Focal Team

D.A. (Tony) Schellinck, Ph.D. (Market Research & Consumer Psychology), MBA, B.Sc., CMRP, is a Principal and CEO of Focal Research Consultants Limited. As a Professor of Marketing at Dalhousie University and holder of the F.C. Manning Chair in Economics and Business (now retired), Dr. Schellinck co-authored three books, published over 60 papers dealing with marketing strategy, industrial and consumer purchasing behaviour, advertising and research methods, data mining techniques and gambling related issues.

Tracy is a Principal and President of Focal Research Consultants. Tracy has completed advanced courses in data-mining, data analysis, research design, and project management. She is a Certified Marketing Research Professional (CMRP) and professional moderator. She has conducted research in the public, community health, regulatory and commercial gaming sectors since 1988, with specific expertise in methodology, behaviour measurement, and prevalence. Tracy consults on a national and international basis, working with governments and organizations in Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

Elizabeth has more than 20 years of experience in quantitative research project management. Elizabeth has been with Focal since 1991 and is responsible for all aspects of quantitative project management including project statistics/records, quality control, staff management and training, and client services. In addition to developing comprehensive reporting systems for tracking project statistics, Elizabeth also manages all proprietary respondent databases.

Frank Ye has a combined skill set of business administration and information technology. Majored in International Trading and minored in Accounting, he has developed extensive knowledge and skills from his working experiences in various types of companies including trading, health service, manufacturing and control system integration. Frank Ye is also an enthusiast of information technology since his teenage.

Bill's primary role is that of our Administrator in addition to providing advanced IT support to the Focal Team. He brings over twenty-five years of management experience to his position with Focal. Although he works outside of the research function he provides an objective third-party oversight and evaluation.

Sophie Wang joined Focal Research in 2015 to expand our internal technical services and support capacity. She brings to our team a passion for research backed by a strong skill set in text mining and data analysis. In addition to a Masters of Electronic Commerce from Dalhousie University, Sophie has a solid background in economics and information technology. Through her ‘big data’ and analytics experience in business and telecommunications Sophie has developed a broad understanding of data management, analysis, research procedures, protocols, and project management in this area.

Tim is the latest addition to the Focal team, bringing with him a software development background to help Focal deliver it's products to the end user in a streamlined way. Tim has been in the software development field for over 17 years and holds a Bachelor of Science with an Advanced Double Major in Computer Science and Mathematics from Dalhousie University.