– sponsored by Acxiom
LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE PROFILES

Ian Baer
Ian Baer is President, Big Fuel Communications, as one of the principals at Big Fuel, the Consumer Engagement agency that takes brands From Content To Commerce, Ian brings 22 years of experience spanning across nearly every marketing discipline including digital, direct, promotions, search and advertising. Prior to joining Big Fuel, Ian was managing partner at iCrossing, and over the course of his career has driven growth for an incredible list of brands including Kraft, Sprint, HBO, Johnson & Johnson, General Electric, Bayer, Colgate, UPS and the United States Navy. A dominant voice in integrated brand marketing, Ian has held senior leadership positions with TBWA Worldwide, Deutsch, Rapp Collins, Draft and JWT, and serves on the board of directors for the John Caples International Awards.

Bruce Biegel
As Winterberry Group’s senior managing director, Bruce Biegel leads the firm’s consulting practice and establishes its strategic, publishing and operational agenda. A seasoned executive with more than two decades of hands-on experience in building businesses from the ground up, his diverse responsibilities have included strategic and business planning, financing, global multichannel marketing, technology development and support, legal coordination and financial management.
 
At Winterberry Group, Mr. Biegel has led more than 80 strategic planning and business assessment engagements over the past six years, serving a wide range of marketers, service providers, marketing technology developers and the financial sponsors who invest in the industry.  Among others, these include assignments across geographies for arvato Services (the global marketing services division of Bertelsmann AG), Acxiom, Capital One Financial Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co, Xerox and Yahoo.  In addition to his work at Winterberry Group, Mr. Biegel serves as a Senior Advisor to affiliate investment bank Petsky Prunier, LLC

Chairman and founder of the Direct Marketing Association’s Marketing Technology Council, Mr. Biegel is a frequent, in-demand speaker at major marketing industry conferences and symposia. Recent speaking engagement include major events of the DMA (including its Annual, Catalog, DM Days and Leaders conferences) as well as events tailored to the direct mail, print production and agency services segments of the industry. In addition to his frequent speaking engagements, WG-authored articles and white papers have appeared in all of the leading U.S. marketing industry publications. Topics have included M&A strategy, sales force structure, and developments in the agency services segment, among others. WG’s most recent white papers include A Channel in transformation: Vertical trends in Direct mail 2009, State of the Agency: Digital Marketing and the Technology Driven Ecosystem and Digital Marketing Services Transaction Activity: Transforming the Marketing Landscape.

Mr. Biegel received a B.A. in history and international relations from the University of Pennsylvania with corresponding coursework at the Wharton School in management and marketing.

Jill Cowen
Jill Cowen, Vice President, Citi Card’s online acquisitions group is responsible for channel optimization for both internal and external channels, including: applications, landing pages, funnel optimization and natural search.  Prior to this role, Jill developed the strategy and managed the re-design of the www.citicards.com account online experience (first in 8 years), providing a best-in-class customer servicing site within a disciplined financial framework.  Jill also sits on Citi’s 3 year digital strategy committee.
Prior to joining Citi, Jill spent seven years on both the consulting and agency side where she was responsible for business development, client management services, and P&L working with such clients as American Express, Capital One and Nationwide.

Outside of the financial arena, Jill has six years of experience working for IBM.  As Web Innovation and Brand Manager for IBM’s large enterprise extranet sites, Jill developed a global e-marketing methodology and brand engagement model for ibm.com, designed to create demand generation and drive incremental revenue through the ibm.com channel and optimize route-to-market strategies.  In this role she constantly assessed best of breed e-marketing strategies across geographies, communicated findings and then recommended re-deployment where appropriate.  Jill also served as manager for IBM’s North America database marketing analytics team where she was responsible for the education, execution and measurement of analytics for IBM’s brands, verticals, channels, and IBM’s premier loyalty program.

Contact information: (718) 248-1366 or jill.t.cowen@citi.com.

