Volunteer of the Month
Volunteers of the Month - Jessica Lima and Christie Melzer!
May 2008
 Jessica Lima (left) and Christie Melzer (right), communications manager and marketing coordinator, respectively, of Best Upon Request, serve on the Special Events Committee. Starting with the AMA Golf Classic last
August, the two have contributed their time to planning and volunteering at AMA events. Christie and Jessica are currently working on the Marketer of the Year Awards Reception (mark your calendar for Thursday, May 15!).
At Best Upon Request, a national provider of on-site concierge services as an employee benefit, Christie coordinates marketing initiatives and generates leads for the business development team. Jessica manages the communications department, including customer communications and external affairs. The two of them enjoy participating in the committee and attending AMA's valuable luncheons and seminars.
Former Recipients
April, 2008 - Carol Shea
 Congratulations to member Carol Shea of Olivetree Research. Carol has been named Cincinnati AMA Volunteer of the month and the American Marketing Association Volunteer of the Year!
Carol was recognized for her continued commitment to AMA nationally and at the local level. Carol was Cincinnati Chapter President in 1992-93 and later was instrumental in helping to establish AMA's national market research bootcamp. Carol has also been a very engaged part of the local chapter's Past President's Council in advising the current board regarding ongoing issues.
As part of this honor, Carol will be presented the award at the National Leadership Summit Saturday, April 26th and will receive a lifetime complimentary membership. Carol beat out more than 30 nominees from around the country. Please pass on your well wishes. She is extremely deserving of this honor.
March, 2008 - Rob Bunting
 With a passion for Internet marketing and over nine years of Internet industry experience, Rob Bunting has earned a reputation as the "I-marketing Czar" - one of the most knowledgeable Internet marketers
in the Cincinnati area. He also runs the Cincinnati I-marketing Group, an informal networking group focused on Internet marketing that meets quarterly and has a group blog at http://cincyimg.typepad.com.
While earning his MBA from the University of South Florida in 1998, Rob entered the Internet marketing industry managing the multi-million dollar online advertising program at Bid.com, an online auction site that earned a NASDAQ listing during his tenure. In 2000, Rob moved to Cincinnati and became an Internet marketing manager at PlanetFeedback.com (now a division of Nielsen BuzzMetrics), the largest consumer feedback service on the Internet, where he managed PlanetFeedback's search engine marketing, banner advertising and affiliate programs.
Since working at PlanetFeedback, Rob has managed client online marketing programs for two Cincinnati website development firms: ViewSource Media, which handles primarily manufacturing and non-profit clients, and DMinSite, which specializes in designing and marketing e-commerce websites in the catalog industry. Since 2004 Rob has expanded his consulting business, the Cincinnati I-marketing Group, into a full-service Internet marketing agency serving firms looking to generate more sales or sales leads from their websites but not large enough to take on a full-time Internet marketing manager.
Rob is a co-facilitator of the Word of Mouth Shared Interest Group (SIG) and serves on the Technology committee.
February, 2008 - J.C. Reaguer
 J. C. Reaguer of SpringDot currently serves on the Ambassadors Team, which is part of the Membership Committee. In this role, J. C. is focused on encouraging and developing networking opportunities for AMA members while attending the various functions. “What a great job, meeting and getting to know other marketing professionals”.
Still fairly new to the AMA (since April 2007), J. C. quickly joined a SIG and volunteered for the Membership Committee. However, his lasting reputation will be as “the guy with the air horn.”
A 29 year veteran in the print industry, J. C. has been with SpringDot for one year. SpringDot is a brand new, 104 year old company located on the west side of downtown Cincinnati. Formerly Sidney Printing, SpringDot’s core competency in commercial printing has expanded to include digital offset printing, fulfillment, and E-business solutions to drive variable and customized printing. J. C.’s role with the company is to develop customized programs for clients in order to effectively deliver their marketing messages.
