What WBA Research does

WBA Research, Inc. is a privately held custom market research firm founded in 1987 and headquartered in Lanham, Maryland, that delivers quantitative and qualitative research services to enterprise and government clients. The firm operates with two primary verticals: Transportation Research (serving transit agencies, departments of transportation, and airports on origin-destination studies, ridership profiling, Title VI compliance, customer satisfaction, and National Transit Database data collection) and Healthcare Research (NCQA-certified HEDIS/CAHPS survey administration for Medicaid, Medicare, commercial, and public health plans, plus CMS-approved OAS CAHPS as of January 2025). Core delivery uses CATI, online/mobile, mail, intercept/on-board, focus group, and multi-mode methodologies under an ISO 27001-certified information security management system.

The company's revenue model is professional services / project-based custom research, with pricing driven by RFP processes and tailored scopes rather than standardized tiers. Go-to-market is direct enterprise and government sales, supported by case studies, professional association memberships (APTA, Insights Association, AAPOR), and senior staff participation on APTA and TRB committees. Named clients include WMATA, MTA, NJ Transit, SEPTA, Amtrak, MWAA, MDOT, Maryland Transit Administration, LYNX, BWI Marshall Airport, HSCSN, MedStar Health, and Independent Living Systems, with long-tenured engagements spanning up to 15+ years at certain accounts.

WBA's operating posture is that of a stable, mid-sized specialist: approximately 18 named staff across research, project management, field operations, telephone center, and administrative functions, led by President/CEO Renée Henley and a long-tenured executive team. The firm holds no external investors and is internally controlled, with leadership promotions (Henley 2017, Booker 2017, George 2020) reflecting insider succession from founder-era President Steve Markenson. No subsidiaries, M&A activity, funding rounds, or public listing are indicated.

Name

WBA Research

Legal name

WBA Research, Inc.

Website

https://wbaresearch.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1987

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

WBA Research is a privately held custom market research firm founded in 1987, providing quantitative and qualitative survey services to U.S. transportation agencies and healthcare organizations. It is NCQA-certified for HEDIS/CAHPS surveys and ISO 27001 certified for information security.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Market Research Services

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (54191)

akta.pro primary industry

B2B / Industrial Market Research (MPAAALAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Syndicated Market Research (Panels, Omnibus, Tracker Studies) (MPAAALAB), Industry & Sector Research (Syndicated/Custom) (BPAHALAE)

Keywords

• Survey research services
• Transportation market research
• Healthcare market research
• Customer satisfaction surveys
• HEDIS CAHPS surveys

Headquarters

HQ city

Lanham

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Custom Market Research Services: WBA Research generates revenue by providing custom market research services including survey design, data collection, analysis, and reporting. Services are tailored to client needs across transportation and healthcare sectors. Revenue is generated through project-based engagements with government agencies and enterprise healthcare organizations.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

WBA Research is a professional market research services firm that designs and executes custom quantitative and qualitative research projects for clients, primarily public-sector transportation agencies and enterprise healthcare organizations. Services span the full research lifecycle — questionnaire design, sampling, multi-mode data collection (CATI, online, mail, intercept/on-board, focus groups, IDIs), processing, statistical analysis, and reporting. Vertically specialized offerings include origin-destination studies, ridership profiling, Title VI reporting, and NCQA-certified HEDIS/CAHPS survey administration for healthcare plans.

Product overview

WBA Research is a market research company founded in 1987 that offers custom research solutions as a unified service offering rather than a software product. The company provides quantitative and qualitative research services across two primary verticals: Transportation Research and Healthcare Research. The core Market Research Services umbrella includes specialized offerings such as Brand/Image Research, Customer Service & Satisfaction Research, New Product/Service Research, Demographic/Psychographic Research, and Communications Research. These are supported by various Survey Data Collection Methods (Online/Mobile, CATI, Mail, Focus Groups, IDIs, Intercept surveys, and Multi-Modal approaches). Healthcare-specific services include HEDIS/CAHPS Survey Services. The company also publishes Case Studies demonstrating their research capabilities across client engagements.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Market Research Services

Quantifiable outcome

• 15 years of continuous customer satisfaction data for BWI Marshall Airport
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Foursquare Integrated Transportation PlanningcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSubcontractor partnership on the LYNX Origin-Destination Survey project. Foursquare was responsible for integrated transportation planning alongside WBA Research as prime contractor. The partnership delivered comprehensive research including survey instrument development, sampling plan, data collection, processing, and analysis.
• Steadman-Hill ConsultingcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSubcontractor partnership on the LYNX Origin-Destination Survey project. Steadman-Hill contributed consulting expertise to the comprehensive research effort alongside WBA Research as prime contractor.
• American Public Transportation Association (APTA)minorOthersWBA Research is a Business Member of APTA, a non-profit international association of 1,500 public and private sector organizations engaged in public transportation. APTA serves as a key industry association for networking and credibility.
• Transportation Research Board (TRB)minorOthersWBA transportation practice leaders are members of the National Research Council's Transportation Research Board. TRB provides research frameworks and industry standards for transportation research.
• Leading Engineering and Transit Planning FirmsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWBA maintains partnerships with leading engineering and transit planning firms to deliver comprehensive research services to transportation clients. Specific firm names are not disclosed on the website.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Westat: Large employee-owned research firm serving federal agencies, state DOTs, transit authorities, and health plans. Closest comparable in business model, federal contract orientation, and breadth of survey research offerings.
• ETC Institute: Specializes in transportation market research, citizen surveys, and community needs assessments for cities, counties, and transit agencies. Directly comparable in mid-sized custom research for transportation agencies.
• Resource Systems Group (RSG): Transportation-focused research and consulting firm providing origin-destination, ridership, and travel behavior studies for transit agencies. Comparable to WBA's transportation research practice.
• Press Ganey: Leading patient experience measurement firm administering CAHPS and HEDIS surveys for hospitals and health plans. Directly comparable to WBA's certified HEDIS/CAHPS healthcare research practice.
• NRC Health: Healthcare experience measurement company providing CAHPS, patient experience, and member satisfaction surveys. Comparable to WBA's healthcare research work with Medicaid and Medicare plans.
• Abt Associates: Research and consulting firm with federal government research, healthcare, and survey capabilities. Comparable in government health/transportation research orientation, though materially larger.
• ICF International: Public-sector research and consulting firm with significant transportation and health survey work. Comparable in federal/state agency contract orientation and research methodology.
• Mathematica: Nonpartisan research and data analytics firm serving federal and state agencies, with strong healthcare and program evaluation practices. Comparable in policy research and survey methodology.
• RTI International: Independent research institute serving government and health clients with large-scale survey research and program evaluation. Comparable in NCQA-certified healthcare survey work and federal research orientation.
• SSRS: Custom research firm providing survey research, policy studies, and evaluation services for government, academic, and nonprofit clients. Closely comparable in mid-sized custom research model and federal/state client base.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/WBAresearch
• Facebookfacebook.com/WBAresearch

Compliance6 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about WBA Research