Scott Delea
Scott is CEO of Inflexion Interactive, a groundbreaking new digital marketing agency revolutionizing the effectiveness and efficiency of online marketing campaigns. Prior to founding Inflexion, Scott was President of Adverb Media and SVP/GM of DigitalGrit, a leading independent digital marketing firm who received recognition as a Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Company and Best Place to Work in America prior to being sold to Zeta Interactive in November of 2007. While at Adverb, Scott and his team were responsible for helping leading companies such as Sony Electronics, Intuit, RIM, Novartis, ADP, and Kaplan University attract and retain customers more effectively by leveraging Internet technology and strategies. 

Bob Desena
Bob DeSena has been a change agent for over twenty five years.  He has wide ranging management and strategic experience, having held senior management and marketing positions with both client and advertising agency organizations.  As Founder and CEO of imark360 Inc., Bob is responsible for the design, development and sales of advanced  decisioning technology and targeting solutions for digital platforms.

Prior to that, Bob was CEO of the Engagement Marketing Group which he founded to focus on developing new ways to create and measure consumer engagement across all connection points.  He integrated the EMG practice into Mediaedge:cia where he led the Consumer Insights, Communications Planning, and Analytics functions, weaving them together into a new unit called the Strategic Services Group.

Earlier in his career,  Bob was Director of Relationship Marketing at Masterfoods USA, and a member of the CRM Global Steering Committee.  While there, he created and was appointed Managing Director of Mars Direct, the business unit responsible for accelerating brand growth in non-traditional channels.  In its first year Mars Direct had a 100% growth rate across its portfolio of brands.

Prior to that, Bob held several senior executive positions on the agency side of the business.  Serving first as management supervisor, he was appointed director of media and marketing services with Wunderman, where he was responsible for the planning and placement of all television, print, direct mail and other media.  This group developed the first predictive models as planning tools for print and electronic media, and led the industry in developing the marketing applications of digital media.  He next served as senior vice president at DFS Direct, responsible for major accounts and new business development, before moving to executive vice president and general manager of Draft (now DraftFCB), where he had operational and P&L responsibility for the agency’s headquarters office.

Bob then held a number of senior management positions within Time Warner including senior vice president, marketing for Time Life Books and senior vice president, marketing for Time Warner Direct.  He next moved to a corporate role at Time Inc. as vice president, new media where he created the Marketing Applications Group, a specialized marketing services unit designed to assist Time Warner’s largest worldwide clients including General Motors and Procter & Gamble.

Bob holds a B.S. degree in Quantitative Analysis from Manhattan College and an M.B.A. in marketing from St. John’s University, and lives in Connecticut with his wife and family.  

Glenn S. Eisen
Glenn Eisen is EVP of Marketing for the Guthy-Renker, LLC.  He has direct marketing responsibility for all brands and has more than 20 years of marketing experience.  In the thirteen years prior to joining Guthy-Renker, Mr. Eisen held positions both at Vonage and American Online (AOL).  At Vonage he was SVP, Marketing and had responsibility for all facets of marketing.  At AOL he held a number of positions including SVP, Marketing where he was responsible for customer acquisition.  Mr. Eisen is a recipient of a number of awards the most recent of which is a 2006 Effie.  Glenn Eisen is a graduate of the School of Business Administration at Georgetown University.

Noah Elkin
Noah Elkin, Ph.D., is Senior Analyst at eMarketer, where he covers trends in mobile marketing, content and commerce. In addition, he is co-founder and co-chair of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) Emerging Technologies Committee.

Elkin writes a monthly column on digital advertising trends for iMedia Connection and has been quoted in the New York Times, Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, Investor's Business Daily, DMNews and Internet Retailer. He has also discussed technology developments and advertising market trends as a guest on CNN en Español. Elkin speaks regularly at industry events and conferences, including Search Engine Strategies, Search Marketing Expo, MediaPost's Search Insider Summit, Digital Publishing & Advertising Conference (DPAC), SEMPO roundtables and DM Days.

