DMA Taps Direct Marketing Vet as New CEO
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA), the leading global trade association of businesses and nonprofit multichannel marketers, today announced it has appointed Lawrence M. Kimmel as its new CEO. Kimmel is the former chairman and CEO of Grey Direct Global Network, a leading direct and digital agency, where he was responsible for up to 49 offices in 42 countries. He will begin on Monday, August 2, and be based in the DMA’s New York City headquarters.
The search for a new CEO is believed to have been the most extensive in the DMA’s 93-year history. Conducted over a six-month period, Kimmel emerged as the overwhelming choice of the DMA’s Board of Directors.
“DMA is enormously pleased that Larry Kimmel has agreed to serve as our next CEO,” said DMA Board Chairman Steven Dapper in a company press release. “Larry brought Grey Direct record-breaking results virtually every year he led the firm, successfully serving many of the world’s leading companies. He will bring to DMA an extraordinary depth of global experience, a strong management capability and powerful insights into the evolving and exhilarating direct and digital marketplaces. We look forward to his leadership and strategic guidance to our staff, the board and our vast membership.
“DMA represents companies from dozens of vertical industries in the U.S. and 48 other nations, including nearly half of the Fortune 100 companies, as well as nonprofit organizations,” continued Dapper. “We're especially fortunate to have Larry on board as we prepare for the Association’s annual conference & exhibition, DMA2010 Conference & Exhibition, to be held October 9-14 in San Francisco.”
“This is an exciting time to be in marketing, yet it is also a period that demands far more innovation, collaboration and education,” Kimmel said. “As such, it will be rewarding to ensure that DMA members get every competitive advantage, and that the broader marketing community and consumers are well served by the critical activities of DMA’s Government Affairs group in Washington, D.C.
“Now that virtually all of marketing has become or is becoming ‘direct,’ it will also be exhilarating to work with the countless thought leaders at DMA as we help lead the way for the next generation of even more effective, efficient marketing methodologies,” Kimmel added. “I consider myself extremely fortunate to be taking the helm of DMA at this exact time in its history.”
Before becoming chairman and CEO of Grey Direct in 2000, Kimmel served as the president of the agency’s flagship office. Prior to his time at Grey, Kimmel spent seven years in senior management at Draft Worldwide. Kimmel was also the founder and president of Unimark, a direct marketing, promotion and advertising agency that created hundreds of successful initiatives for small and medium-sized businesses. In the past year, Kimmel started a business with his wife, Dr. Tara Allmen, a leading expert in menopausal medicine. Kimmel is a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C.
