Leadership

Paul Donato is Executive Vice President and Chief Research Officer for The Nielsen Company. 

His responsibilities include integrating all research functions within The Nielsen Company, overseeing the development and evaluation of all research, and serving as Nielsen’s research liaison to clients and industry associations.  Partnering with the product leaders and client service leaders of The Nielsen Company, Paul is primarily responsible for exploring new ways to measure media audiences and consumer behavior in the changing, converging media environment.  During his career, Paul has launched several Latin American and global research products and is now responsible for the development of a global network of Nielsen Measurement Scientists.

Paul joined the company as Senior Vice President and Chief Research Officer of Nielsen Media Research in 2000.  Prior to joining Nielsen, Paul served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Kantar Media Research beginning in 1998.  From 1993 to 1998, he was Senior Vice President in charge of media at Audits & Surveys Worldwide.  Before that, he served as President of the Syndicated Group of Simmons Market Research Bureau for four years and held positions in research at RD Percy & Co. and Arbitron Ratings Company.  Paul has also served as a consultant to McGraw-Hill and Whittle Communications.  His areas of expertise include research development for television, print and the Internet. 

Paul has served on the boards of several television ratings services in Latin America and globally. He is currently a board member and a past Chairman of the U.S. Advertising Research Foundation (ARF).  He is also the Director for Research, on the North American Board of AfriAfya, a Kenyan-based community health agency. 

Paul received a BA in Psychology and Sociology from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook, and an MA in Applied Sociology with a minor in Statistics from SUNY.