January, 2008 - Pete Healy
 Pete Healy has developed and led brand-marketing programs noted internationally for their innovation and dynamic engagement with consumers. At Perfetti Van Melle USA, maker and distributor of Mentos® mints and AirHeads® candies, Pete guided his marketing team in building strategies that used an integrated mix of media and promotions to create a new generation of Mentos and AirHeads fans. This paid off in the “Mentos Geyser craze” that marked popular culture and media in the U.S. and globally in 2006, and in the online “Mentos Intern” that garnered international kudos for the brand in the summer of 2007.
Pete joined Perfetti Van Melle after 16 years at Jelly Belly Candy Company, where his responsibilities grew from management of the famous candy manufacturer’s International Sales division to his last position as VP of Marketing. Pete built an in-house marketing team for Jelly Belly that developed and brought to market new advertising and promotional campaigns, new packaging and merchandising programs, and several major product launches, including JBz® chocolate candies and Sport Beans®.
Prior to joining Jelly Belly, Pete was a partner at Trade Pacific International in San Leandro, California, where he advised American producers of food and agricultural products on entering and building their brands and business in international markets.
Pete serves on the AMA Volunteer and the Professional Development Committees, and frequently attends the various SIG meetings. He is the Director of Crowbar Marketing, specializing in integrated marketing and strategic brand development.
November, 2007 - Ben Baker
 Ben Baker serves on the YP committee and has been responsible for orchestrating many Young Professionals events including event ideas, event planning, event marketing, and more. Ben also serves on the Sponsorship Committee as well as the Technology Committee. His company, Profitability.Net allows the YP group to utilize SendIt, one of the many services that Profitability.Net has to offer.
Formed in 2002, Profitability.Net is a local technology firm of experienced professionals specializing in shared hosting, email management, collocation, and data center services. The Cincinnati AMA would like to thank Profitability.Net for hosting our website cincinnatiama.org.
October, 2007 - Gayle Gerhardt
 Gayle is an independent consultant and President of Gerhardt Marketing Research, a firm specializing in quantitative research, questionnaire design and report writing. After beginning her career on the supplier side of marketing research, she moved to the corporate side, working in soft drinks, supermarkets and financial services. Four years ago she returned to the supplier side.
Three years ago, Gayle followed her passion of knowledge transfer and began teaching. Currently, she is a Faculty Practitioner for The University of Phoenix teaching marketing, public relations and critical thinking. She teaches at the West Chester, OH campus and online.
Gayle first became actively involved in the Cincinnati AMA as a Marketing Communications Committee (MCC) member in 2000. In the spring of 2001, Gayle conducted the Chapter’s Year-End Annual Member Survey, incorporating questions that the MCC wanted to ask the membership.
Seeing the need for a more formalized marketing research function within the Chapter, Gayle volunteered to chair the committee and became the first Vice President of Marketing Research (MR) for the 2001-2002 fiscal year. That winter, Gayle and the committee initiated and directed a series of focus groups among Chapter members in order to lay the ground work for understanding member expectations, wants and needs. During that time, Gayle and the MR Committee revised the monthly luncheon/seminar survey. That questionnaire, which is still used today, tracks satisfaction with our programming.
Gayle has been a contributing member and historian of the MR Committee ever since it’s beginning. We appreciate Gayle’s taking on additional responsibilities in our new season and her continuing dedication to the AMA!
September, 2007 - Ann Flynn
 Ann co-founded Beyond Data, Inc. in 1996 as a full-service research & strategic planning firm, specializing in custom strategic and product-focused studies. We provide business-to-business and consumer research and we are a Certified Women-Owned Business. Our projects tend to be built around decisions to be made, with our goal to help manage the risk of moving forward.
Ann has served on the membership committee since 2000 as well as serving as VP Membership two different terms. We appreciate Ann’s continuing dedication to the AMA.
August, 2007 - Tom Sullivan
 Tom is President of Thomas J. Sullivan & Associates, a marketing consulting firm. Prior to forming TJS&A, he was President of Porter & Associates, a Des Moines, Iowa advertising agency. Previously he held executive management positions with Ketchum Communications in Pittsburgh and Chicago, and marketing management positions with Litton Industries, Tappan Appliances and Chrysler Corporation. A graduate of the University of Dayton, he also has Continuous Quality Improvement Facilitator certification from the Center for Continuous Quality Improvement at Iowa State University, with continuing education including Executive Programs at Northwestern University and Harbridge House Business Management Program.
