Dr. V. Kumar is the recipient of the the 2010 DMEF Robert B. Clarke Outstanding Educator Award.

Dr. V Kumar, or VK as he is more popularly known in the academic and professional circles, is the Richard and Susan Lenny Distinguished Chair Professor in Marketing, the Executive Director of the Center for Excellence in Brand and Customer Management, and the Director of the PhD. Program in Marketing at the J. Mack Robinson School of Business, Georgia State University.

Dr. V Kumar's pioneering research on Customer Loyalty and Customer Lifetime Value has received attention worldwide. His research has been widely published in premier journals such as Journal of Marketing, Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, and Operations Research to name a few. He was recently ranked as one of the top five scholars in marketing worldwide. VK also serves as a consultant for leading Fortune 500 corporations.

Direct Marketing Educational Foundation's (DMEF) preeminent award to honor an academic's overall achievement in direct/interactive marketing, the award is named for the late Robert B. Clarke. As the CEO of Grolier, his personal contribution endowed the DMEF's Direct/Interactive Marketing Research Summit (formerly called the Educators' Conference).

Nominated by their peers, winners are chosen on the basis of outstanding achievement in teaching, writing, research and speaking. Final selection is approved by the DMEF Board of Trustees.

Edward E. Rigdon is Professor of Marketing in the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University (GSU). Since joining the GSU faculty in 1989, Dr. Rigdon has taught courses in research methodology, interactive marketing, services marketing, and marketing management at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. When he served as Marketing Department head, Dr. Rigdon's priorities included reshaping the marketing curriculum to make sure that students develop a firmer foundation in marketing metrics, and building a stronger role for direct marketing.

Dr. Rigdon completed undergraduate work at the University of Alabama and the MBA program at the University of Chicago. As part of his MBA program, he studied marketing and international business at the Catholic University of Leuven, in Belgium. Returning to the University of Alabama, Dr. Rigdon completed a Ph.D. program in marketing that was supplemented with coursework in econometrics and mathematical statistics. Dr. Rigdon's doctoral research examined methodological issues in the area of structural equation modeling (SEM), a statistical approach that generalizes regression and factor analysis.

Dr. Rigdon's methodology research has been published in Journal of Marketing Research, Multivariate Behavioral Research, Structural Equation Modeling, and elsewhere. Dr. Rigdon's doctoral seminar in structural equation modeling attracts students, faculty and practitioners from GSU, Emory University, Georgia Tech, and beyond. Dr. Rigdon co-founded SEMNET, an Internet-based discussion list focusing on SEM. Today, this "electronic conference" has more than 2,800 subscribers on six continents. For his work with SEMNET, Dr. Rigdon won GSU's Exceptional Service Award, one of the university's highest honors.

Dr. Rigdon completed undergraduate work at the University of Alabama and the MBA program at the University of Chicago. As part of his MBA program, he studied marketing and international business at the Catholic University of Leuven, in Belgium. Returning to the University of Alabama, Dr. Rigdon completed a Ph.D. program in marketing that was supplemented with coursework in econometrics and mathematical statistics. Dr. Rigdon's doctoral research examined methodological issues in the area of structural equation modeling (SEM), a statistical approach that generalizes regression and factor analysis.

Dr. Rigdon's research on interactive marketing has been published in Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Retailing, Industrial Marketing Management, and elsewhere. Dr. Rigdon's interest in this area grew out of his own experiences in building SEMNET, from his work as Technology Coordinator for the Marketing Department, and from his efforts in shaping a graduate curriculum in e-commerce at GSU.

Dr. Rigdon completed undergraduate work at the University of Alabama and the MBA program at the University of Chicago. As part of his MBA program, he studied marketing and international business at the Catholic University of Leuven, in Belgium. Returning to the University of Alabama, Dr. Rigdon completed a Ph.D. program in marketing that was supplemented with coursework in econometrics and mathematical statistics. Dr. Rigdon's doctoral research examined methodological issues in the area of structural equation modeling (SEM), a statistical approach that generalizes regression and factor analysis.

Dr. Rigdon and his wife, Mary, live on Decimal Place Farm, approximately 18 acres located near Atlanta. Mary, who has a degree in animal science from the University of Georgia, raises award-winning dairy goats and makes award-winning fresh goat cheeses.

Andy is an enthusiastic leader, team builder and problem solver. He delivers strong, award-winning results. His recent background includes a combination of strategic marketing, general management, social media, direct and database marketing, product development, consulting, media technology strategy and analysis, and corporate performance analytics.

