Rebecca Elmore-Yalch has worked in marketing research and strategic planning for more than 25 years. Before establishing Northwest Research Group in 1985, Rebecca worked on the client side in strategic planning and advertising management and on the supplier side in marketing research and consulting. At that time, she developed one of the first marketing plans for mobile (soon-to-be wireless) telecommunications services in the nation. She has broad-based experience providing action-oriented, strategic marketing research to a diverse cross-section of clients in the public sector, including City of Seattle, Federal Highway Administration, Chicago Transit Authority, and Caltrans/Amtrak, and in the private sector through technology products and service, health care, financial services, advertising, and public relations. Rebecca is an innovator, developing NWRG’s proprietary methods, CSMPactor™, CityMarks™, SoundStats™, and IDetailing™.

Ms. Elmore-Yalch is a respected leader in public policy research, notably in the transportation field. She literally wrote the book on research for the public transportation industry, serving as Principle Investigator on two Transportation Research Board (TRB) projects: Integrating Market Research into Transit Decision-Making and Using Market Segmentation to Increase Transit Ridership. Rebecca has developed and implemented strategic research and public policy studies for transportation agencies nationwide, including the Chicago Transit Authority’s ongoing program for customer satisfaction measurement, Oregon Department of Transportation’s Mobility Survey, and the Federal Highway Administration’s 2005 Traveler Opinion and Perception (TOP) Survey. She has also worked extensively with other government agencies and serves as the lead consultant on large, complex studies such as a 10-Year Supply and Demand Study for the Idaho Department of Education and the Oregon Population Survey (conducted bi-annually). Finally, she serves an active role as an internal consultant for projects requiring state-of-the-art tools such as a branding study for Expedia Corporate Travel, a pricing model for Expedia’s hotel group, and building a longitudinal panel to track purchase behavior for Washington State Lottery.

Over the years, Rebecca’s work has run the gamut of complex quantitative and qualitative research. Most of Rebecca’s work has entailed the application of large-scale telephone surveys and focus groups. More recently, she has begun advancing Internet use for specific applications, notably in the area of conjoint analysis and data warehousing. She remains in the forefront of new methods and technologies and actively seeks out new ways to conduct research. She constantly challenges assumptions and strives to get her clients to think out of the box when it comes to research design and implementation.

In addition to her research expertise, Rebecca has been a successful company leader and entrepreneur, mapping the company’s strategic direction for 20 years. She has ensured that ORNW has been an innovator in the industry while ensuring that at all times the company adheres to strict quality and business standards. She is an active member of the Council for American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO), the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), the Transportation Research Board (TRB), Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS), the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry (IACI), and Women’s Fly Fishing of Idaho. She is one of the founding members of the Puget Sound Research Forum, now one of the largest marketing organizations in Seattle. Most recently Rebecca was honored with the 2006 Woman Business Owner of the Year for the Boise Area and Southern Idaho Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO).

In October 2007, Rebecca sold Northwest Research Group to infoUSA.  She is now Senior Vice President of Opinion Research Northwest and serves on the senior leadership team of ORC / US.  She believes that this acquisition allows us to align our flexibility, expertise and passion for research with a leading international custom market research firm. We will now be able to broaden our research offerings to ou public and private sector clients much quicker.