New York, NY, March 20, 2007 – The Direct Marketing Association’s
(DMA) Financial Services Council will honor Wesley D. Protheroe,
president & CEO, Gerber Life Insurance Company, with its "Direct
Marketer of the Year Award," and Wells Fargo Consumer Credit Group
with its "Company of the Year Award." Both awards will be presented
at the DMA Financial Services Conference taking place March 25 – 27 at
the Don CeSar Beach Resort in St. Petersburg, FL.
The 2007 DMA Financial Services Direct Marketer of the Year Award
Wesley D. Protheroe, President & CEO, Gerber Life Insurance Company
Wes Protheroe is president & CEO of Gerber Life Insurance Company, an
affiliate of Gerber Baby Foods and a subsidiary of Novartis Corporation.
Gerber Life is the world’s largest juvenile life insurance company,
and a leading insurance direct marketer that has enjoyed a growth rate
of 60 percent in the five years Protheroe has been at the helm.
Under Protheroe’s leadership, Gerber Life is transforming from
juvenile life specialist to family insurance provider. This
repositioning has included new DRTV, direct mail, insert, and Internet
advertising; improved adult life insurance products; a loyalty/retention
marketing program; and new affinity partnerships and distribution
channels. In 2005, Gerber Life was recognized as the DMA Financial
Services Council "Company of the Year."
Previously, Protheroe was SVP and chief marketing officer at Great
American Insurance, a multi-channel auto and home insurance carrier, and
a subsidiary of American Financial Group. Protheroe has also held
positions as vice president of Marketing at ADVO, where he led the
successful launch of ADVO’s first consumer marketing program; director
of new products at Pizza Hut, where he launched Veggie Lover’s and
Cheese Lover’s specialty pizzas, and as brand manager for Procter &
Gamble, where he led a team to develop and launch P&G’s "Ultra"
line of concentrated detergents.
Protheroe holds an MBA in marketing from Columbia University, where he
was a Beta Gamma Sigma scholar, and a bachelor’s degree, magna cum
laude, from Wesleyan University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Professional distinctions include a Gold Effie Award, a US Package
Design Patent, and a Georgia State University Max Award for new product
innovation. He also serves on the Gerber Products and Direct Marketing
Association boards, as well as the LICONY Advisory Council.
The 2007 DMA Financial Services Direct Marketer of the Year Award
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo’s Consumer Credit Group, a leading provider of home
equity, personal credit, and education finance, is a business division
of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. is a part of Wells
Fargo & Company, a diversified financial services company with $482
billion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage,
and consumer finance through more than 6,000 stores and the Internet
(wellsfargo.com) across North America and internationally. Wells Fargo
Bank, N.A. is the only bank in the US, and one of only two banks
worldwide, to have the highest credit rating from both Moody’s
Investors Service, "Aaa," and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services,
"AAA."
About Direct Marketing Association (DMA)
The Direct Marketing Association (www.the-dma.org) is the leading
global trade association of businesses and nonprofit organizations using
and supporting multichannel direct marketing tools and techniques. DMA
advocates industry standards for responsible marketing, promotes
relevance as the key to reaching consumers with desirable offers, and
provides cutting-edge research, education, and networking opportunities
to improve results throughout the end-to-end direct marketing process.
Founded in 1917, DMA today represents more than 3,600 companies from
dozens of vertical industries in the US and 50 other nations, including
a majority of the Fortune 100 companies, as well as nonprofit
organizations.
In 2006, marketers – commercial and nonprofit – spent $166.5 billion on
direct marketing in the United States. Measured against total US sales,
these advertising expenditures generated $1.93 trillion in incremental
sales. Last year, direct marketing accounted for 10.3 percent of total
US GDP. Also, there are today 1.7 million direct marketing employees in
the US alone. Their collective sales efforts directly support 8.8
million other jobs. That accounts for 10.5 million US jobs.
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