Gary Giesler

1969: Avvy Katz founds the Anthony Richards women’s apparel catalog. 1995: After acquiring beauty products catalog Beauty Boutique and jewelry catalog Windsor Collection in the intervening years, Katz starts health products catalog Healthy Living. 1998: Katz and Gary Giesler, former executive vice president at Crosstown Traders (then known as Arizona Mail Order), co-launch a discount membership buying club for Katz’s customers. The club offers discounts on merchandise, hotels and services for an annual fee. On April 1, Giesler and his partners purchase Katz’s company, then known as TransAmerica Holdings. Several days later, a fire in a warehouse destroys most of the company’s apparel merchandise.

In the late fall of 2005, AmeriMark Direct implemented an interactive voice response (IVR) system to reduce the number of routine service inquiries that reached its customer service reps (CSRs). With just 37 percent of its incoming orders coming in via telephone, AmeriMark’s CSRs weren’t having any difficulty meeting customers’ needs. However, about two years ago, former Experian Chairman Tom Newkirk, an acquaintance of AmeriMark President Gary Giesler, recommended that AmeriMark check out Verascape’s IVR solution as a way to enhance the customer experience. After spending a year considering how the service could help AmeriMark, Giesler and his team decided to test the product.

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