Chet Zalesky
President and Founder
CMI
In 1989, Chet Zalesky founded marketing research company CMI on the premise that other marketing research firms were providing their clients with facts and reports but not with the information they needed to translate data into solutions to marketing problems. His vision was for CMI to act as a consultant to its clients, taking a business approach to solving their marketing issues. Acquiring a deep knowledge of each client’s business, industry and specific issues, and combining that knowledge with quality research data and analysis, CMI would provide its clients with an in-depth understanding of how to align their products, services and strategies with their respective customers’ needs.
Zalesky’s vision has never wavered from the original. As president of Atlanta-based CMI, he continues to stamp his vision on the future of the firm, which today is a rapidly growing, full-service marketing research company that serves as a trusted advisor to Fortune 1000 organizations in a wide range of industries. The company, whose revenues surpassed $13 million in 2007, is one of the largest marketing research firms headquartered in Georgia. In 2006, Zalesky received Catalyst magazine’s 2006 Top 50 Entrepreneurs award, which recognized him as one of 50 business professionals who are leading Atlanta’s best performing small to mid-sized companies.
Zalesky is a member of CMI’s three-person Steering Committee, which develops the company’s direction, including its objectives, strategies, revenue goals, budget and overall structure. He also acts as CMI’s “chief survey methodologist” and stays involved with clients, project management, new product development and enhancement of CMI’s web site. He is currently engaged in building relationships with marketing research companies in Europe, South America, Mexico and the Pacific Rim to expand CMI’s international capabilities.
Zalesky also is highly involved with the overall marketing research industry. He is the 2008 chair of the Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO), where he has served on the board since 2003. His goals for his chairmanship include: framing the issues that drive the quality and integrity of Internet survey data; helping CASRO members better understand the procurement process; and continuing CASRO’s career development initiative to create an infusion of young people entering the marketing research profession and cultivate future leaders in a more systematic way. In the past, Zalesky has served as chair of CASRO University, the organization’s education arm, which develops its conferences and seminars.
In addition to his involvement with CASRO, Zalesky is an active member of the American Marketing Association (AMA) and the European Society of Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR), and he is a frequent speaker to various business and academic groups.
Before founding CMI, Zalesky worked in the marketing research industry for seven years for companies including SDR, an analytical data supplier, and marketing research firms Booth Research and Elrick & Lavidge.
Zalesky holds a master’s degree in marketing research from the University of South Carolina and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Villanova University, where he played NCAA Division I football.
Media Contacts
Ann Kohut
Kohut Communications Consulting
770-913-9747
annielk@bellsouth.net
or
Angela Mattoon
CMI
678-805-4000
amattoon@cmiresearch.com
January 2008