Prior to joining eMarketer, Elkin served as managing partner at international search-inspired digital agency Steak, where his responsibilities included driving strategy development for both Steak and its clients, overseeing thought leadership efforts, educating clients and staff about trends in the online advertising marketplace and representing Steak at key industry organizations. Before Steak, Elkin served as the vice president of corporate strategy for iCrossing, where he help to build the company´s social media practice and worked with clients in the automotive, financial services and hospitality industries to develop and execute strategies integrating social media into online marketing campaigns. He also authored a highly regarded series of studies on search, interactive, mobile and social media marketing.

Elkin is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship and holds a Ph.D. from Rutgers University. He earned a B.A. with honors from Columbia University.

Pam Evans
Pam Evans serves as the Senior Manager, WW Web Marketing, IBM SWG with responsibility for web marketing programs on 60 Software customer websites.  She serves as an Interactive Marketing and Globalization leader for ibm.com marketing.

Evans joined IBM in 1980 as an editor of a divisional magazine and spent 15 years in PR and corporate communications before joining the marketing team in 1996 to help pull together the marketing programs for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.  At IBM she has led teams in the integration of TeleWeb, Interactive and  Relationship marketing including the Gold Service relationship marketing program which has been acknowledge as an industry leading practice. These marketing programs have been recognized for the Tempo, Echo and eMarketing awards.

Ms Evans earned an MBA degree in marketing from Georgia State University and a BA in English from Georgia Southern University. She serves as Vice Chairman of the Direct Marketing Associations’ B2B Council and speaks frequently to professional marketing groups.  She was named as the Marketer of the Year for 2008 by Target Marketing Magazine and one of the top 100 marketers by B to B Magazine in 2006 and 2007.

Dave Frankland
Dave is a primary analyst behind Forrester’s offerings for the direct marketer role.  His research covers customer intelligence and marketing services, helping companies better leverage customer data to improve marketing performance.

Prior to joining Forrester, Dave was vice president of corporate communications at DoubleClick. Previously, he was a director at strategic communications consultancy, Niehaus Ryan Wong, and began his career working for Hill & Knowlton in London and New York.

Dave holds a B.A. from NUI, Galway, a Masters in Peace Studies from Trinity College, Dublin and a Masters in Public Relations from the University of Stirling, Scotland.

Gabe Greenberg
Gabe Greenberg, Senior Vice President for Vibrant Media has more than 15 years of multi-channel sales and marketing expertise. Greenberg leads the global automotive practice for Vibrant Media, the global leader in In-Text Advertising.

Greenberg’s clients and peers have recognized him as a thought leader in digital media and direct marketing. Greenberg is a regular online media and direct marketing speaker including eTail, IAB, IMedia, DMA, DMAD, JD Power and ENG among others. He has served as an advisor to the DMA for the DMA Annual Conference and DM Days.

Greenberg joins Vibrant Media after a successful career at Autobytel, where he was responsible for sales and operations of Autobytel Direct. Greenberg is credited with developing the business model and marketing strategy for Autobytel Direct, Autobytel’s market leading direct marketing product suite. Greenberg spent four years at Epsilon Interactive (formerly Bigfoot Interactive) as the National Automotive and Retail Market Director where he is credited for developing Bigfoot’s automotive and retail footprints. Gabe has extensive global multi-channel marketing experience in out-of-home, interactive media, print and direct marketing.

Greenberg is an active member of the IAB and IAB Digital Video Committee, 313 Digital, DMA, DMA PAC Committee, AdCraft and the LA Ad Club.

Jennifer Hanley
Jennifer Hanley has over 20 years of business experience in leading Consumer Products and Consumer Packaged Goods Companies. 

