tools that facilitate the extraction of meaning from data. As an example, he developed Sentis NLP – a classification, tabulation, and visualization tool for natural language data.

Originally from Vancouver Island, Evan moved to Vancouver in the winter of 2017. Before moving across the strait, Evan earned his Bachelor of Software Engineering from the University of Victoria. While completing the Coop program Evan worked at a telecommunications company in Ottawa, an analytics company in Victoria, and a gaming studio in Vancouver.

Before joining Sentis, Evan was the Lead Web Developer for the University of Victoria Bookstore. Working there he oversaw hiring coop students, managing and developing features for the e-commerce site as well as other tasks.

When not in the office Evan is either cooking, eating or consuming mass amounts of coffee.

Ask Evan about... tents in trees.

Kelsey is a hyper-organized, people-person who loves tackling tough problems.

She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration from SFU's Beedie School of Business, graduating with a double concentration in Marketing and International Business. At Beedie, she learned business strategy and marketing by working on problems that real-world brands are facing, whether it be how to enter international markets, or how to convince new parents that self-driving AI strollers are a must-have for reducing the day-to-day stresses of raising a newborn.

During her studies, Kelsey discovered market research and was drawn by the unique blend of analytical thinking, creativity, and curiosity that excelling in the field requires. After graduating, she did take a spin at digital design and social media, learning the tricks of the trade - developing content, harnessing AI, and measuring the impact of marketing campaigns. But the market research bug was strong (you might even say it was in her genes), and she had the opportunity to join Sentis.

Kelsey is an Assistant Research Manager at Sentis. This means that she helps keep a long list of project trains running on time - whether it be by coordinating internal resources, doing quality assurance, analyzing data, or creating reports.

A North Vancouver native, Kelsey grew up surrounded by the outdoors and embraces everything it offers. You'll find her playing soccer and tennis, walking the trails, and on the local mountains doing what she loves most - snowboarding.

Ask Kelsey about… catching an edge.

Born in Hong Kong, Mabel moved to Montreal when she was 8 years old. After 3 years, her family decided to move to warmer pastures in Vancouver.

Mabel loved numbers and counting pennies (literally, when they existed) since she was a child. Therefore, it was fitting that she pursued a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia, majoring in Accounting and Management Information Systems. After graduation, she obtained her Certified General Accountant designation, and worked in accounting roles in various industries, including forestry, construction, home automation and architecture.

In addition to working at Sentis, Mabel supports other well-deserving businesses with her invaluable accounting expertise and volunteers with CRA’s Community Volunteer Income Tax Program. She brings a thoughtful perspective to everything she does and is truly aces at sorting through all the ins and outs of CRA.

When Mabel’s not working or volunteering, she doesn’t just put her feet up. She enjoys eating other people’s cooking, playing the piano, reminiscing while going through her scrapbooks, and counting her blessings.

Ask Mabel about…pandas.

Yoki has a strong hands-on analytical bent, and enjoys hanging out in Excel (yes, hanging out) and dabbling in other programs like SPSS and R. Yoki is also part of the team that manages and enhances Sentis’ in-house NLP tool used for processing large amounts of open-ended text data. Feel free to reach out for a demo!

As Account Director, Yoki develops and executes a broad range of research initiatives, from small ad hoc projects to large scale tracking studies. Somehow, she also finds time to play a key role in the development and launch of our online reporting sites.

Areas of Expertise: Large scale programs with online reporting, Voice of the Customer, developing Sentis digital solutions

Sectors/Industry practice areas: Automotive, financial services, convention centers, retail, government, health

When not at her workstation, Yoki tries to be active and goes curling, skiing, and snowboarding every winter. However, most of the time, you’ll likely find her napping or watching some sports.

Ask Yoki about… canes.

Diarmuid worked as a fund accountant with the Bank of New York Mellon in Ireland before moving to Vancouver and joining Sentis. Diarmuid’s expertise in the analysis of financial data gives him a unique perspective on survey research and market research data.

At Sentis, he applies his diverse skill-set in the service of data quality. This includes providing advice on how to structure surveys to minimize response bias, implementing weighting schemes that maximize weighting efficiency, and ensuring that codes applied to verbatim comments reflect the true meaning of the content.

Diarmuid is our resident SPSS maven, and he uses this statistical package to process data files, produce cross-tabulations and perform a range of statistical procedures including regression, factor analysis and cluster analysis.

