Speakers

Jerry Cerasale, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs

In his role at DMA, Jerry Cerasale represents the multichannel marketing community’s policymaking interests on Capitol Hill and before key federal agencies, including the US Postal Service (USPS) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Mr. Cerasale began his legal and government relations career in the USPS’s legal department. He served for 12 years at the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) in a number of advisory roles, including seven years as legal advisor to PRC Chairman Janet Steiger. He then became attorney/advisor to FTC Chairman Janet Steiger. Immediately before joining DMA in 1995, Cerasale was deputy general counsel for the US House of Representatives Committee on Post Office and Civil Service.

Currently, Cerasale is secretary/treasurer of The Mailers Council’s Board of Directors. He has also been a member of FTC’s Advisory Committee on Online Access, and vice chairman of the Postal Matters Subsection of the Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section of the American Bar Association.

Rachel Nyswander Thomas, Vice President, Government Affairs

Rachel Nyswander Thomas is vice president of government affairs for the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). In this role, Thomas represents the multichannel marketing community’s policymaking interests on Capitol Hill and before key federal agencies.

Thomas came to DMA from The McGraw-Hill Companies, where she served most recently as manager for privacy and government affairs. In that role, she advocated the corporation’s agenda before federal policymakers on issues relating to privacy, data security, behavioral advertising, environmental and “do not promote” legislation. She also held chief responsibility for business compliance with the corporation’s customer privacy policy, auditing worldwide operations and providing regulatory compliance consultation to a global corps of privacy officials. In previous roles at McGraw-Hill, Thomas managed the corporation's global gender equity initiative and its multiple mentoring programs, serving as an internal consultant to a grass-roots infrastructure of regional networks on four continents.

Prior to joining McGraw-Hill, Thomas served as director of programs and projects for the Women Faculty Forum (WFF) at Yale University, developing and expanding programs to promote gender equity and conducting policy research to advance WFF advocacy on issues of mentoring, diversity, faculty development and family-friendly workplace policies.

Thomas holds a BA degree in Humanities from Yale University. She earned her Certified International Privacy Professional (CIPP) certification from the International Association of Privacy Professionals in 2008.

Neil O’Keefe, Vice President, Catalog and Multichannel Merchant Segment

Neil C. O’Keefe acts as the liaison between all DMA functions and capabilities, and its catalog and multichannel merchant segment.

He brings to DMA an extensive background in Internet marketing, catalog circulation, and database marketing, helping to provide the catalog and multichannel merchant segment’s membership with more relevant, focused, and timely access to DMA and its core assets in advocacy, self-regulation, education, research, and networking opportunities.