She began her career at Newell-Rubbermaid in 1987 where she worked for the Home and Specialty Products Divisions.  Jennifer spent the majority of her time at Rubbermaid in marketing services roles specializing in advertising, package design, promotion and public relations.  She developed relationships with key retailers including Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s while developing channel programs that have endured throughout her career.  She was also instrumental in the opening of the Everything Rubbermaid retail store that still operates in Wooster, Ohio. 

Jennifer relocated to Columbus, Ohio in 1999 and joined the Mac Tools Division of The Stanley Works where she led marketing communications and retail operations.  Jennifer worked on the leadership team that defined the company’s value proposition, brand strategy, target audience, and product offerings.  She also led the opening of a retail store test at Walmart that sold motorsports themed merchandise and collectibles.  Jennifer gained valuable expertise in sponsorship marketing through the company’s involvement in NHRA and NASCAR.

Jennifer joined the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, where she was appointed Director of Consumer Promotions.  She worked closely with retailers to develop customized advertising and promotional campaigns.  She launched the company’s sponsorship of Roush-Fenway Racing and Carl Edwards in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series.  Jennifer was promoted to Vice President, Marketing Services and led all creative development of marketing initiatives for the Scotts, Miracle-Gro, Ortho, and Roundup brands in addition to leading the company’s promotion and sponsorship marketing activities.

Jennifer left Scotts to accept the position of Vice President, Marketing Programs for Nationwide Insurance.  In this role, she was responsible for managing marketing communications, championing integrated marketing campaign development & execution for the property casualty business, and leading the advertising and activation efforts for the company’s sponsorship of the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

In March of 2008, she was promoted to Senior Vice President of Marketing Services, to lead the advertising, integrated campaigns, media & promotion, interactive marketing, sponsorships & events, and marketing operations for the enterprise.

Jennifer holds a degree in English and Mass Media Communications
from the University of Akron.  She is married and has four children.  Her interests include volunteering at her children’s schools and attending their extra-curricular activities.  Born in Cleveland, Ohio she is also an avid fan of Cleveland’s professional sports teams.

Yosi Heber
Yosi Heber is the Founder and President of Oxford Hill Partners, LLC, a strategic marketing firm that helps companies maximize their website and digital marketing revenue potential. His patent pending, strategic website assessment and revenue optimization process – EQ Pulse™, has been used by over twenty of the largest CPG, Pharmaceutical, B2B, and retail companies in the world.

Prior to forming OHP, Yosi spent four years as Chief Marketing Officer of IAC/InterActiveCorp’s Entertainment Division where he worked together with Expedia, Lending Tree, Match.com, and Ticketmaster. Prior to IAC, he spent thirteen years in senior positions at Kraft General Foods and Dannon where he invented the $550 million dollar kid yogurt category.

Yosi is a highly sought after speaker at many major conferences and universities, including Harvard and Wharton Business Schools, The DMA, Ad:Tech, Conference Board, and IIR.  His work has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, USA Today, DM News, and AdAge.

Kaenan Hertz
Kaenan Hertz is currently Senior Vice President of Market Intelligence and Business Analytics which enables fact-based decision making through timely integrated insights - insights used to understand member needs, behaviors, and attitudes; to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; to develop product and member strategies; to design, test, refine, execute, and evaluate marketing actions; and to work with the lines of business to set, measure and manage marketing performance and processes.

Prior to USAA, Kaenan was the Director and SVP of Decision Management at Citigroup's Consumer Lending Group. He has 20 years of experience in strategic and analytic positions across a range of applications in different industries. At Citigroup, he was a member of the Senior Management Team responsible for bringing Decision Management/Science discipline to Citibank's Mortgage, Home Equity, Auto and Student Loan businesses. He created a Decision Management team and approach for Citibank's Student Loan Corporation.

Kaenan earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He also holds a M.A. in Jewish Communal Service from Brandeis University and a B.S. in Statistics from the University of Calgary.

