DMEF Announces Annual Awards; Roska, Scholastic, and Malthouse to Be Honored During DMA08

July 22, 2008 ¾ The Direct Marketing Educational Foundation (DMEF) today announced that Jon Roska, founder, CEO, and chief creative officer of Roska Direct Advertising, will receive the DMEF Edward N. Mayer, Jr. Education Leadership Award; Seth D. Radwell, president of e-Scholastic and executive vice president of Scholastic will be presented with the DMEF Corporate Leadership Award on behalf of Scholastic; and Edward C. Malthouse, Ph.D., professor of Integrated Marketing Communications at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, will receive the 2008 Robert B. Clarke Outstanding Educator Award.

The honors will be presented at the DMEF Annual Awards Dinner, which will take place on Saturday, October 11 at 6 p.m. at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The dinner, which is the Foundation’s premier annual event, will be held in conjunction with the Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) DMA08 Conference & Exhibition, the Global Event for Integrated Marketing that will run from October 11-16 in Las Vegas.

The DMEF’s annual awards dinner presents both marketing professionals and academics the unique opportunity to gather together to celebrate the growth of multichannel direct marketing, stress the importance of education in the greater direct marketing community, and help advance cutting-edge direct/interactive marketing education resources.

“We are elevating the level of excellence all across the board at the DMEF and these awards are no exception,” said Allen W. Dyon, DMEF chairman and chief marketing officer of DMRA, a database and analytics firm based in Palo Alto, CA. “The outstanding quality and caliber of this year’s winners emanate the essence of what the DMEF is all about — commitment, excellence, and a passion for giving back to ensure the future of direct marketing. This elegant annual event brings hundreds of professionals and academics together to celebrate not only the excitement of this profession today, but to rejoice in the potential it holds tomorrow through our nation’s college students.”

Edward N. Mayer, Jr. Education Leadership Award

The 2008 Edward N. Mayer, Jr. Education Leadership Award will be presented to Jon Roska, founder, CEO, and chief creative officer of Roska Direct Advertising (www.roskadirect.com).

The Mayer Award, the DMEF’s most prestigious annual award, honors individuals who demonstrate the highest level of personal commitment to helping create effective programs, concepts, teaching methods or materials for the instruction of college students or professors; providing personal and corporate financial assistance; and executing any other contribution, which effectively assists or promotes the DMEF’s objectives.

Mayer Award nominations are submitted by peers and reviewed by DMEF’s Board of Trustees, which selects the honoree. Past Mayer recipients include Tim Litle, Litle & Co., David W. Florence, Direct Media, Inc., Dick and Mary Cabela, Cabela’s Inc., Katie Muldoon, Muldoon & Baer, Inc., Stephen Polk, Polk & Co., Markus Wilhelm, past DMA chairman and chief executive officer, Bookspan, and David Shepard, David Shepard Associates, Inc.

Aside from founding Roska Direct Advertising in 1981, Roska has pioneered acquisition and customer marketing techniques that have set the standards in the business-to-business, consumer, and healthcare sectors. A passionate visionary, he is the author of Ducks in the Henhouse, the Challenges of Integrating Direct and Brand Advertising and is an internationally recognized speaker.

Roska is the recipient of other industry honors, including 2004 Caples Andi Emerson Award for lifetime creative achievement, the Philadelphia DMA’s Direct Marketer of the Year Award, a DMA Gold ECHO Award, and the Henry Hoke Award. He is currently a member of the DMEF’s Board of Trustees.

DMEF Corporate Leadership Award

The 2008 DMEF Corporate Leadership Award will be presented to Scholastic (www.scholastic.com).

This unique and significant award honors businesses that offer their own employees multiple opportunities for personal and professional improvement and are dedicated to continuing education, diversity, and inclusion. Past DMEF Corporate Leadership Award recipients include Draftfcb, The Martin Agency, ACXIOM, America Online, Kraft, Experían, Allstate Insurance Company, and R.R. Donnelley.

For more than 85 years, education has been at the center of Scholastic’s success. Today, the multichannel marketing company is a leader in children’s publishing, education, and entertainment, all of which is underscored by its corporate mission to install a love of reading and learning in all children. This same commitment to learning is carried into Scholastic’s workplace.

