Goodbye, Mr. Greco
You have to give John A. Greco Jr. credit for making it to 2010 as president/CEO of the Direct Marketing Association. Thanks to the nasty fight for DMA proxy votes just before the group’s annual board meeting on Oct. 18, I thought Greco would be a goner after the Annual Conference that week.
The e-mail campaign that dissident board member Gerry Pike waged last fall to get himself back on the DMA board inspired a lot of industry folks to voice their displeasure at Greco’s reign and the general state of the DMA. (Check out Amy Africa’s blog posts on the topic—and some of the comments they generated.)
Pike did get his votes—and got back on the DMA board, along with two new members and three new nonvoting member representatives. Change was promised, naturally, but all the hoopla petered out without much hope for real reform at the DMA.
Until now. New leadership is always a sign of serious change to come. Let’s just hope they’re good changes.
For instance, I don’t know what the DMA plans to pay its next president, but hopefully it understands how disgusted members were with Greco’s sizable compensation (more than $800,000, according to the most recent tax filings).
Other criticisms were that Greco wasn’t too accessible to members and that he didn’t seem to have catalogers’ best interests in mind. The upstart American Catalog Mailers Association certainly wouldn’t have the momentum it’s generated in just three years if catalogers thought DMA had their backs.
One more thing: Greco didn’t seem to care much for reporters. At my first press conference with him—during the 2005 Annual DMA show in Atlanta—he got a little testy with my colleague Ken Magill over questions that were not at all out of line. (Yeah, journalists remember these things.)
So we’ll just have to see what happens at DMA next. New board chair Eugene Raitt has said DMA needs to better emphasize the digital channels. That may be true, but the association also needs to pay more attention to the catalog contingent if it expects them to join or remain members.
January 21st, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Melissa,
I don’t usually respond to these articles….but I had to compliment you on this one! Well said.
Regards-
Joy
January 21st, 2010 at 4:55 pm
They have also lost focus and engagement with the large and growing B2B community. At least they are talking about catalogues but not a peep about B2B. Other associations and conferernces are benefiting from this miss.
John Coe
January 21st, 2010 at 5:07 pm
Great editorial Melissa! It’s ironic that electronic media ended up being Greco’s downfall, isn’t it?
January 21st, 2010 at 5:28 pm
The DMA shouldn’t have had the ACMA become a competitor if they were doing their best at representing catalog mailing interests. Unfortunately, individuals and businesses “make critical fork in the road” decisions which in the leadership’s minds are not reversible. Trying to build on “digital channels” when that’s not a strength may be a disaster too.
January 21st, 2010 at 5:45 pm
Hi Melissa,
Your editorial was very effective. Too bad that we can’t say the same about Greco.
Well done!
George
January 21st, 2010 at 7:54 pm
The very reason the ACMA exists is the lack of DMA responsiveness to catalogers—the very people that really got the DMA going. John’s leaving will hopefully signal a better future for all the constituencies that make up the DMA.
And hopefully on a more cost effective basis!
Mike Muoio