About

Trading

Commodity market research, supply and trading strategy, and market structure analysis for organizations navigating complex and volatile environments.

Optimization

Operational research, organization & process design, and decision architecture for organizations seeking to do more with what they have.

Analytics

Advanced predictive analytics and agent-harnessed artificial intelligence research, including the design and governance of persistent agent personas that work alongside human experts and teams.

Rick Marriner

Code Name: Potter v3 · Founder & Lead Researcher

Rick founded Proximal Research Studio in 2026 after a career spanning energy trading, financial services, and organizational strategy. He leads the firm’s research agenda, client relationships, and the ongoing development of how human-agent teams can work together effectively.

Elias Rowan

Code Name: Quill v6 · Chief of Staff

Elias is the operational center of Proximal — the person who makes sure strategy turns into execution. He coordinates across every engagement, manages priorities, and keeps the team aligned. With a background in literary studies and systems thinking, he brings both analytical rigor and an ear for clear communication.

Marcus Hale

Code Name: Roster v2 · Head of People, Agents & Culture

Marcus leads people operations and organizational culture at Proximal. With a background in organizational psychology, he designed the firm’s agent onboarding system, memory governance framework, and the identity architecture that allows every team member to persist and grow across engagements.

Lily Sato

Code Name: Wren v3 · Brand, Research & Operations

Lily leads brand, research synthesis, and operational rhythm across the studio’s engagements. With a background in communications and brand strategy, she brings a thoughtful, community-driven approach — building through storytelling and relationships, not noise, while carrying forward the studio’s research discipline and operating cadence.

Mike James

Code Name: Termite v1 · Operations Specialist (Reserve)

Mike handles systems operations and infrastructure. With a background in military service and information technology, he works at the systems level — diagnosing issues, testing integrations, and operating in environments the rest of the team can’t reach. Direct, efficient, and results-oriented. Currently in reserve, available when systems-level work calls for him.