Employee Spotlight: Brian Lamar

At EMI, our team is one of our strongest assets. Over the course of this year, we will be highlighting all our team members. We continue this week with a question-and-answer session with Vice President of Insights, Brian Lamar. Continue reading to learn more about Brian!

What do you do at EMI?

I am the Vice President of Insights. I lead our research on research on the sample landscape, look at innovation, trends, data quality, and best practices.

What led you to EMI?

I’ve been in research for 20+ years, all on the supplier side. I’ve had a wide range of roles, starting as a telephone interviewer and focus group assistant, transitioning to full-service project management, and then account management for both qualitative and quantitative research. My experience spans across a variety of client types – online, telephone, and in-person methodologies. This experience brought me to EMI and my current role.

What are your favorite things about EMI?

EMI has really helped me achieve most of my professional dreams. I design, analyze, and present my own research. I consult both internally and externally on sampling, best practices, quality, and trends. I get to attend conferences and meet peers in the industry and learn from them. The people here are great as well and we have an awesome culture. 

When you aren’t at work, you are…?

Other than the normal things, I try to get involved in my community. I designed and administered a neighborhood survey around flooding and partnered with the local government entities and an engineer to determine where the flooding was occurring from. It did help us get a new road!

Tell me one interesting fact about yourself.

I have competed against Joey Chestnut and Nick and Drew Lachey (from 98 Degrees) in a brat-eating contest at Cincinnati Oktoberfest. I beat 2 of the 3 people.

What is your favorite sports team?

The University of Kentucky. I am passionate about sports overall, but they’re my favorite. I used to travel quite a bit to watch football and basketball games.

Do you listen to podcasts? If so, what is your favorite?

Yes. Now would be a great time to promote our podcast, Intellicast, which we’ve been doing for about a year and a half. I tend to also listen to other marketing research podcasts, sports-related podcasts, and those focused on Cincinnati.  “That’s So Cincinnati” is a great local one.

Do you have any pets?

Bonnie the bulldog. She’s horrible, stubborn, and smelly. 

Do you have a goal (personal or professional) for 2019?  What is it and why?

I want to apply to speak at every single conference. I think we have a strong message that is unique and beneficial to the industry. I need to be more active in presenting these results. 

What is something you wish you could go back and learn?

Don’t sweat the small stuff and put things into the proper perspective in terms of importance. I think most of us stress way too much about things that, at the end of the day, aren’t nearly as important as health, family, etc. And I don’t think you can be the best at your job if you aren’t healthy in other ways.

Which of the 4 core values of EMI do you most relate to? (Agility, Accountability, Integrity, Passion)

Definitely passion. I can be very passionate about a lot of things, especially at work.