The Illuminas Team
Researchers, marketers, strategists, and storytellers: our Global Board and Executive Team are experts with over a century of combined experience in market research. We love research and have a passion for fueling the success of our clients.
John Connaughton
Chief Executive Officer, Illuminas London
John Connaughton is the CEO of Illuminas London and brings over 20 years experience delivering research and consultancy to a range of international blue chip clients. His sector experience stretches across finance, telecoms, transport, retail and the public sector and covers both consumer and B2B markets. He has particular expertise in the fields of service delivery, customer satisfaction, new product development, acquisition/retention strategies and customer segmentation.
Martin Cary
Chief Operating Officer
Martin Cary is Chief Operating Officer of Illuminas’ global network. He has worked in the industry for 8 years at main board level.
Martin works with the client facing and innovations teams globally to dovetail best commercial and financial practice across the Illuminas business, delivering bottom line results that are some of the best in the industry.
Martin is a generalist, with previous director level roles in strategy, operations and finance. He is a Chartered Management Accountant, with a first degree in Economics and Accounting and MBA with distinction from London Business School. He sits on the Market Research Society (UK) management board and takes an active interest in the research industry’s development and commercial practices.
Jonathan Fletcher
Creative Director, Illuminas London
Jonathan Fletcher is Group Managing Director of Illuminas. He has worked in the industry for 12 years and is the co-author of two books on analyzing and interpreting market research data and has spoken at many industry conferences and events including a number of UK MRS Conferences and ESOMAR congresses. He has won a number of awards for papers including the ISBA Advertising Effectiveness award in 2003 for a paper presented at the UK MRS Conferences, Best Methodological paper at the ESOMAR congress and Best Paper Award at the 1999 Business & Industrial Group Conference.
Gordon Smith
Executive Vice President, New York
Gordon is the leader of Illuminas Global’s New York practice, and head of its US Financial Services practice. He has throughout his career striven to create insight-driven partnerships with clients, the list of which includes many of the world’s largest blue chip brands.
Prior to joining Illuminas, Gordon worked for a number of strategic management and research consultancies, starting at a ‘boutique’ house in Scotland, working with the EU in PHARE programs for economic development in Eastern Europe, and the Local and National Enterprise companies (LECs and Scottish Enterprise) on inward investment and PPP / PFI related engagements. Such engagements typically spanned the spectrum of activities from start-up, from primary feasibility and commercial due diligence analyses, through to strategic business and marketing consultancy, and in some cases prepping the business case and associated material for disposals.
Since then, Gordon has worked almost exclusively within research and consultancy organizations in London and most recently the US, primarily as a financial and investment services specialist. His focus is consultative support for strategic and tactical product and service development and positioning, and is a trusted partner for, inter alia, BlackRock, iShares, RBS Group, and State Street Global Advisors.
Gordon works extensively in a diverse range of other verticals, variously in communications and digital media, food technology and nutrition, managing global relationships with Kraft and Tate & Lyle.
Gordon has BSc (Chemistry) and MSc degrees from St Andrews University and Heriot-Watt University.