About The Morris Leatherman Company
Why We Started
The Morris Leatherman Company is a full-service market and research firm incorporated in 2013. After nearly thirty years, Decision Resources, Ltd. was closed. The decision to form a new company was driven by the need for generational change: first, to acknowledge Peter Leatherman’s significant contributions and recognize his increased responsibilities; and second, to allow Diane Traxler to work less, and pursue and explore projects of her choosing.
Regardless of this changeover, the Morris Leatherman Company intends to continue providing clients with the same “value added” customer service as Decision Resources, Ltd. provided for the past three decades. The Morris Leatherman Company will continue to serve clients across the nation in the private, public, and political sectors, including corporations, municipalities and state governments, financial institutions, religious organizations, business organizations, school districts, and non-profit organizations. The firm's main offices are located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
What We Do
As a full-service firm, all survey construction, sample selection, coding, data entry and computer analysis are undertaken on-site. All telephone surveys are conducted at the company’s phone bank located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Computer analysis is obtained from our in-house MENTOR computer system, augmented with SPSS for Windows, to ensure both access to the most current statistical analysis programs and confidentiality of the data set.
The Morris Leatherman Company commits to understand each market served by maintaining personal contact with clients and custom-forming surveys to meet the specific needs of the community, corporation, or organization. With almost 50 years of combined experience in market and opinion research, Bill Morris and Peter Leatherman know the industry inside and out, and they know how best to serve their clients efficiently and effectively.
In order to complement their demonstrated research and statistical experience, the company commits to educating the public about surveys, and dispelling common myths about their validity. In order to make numbers reflect the opinions of real people, Morris thinks of data interpretation as "the art form behind the science." Thus, when the Star Tribune or Pioneer Press asks him to interpret some numbers for them, he provides a commentary that any reader can understand but does not gloss over the complexities of the issue.
Who Does It
The company is comprised of forty full-time and part-time employees. The main principals of the firm possess extensive backgrounds in marketing, public affairs, survey research, and statistical methods. This cross-disciplinary background allows the Morris Leatherman Company to approach research problems from many different perspectives, and to evaluate potential strategies from a myriad of theoretical bases.
William D. (Bill) Morris, President
Bill Morris brings more than 30 years of experience as a survey researcher and policy analyst working in the public sector. He taught both graduate and undergraduate Political Science classes at the University of Minnesota, University of Saint Thomas, and Augsburg College for over twenty years. Between 1981 and 1983, he was State Party Chairman of the Independent-Republican Party of Minnesota. Bill holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy Analysis from Carnegie-Mellon University, with an emphasis on statistics and mathematical modeling.
Peter J. Leatherman, Chief Executive Officer
Peter Leatherman worked for Decision Resources, Ltd., for 19 years, serving as Research Director for 13 years. As Research Director, he oversees all aspects of the survey process, from survey construction and sample selection to preliminary data analysis. In addition, Peter is a trained facilitator of focus groups and other qualitative research. Peter holds a B.A. in Political Science and History from Augsburg College.