Greco Out at DMA—Now What?
Following a board member's allegations of bylaw violations last fall and member ire about his steadily escalating salary, Direct Marketing Association CEO and president John A. Greco is out — five months ahead of schedule.
According to several sources, a vote taken during a DMA board meeting held in mid-January resulted in a near-unanimous decision not to continue Greco's employment, with only a single member abstaining.
Greco is believed to be the first DMA president to leave early since the office became a paid position in 1959. The New York-based trade association is using both an internal committee and an outside recruitment firm in its hunt for a full-time replacement. Greco will be paid the balance of his contract, which runs through June 30. Based on Greco's salary from the organization's 20-month-old filings the payout could easily top $300,000.
“John gets everything he's entitled to in his contract,” Eugene Raitt, the DMA's board chairman, says. “[The payment] is in recognition of past contributions to the DMA.” These include leading the charge for postal reform and against do not mail legislation in many states, Raitt notes, adding that Greco had met performance metrics expectations in his contracts.
Greco's abdication allows the organization to seek new leadership in conjunction with anticipated changes in focus — such as possible increased expansion of digital and social media offerings — that Raitt says have been in the works for two years.
The buzz from the direct marketing industry is that these changes are for the best. A multichannel consultant told Chief Marketer's sister publication Multichannel Merchant that Greco's departure offers promise, as a “fresh perspective will be good as our industry is changing at lightning speed.” And hopefully, they noted, it will mean more open lines of communication between DMA and its members too.
“It seemed no one from the DMA was willing to talk last fall when everything was in an uproar,” the consultant said. “I couldn't get anyone to return my calls regarding [the DMA's ACCM multichannel conference] or anything else. I had never had that happen before.”
Many DMA members feared talking “too loud” about displeasure with the DMA would get them ostracized, the consultant told MCM. Some members felt they would be blackballed because of their involvement with the American Catalog Mailers Association.
“Perception is stronger than reality so if it's not true, it's still a perception,” the consultant says.
Greco joined the DMA in 2004. He served as president and CEO of the Yellow Pages Integrated Media Association from 2000-2003.
