Darby is a thrill-seeking innovator, always looking for her next challenge, whether it’s developing a new questionnaire or moderator guide, exploring global foods and cultures, or creating her own unique art. Her most significant new thrill was joining SSRS in 2023, after working for ten years at Westat and 15 years at Gallup. She lives in Cleveland, Ohio, but her heart and soul belong to the University of Michigan where she earned three degrees, met her husband, and regularly lost her voice on football Saturdays.
She is formally trained in survey methods and public policy and has been blending these disciplines for more than 25 years to help her clients leverage high quality research to address some of our nation’s thorniest issues. She is the go-to person when complex projects require innovative solutions and hard work. Darby is uniquely “bilingual” in both qualitative and quantitative research methods and is passionate about mentoring and training the next generation of researchers to value rigor and intellectual curiosity. She’s a relationship builder who thrives on deep collaboration with clients and teams. She proudly serves as a national leader in the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), having served on Executive Council from 2021-2022 and as the 2022 AAPOR Conference Chair.
On weekends, she enjoys “breakfast and a hike” with her husband and friends, exploring the pancakes and trails of Northeast Ohio. A recent empty nester, her friends are most likely to spot Darby creating paper crafts on her Cricut machine, exercising, competing in Euchre tournaments, or sharing fun stories from road trips to visit her kids.