Rival Technologies and Reach3 Insights hire new staff, make internal promotions

Significant year-over-year growth spurs the companies to strategically position their teams for further expansion, heightened innovation and enhanced client services

VANCOUVER, BC and CHICAGO, IL – September 12, 2024 - Rival Technologies and Reach3 Insights, pioneers of mobile-first conversational research methods and technology, have announced several new hires and promotions across both companies. In 2024 to date, the companies reported 23 new hires, growing the employee base by 15%, plus 17 internal team promotions. 

Sixty-five percent of leadership roles at the companies are now held by women, underscoring the companies’ commitment to the strength and diversity of their teams. This announcement comes on the heels of the companies’ news of extensive platform sales and blue-chip client expansion in the first half of 2024, and the launch of Rival Labs, an innovation sandbox for conversational research.

"Our teams are at the forefront of creating innovative new methods and approaches that are being embraced across the industry," said Matt Kleinschmit, CEO and Founder of Reach3 Insights. "By developing these cutting-edge skills, they are positioning themselves—and our companies—to lead in the emerging AI-accelerated, mobile-first insights landscape."

Reach3 Insights’ had several promotions at a senior director level or above this year. After more than five years with the company, Jenna Shuster has been promoted to Senior Vice President, where she serves as a team leader that is instrumental in ensuring account development and project success. Other promotions include Katie Lahman, Senior Research Director, an innovative, insights-driven researcher across key verticals; Terrence Wong, Senior Director, leading technical operations and solutions; and Christine Nguyen, Senior Research Director, an experienced researcher and consultant driving data-driven insights. 

At Rival Technologies, Phoebe To was promoted to VP of Engineering, overseeing technology development and implementation. New senior-level hires at Rival include Aarathi Ramnath as Director of Product Marketing, where she will drive outreach for the company’s conversational research platform; Bobby Calise as Senior Account Executive in sales and client relationship management; and Bill Cinco as Senior Software Engineer, tasked with directing software development projects. Other promotions include Ritika Aggarwal to Senior Product Manager, Eric Hong to Senior Software Engineer and Paula Catoira to Chief Marketing Officer.

Catoira said, "As we strategically expand our workforce, we're not just adding numbers—we're enriching our company culture and enhancing our ability to serve our clients better. The promotions and new hires we're announcing today reflect our commitment to fostering a dynamic and innovative work environment that is inclusive and empowering.”

“Increasing adoption by blue-chip clients across a wide variety of industries is a testament to how effective our AI-accelerated, mobile chat-based conversational research techniques can be in driving measurable business impact,” said Matt Kleinschmit, CEO and Founder of Reach3 Insights. “By evolving traditional consumer research approaches to take full advantage of the speed and authenticity of conversational AI, brands are able to more quickly understand the emotions and context that are actually driving customer behaviors, underscoring why I continue to believe that modern, conversational techniques represent the future of consumer research.”

Rival Technologies and Reach3 Insights’ speed in implementing AI to create efficiencies across the entire research process has contributed to this significant growth. The company’s newly formed Rival Labs, an innovation sandbox for future tech and innovation in conversational research, works directly with partners, customers and industry leaders to rapidly experiment and implement new AI-driven platform features. One of the Labs’ recent experiments resulted in an AI Probing feature that captured greater depth and more thoughtful responses from qualitative open-ended questions than traditional approaches. This was featured at Quirk’s New York during a presentation with ŌURA.

Rival and Reach3’s conversational research methodology removes the “test taking” aspect of surveys, creating meaningful connections with individuals who feel at ease sharing genuine, real-time feedback. Customers and clients that have adopted this approach see an average completion rate of 87% and recontact rates of over 65%, both much higher than the industry average. 

About Rival Tech and Reach3 

Rival Technologies and Reach3 Insights are the pioneers in conversational research and the leading authority on insight communities. Rival’s mobile-first, conversational platform helps transform conventional surveys into personalized research experiences that emulate the way people communicate today. Reach3 is an award-winning full-service consulting firm that uses immersive, in-the-moment research designs and dynamic digital storytelling to deliver deep experiential insights. Amplified by AI, Rival and Reach3’s conversational research approach delivers higher response rates, deeper engagement, and faster time-to-insights. To learn why brands like Coca-Cola, Dell Technologies, Kimberly-Clark, and Warner Bros. have made the switch to conversational, please visit rivaltech.com or reach3insights.com.

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Media contact: Marie Melsheimer, marie@andremktg.com, +1-541-815-3951