Tom served as President of the Cincinnati Chapter of the AMA for two years (2004-2006). He also served as VP Professional Development in 2003. We would like to thank him for his leadership and dedication to the AMA.
July, 2007 - Matt Massey
 Matt has served on the board as the Chair of the Market Research Committee for the past two years. The committee's most recent accomplishment was the launch of an MR SIG for the chapter.
Matt currently works for TNS NFO, a large full-service market research firm in downtown Cincinnati. He is an analyst for the laundry and fabric-enhancers division.
When Matt is not researching, he enjoys playing tennis and volunteering.
June, 2007 - Maureen O'Brien
 Maureen O’Brien, Ph.D. is Vice President of Analytical for SRBI's Market Insight Division and has been with SRBI for 3 years. She is an established research professional with 15 years of research expertise. She has conducted and managed research in restaurants and retail, technology, health care, consumer packaged goods, retail and financial services. Maureen holds a Ph.D. in Applied Social Psychology from Loyola University-Chicago.
Over the past year, Maureen has served on the AMA-Cincinnati Chapter Board of Director's as the VP of Professional Development. She and her hard working committee did an outstanding job getting top-notch speakers for our 2006-07 program year bringing in some of our highest attendance at meetings in recent years. We would like to thank her for her service to our chapter this past year.
May, 2007 - Stacy Stufft
 As the Consumer Practice Group lead for Dan Pinger Public Relations, Stacy manages the agency's work for consumer product and service clients. Representing national brand leaders in the retail, hospitality and entertainment and building products industries. Stacy's strategic direction helps strengthen brand equity and bring new products and services to market. Stacy is a member of the Public Relations Soceity of America, was recently chair of holiday events for the City of Madeira Parks and Recreation Board and also served on the promotions committee for the YWCA Career Women of Achievement award.
Stacy has been an AMA member for 5 years and currently volunteers on the AMA's Marketing Communications Committee. She has been involved with the Marcom Committee for the last 3 years, serving as the Committee Chairperson in 2004-05. She has assisted the Committee in developing a variety of marketing materials for the membership and sponsorship committees and has also helped with the public relations for our monthly luncheons. Stacy is a great volunteer who always attends the luncheons and special events as well as volunteers for many other committee projects. We greatly appreciate all Stacy has done for the AMA.
April, 2007 - Pat Frew
 Pat Frew has dedicated a great deal of time to our Chapter by serving both on committees and on the Board in various positions (VP Professional Development, President Elect, and next year President). The chapter is very lucky to have Pat as he expends an enormous amount of time and enthusiasm helping AMA committees on an ad-hoc basis and this year has spear-headed the development of a CMO Roundtable advisory group for the chapter. In addition to all of these activities, Pat has a soft heart for unemployed members who he meets with regularly assisting them with networking, job referrals, etc…
Pat has had a long career in PR and Marketing. He began his career as a broadcast news journalist for WLW nearly 20 years ago. Since then he has served as a public relations consultant, marketing director for Northwestern Mutual Life and leading law firm Frost Brown Todd and has even served in a fund-raising capacity for CET Public Television. He is very involved in the Northern Kentucky business community serving as a member of the Chamber of Commerce Public Relations Committee and Chairing the Southbank Partners Marketing Committee. He is also an alumni of the Leadership Northern Kentucky program.
Pat currently works for the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau as Communications Director where he helps to promote and advance the merits of visiting Northern Kentucky, whether you are a conventioneer or a leisure traveler.
March, 2007 - Jesy Herron
In addition to helping her DocuStar customers and making prospect calls for AMA, Jesy has discovered a new activity – race car driving!
Jesy is a contestant on Reality Racing Rookie Challenge Season 1, scheduled to air on Spike TV this May through August. She is one of 15 contestants competing and learning how to drive a race car (see www.realityracingtv.com). Tune in this summer to watch Jesy behind the wheel.
