DMA List & Data Council Announces 2008 Award Winners: Huntoon, Hickman and Chilcutt

April 30, 2008 — The Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) List & Data Council yesterday announced the winners of its highest honors, including its first-ever Industry Innovation Award. The new accolade, along with the 2008 List Leader of the Year and Ron Davis Young List Professional of the Year honors, will be presented during a June 9 awards dinner — coinciding with DM Days New York Conference & Expo.

Fast Forward, the conference for list executives, opens a day before DM Days, which will last from June 10-12 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, NY. During Fast Forward, the DMA List & Data Council will host its annual List Leader of the Year Reception and Dinner. Separate registration is required.

“Our most prestigious awards always honor commitment to change, which all of our honorees demonstrate,” said DMA List Leader Group Chairman Jay Schwedelson, corporate vice president, Worldata, and member of the awards selection committee. “This year, the 2008 List Leader of the Year honor will be presented to Direct Media’s Linda Huntoon, and the 2008 Ron Davis Young List Professional of the Year Award will be given to American List Counsel’s Tim Hickman. Both Linda and Tim regularly perform above and beyond the call of duty, which helps move our profession forward.”

“In addition, this year is particularly special with the advent of the Industry Innovation Award,” Schwedelson said. “Now that direct marketing is firmly set in the data-driven, multichannel, rapidly evolving marketplace, list professionals must innovate to stay relevant. After all, regardless of the channel a marketer employs, lists remain the key to reaching out to customers, donors, and prospects. This special inaugural Industry Innovation Award — deservedly earned by Marketing Information Network’s Scott Chilcutt — represents DMA List & Data Council’s commitment to keep lists on the cutting edge, as well as honors Scott’s work, which truly has revolutionized this business.”

2008 List Leader of the Year — Linda Huntoon

Executive Vice President of Corporate Consumer List Brokerage, Direct Media, Inc.

The List Leader of the Year Award annually honors an individual for outstanding contributions to the list and data community. Honorees must have at least 15 years of experience in the list and data profession and have contributed to improvements in one or more of the following areas: Ethics, education, list practices and standards, privacy issues, postal reform, communication, and environmental concerns.

Huntoon is a much-respected list and database profession veteran. Huntoon began her direct marketing career in the early ’80s as a Walter Karl, Inc. order entry clerk. Within five months, she became a brokerage assistant, then an account executive, and soon she was helping create proprietary promotional databases and hotline marketing techniques. Leaving her position as vice president position at Walter Karl, after helping computerize the company’s order entry program and datacard system, Huntoon joined SpeciaLISTS, now Specialists Marketing Services, Inc., and was president of their New York brokerage division for 10 years.

At Direct Media since 2002, Huntoon works with the corporate executive team to support their client base, and maintains her long-held accounts while continuing to prospect. She is past chair of the DMA List & Data Council, and a 2004 winner of the Silver Apple Award from the Direct Marketing Club of New York. Huntoon is frequently called upon to speak at list and database conferences and writes for numerous trade publications.

2008 Ron Davis Young List Professional of the Year Award — Tim Hickman

Customer Service Representative, American List Counsel, Inc.

Named in honor of Ron Davis, who was responsible for creating the List Marketing Department at Meredith Corporation, the award recognizes young list professionals who have made a mark in their careers. Davis, who died in 1995, was a well-known advocate of the list field. He gave generously to his field and mentored many young list professionals.

The criteria for the Ron Davis Award pay homage to Davis by requiring nominees to be:

· Middle-management level or below

· In the list and data profession for no more than five years

· Committed to the direct marketing process as a career

· Have consistently performed at a level above and beyond everyday job expectations

· Have extended education or service in the list arena

At American List Counsel (ALC), the company that collects more than just names and addresses and basic datacard information, but looks into customer behavior, Hickman is rising fast. Starting in February 2006, Hickman’s rise from the Data Management Division to senior list manager was meteoric. He now oversees some of ALC's top-managed properties such as Reader’s Digest, Time Life, and Highlights for Children.

Hickman’s initiative to up-sell a client on one of his managed lists or recommend another ALC property to a mailer if he thinks it would be a good fit, is just one of the reasons he stands out. The customer service representative, who shows interest in sales, marketing, and data, also helps train new employees in the Data Management Division and works closely with the director of operations on creating a better workflow for both ALC and its clients.

Industry Innovation Award — Scott Chilcutt

President, Marketing Information Network

The new Industry Innovation Award is given to an individual whose products, services, or business practices have made a lasting, positive impact on, and revolutionized, the list and data field. The recipient has been integrally involved in creating ways for companies to be more productive and effective in serving their clients and employees.

Chilcutt started Marketing Information Network (mIn) in October 1989 with three employees and a dream. The company’s mission was to create an electronic DataCard System that would cause efficiency “in an industry full of inefficiencies.”

Today, the DataCard Database is one of direct marketing’s most comprehensive resources for mailing and email lists, as well as insert, statement stuffers, coop mailings along with interactive media rates and information.

mIn now employs more than 30 research professionals — using people, not computers, to constantly verify and update more than 55,000 active datacards for access by hundreds of list companies.

Additional Event Information

For additional information about the 2008 List Leader of the Year Award Dinner, which will be held Monday evening, June 9, at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers in New York City, click here or visit http://www.the-dma.org/conferences/dmalistdinner.

For information about DM Days New York Conference & Expo, which will be held June 10-12 at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City, click here or visit www.dmdays.com.

The DMA List & Data Council

The DMA List & Data Council provides a forum for its members to discuss key trends, issues, and technological developments relating to the use of mailing lists and databases. The mission of the council is to provide the opportunities and venues to educate, inform, and bring together list professionals nationwide. For additional information about the council, visit: http://www.the-dma.org/councils/listdatacouncil.

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