US State Department Appoints DMA's Charles Prescott to International Postal Advisory Committee

March 5, 2008 — The United States Department of State has invited Charles A. Prescott, DMA’s vice president of global knowledge network services, to serve on its International Postal and Delivery Services Advisory Committee. The committee, as mandated by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006, will provide foreign policy advice to the State Department regarding international postal services as well as private-sector international delivery services.

The committee’s inaugural meeting will be March 25, 2008, at the State Department in Washington, DC. Among the issues that the committee is scheduled to address are preparations for US participation in the July 23 – August 12 Universal Postal Union (UPU) Congress in Geneva as well as polity issues involving extra-territorial offices of exchange (ETOEs), performance measurement, and customs clearance.

At DMA, Prescott is in charge of building the Association’s Global Knowledge Network Center into a powerful vehicle for multichannel direct marketing education, research, and information on direct marketing throughout the world. Prescott supervises DMA’s renowned seminar program that provides professional education in direct marketing skills, and has undertaken modernizing and expanding the Association’s library and market intelligent resources for members.

Having spent his career in international corporate, securities, finance, and new country development law and projects, Prescott also serves as DMA’s representative and government affairs specialist in a variety of international activities. He represents the interests of the US direct marketing community before numerous international bodies, including the US Department of Commerce’s advisory body on international free trade agreements, the UN’s Internet Governance Forum, and the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris.

In 2004, at the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Congress, Prescott was elected as the first chairman of the newly-established Consultative Committee. He also currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Direct and Interactive Marketing Associations (FEDMA) in Brussels.

Early in his career, Prescott spent two years working in Tokyo at Hamada and Matsumoto, a leading Tokyo securities law firm. On his return, he served in legal positions with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton and privately-owned Continental Grain Company. In 1989, Prescott joined The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc. where he was responsible for non-US legal matters and government affairs issues.

Prescott is a frequent speaker on privacy and direct marketing development issues at marketing events throughout the US and internationally. He is principal author of the “Hong Kong Direct Marketing Association’s Code of Practice on Privacy” and the “Model Clauses for Transborder Data Flow Contracts of the International Chamber of Commerce.” He writes and publishes DMA’s Currents and Crossroads, a monthly newsletter covering international direct marketing.

Prescott is admitted to practice law in California and New York, and is a member of the American Bar Association. He has a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School, and a bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College.

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