Zwarteveen joins from Canalys, where he was a senior account manager. Prior to which he worked at Gartner and GemPlus, at a senior sales level.
He will now be tasked with finding new business opportunities, as well as working on existing accounts.
Zwarteveen said: "I am excited to be joining GMI at such an important time in the Market Research industry's development.
"The company has made great strides in positioning itself to flourish as a market leader and I am pleased to have the opportunity to participate in the next phase of growth and development."
GMI has offices in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. Zwarteveen will be based in London.
Dietmar Walter, vice-president in Europe for GMI, said: "Erik brings invaluable understanding of how to work with clients on solving their information and intelligence management issues -- a capability that is becoming ever more important to GMI as we have extended our product portfolio into new areas of enterprise research data management and analysis."