Marjorie Kalter
Dr. Marjorie Kalter is Professor and Academic Director at New York University’s M.S. Program in Integrated Marketing, where she teaches competitive strategy, branding, and business development and chairs the Marketing department.  Before joining NYU in 2001, she taught at Columbia University’s MBA program for 9 years while she was with Wunderman (WPP Group).  At the agency, she was Executive Vice President and Account Managing Director in New York and Paris, leading integrated-marketing programs for American Express, AT&T, Groupe Danone, Kraft, and Air France.  In 2004, she was awarded the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation’s Outstanding Educator award.  She is Chair of the Direct Marketing Association’s Hall of Fame Committee, a member of the ECHO Awards Board of Governors, and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, where she serves on the Board’s Executive Committee.  She received the Direct Marketing Club of New York’s Silver Apple Award in 2008 for distinguished service to the New York direct-marketing community.  In May 2009, she was the keynote speaker at Danish Direct Marketing Days in Copenhagen, Denmark and in Brande, Denmark. 

Lou Mastria
Lou Mastria's, CIPP, role at NextAction is an integral part of the company's continued dedication to protecting data privacy and security. He is responsible for oversight and direction of NextAction's information use policy to ensure compliance with legal regulations, industry guidelines and best practices. Prior to joining NextAction, Mastria held several key thought-leadership positions at the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), including Vice President of Public Affairs and Media Relations and Vice President of Interactive and Emerging Media. He led the DMA's policy on email authentication, the founding of the Interactive Marketing Advisory Board and development of best practices for online affiliate advertising, was a founding member of the Authentication & Online Trust Alliance, as well as acting as a key figure in more traditional areas of direct marketing policy, including numerous privacy initiatives. Mastria continues to serve in thought-leadership roles at the DMA through his election to the DMA’s Committee on Environment and Social Responsibility and the DMA08 and DMA09 Program Advisory Committee. He also participates actively in the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Lead Generation, Email and Public Policy committees. Mastria is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP) through the International Association of Privacy Professionals, holds a bachelor's degree in political science from New Jersey City University and a master's degree in public policy from Rutgers University.

Kimberly Miller
Kim Miller, a 10 year veteran of Time Inc., was named Vice President, Consumer Marketing for People StyleWatch magazine and Head of Audience Development for all People.com websites in Sept 2008.  For People.com and its subsidiaries, she is responsible for building consumer traffic for these websites, analyzing user behavior to identify new opportunities, conducting on site consumer research, and setting strategic direction.  Prior to joining StyleWatch and People.com, Kim spent 2 years as Online Director for instyle.com and realsimple.com, helping these sites to grow their audiences by more than 100% as well as relaunch realsimple.com.

Kim has been acknowledged with several industry awards including The Folio 40: List of Industry Influencers and Innovators, The Direct Marketing Association’s Rising Star Award, and Circulation Management’s Circulation All-Star Award.

Kim is a graduate of New York’s Binghamton University, and holds her MBA from Columbia University. 

Jeanniey Mullen
Jeanniey Mullen is the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Zinio, the global leader for digital publishing products and services. She holds the same position for VIVmag, the first fully interactive and all digital lifestyle magazine for women.  Jeanniey is also the Executive Director of the DMA’s Email Experience Council, which she founded in 2006. She is also the An accomplished expert in the email and online marketing world, Jeanniey is recognized as a pioneer and visionary, advocating for and driving change that redefines the impact of various marketing channels. Prior to Zinio and VIV, Jeanniey was the Senior Partner and Global Executive Director of the Email Marketing and Digital Dialogue Practice at OgilvyOne worldwide.

A digital entrepreneur, Jeanniey founded and ran her own interactive agency as well as an online entertainment marketing company from 2001 to 2004. Prior to that, Jeanniey started the first agency-run email marketing division at Grey Direct. She has also held a number of roles at JCPenney, spanning an eight-year period. Jeanniey is known as one of the most well-respected voices in the world of email, digital publishing and online consumer brand awareness. She is a columnist for ClickZ, has published numerous whitepapers and best practice guides, has appeared in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times numerous times. She is on the board of advisors for a number of online marketing companies and events, and is a frequent keynote speaker for various companies and organizations, including the Direct Marketing Association, Shop.org, OMMA, Luxury Interactive, IBM, NatureMade and the American Association of Publishing.

