Welcome to the Fellowship, Spencer Willis

What is a fellow?   “....a fellow is a member of a group of learned people who work together as peers in the pursuit of mutual knowledge or practice”. So says that font of all knowledge, Wikipedia.

When we talk about fellowship, we think about the coming together of friends, of like minds, of people who support each other, who have a bond, a common cause… or maybe we just think of the fun with might have if we surround ourselves with “jolly good fellows”.

The Fellows of the Research Association NZ are a motley crew, supposedly the wise men (and women, including me) of the profession, who meet occasionally for vigorous debate, certainly not of like mind, a group who seldom agree on anything… but on this particular issue tonight, our agreement was unanimous.

This evening it was my great joy to announce that the Fellows of the Research Association have agreed to induct a very "jolly good fellow" indeed into our midst.
Our newest Fellow has championed the cause of market research for many years, and was described by our very First Fellow, Duncan Stuart, as being a man whose “energy and innovative thinking are something to behold”.

A man of many talents, I like to think of him as the John Campbell of our profession – a man who is just so happy to have found his lifelong passion, who seemingly pinches himself each day to check that his success really is true, an almost Peter Pan like character whose passion for "yoof" research means he may never actually grow old.

For Spencer Willis, research is not his first career, but having found it, left it and come back to it, it will almost certainly be his last. His early career as a money market dealer – a trumped up barrow boy really – gave him the will, but not the skill, to succeed in research. That skill came from sheer hard work, and relentless pursuit of excellence. Spencer is a shining example of how success can be achieved with energy and passion, and most of all, by participating fully and generously in your chosen profession.

From the get-go, Spencer truly engaged with his peers, his colleagues and his competitors – freely sharing his work (at times to the point of commercial stupidity!) What many should have paid for, he gave freely because he just wanted everyone to understand. It is that same generosity of spirit that sees him nurturing a steady stream of young researchers under his care.

We are all better off for having Spencer in our professional lives, and I am truly proud to salute you, Spencer Willis, as a peer, an equal, and most of all, a jolly good fellow.