Areas of expertise:

Statistical weighting (including rim weighting), sources of bias in survey research, advanced statistical analysis, probability theory.

Diarmuid speaks fluent Gaelic and likes to spend his weekends sailing around Vancouver.

Diarmuid holds an MSc in Economics and a BA (Music and Economics) from the National University of Ireland, Cork.

Ask Diarmuid about... rounding.

Isabella was born and raised in Vancouver. For as long as she can remember, she’s been motivated by a desire to make an impact. While pursuing her BA in Political Science at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Isabella began to learn how she could use the methods of research to make that impact. As a research assistant, she researched refugee settlements in Uganda, compiled newspaper articles about refugees and coded parliamentary speeches for themes and sentiment. For her honours thesis, she measured the effect of the Black Lives Matter protests on racial bias in policing.

After graduating, Isabella continued to hone her research and analysis skills by providing research support at a polling and civic research firm, conducting research and analysis for a public engagement and communications agency and working at a tech startup conducting AI-assisted analysis of open-ended data.

As an Assistant Research Manager at Sentis, Isabella applies her research skills to help manage all phases of the project lifecycle, from design through to reporting.

Outside of work, you’ll most likely find Isabella at a concert, perusing the city’s best thrift stores, or wandering around a bookstore looking for new titles to add to her overflowing bookshelf.

Ask Isabella about… curating Spotify playlists or Pinterest boards.

Martin got fascinated with research in university when he was chosen to be part of a focus group for the launch of Miller Lite in Canada (sadly, no samples were provided) and has been of a data geek ever since. A natural math geek with a keen eye for seeking insights from the data, Martin loves all the 'a-ha' moments proper research provides.

Martin recently oversaw the Marketing & Research departments at for both Central 1 & Canadian Credit Union Association and has played a pivotal role in the strategic development, branding, marketing communications, and research for the whole cooperative system as Chair of the advertising program and dozens of individual credit unions for the last fifteen years.

Having led Marketing & Communications at G&F Financial Group for five years, he also led the introduction and promotion of the credit union's investment advisory services, as well as the rebranding of G&F itself – an experience he later applied to the rebranding of Central 1. Before these roles,

Martin was a senior manager for 9 years at Pattison Outdoor, where he acquired what he affectionately calls his 'JimBA' working for the out-of-home division for the Jim Pattison Group. Holding a B. Comm. with a major in Marketing from Concordia University, he recently completed the Corporate Entrepreneur and Design Thinking Programs at Stanford University.

Martin is also a proud member of the Filene Research Institute's i3 program, a member of the BCAMA Executive and a judge for both the CUES Golden Mirror Awards in the US and thrice for the BCAMA Marketer of the year awards in BC.

Ask Martin about... the time he held the Stanley Cup in the Montréal Canadians Parade.

Vicky was born and raised on Vancouver Island before making the move to Ontario to obtain her BES (Bachelor of Environment & Business) at the University of Waterloo. She developed her research and data analysis skills through undergraduate projects and co-ops. During her co-op program she worked as a junior economist at Industry Canada in Ottawa, policy analyst at the Ministry of Research Innovation and Science in Toronto, and a data analyst at Suncor Energy in Oakville.

As a Senior Project Manager at Sentis, Vicky coordinates with internal and external stakeholders to execute research projects for Sentis’ clients in both the private and public sector. Vicky is highly regarded for her ability to design and execute online panel studies and has become our “go to” when we need to tackle a tough sampling challenge.

Vicky moved back to British Columbia in May 2018 and joined Sentis later that year. When she’s not working, she enjoys trying out new recipes and travelling, but most of all, she loves hanging out with her dog, Ollie.

Ask Vicky about... Filipino food.

Looking for that rare research consultant who can wrangle your stakeholders, guide you through the qualitative exploration phase, transition seamlessly into a quantitative online survey and then facilitate workshops to align your team, make decisions, and work through change management?

Meet Ayden. A lover of all things coffee, her abundant energy and enthusiasm is matched only by her exceptional organizational and project management skills. She is a careful planner who enjoys pushing outside her comfort zone, and this combination has enabled her to quickly move up the ranks since joining Sentis in 2014. As Vice President and Partner, she manages a number of our key accounts and along with Adam, leads our qualitative division.

Ayden is passionate about helping new graduates navigate entering the workforce. She guest lectures at the undergraduate and graduate level at Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia, and is generous with her time, offering informational interviews and representing Sentis at career fairs.