Jeanniey recently finished her first book, Email Marketing: An Hour a Day (Nov. 24, 2008), through Wiley Publishing. She is currently working on an anthology project, What Business Needs Now, which will feature top direct marketing experts.

Matt O’Grady
Matthew O’Grady is President of Nielsen Claritas based in New York at the Nielsen Company headquarters.  He is a veteran of the market research industry and has been with Nielsen for over 10 years.

As President, Mr. O’Grady is integral to Nielsen‘s Product Leadership group, contributing new ideas and strategic direction for the overall company.  He also oversees Nielsen’s Spectra division which provides targeting and merchandising applications for its packaged goods clients.  

Nielsen Claritas is the targeting arm of The Nielsen Company specializing in customer acquisition applications including online and offline venues.  Claritas segmentation products and databases are effective and popular tools for the direct marketing industry.

Mr. O’Grady sits on the board of The Direct Marketing Association where he is active in the technology and government affairs sectors.

Prior to joining Claritas, Mr. O’Grady worked at Equifax, The Daniel Yankelovich Group and AT&T in sales, marketing and product management roles.

Mr. O'Grady is a frequent presenter at industry associations and conferences, and has published articles in American Demographics, Business Geographic and American Banker, among others. He has also worked extensively with geographic information system (GIS) and analytical delivery platforms for site analysis and customer acquisition.

Mr. O'Grady earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

The Nielsen Claritas office is located at 770 Broadway, New York, NY, 10003-9595 - (646) 654-8200.

The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (Nielsen Consumer), media information (Nielsen Media), trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands, and New York, USA. To learn more about Claritas and Nielsen products and services visit their web sites at www.claritas.com and www.nielsen.com.

Elly Puyat
Elly Puyat has a ten-year experience in marketing, nine years of which was spent on one-to-one marketing through various channels: mail, telephone, web & mobile.  She has extensive data driven marketing experience for both direct-to-consumer and business-to-business.  Her brand experience includes Nestle, Amex, IBM, Lenovo, Nokia, DHL, Nike, The Economist, BMW, Bayer, Huggies & Yahoo!.  She has had client engagements on both local and regional levels.  Elly also serves as Country Chairperson for the Caples Awards starting 2005 to the present.  And is currently serving as Ogilvy’s representative to the advisory committee of the DMA (NY) and is a member of the DMA Digital Marketing Leadership committee.
 
Elly earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Economics from the University of the Philippines (Diliman) with a distinction of Dean’s Medalist in 1996.  She earned her certificate from the Institute of Direct Marketing (UK) back in 2002.

Stan Rapp
Stan is a marketing icon who has twice served as Chairman/CEO of global advertising agencies with revenues that added together now reach over a billion dollars.  Rapp was recognized by Advertising Age as one of the 101 individuals who shaped advertising in the 20th Century, and has been elected to the Direct Marketing Association Hall of Fame.   He is co-founder and for 23 years was the CEO of Rapp Collins Worldwide, one of the world’s top 5 advertising agencies.  While he was CEO of McCann Relationship Marketing (MRM) and served on the Board of McCann Erickson WorldGroup for six years, MRM revenue increased seven-fold.  He is co-author of the bestselling book, MaxiMarketing, which first predicted the change from mass marketing to one-to-one marketing, and five other books.  In his latest endeavor as Chairman of the Engauge enterprise, he is partnering with Halyard Capital to create a 21st Century marketing solutions agency.  His seventh book, an anthology titled Reinventing Interactive and Direct Marketing, will be published by McGraw-Hill this year in partnership with the DMA and Engauge.

