Linda D. Hirneise
Executive Director

Linda Hirneise, Executive Director, at J.D. Power and Associates, has overall responsibility, including performance improvement measures, for the Global Travel and Hospitality Practice, which includes the hotel/hospitality, airport, airline and rental car industries. Ms. Hirneise’s responsibilities for the global hotel practice, which has a measurement base of 64 countries and 24 languages, include overseeing guest, meeting planner, employee satisfaction tracking and on-site quality audit programs. She oversees all proprietary tracking programs, syndicated studies, performance improvement and consulting services for the entire travel and hospitality practice.  

Ms. Hirneise began her career at J.D. Power and Associates in 1982 in the automotive division. She specialized in global client account management, where her responsibilities included overseeing market research and managing large-scale customer satisfaction tracking projects. Ms. Hirneise also worked closely with Japanese and European import car manufacturers. Her expertise was in customer satisfaction measurement: designing and implementing programs, reporting results and working with the executive staff in the headquarters office. Ms. Hirneise also developed extensive experience in automotive performance improvement initiatives, similar to her current responsibilities for the global travel practice. Additionally, she led numerous satisfaction training seminars for various Japanese automotive manufacturers at their headquarters.

Subsequently, Ms. Hirneise was responsible for the initial program development of the firm’s Power Information Network, a unique nationwide data collection system that provides real-time retail sales transaction data for subscribing automotive dealers and manufacturers. She was later responsible for the development of the firm’s Certified Retailer Program, a national recognition program based on retail sales satisfaction.