RMDMA 2003"Direct
Marketer of the Year"
Cindy Williams
Williams Creative,
Inc.
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.
Married for 24 years to husband Ed, Cindy is the proud mother
of sons Sam, 22, and Scott, 20.
Past RMDMA
"Direct Marketer of the Year"
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
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 has been directing the creation, execution
and tracking of large-scale direct marketing programs for
over 20 years. He has served as vice president of direct marketing
for a large Denver print and mail house, director of sales
& marketing for G. A. Wright Direct Marketing, executive
vice president and publisher of a national magazine, manager
at GTE Directory Company, and owner of The Ariss Group, a
firm which specialized in consulting to magazine and catalog
publishers for both advertising sales and direct marketing
to subscribers.
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.
In addition to being selected as 2000 Direct Marketer of the Yea r, Brent counts among the year's high points the publishing of his literary novel, Noble Chaos. The award-winning book breaks new ground by revealing the tumultuous Vietnam War era from the university perspective.
Past-president of the Colorado Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau, he has also been an active supporter of RMDMA, serving as program committee chair for two years.
Brent and his wife Becky, an IBM senior client representative, live in Denver.
1999 Lora Petcoff
owner of Luna Communications
"I've been nominated before. But I never thought I'd be recognized. I'm
surprised and honored." A few of Lora's comments after receiving co-DMOY 1999 honors.
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.
One day she received a phone call from James Pennington, then president of
the Ronald James agency. "I'm quitting to live on a sailboat," Pennington said,
"and I think you should run my agency." She laughed, but accepted. When Cadmus
bought Ronald James, Petcoff remained as general manager. In 1996 she was
part of the team that won a Gold Echo for a US West mailing package. She
owns her own company now (Luna Communications) and works from home--but admits
she misses the water cooler conversations.
Lora, husband Doug and "Sam," their Border Collie, live in Park Hill.
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1999 Ron Kahan
Ariss Kahan Database Marketing Group
"I had no idea I was even nominated. It's a great honor to be
recognized by your peers." Some of Ron's comments after receiving
co-DMOY 1999 honors.
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.
Ron, wife Jill and son Joseph live in Aurora.
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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.
In December 1998, the Rocky Mountain Direct Marketing Association honored
John as "Direct Marketer of the Year."
John is married to Kathy (for 32 years) and they have two children...Matt
who works as a copywriter and Katey who is a sales representative.
Currently, John is working on Cooperative Database Marketing and E-Commerce.
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1997 Jock Bickert
Looking Glass
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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.
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1995 Jim Braun
Direct Marketing Designs
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1994 Rich Sims
The Product Line
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 1993 Jim Morris
Direct Marketing Designs
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 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.
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1991 Donna Furman
G.A. Wright Direct Marketing, Inc.
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