Keith Sedlack
As Managing Director, Keith is responsible for Business Development, Marketing and Advertising Sales. Keith joined Meredith in October 2003 and for the past 5+ years has been involved in just about all the new business opportunities that have presented themselves.  The past 5 years at Meredith Integrated Marketing has enabled Keith to earn a tremendous amount of experience across multiple industries including insurance, automotive, packaged goods, real estate, finance and many more.   

Prior to joining Meredith, Keith spent several years in advertising sales for the Wall Street Journal, where he was responsible for managing the mid-Atlantic sales territory across multiple categories and later leading the advertising sales efforts for Special Reports as the Global Sales Manager.

In addition to his extensive traditional media sales experience, he also spent over four years managing the digital sales efforts for AltaVista and then Terra Lycos as the Eastern Sales Manager. At Terra Lycos Keith spent two years as the Director of Corporate Development, uncovering new business opportunities and organizing partner relationships to deliver on new revenue streams for the online media company.

Keith holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Ramapo State College.

Tim Suther
Tim Suther is senior vice president of Acxiom’s Multichannel Marketing Services.  An officer of Acxiom, he leads the company’s businesses covering digital media, agency and technology, as well as marketing database services and products.  In this role, he directs global efforts to enable award-winning, high performing advertising and marketing for Acxiom clients.

Suther has been with Acxiom since 2005, previously leading its multi-industry client services unit where he reinvented growth strategies and developed what became one of the most successful units.
 
Mr. Suther is known for 26 years experience applying disruptive technology-enabled business models to achieve transformational results across a wide variety of industries. Prior roles include:

• SVP/GM – Metavante – financial services technology firm
• President, Protagona Worldwide – publicly traded marketing software firm

Impassioned with sharing ideas and helping other leaders, Suther is a frequent speaker at business events, often cited in trade publications, and is a former member of the executive board of directors for the Sam M. Walton College of Business Center for Retailing Excellence at the University of Arkansas.

George P. Thacker
George P. Thacker is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Gerber Life.  He is responsible for the company’s marketing and product development. His duties include: branding, research, consumer strategy, product management, affinity partnerships, and advertising.  George joined Gerber in January, 2007. He brings a broad range of direct marketing, product innovation, and branding experience to Gerber Life.  George has worked for 14 years in packaged goods brand management and 11 years in financial services.

George Thacker’s past experience includes positions across industries including CMO for The Hartford’s Personal Lines Business, VP, Marketing, at Citibank and Revlon Consumer Products.  He began his career in brand management at Procter & Gamble. 
In 2006, George was honored as the DMA Financial Services Executive of the Year.
George is a graduate of Cornell University with a B.S. in Engineering.  He also served four years as a U.S. Army Captain in Germany.  He lives in Darien, CT with his wife and three sons.

Eric Webster
Eric Webster, CLU, ChFC is currently Vice President of Marketing at State Farm® Corporate headquarters in Bloomington IL.

Eric has held many positions in direct and database marketing over the past 25 years. Marketing strategy, marketing research, analytics, list processing, and I/T development highlight a few areas of his concentration and expertise.

In July 2000, Eric joined State Farm Insurance—a Fortune 100 Insurance and Financial Services firm, and the Property and Casualty leader in the US since the 1960’s. After seven years as an Assistant VP of Marketing, he was promoted to his present position in April 2007.

To effectively promote the Company’s good-neighbor brand and increase business transactions for the 17,700 State Farm agents, Eric guides the department with regards to marketing campaign development & execution, analytics & reporting, project management, and direct marketing production.

Before coming to State Farm, Eric worked for Foote, Cone and Belding in Chicago as VP, Marketing Sciences; IBM Global Database Marketing as Senior Database Marketing Manager; and the Bradford Exchange as Director, Marketing Research & Planning.

Eric received his Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Chartered Financial Consultant designation in 2006 to deepen his understanding of the insurance and financial services industry. His MS/Math and BS/Finance are both from the University of Illinois.

His personal time is spent with his wife and two daughters, scuba diving, and traveling.