Christie has more than 25 years’ experience in market research, industry analysis and strategic consulting. As President of Technology Strategies International he conducted more than 150 assignments for small and large clients from government and companies in the technology, telecom, financial services, payments, manufacturing and pharmaceutical sectors. Christie’s international experience base includes on-the-ground work in eleven countries and research in more than 60 countries. A serial entrepreneur, he has co-founded a number of successful startups.
Earlier in his career he worked as a development engineer in the aerospace sector, where he focused on modeling, simulation and signal processing. The experience he gained while designing algorithms to forecast aircraft position proved invaluable later on, when he turned to forecasting market and economic developments. He is currently working with Doug Eatwell, long time friend, and co-founder of Consilient Inc., to develop innovative models using multiple data streams to promote organizational excellence.
Christie has spoken at conferences in South Africa; London (UK); Sydney (Australia), Las Vegas (USA) and in a number of cities in Canada. His qualifications include an undergraduate degree in electronics, a graduate diploma in engineering, and a master’s degree in business leadership. He serves on the Board of the Canada-Southern Africa Chamber of Business.
Doug’s early passion for science and technology initially led him to study electronics and to graduate in 1974 as an electrical engineer. After several years in this field, he went back to university to study business administration, completing his MBA and winning the award for best research report in his final year. His business studies broadened his horizons and he switched careers, joining a rapidly-growing market research firm. An innovator with strong analytical skills, he developed a new technique for the presentation of customer satisfaction data, from which the company went on to derive substantial revenue.
He is considered by his peers to be a world-class expert in the area of stakeholder satisfaction, engagement and loyalty. His fascination with the complexity of human decision-making and its impact on business performance has led him to develop a number of unique tools and techniques to help top managers make sense of the complex behavioural and attitudinal aspects of their business environments.
Doug founded and ran his own market research company for 19 years, focusing strongly on stakeholder perception research. Over the span of his career he has conceptualized and run hundreds of customer- and employee-focused surveys for many well-known companies, including Siemens, Schneider Electric, ABB, Canon, Microsoft and TELUS.
