The Financial Services Direct Marketer of the Year Award

The DMA Financial Services Council Direct Marketer of the Year Award is designed to recognize individual achievement by a practitioner who has made outstanding contributions to the insurance or financial services industry through the use of the direct marketing concept.

For purposes of the Award, insurance and financial services direct marketing is defined as an interactive system of marketing that ascertains, creates and satisfies the insurance and financial services wants and needs of people by performing organized tasks affecting the transfer of services between the seller and the buyer; using one or more media for the purpose of soliciting a response by phone, mail or personal visit from a prospect or customer; maintaining complete information on each transaction in a database; and doing so at a profit.

The concept is applicable to all distribution channels: the agency system, the brokerage system, the direct selling system and the mail order system.

The award is presented at The DMA Financial Services Council Annual Conference in March.

Nominating Criteria

To be considered for the Award, a nominee must display a pattern of consistent contribution which achieves a high level of competence -- if not expertise -- in one or more disciplines such as: product development, research, marketing, management, education, sales, administration or technical innovation in the fields of actuarial science, underwriting or the like.

*Nominees MUST BE members of The DMA.

Past Winners

2007-Wesley Protheroe, Gerber Life Insurance Company
Wesley Protheroe is President & CEO of Gerber Life Insurance Company, an affiliate of Gerber Baby Foods and a subsidiary of Novartis Corporation. Gerber Life is the world’s largest juvenile life insurance company, and a leading insurance direct marketer.Under Wes’ leadership, Gerber Life is transforming from a juvenile life specialist to a family insurance provider. This repositioning has included new DRTV, direct mail, insert, and internet advertising; improved adult life insurance products; a loyalty/retention marketing program; and new affinity partnerships and distribution channels. In 2005, Gerber Life was recognized as the DMA Financial Services Council “Company of the Year”. Gerber Life has grown +60% in the five years Wes has been at the helm.

2006 - George P. Thacker, The Hartford
For the past seven years, George P. Thacker, vice president for The Hartford's personal lines division, has overseen the marketing function for the company's auto and homeowner's insurance products, which are sold directly to members of AARP, as well as to customers through the company's network of independent agents. During his tenure, Thacker has helped The Hartford position itself as an innovative leader in the financial services industry, growing the company's top-line through a number of creative direct marketing initiatives. Some of his efforts have included the pioneering use of multi-media strategies, such as direct response television and the Internet.

2005 - Eugene R. Raitt, AIG
When Gene Raitt arrived at AIG in Japan in late 1994, the direct marketing business was already the largest in the AIG world, generating about US$200 million in premiums annually. In the rest of Asia, direct marketing was a very minor activity in only Hong Kong, and most countries did not use direct as a distribution strategy at all.

Under Gene’s leadership and management, AIG undertook many new initiatives in Asia including: the pioneering of DRTV, the introduction of new products, particularly segmented products for seniors, the expansion of print media, the expansion of sponsored (third-party) relationships, and the introduction of telemarketing.

Gene has held a series of increasingly responsible, direct marketing-related executive positions in AIG and the insurance direct marketing industry over his career, and has spent the past ten years with AIG in Asia. He was responsible for the development and growth of the AIG direct marketing businesses in Japan, Korea, and later Greater China, Southeast Asia and India.

Gene is a member of the Board of Directors of The DMA, as well as the Hong Kong DMA. He was the Chair of the Direct Marketing Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan for eight years, and was also the founder and program chair of the Professional Direct Marketer Certification Course offered by Temple University Japan. He was also the President of the USO, Mainland Japan, from 1995 to 2003.

For more information, please contact Diane Kaminskas at (212) 768-7277 ext. 1431 or dkaminskas@the-dma.org.

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