Areas of expertise:

Mixed-method research, workshop facilitation and presentations, customer and employee program management, advertising evaluation, corporate reputation tracking, brand positioning.

Sectors/Industry practice areas:

Credit unions, government, industry regulators and citizen services, member associations, heavy equipment.

Ayden’s love of travel has taken her to 5 continents and 17 countries. When she’s not working or globetrotting, you’ll find her gardening or enjoying a glass of wine by her firepit.

Ayden received her BA in International Development from McGill University and her MA from King’s College London in the UK.

Ask Ayden about…high fives.

Ever heard of a polymath? We hadn’t either! It’s an uncommon term, but one that describes Kyle perfectly: someone with wide-ranging skills, knowledge, and the capacity to learn just about anything.

Kyle joined Sentis after spending 15 years leveraging his polymathic ways to help member-based organizations with everything from improving service delivery to overseeing IT needs for 400+ employees and 50,000+ members of a BC credit union. He was crucial in transitioning the entire company to working remotely during COVID-19… but maybe don’t ask him about those days as he’s blocked most of it out.

Kyle’s unusual mix of education and skills -- history, business, and computer information systems -- brings a unique perspective to the Sentis team - one that is proving helpful to understanding and solving the challenges of our clients. This diverse background also makes Kyle an exceptional qualitative interviewer.

As Sentis’ specialist in the analysis of unstructured data, Kyle surfaces the underlying themes that matter. These themes illuminate unmet needs and inform product and service improvements.

Born and raised in Maple Ridge, Kyle felt like he was moving to the ‘big city and bright lights’ when he re-located all the way to… Burnaby. Since then, he’s settled in Port Coquitlam, where he enjoys gardening and hiking. Kyle is an avid basketball fan and loves traveling… so far, he’s logged 20+ countries.

Ask Kyle about… drains that go nowhere.

Julie is an innovator, developing new models for customer experience management and ROI, economic impact measurement and employee engagement. She’s passionate about harnessing technology, revamping tracking programs and setting corporate metrics, benchmarks and targets.

Julie’s commitment to the success of her clients has attracted a loyal following. Clients turn to Julie for guidance when making critical decisions affecting business processes, marketing and communications, and brand strategy. She is a trusted advisor who makes the time to dig into the business problem and propose big picture “sea change” solutions right alongside more targeted recommendations.

Prior to Sentis, Julie led the Western Canadian businesses of Synovate and Ipsos and was a partner of MarkTrend Research. She served as an Expert Witness on Polling for the BC Supreme Court and the Board of Directors for Consumer Protection BC, chairing the Governance Committee. She currently serves on the BC Egg Marketing Board MarComm Committee.

Areas of expertise:

Brand positioning and value proposition, market segmentation and personas, customer journey and path to purchase, campaign effectiveness, Voice of the Customer program design, scorecard development and target setting, economic impact.

Sectors/Industry practice areas:

Financial services and insurance, automotive, heavy equipment, workplace safety, retail, transportation, convention centres, member associations, public sector agencies.

Julie was born and raised in BC. She is forever optimizing her garden and gets immense satisfaction from stuffing as many errands as possible into a single day.

Julie holds a B.Comm (Marketing) from UBC and is a Certified Marketing Research Professional.

Ask Julie about… painting curbs.

Steph is the embodiment of our “Client First” philosophy. Everything she does at Sentis is driven not only by her commitment to outstanding client service but also by her desire to find unique ways of helping clients solve tough problems and reach ambitious targets. This often means mulling over different ways to design projects that will produce the best results, and digging deep into the data for the most useful answers.

Steph’s drive and unique mix of talents have resulted in a number of important innovations in Sentis’ research practice and in the way we present our results. Steph engineered our Customer Payback Model, which uses customer experience survey data to illustrate the amount of business that will be generated for clients due to repeat visitation and referrals. Steph leverages her eye for graphic design and data visualization to continuously enhance the clarity and visual appeal of our reports, presentations and online reporting sites.

Areas of expertise:

Economic impact evaluation, ROI measurement, brand health & campaign evaluation, market segmentation, large-scale program transitioning, mystery shopping.

Sectors/Industry practice areas:

Automotive, financial services, convention centres, retail.

Born and raised in Vancouver, Steph is named after actress Stefanie Powers from the 80’s TV show Hart to Hart. She enjoys running, cycling, phone photography (that still counts, right?), and relaxing with a good TV show.

Steph holds a BA in Sociology (Honours) from UBC.

Ask Steph about... birthday turduckens.