(Direct Newsline)—Direct Marketing Association president and CEO H. Robert Wientzen will retire next year, the DMA announced Tuesday.
Wientzen, who will be 65 in August, said in a statement that he had promised his family he would retire at that age.
He set July 1 for his departure, but has agreed to serve until the end of 2004 to facilitate the transition. An executive search team made up of current and former DMA board members will choose a successor.
Wientzen took over the helm of the trade association in September 1996.
He steered it through tumultuous years in which DMers coped with regulatory scrutiny, the dot-com boom and fallout and the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
DMA membership grew by almost 47% during his tenure. In addition, the group added seven chapters across the U.S. and acquired three trade groups—the Association for Interactive Marketing, the Internet Alliance and the National Federation of Nonprofits.
“While our industry and the DMA have faced many challenges since I came on board, it’s also been a period of unprecedented growth, international expansion and technological advancement,” Wientzen commented.
As an example, he cited “the emergence of the Internet as a marketing channel for our members, large and small, for-profit and nonprofit, here and around the globe.”
He added that, “anyone who knows me will know that retiring was not an easy decision for me to make.”
Wientzen worked at Procter & Gamble, facilitating development of its database and launching several catalogs. After leaving P&G, he started Advanced Promotion Technologies, Inc.
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