Accepting the award on Scholastic’s behalf will be Seth D. Radwell, president of e-Scholastic and executive vice president of Scholastic. The mission of e-Scholastic is to maximize the potential of the Internet as a significant channel of distribution and e-commerce and to expand the company’s core businesses. Scholastic.com has won numerous awards, including the Webby Award and the People’s Choice Award for Best Kids Site, and is one of the Top 50 online retailers in the Internet Retailer 500 survey.

Robert B. Clarke Outstanding Educator Award

The 2008 Robert B. Clarke Outstanding Educator Award will be presented to Dr. Edward C. Malthouse, professor of Integrated Marketing Communications at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

This award is given in recognition of an academic’s overall excellence in direct/interactive marketing on the basis of outstanding achievement in teaching, writing, research, and speaking. Past honorees have included Dr. Peter S. Fader, the Wharton School; Dr. Venkatesh Shankar, Texas A&M University; Dr. Lisa Spiller, Christopher Newport University; Dr. Marjorie Kalter, New York University; Dr. Russell Winer, New York University; and Dr. John Deighton, Harvard University.

Dr. Malthouse is an expert in data mining, market research, and media marketing. He develops statistical models and applies them to large data sets of consumer information to help managers make marketing decisions. The primary application areas of his models include marketing segmentation, targeting, and direct marketing.

Aside from being a prominent educator in the United States as well as around the globe, Malthouse has served as a consultant to numerous companies; has authored a variety of research papers, publications, and technical reports; and is the recipient of a wide range of honors, including 2004 Teacher of the Year (Integrated Marketing Communications Department) and DMEF’s 1999 Best Paper of the Year Award. Currently, he serves as co-editor of the DMEF’s Journal of Interactive Marketing ®, a leading academic journal involving respected scholars in practical, applicable research in direct/interactive marketing.

About the DMEF Annual Awards Dinner

The DMEF Annual Awards Dinner will be held Saturday, October 11 at The Bellagio in Las Vegas, during the DMA08 Conference & Exhibition, which takes place on October 11 – 16.

To access the reservation form online please, click here. For additional information on table sponsorships and tickets to the DMEF Annual Awards Dinner, please contact Jeannette Monaco at 212.768.7277, ext. 1371 or jmonaco@the-dma.org.

For information or to register for DMA08 Conference & Exhibition, please visit www.dma08.org.

About Direct Marketing Educational Foundation (DMEF)

Headquartered in New York City, the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation (DMEF) works to attract, educate, and place top college students by continuously improving the teaching of world-class direct/interactive marketing and, thereby, expanding and enriching the talent pool of trained, market-ready direct marketers. Established in 1966 by members of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) who wanted to give something back to the community, DMEF is today a separate, 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that is supported solely by tax-deductible contributions from individuals, companies, and regional clubs and associations. Funds raised go toward a broad range of world-class educational programs.

Since its founding, thousands of students have taken advantage of DMEF’s educational programs, entering the field with the competitive edge of being “workplace-ready.” Many have gone on to become today’s direct marketing leaders, an indication of the Foundation’s success. In addition, more than 1,800 professors have participated in DMEF programs. Thanks in significant part to the Foundation’s four decades of work, today approximately 250 colleges and universities offer courses in direct/interactive marketing, 20 of which now offer specific direct marketing degrees and certificate programs. For additional information about the DMEF, its mission, and its programs, visit www.the-dmef.org.

About DMA08 Conference & Exhibition

The DMA08 Annual Conference & Exhibition, the Global Event for Integrated Marketing, is the world’s largest gathering of multichannel marketing professionals. DMA08, which will be held October 11-16 in Las Vegas, will feature keynote presentations, educational sessions, roundtables, case studies, white papers, and research reports. DMA08’s exhibit hall will feature hundreds of exhibiting companies. For additional information, or to register for the six-day multichannel marketing event of the year, please visit www.dma08.org or call 1.866.486.0734.

For information about DMA08 exhibition and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Donna LoPorto at 212.790.1468 or dloporto@the-dma.org.

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