Past RMDMA "Direct Marketer of the Year" Recipients

2005 Brian Rainey
2004 Karl Friedman
2003 Cindy Williams
2002 David Ariss
2001 George Heinrich
2000 Brent Green
1999 Lora Petcoff
1999 Ron Kahan
1998 John Messner
1997 Jock Bickert
1996 Tim Prunk
1995 Jim Braun
1994 Rich Sims
1993 Jim Morris
1992 Gary Wright
1991 Donna Furman

2005 Brian Rainey
Brian Rainey is CEO of Abacus which is comprised of the what was the former Data Division of DoubleClick. Rainey has been with the orgnazition in many capacities over the past 13 years and has been heavily involved in the initial Abacus IPO, DoubleClick merger, and recent acquisition by Hellman & Friedman.

Previously, Rainey served as Director of Marketing for The Sharper Image, the innovative specialty retailer, where he focused on catalog forecasting, customer file maintenance and modeling, and customer acquisition. During his tenure there, Rainey reduced the customer file duplication rate from 14% to 2%. Rainey also supervised the transition to an in-house file maintenance strategy.

Prior to joining The Sharper Image, Rainey was List Developer Manager at Sara Lee Corporation, where he oversaw the development and execution of customer acquisition plans. Under his guidance, division sales increased from $100 million to $400 million.

Rainey earned a B.S. from the University of Northern Colorado and received his General Management Training certificate from the Columbia Executive Business School.

2004 Karl Friedman

Karl was a principal at NDL, which was one of the first companies to provide targeted marketing using a compiled database. After NDL was bought by Polk, Karl went on to be one of the founders of Abacus Direct.

After Abacus was purchased by DoubleClick, Karl attempted retirement - he traveled, saw the world and spent time with his family. He soon found that his passion for data called him back to the business world.

Karl started NextAction in 2002 and in 2003 the database co-op was launched. Under Karl’s leadership, NextAction combines the right data with advanced statistical methods to produce services which significantly impact mailing campaigns.

Karl has a passion for the out of doors. He’s an avid biker and does at least one 400 mile+ mountain bike ride yearly including Ride the Rockies and Bicycle Tour Colorado. He presently serves on the Board of Directors of Rails to Trails Conservancy, a national non-profit dedicated to converting former railroad lines into hiking/biking trails.

In an effort to remind his employees to balance work with family, has taken employees and their family members on several mountain hut trips. Karl is also a very generous philanthropist, giving back to the community, including the RMDMA, through the Karl and Barb Friedman Family Foundation.

2003 Cindy Williams

With deep-seated Midwestern roots — born in Iowa, raised in Kansas, educated in Illinois — Cindy parlayed her heartland values and God-given writing talents into the classic “corporate-to -Indy” business model.

She cut her teeth in this business more than 20 years ago, writing hard-selling copy to promote the philatelic product lines of Unicover in Cheyenne , WY. Later, she was Copy Chief at National Liberty Corporation in Philadelphia, PA and CareerTrack in Boulder as well as serving as Senior Writer/Creative Director at Heinrich in Denver, CO.

Today, as principal of Williams Creative, Inc., Cindy partners with longtime art director friends and associates who are as dedicated to the discipline of direct marketing as she is. Together, they develop direct mail, e-mail, and print advertising that gets results for local and national accounts. Cindy’s winning track record and her proven expertise in customer acquisition, retention and loyalty programs attracts new clients from both the consumer and b-to-b sectors.

She holds numerous awards including the Gold, Silver and Bronze Summit Awards, the Art Director’s Club Merit Award, the BMA Gold Key Award and the International Echo Award.

A long-standing member of RMDMA, Cindy has been a two-time board member, an early editor of DirectLine, co-chair of the 2003 DM Day and Marketing Chair for DM Day 2004. She is also a 2003-04 board member of the Business Marketing Association, BMA, and served as the editor of BMA Today.

2002 David Ariss
Ariss Kahan Database Marketing Group, Inc.

With primary responsibility for project management and production, Ariss
brings his comprehensive direct marketing experience into play for Ariss
Kahan clients. Capabilities he oversees include copywriting, graphic design, print production, plastic card programs, customized mailer construction, and complete lettershop capabilities. He knows how to keep client costs down by placing projects where they will run most efficiently with the correct vendors.

Ariss is active in civic and professional groups. He is past president of the Rocky Mountain Direct Marketing Association, former board of directors member for the National Society of Fund Raising Executives, a former Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce Ambassador, and a vestry member at St. Gabriel the Archangel Episcopal Church. He also coaches his son's 6th grade Lacrosse team.

2001 George Heinrich

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2000 Brent Green
Brent Green & Associates, Inc. Brent is a copywriter and creative strategist with a reputation for producing award winning, response-generating marketing campaigns.

His work has been recognized with nearly fifty awards. Among his career highlights: Target Marketing magazine selected an educational products catalog for the Best of Direct Marketing. A multi-stage lead generation program for a software company won the Direct Marketing Association's InternationalGold ECHO award. A marketing campaign for a trade association won Best-of-Class for multimedia and a Gold Key Award from the Business Marketing Association.