He offers insight and experience from his leadership in startup, mid-market and Fortune 50 companies including United Technologies and IBM. His work spans both domestic and global strategic planning, technology investment and analysis, and new product and business development. He also brings earlier agency experience with marketing, development and PR efforts for universities, faith-based organizations and other not for profit community organizations.
He takes industry-specific understanding, quantitative analysis and qualitative insights and produces actionable, high impact strategy. Andy's personal objective is to use the right strategy with the right tools at the right time to build business, market share and in-depth industry relationships by reaching the hearts, minds and buying behaviors of customers.

Andy describes his approach as follows, "I bring to the front every element of my 15-plus years of experience, with every ounce of energy and Insight, to help organizations and teams succeed and excel to their next level of performance. It's that simple!"

In his business leadership roles, Andy has:

• Led market strategy, technology strategy and business goal-setting.
• Conducted primary market research with national surveys and focus groups as well as product and technology research, and he's synthesized the results of research into actionable plans with monetized objectives.
• Defined, created and fine-tuned messaging & positioning of products and services, including marketing collateral, sales tools, and copy for print and electronic media.
• Developed produced collateral and presentations that delivered business and technology concepts to diverse audiences.
• Led strategic account sales teams.
• Created and enabled demand generation campaigns including webinars, email campaigns, trade-shows.
• Formed strategic marketing, analytics and technology teams from the ground up.
• Revitalized marketing and product development activities in turnarounds and growth companies.
• Identified, developed, and implemented practical analytics approaches in various industries.

Andy's unique mix of leadership, public speaking and teaching skills, marketing, analytics, and technology experience in media, publishing, high tech, and other industries plus experience and understanding In applied business strategy makes him a valuable resource for growing enterprises of any size.

Andy is a Harvard University graduate. He holds two graduate degrees as well as additional Harvard Business School training and experience in Strategic Marketing Management and Analytics. He has residences in both the Boston and Atlanta area. He currently directs strategy and analytics at the Atlanta global headquarters of In Touch Ministries, an internationally recognized faith-based institution that produces content for television, radio, Web and print media.

Alex Marchetti is President and Founding Partner of Whitestone Marketing, a premiere marketing strategy agency and President of the Direct Marketing Association of Atlanta. Whitestone Marketing works with leading brands to maximize performance and organizational results. Mr. Marchetti has led sales and marketing teams for International and Fortune 100 companies such as, Safety Kleen, Union Pacific, Unocal Corp. and Det Norske Veritas. He has trained more than a1,000 of sales executives in effective sales and marketing strategies and tactics.

Previously, Mr. Marchetti has served as Chair of the North American Marketing Council, International Marketing Platform and consultant to the Executive Committee of the International Association Technical Committee for ISO Standards. He was appointed the Safety Kleen Corporate Advisory Council in 8 consecutive years.

Whitestone Marketing received the 2009 Gold South Star Award for its multi-channel direct marketing campaign from the Direct Marketing Association's International competition.

Mr. Marchetti is also a publisher and successfully launched Strategies and Solutions, the Generators Journal trade publications, and the DMA E-newsletter.

His articles have been feature in Inc. Magazine, Oz Magazine, Environment Today and Direct Marketing News. He has appeared as a guest speaker for the DMA, MFSA, PCC, PIAG, IABC, ISO Executive Committee and the Community Bankers Association.

Mr. Marchetti is a graduate of the University of Illinois, with Honors and Distinction, holds an MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management, Georgia Insurance Licenses and a Series 7 & 66 Financial Security Licenses. He has auditor certificates for safety, quality and environmental.

Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., is the world's foremost authority on applying the scientifically-proven laws of human behavior to the workplace.

With business and industry confronting complex new challenges-from ethics to high turnover to outsourcing-Daniels helps the world's leading organizations employ the timeless principles of behavioral science to re-energize the workplace, optimize performance and achieve lasting results.

His management consulting firm, Aubrey Daniels International (ADI), works with business leaders such as DaimlerChrysler, Blue Cross Blue Shield, NASA, Roche Laboratories, and Westinghouse to develop management strategies that reinforce critical behaviors vital to their long-term success. Headquartered in Atlanta, the firm was founded in 1978.

Daniels is the author of four best-selling books widely recognized as international management classics: Bringing out the Best in People: How to Apply the Astonishing Power of Positive Reinforcement; Performance Management: Changing Behavior That Drives Organizational Effectiveness, and Other People's Habits and Measure of a Leader with James E. Daniels. His books have been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish and French and have been licensed in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Romania and Saudi Arabia. Look for his new book, Oops! 13 Management Practices that Waste Time and Money (and what to do instead).

