Brian Paler is a Vice President at GQR, where he provides strategic advice to progressive US and international campaigns, businesses, and organizations. He has conducted hundreds of research projects in a dozen countries, with a specialty on building winning campaigns and countering disinformation. His public opinion and social listening research regularly contributes to counter disinformation efforts for the White House, Democratic Party, and progressive groups across the Democratic ecosystem. His surveys have been highly accurate in some of the most difficult places on earth to do research, including Iraq, Yemen, and throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
Beyond research, Paler has a passion for finding data-based solutions for challenges associated with countering disinformation, building democratic institutions, and mitigating conflict in polarized electoral landscapes. He has spoken at conferences on the role of Big Data in conducting research, overcoming growing voter cynicism of political leaders, and updating campaign thinking on fighting disinformation at home and abroad.
Before joining GQR in 2011, Paler managed programs at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs to support political parties, strengthen legislatures, and assist civil society organizations in the Balkans and Eastern Europe. He has also held research positions at the Middle East Institute and the United Nations Development Programme.
Paler holds a Master’s in Public Affairs from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and International Affairs from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has lived abroad in Europe and Turkey, where he gained a working knowledge of Turkish.