AMA members may have met Jesy through her enthusiastic efforts on the membership committee. She frequently helps at the luncheon registration table and most recently at the YP event at Know Theatre. Jesy also eagerly offers to make follow up calls to prospects after they have attended an AMA event.
Jesy Herron is a sales representative for DocuStar Digital Printing and Communications Company located in Woodlawn. She has been serving DocuStar clients for almost five years. Through consultation and creativity, Jesy helps her clients find a solution that fits their needs.
Cincinnati AMA is fortunate to have active, enthusiastic volunteers such as Jesy!
February, 2007 - Jennifer Panepinto
Jennifer Panepinto is the Principal and Owner of Market Write – The THINK in the INK. Through extensive and enthusiastic analysis, she creates clever marketing communications and messaging that complement each client’s situation and objectives. Jennifer is also an experienced market researcher, performing both qualitative and quantitative research studies.
Jennifer serves on the AMA’s Cincinnati Chapter Marketing Communication Committee and was the champion of the website subcommittee. She was responsible for coordinating the development and copywriting of the new AMA website which was just recently launched in January. In addition to serving on the Marcom Committee, she also lent her expertise and knowledge as a panel speaker at the Small Business Marketing Seminar in April 2006. Jennifer is a great volunteer who always attends the luncheons and special events as well as volunteers for many other committee projects. We greatly appreciate all Jennifer has done for the AMA.
January, 2007 - Scott Jacobs
Scott Jacobs, Marketing Strategist, is the Founder of Harvest Consulting LLC. He has over 25 years success in sales, management, branding and marketing and has provided competitive analysis, direct marketing, positioning, logo development, copy/promotional strategies, and strategic marketing plan development for clients including P & G, Luxottica Retail, Kendle International, Cognis Corporation, Cincinnati Zoo, and AraMark Services. Scott provides probono marketing services for Beech Acres Parenting Center and has cofounded a networking group to help colleagues make connections for new employment and potential business opportunities. Scott enjoys camping with his two sons.
Scott has been a great asset to the program committee. He secured all the speakers and presentations for the November Word-of-Mouth luncheon that was one of our highest attended meetings in recent history with over 180 people in attendance. Scott was solely responsible for getting about 30 people to attend the event through his own word-of-mouth efforts. Scott will be missed on the program committee as he has recently been elected to fill the VP Sponsorship position. We are sure that his commitment and leadership skills will flourish as he serves on the Board in the coming year.
November, 2006 — Maria Pearson
Maria Pearson has recently joined On Location as an Account Executive. Maria brings over 10 years experience with Fortune 500 companies in creative video production, editing, multimedia design, programming, corporate event marketing and national sales meetings. Maria also has experience working with clients in the latest interactive training formats. Her ability to provide excellent customer service to her clients has contributed to Maria’s overwhelming success.
Maria is a 1990 graduate of Ohio University’s Telecommunications Department. She began her career in the newsroom of a local TV station and transitioned into the visual production business in 1995.
Maria’s volunteerism with the AMA has resulted in sponsors and donations for door prizes for all of our Special Events. She is a terrific sales person. While many of us dread the prospecting process, Maria treats the experience of cold-calling members for these purposes as a reason to network and make more contacts.
Maria has been a volunteer for over 6 years with the Special Events committee, as well as serving on the board in the past as VP Special Events. She is always willing to lend a hand to make our Special Events, truly special.
October, 2006 — Joe Obermeyer
 Joe Obermeyer first joined the AMA 25 years ago and has served on the Membership Committee since 2001. He began his career as a graphic designer with one of Cincinnati’s largest ad agencies at the time, Stockton-West-Burkhart. Moving to Intermedia, he quickly moved up through the creative ranks to become Group Creative Head before being offered a promotion to Account Executive on the agency’s largest account. After several years earning his way in the client services world, he was recruited to Sr. Account Supervisor at WBK, an up-and-coming sales promotion agency. Within his first year, he was offered full partnership as VP of Client Services and a position on the board. He left WBK after having helped build that agency into the single fastest growing agency in Cincinnati’s history. He’s currently Director of Sales & Marketing with DesignCrew. In addition to the AMA, Joe chairs the Marketing Committee of the NKY Chamber of Commerce and was heavily involved in the Chamber’s complete re-branding this year.
