Jeff Kelley, formerly VP of the list management division at Millard Group, has been named Millard’s president. Ben Perez, who started at Millard Group in 1984 and served as its president since 1992, is now senior VP of strategic and business development for the Services Group unit of InfoGroup, Millard Group’s parent firm.
Kelley has been with Millard since 1995, when he was tapped to run the company’s List Management division. Before joining Millard, he was the director of marketing for Domestications at Hanover Direct Inc. Prior to starting at Domestications, Kelley held positions at Sara Lee Direct in its list development area, where he built the company’s internal files through catalog and package insert prospecting. He has also served within the marketing departments of General Nutrition Corp. and Best Products Inc.
In his new position, Perez has moved out of day-to-day operations at Millard, although he is still working with Kelley on the transition process. Both he and Kelley report to Ed Mallin, president of InfoGroup’s Services Group.
Kelley was the clear heir apparent to the position, according to both Perez and Mallin. “He was the right guy, with the right background and right tenure,” Perez said of Kelley’s promotion, which was effective earlier this month. More than that, “I think we are soul mates in terms of our ethics, and how we treat our employees and our clients.”
Looking ahead, Kelley is charged with increasing sales activity in admittedly tough times, Perez said. While there are opportunities in alternative media and in the online space, “We are still dominated by our brokerage and management activity,” Perez added.
Kelley is only the fourth president Millard has had, following founder Steve Millard, Rick Chollet and Perez. The company was founded in 1977, and was sold to InfoGroup (then InfoUSA) in 2005. Perez served as senior VP of the company’s List Management division before becoming its president. Before he started at Millard, Perez had been with Garden Way Inc. Perez was named the DMA List and Database Council’s List Leader of the year in 2001, and is a member and former board member of the New England Mail Order Association.
While Perez will continue to give a significant portion of his attention to Millard Group, he will also take more of a role within the Services Group, especially in the direct mail and digital offerings of the unit, according to Mallin.
