Scott Taylor, President
After eight years in the ’70s as an academic, and seven years in the ’80s at the Louis Harris public opinion research firm in New York City, Scott founded The Taylor Group on May 4, 1987. The new company began operations in the basement of Scott’s home with three employees, no equipment, no clients, and no prospects—but high hopes, large plans, and no small amount of anxiety. If we count his academic years, his years with Lou Harris, and the 20+ years of The Taylor Group, we’re talking just a bit shy of 40 years worth of studying, teaching, and conducting opinion and market research. Or as he puts it, “There’s a lot of water that’s passed under the bridge between the 60s and my 60s.”
Born and raised in New Hampshire, Scott spent most of his career in New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut before deciding to open a small branch of The Taylor Group in Portsmouth, NH, in 1995. By 2001, Taylor operations were consolidated in Portsmouth (though Scott and his wife Peggy continue to spend considerable time in their New York City apartment—which they moved into just 20 days after 9/11 in 2001).
But from Memorial Day through Halloween every year, Scott isn’t easy to drag away from his beach house in Rye, NH. The fact is, only daily travel to the Portsmouth office and business travel intervene.
Scott’s an avid runner (though “run” is what he thinks he does—“jog” is more the truth). He’s also a world-class beach-sitting malingerer, a voracious reader, a continually parched Budweiser drinker, and a huge sports fan. He’s a devoted fan of Dancing with the Stars, but he will never admit it.
He has a Ph.D. in political science from Rutgers University, where he was associate director at the Eagleton Institute of Politics Center for Survey Research. At Clark University he taught American politics and survey research methods and statistics, while serving as associate director of Clark’s Public Affairs Research Center.
Email: Scott Taylor