A passionate thought leader and an internationally recognized expert on management, leadership, and workplace issues, Daniels has been featured in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fortune, CNN, and CNBC.

Daniels is a member of the Board of Trustees of both Furman University and the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. He is an Associate of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, a faculty member of the College of Health Professions at the University of Florida, and a visiting professor at Florida State.

His numerous awards include the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Organizational Behavior Management Network and the Outstanding Service Award from the International Association for Behavior Analysis, which also named him a 2005 Fellow.

Daniels received his doctorate from the University of Florida, where he also earned his masters degree and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received his undergraduate degree in psychology from Furman University. Daniels has been honored by both Furman University and the College of Health Professions at the University of Florida as Alumnus of the Year.

Daniels and his wife Rebecca reside in Atlanta and have two married daughters and three grandchildren.

Dr. Darnell Lattal is President and Chief Executive Officer of Aubrey Daniels International. She is a specialist in the design and implementation of behavioral-based business strategies to achieve core initiatives. She has worked in a variety of settings on organizational redesign and change management, executive coaching, achieving high performance, performance measurement and systems design, leadership and teamwork within and across organizational structures, succession planning, ethical decision-making, and creating a solid leadership legacy based on self-awareness and self-management. Darnell is particularly effective in coaching individuals from executives to line employees to make improvements in personal style and performance execution. She has special expertise in the psychology of learning, designing sustainable and rapid change. Darnell, working closely with her clients, has designed and implemented:

• Behavioral strategy for successful acquisition and merger of several key competitors.
• A company-wide succession program, tracking success over four years.
• A reciprocal planning process in the way budgets were negotiated and goals set across organizational levels, including behavior and results scorecard implementation.
• A plan to help minority females of a national fast-food chain climb the corporate ladder by identifying and changing skill sets and "cultural" biases (their own and their managers) that were impeding appointments.
• Change strategies for corporate staff to increase their relationship value in the work culture-serving as business partners with operations in the achievement of core business strategy, moving their involvement from 'administrative support to central to business successes.
• A more effective approach to the management of a national sales team, increasing sales dramatically.
• A reinforcement-based leadership strategy for the implementation of a "newly formed, high-performance culture" composed of different companies' technical and management specialists in building a freestanding oil platform 200 miles off-shore in the Gulf of Mexico.
• A program for traditionally-trained managers to remain employable with their company during the switch to high performance teams and the dissolution of their tier of middle management.
• Communication tools, linking tactics and measures to keep a Canadian-owned financial management company's business focus clear across clashes of local office cultures and practices during acquisitions involving nationalities from India, China, Africa, West Indies, and the US.

Darnell graduated from the University of Alabama (American Studies & English), B.A., M.A. in Special Education (behavior disordered children, specialty), Johns Hopkins University (Honors graduate in Advanced Multidisciplinary Studies), and West Virginia University (Ph.D. in clinical psychology). She co-authored Workplace Ethics: Winning the Integrity Revolution (Rowman & Littlefield, 1993; University Press, 1998) and Ethics at Work (PMP, 2005). McGraw Hill is releasing A Good Day's Work: Sustaining Ethical Behavior and Business Results in the fall of 2006. She is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who of American Women. She has served as a member of the board of a California-based e-commerce firm dedicated to providing continuing education over the Internet. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. Darnell owned and managed companies in such areas as literacy training, self-management, and business consulting. She has served as a member of several national boards of trustees for political action and public service organizations in relation to social policy in addressing violence in America. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, a member of the International Association of Behavior Analysis, and the West Virginia Psychological Association. She is a licensed psychologist in West Virginia and an adjunct professor of psychology at West Virginia University.

25-year Silicon Valley veteran, Warren Raisch has been instrumental in establishing global enterprise operations in more than 190 countries around-the-world. Currently Executive Vice-President for Digitaria, a leading digital marketing and technology agency, Raisch is responsible for the overall relationship management of Digitaria's largest clients (including Cisco, Intel, Hasbro, Comcast, MTV Networks and DreamWorks) and providing the most sound online marketing and technology solutions for their businesses. Ranging from cutting-edge website development and infrastructure, to social media engagement and web analytics, Raisch's knowledge and guidance has been a key component in solidifying Digitaria's position as an industry leader.

Having held senior executive positions at such renowned companies as Apple, 3Com, Gateway, Interwoven, Omniture and Digitas, Raisch has been a prominent figure in the enterprise community for the last two-and-a-half decades. Author of McGraw-Hill Publishing's book, "The eMarketplace," as well as a frequent speaker and lecturer at leading industry events and universities, Raisch continues to share his expertise and passion with people all around the world.