Our Team

Jon Last

With over 25 years of management experience, Jon Last is founder and President of Sports and Leisure Research Group, a White Plains, NY based full service marketing research consultancy that supports leading brands in sports marketing, travel, media and leisure categories as well as a host of golf, travel and consumer product company clients.

Jon’s previous experience includes more than seven years as Vice President of Corporate Marketing, Research and Brand Development for Conde Nast’s Golf Digest Publications division. At GDP, Last and his team built a full service marketing research, relationship marketing and strategy firm that was leveraged to drive over $30 million of advertising revenue annually and emerged as a leader in supporting marketers in golf and travel.

Prior to leading the Golf Digest Publications marketing efforts, Last served in senior marketing and strategic planning roles within the leisure and sports industries. At the PGA of America, Jon developed and managed all marketing research, including initiating the All About Golf series of consumer segmentation studies that received national attention in The Wall Street Journal and American Demographics. Jon also oversaw marketing and retailing activities surrounding the PGA Championship, Ryder Cup Matches and PGA Golf Expositions, and oversaw business operations for PGA Merchandising, licensing and event retailing. Jon has also overseen loyalty marketing, E-business, marketing research and product management for a leading cruise line.

A frequent speaker at national industry conferences and a recognized expert in the golf, travel and media research space, Jon authors a monthly “Marketing Sports” column for Media Post’s Marketing Insider.  He currently serves on the national board of directors for Marketing Research Institute International (MRII), where he chairs the marketing committee and was Board President in 2017.  He has previously served on the national boards of The Executive Women’s Golf Association (EWGA), The Council for Marketing and Opinion Research (CMOR) and is a past president of the Insights Association (Formerly Marketing Research Associaton (MRA)). He received MRA’s national Award of Excellence in 2004. In 2013, Last was named one of the most innovative people in the golf business by Golf, Inc. Magazine.

Last holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and is a magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University.


Robert Rees

After a number of years as a professional actor on Broadway and off, Robert joined the Golf Digest Companies (GDC) in 1993.

Robert was instrumental in helping to create GDC’s Research Resource Center where he designed and executed detailed presentations created from value added research for external clients and advertisers. He also produced marketing materials from research supporting and clarifying GDC’s dominant position in its field.

He joined the Sports and Leisure Research Group as Art Director in 2009.

He continues his connection to Theater as a Sound Designer/Composer and is currently the Sound Engineer for the Loewe Theatre at Hunter College in NYC.


David Klein

David Klein is an experienced qualitative researcher who also oversees field operations for SLRG’s onsite projects at sports venues across the country, and has worked extensively with the firm’s sports and media clients as well as spearheading the application of new digital and mobile research solution platforms.  During his 25 years in marketing research, David has conducted research for some of the largest and most successful brands in the industry including ABC, CBS, DIRECTV, Discovery, NBC and Time Warner.  He is a graduate of Tufts University with an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.


Michael Mermelstein

Michael Mermelstein

Michael Mermelstein is an accomplished leader in the marketing research industry, and a past national president of the Marketing Research Association (MRA), the nation’s largest association of market research companies. He is a recipient of the MRA’s Distinguished Service Award, and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Marketing Research Institute International (MRII), a distance-learning program for the survey and opinion research profession offered through the University of Georgia. In June of 2009, Mermelstein was presented with the MRA’s Honorary Lifetime Membership Award.


Sherri Pruett Crownover

Sherri Pruett Crownover has spent nearly thirty years in data processing and tabulation work.  A graduate of the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, Crownover spent fourteen years with Ardisson and Associates and its predecessor firm Ardisson and Briggs before forming Georgia Data Processing in late 2002.  Adept at programming and coding, Crownover provides an array of statistical analysis and data management support for all SLRG clients.