Vivien Marles
MD
InterMedia Africa
Vivien Marles is the founding Managing Director of InterMedia Africa, based in Nairobi, where she has lived and worked for the past six years. Marles has over 35 years of experience as a senior research practitioner and media consultant with extensive knowledge of the global media sector. Marles has consulted with public and private media organisations in Australasia, Asia/ Pacific, Europe, Scandinavia, SE Asia and Africa. She is an expert in directing large-scale research and consulting assignments and has a proven track record in global audience/ media research and research capacity strengthening.
Prior to joining InterMedia, Marles was the Strategy and Research Director at Synovate Pan–Africa (formerly The Steadman Group). She was also founder and director of The Steadman Center of Applied Research, a unique capacity-building initiative run in partnership with Strathmore Business School in Nairobi. Marles has held a number of senior-level positions in the media and research sectors, including: Founding Partner of The Fuse Group; International Managing Director at Frank Magid Associates; Director of Planning, Broadcast Strategy and Research for Granada Media Group; and Head of Research and Planning at the BBC.
Marles is a member of the UK Institute of Directors, the Market Research Society and the Royal Statistical Society. In addition, Marles is a technical consultant on research to the African Media Initiative and serves on the Investment Board of the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund, where she evaluates the communication research components of proposals submitted to the Fund. In addition, Marles is an active member of the Pan-African Media Research Organization (PAMRO), a group devoted to improving the quality and raising the profile of media and communication research in Africa. She is a frequent conference contributor and has published a number of papers.