1999 Lora Petcoff

Oowner of Luna Communications Lora Petcoff worked in a variety of direct marketing disciplines, from database marketing to direct response advertising. Clients included Spiegel, Fingerhut, Land's End, TCI, Primestar by TCI, the Denver Post, Norwest Bank, Public Service Company of Colorado and Keystone Resort. As part of the original group at Abacus Direct she helped the company grow 38 percent in one year as it revolutionized the management of catalog lists. In 1996 she was part of the team that won a Gold Echo for a US West mailing package. She owned her own company, Luna Communications, and finished her career at the National Cancer Society.

1999 Ron Kahan
Ariss Kahan Database Marketing Group Ron Kahan started as a telemarketing sales rep for DialAmerica Marketing at age 18. He won so many national sales conversion awards he was promoted to Call Room Supervisor within two years. Moving up through DialAmerica's hierarchy, he became branch manager of the company's important North Jersey Call Center, then Corporate Marketing Information Manager in 1989. All this and the guy was just five years out of high school.

When an AE job opened up in 1990 at US West's Colorado Data Products Group, Kahan applied for and won the position. As a National Account Executive he sold US West list products to Montgomery Ward, Sears, J. Crew, Fingerhut and Spiegel, among others. Shifting to the company's new Products Group, Kahan helped develop the first database marketing software and service for small and medium-sized business ("Sales Edge"). More successes followed including his work on "Your Value Card," an electronic coupon product that let retailers offer frequency and monetary-based discounts. In 1994 he won the prestigious "Dolphin Award" for best major innovative contribution. The drive to start his own business triumphed in 1995, when he formed RKC Database Marketing Resources, a consulting firm that focused on the building of sales and marketing databases. Soon after he formed an alliance with David Ariss. Their companies merged in 1998.

1998 John Messner
Direct Marketing Consulting Group, Ltd. Growing up in a Military (Army) family gave John lots of experience at an early age to traveling throughout the US and abroad. Once eighteen, he made the decision to attend the University of Missouri in Columbia. After four years of college, John worked for Illinois Central Industries in Chicago as a Marketing/Product Manager in the Farm and Food Products division. After five years in the Windy City, John decided to go back to school for an MBA. After graduation, John worked for Hallmark Cards in Kansas City for two years as a product manager. During this tenure he gained the printing knowledge that helped launch his direct marketing career.

In 1978, Unicover of Cheyenne, a direct marketer of stamps, first day covers and other collectibles hired John to run continuity programs and take charge of new product development. John launched a collector plate business and created many successful space and DM campaigns. He also got his first exposure to international travel on a product development trip to Russia and the UK in 1979.

In 1980, John moved to Boulder to become an account executive for Wiland Services (now Centrobe Database Marketing). John soon was promoted to General Manager and eventually to Vice President of Regional Operations. During his tenure at Wiland, John directed the building of a ten million dollar business which was sold to NeoData in 1992.

In 1986, John began commuting to California to head up Sales, Marketing and Operations for a Wiland competitor, PSA Direct. He held this position for two years. Finally, getting tired of commuting, John returned to Boulder in 1988 to take a job with CareerTrack Seminars as VP of Marketing. While at CareerTrack, John directed the building of one of the first prospect databases in the industry. He also directed the rollout of CareerTrack's business overseas. While working in Europe, John became interested international business development. This interest in international business blossomed into a consulting business that started in 1989 and moved to Holland in 1990.

Since 1989, John has worked on direct marketing projects in over twenty countries, including: Holland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, South Africa, Chile, Argentina, Poland, The Czech Republic, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Belgium, Canada and Russia...and yes, the US too! John has worked on projects ranging from selling "gadgets" off the page to marketing seminars to selling genealogy and heraldry books...and many things in between. The common thread has been Database marketing, fulfillment, new product development and new product launches...and now E-Commerce.

1997 Jock Bickert

1996 Tim Prunk
ChoicePoint Direct Tim Prunk is COO of ChoicePoint Direct, the 4th largest integrated database marketing company in the world. He is responsible for company growth via leading edge technology, data, business processes and individual/team performance.

Previously, Prunk was president/CEO for National Demographics and Lifestyles, a $50 million multi-national database marketing firm. Prior to NDL, Prunk founded and was the president of Infobase, the preeminent source of file enhancement in the U.S.

Prunk is past-president of the RMDMA, was the RMDMA 1996 Direct Marketer of the Year and DAF Advertising Professional of the Year in 1998. He is a trustee of the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, and member of its Executive Committee.

1995 Jim Braun
Direct Marketing Designs

1994 Rich Sims
The Product Line

1993 Jim Morris
Direct Marketing Designs

1992 Gary Wright
G.A. Wright Direct Marketing, Inc. Gary Wright, president of G.A. Wright Marketing, Inc., was honored as the RMDMA Direct Marketer of the year in 1992. Since 1981, his company has provided services to clients in 50 states and 7 countries. Wright's success comes from the development of a marketing management system that times, targets, tests, and tracks marketing programs, providing for the evolution of these programs over time. As test results are compiled, elements of the programs are refined, resulting in ever-improving results for clients. G.A. Wright provides full service direct marketing service to a wide variety of business-to-business and business-to-consumer companies.

1991 Donna Furman