The Direct Marketing Educational Foundation Awards presented on October 17 during the Direct Marketing Association‘s annual conference in San Diego honored four industry executives for their leadership and vision in guiding future direct marketers.
Beth Smith, co-owner of Smith Browning Direct won the Edward N. Mayer Education Leadership Award; Goodman & Co. nabbed the Corporate Leadership Award; Jerry Shereshewsky, CEO of Grandparents.com won the Vision Award; and Jack Schibrowsky, Professor at University of Nevada won the Robert B. Clarke Outstanding Educator Award.
Awarding this worthy bunch is laudable. It is meaningful for the industry to recognize its own bright stars, especially those intent on indoctrinating the next generation of direct marketers. Perhaps even more importantly, many individuals and companies dug into their pockets to support the DMEF this weekend. The Program and Scholarship Auction that was held at the event raised more $175,000. “This exceeded our goal for the evening and exceeded my expectations in light of this economy,” Jeanne K. Murphy, Director of Development at DMEF, told DMNews.
Challenge donations were also made, including KnowledgeBase Marketing, which said it would donate $5,000 if Merkle donated $5,000. Merkle graciously accepted the challenge. Top donors were Acxiom with $25,000, and Experian with $20,000 for research in the field of customer engagement.
