Richard Cook

Richard leads Nielsen’s Connect Data Science function. The 600-strong team deliver innovative product designs and develop predictive analytics, creating value for clients by leveraging open source technology to apply a broad spectrum of data science techniques to Nielsen’s big data. Current examples from Richard’s team include: data integration across retail and consumer sourced data; machine learning to structure and codify billions of data records; multi-dimensional scaling to identify and address inadequacies in big data; automation of retail store universe estimation and representative sample design processes.

Richard joined Nielsen in 1987, and has held leadership positions in Analytic Consulting, Marketing, Product Leadership, Business Process Improvement, and Operations, before his move to Data Science in 2014. Roles have been based in the UK, Germany, Belgium, and Singapore.

When leading Analytic Consulting Europe, Richard doubled the business in under 5 years, set up an off-shore modelling hub in India, and initiated the development of a global modelling platform. As Retail Measurement Product Leader for Asia, Pacific, Middle East and Africa, Richard significantly extended the geographic and channel scope of the Retail Measurement service in China; and in parallel dramatically expanded the sample in India to enable more granular reporting. In Business Process Improvement, Richard introduced a global client query management process and platform.

Richard holds a BSc Hons in Statistics from the University of Birmingham, UK.