Leadership

Hamish I. Marshall, Chief Research Officer

Hamish Marshall brings years of political and economic research and polling experience to Abingdon Research. In 2008 he managed polling for the Conservative Party of Canada’s successful re-election campaign. He has advised the Prime Minister of Canada, Premiers, Leaders of the Opposition, Mayors and dozens of MPs, MLAs, MPPs and candidates across Canada from coast to coast. He has worked with political parties on four continents.

Marshall has public opinion research experience in both the private and public sectors. He served as Research Director of Public Affairs for Angus Reid Public Opinion, where he wrote and analyzed many economic and political polls, which included leading the company’s successful effort in the 2009 British Columbia provincial election which produced the most accurate results of any pollster. In the process he became a familiar face on CTV providing insight and commentary on the election.

Before Angus Reid, Marshall was the Manager of Strategic Planning in the Office of Prime Minister Stephen Harper where he oversaw the quantitative and qualitative research efforts of the central agencies of the federal government.

Marshall has an MBA from the University of Oxford in England, where he was a member of Lincoln College, and an Honours BA from the University of Toronto. In 2004 he lived in Kabul, Afghanistan advising a chain of radio stations on business development. He has presented political strategy seminars in Bangladesh and Jordan and provided advice to political parties in the UK, Australia and Norway.

Marshall is regularly sought out by the media to comment on the economy and politics. His television appearances include CTV Vancouver, Sun News Network, CBC TV Vancouver, CBC TV Edmonton, TVO, CPAC and CTV Winnipeg. His comments have appeared in print in the Globe and Mail, the National Post, the Calgary Herald, Vancouver Sun, Edmonton Journal, the Toronto Star, the Victoria Times-Colonist, the Montreal Gazette, The Observer (UK) and even sportsillustrated.com. He has been a guest on radio shows from coast to coast.

Marshall divides his time between Vancouver and Calgary and enjoys history, writing, sailing and thinking about politics. He is married to Kathryn.

Garnett Genuis, Vice-President

Garnett Genuis has a vast range of political and economic experience which gives him deep insight into the challenges faced by different industries and the ways that effective research can help them. He has worked in the Prime Minister’s Office and in the federal Minister of Industry’s Office. He has coordinated a political training program for the Canadian Centre for Policy Studies, been an editor for an online news publication, and served as the Executive Director of an electricity transmission advocacy organization.

In addition to his work experience, Genuis has a Masters in Public Policy and Philosophy from the London School of Economics in England and has been active in political campaigns across Canada, in the US, and in the UK.

Genuis’s experience makes him an ideal person for our company. He understands the political aspects of public opinion research very well. His time with the Minister of Industry makes him ideally placed to assist with research projects related to international acquisitions and trade, economic development, tourism, the insurance and financial sectors, and labour relations. Genuis is also particularly interested in healthcare research, and has collaborated on research projects involving the intersection of politics, philosophy and medicine.

Genuis wrote his Masters Dissertation on the emerging science of ‘happiness measurement’, and hopes eventually to develop research tools which explore ways of applying emerging information about the causes and drivers of human happiness to business, politics, other points of human interaction. When not in the office, Genuis serves on the board of a local Sexual Assault Centre and is on the Executive of the Rotary Club of Sherwood Park. He also enjoys ballroom dancing with his wife and playing board games with his brothers.