Joe has been a valuable, dependable member of the Membership Committee for several years. He offers insight, creativity and attention to detail to the group. Joe is dedicated to helping us grow our membership, which is evident in his ongoing effort to contact members about renewing their AMA membership. Congratulations Joe!"
September, 2006 — Erin Lutes
 Erin Lutes is the Marketing Manager at the Cincinnati USA Convention and Visitors Bureau which is the chief sales and marketing organization for bringing meetings and conventions to Cincinnati. Erin joined the Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau in September 2000 after two years at the Greater Columbus CVB.
Erin has a great thoughtful, can-do attitude. She "adds to" the ideas and resource needs in the planning stages of our work on the sponsorship committee. And she volunteers and accepts the challenges in the execution phase of our tasks. Best of all, she follows through on everything she commits to. Plus Erin has a great sense of humor.
May, 2006 — Marcy Murphy
 Marcy has been a very active volunteer on the Special Events committee and a long-term volunteer with the AMA in various roles. She consistently attends meetings, offers great insight, and follows through on tasks to help ensure our events are a success. She is a tremendous asset to our team!
Marcy is the SW Ohio Account Executive for Media Networks, Inc. (MNI). MNI is a division of Time, Inc. specializing in geo-targeting, giving marketers the opportunity to advertise in national magazines in precisely the markets needing to be reached. MNI works with companies of all sizes, from national companies looking to heavy up in specific geographies or run media testing before going to national to mid-size companies with limited distribution and local companies focusing on a single market.
April, 2006 — Vanessa Freytag
 Vanessa has been participating on the professional development committee this year. Vanessa thinks non-conventionally and displays a creative flair in her thinking that distinguishes her from others in the marketing profession. She has been an indispensible resource to the committee as evidenced by her work in organizing a Marketing 101 seminar for small business owners.
Vanessa is co-publisher of Women’s Business Cincinnati, a monthly business newspaper focusing on Tri-state businesswomen and winner of the 2006 SBA Small Business Journalist of the Year in the Midwest. She is also is President of W-Insight, providing Fortune 1000 companies with marketing and sales training insights to increase their women’s market share.
March, 2006 — Jack Finke
 New to the Membership Committee this year, Jack Finke of Panoptic Media deserves kudos for his outstanding volunteer efforts. He has attended every event and is a great voice for the chapter both during events and in his everyday business contacts. He provides fresh ideas and enthusiasm to all of our challenges. Thank you Jack!
Jack Finke is the Director of Sales and Marketing for Panoptic Media. Panoptic Media is a video production Company that specializes in Corporate Communications Video. Content includes uses for Corporate Overviews, Interactive CD-ROM, video for Trade Show and Digital Signage displays and web-site streaming. Jack joined Panoptic Media in January 2005 after a six year career with Pomeroy IT Solutions as Director of A/V, Video Conferencing and IP Video Surveillance product sales.
February, 2006 — Kelly Blake
 Kelly has been a contributing, active member of the Marketing/ Communications & Public Relations committee for two years. The project that she has impacted the most is the overall updating of Cincinnati AMA marketing materials, beginning with the membership folder that is sent out to prospective members. Kelly not only coordinated efforts with her company for the design work, but also was able to secure a print sponsor for the folder. This project has been followed by the chapter newsletter (print and e-mail), letterhead, envelopes, membership directory cover, flier template, and our current project, the chapter Web site. Kelly, working with Intrinzic’s time as it was available, has helped to elevate the chapter’s look to that of a group of premier marketers. In addition to her helpful coordination of these projects, Kelly also volunteers for project areas that the committee is regularly responsible for, such as luncheon publicity and luncheon photography. Kelly’s day job is Director of Marketing Services at Intrinzic Marketing & Design, Inc.
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