Internal DMA Memo Offers Insight Into DMA Directions

A letter sent to DMA staff and board members praised interim president and CEO Bob Allen’s interpersonal skills, offered details regarding the organization’s search for a full-time president and CEO and announced the formation of the DMA Evolution Task Force, a group charged with setting the DMA’s priorities.

The letter, which was authored by DMA board chair Eugene R. Raitt, said the search process will be led by former DMA chairman Kelly Browning, and according to Raitt “will be conducted like no other search we have done.

“In addition to a search firm, we will be making extensive use of social media and other non-traditional outlets to invite participation in the process,” Raitt added that he expects the process to last between three and six months.

Raitt lauded interim CEO and president Bob Allen’s technical and management experience and skills. He also noted Allen’s “interpersonal skills make an excellent fit for guiding us all through this transitional period with stability, commitment to excellence, and the kind of insight that can only come through having "lived" through similar circumstances in the past”.

Allen accepted the interim CEO and president position after former CEO and president John A. Greco left the organization in mid-January with nearly six months left on his contract.

Raitt’s letter also revealed the creation of The DMA Evolution Task Force, a board-level undertaking which features executive committee and board members “playing key roles in thought leadership and guidance.”

“In order to not just survive, but rather to thrive, it is necessary for us to evolve our association into a body that is not just perceived to be the "go to" organization for all things direct, but that actually IS the "go to" place,” Raitt wrote.

“Additionally, we have organized this task force around all the DMA Centers of Excellence [COE], and along the way we created an additional COE called ‘community’”, Raitt continued. “To support the actual implementation of whatever work needs to be undertaken we are enlisting members of the various sub-committees of iDirect, a committee that preceded this effort and conceptualized the needs to be addressed for implementation.”

Adjunct DMA board member Suresh Mathai, CEO of Continuum Global, will take the project manager role, assisted by two co-chairs from the DMA board: Matt Blumberg and Brian Wolfe. Mathai will report to Allen, while Blumberg and Wolfe will report to Raitt.

Separately Allen, in an open letter to DMA members issued Friday, discussed The Vermont Country Store’s transition from traditional to digital media. Allen was with The Vermont Country Store for 25 years, ultimately serving as its president and CEO. In his letter, Allen stressed the idea of large and small companies exchanging competencies.

“As companies grow they often forget many of the lessons learned along the way,” Allen wrote. “They forget that creativity and entrepreneurship were the driving forces when money was tight and profits were thin. Small companies still have much to learn. They also have something to teach. Large companies can tap into the energy, enthusiasm and ideas that are still launching direct marketing businesses every day. I have begun to call this idea "360 degree corporate mentoring."

Allen added that while he is not a candidate for the DMA’s permanent leadership position, he hopes to reinvestigate corporate mentorship during the next few months. He also invited the DM community to contact him at ballen@the-dma.org.