Live From NCDM: Change at the Top at Primis

Primis Marketing Group, the growing data services company, has a new CEO.

John V. Healy, who served as group executive/officer for Equifax Marketing Services until his departure last Friday, has assumed the job, replacing Primis co-founder Robert K. Sher. Sher has been named full-time chairman.

The transition, in the works for some time, came just as Primis was pursuing two unnamed acquisitions. It has the equity sponsorship of William Blair Capital Partners VII.

Healy is the second Equifax executive to join Primis. The other was Lynn Rovelstad, now president of AccuData America, who previously was a senior vice president at Equifax, reporting to Healy.

Founded last year, Primis serves mid-market companies, those spending $250,000 to $1 million a year on data services. It generates between $40 million and $50 million in annual revenue.

The Chicago-based company has two parts. Last year, it acquired AccuData America, a marketing data and services firm, last year. And it recently took over Hyphos360, a database development and hosting company.

The goal is to build an integrated solutions company and “monetize” it in four or five years, either by selling or recapitalizing it, according to Sher. And Healy supports that plan.

“The best part is that the strategy is in place,” he said in an interview. “We’ve got data and data management, and we now are interested in analytics and e-marketing.”

Healy continued that prospecting was on the upswing again, but that clients are seeking a better balance between that and retention. “Our advice to clients: Do them both at the same time,” he said.

Healy is now based in Longmeadow, MA. Any change in his location will depend on future acquisitions, he said.

Prior to joining Equifax, Healthy, 45, worked for Advo, DoubleClick/Abacus, Salient Technologies, John & Johnson and PepsiCo. He was on the team that put together the sale of R.L. Polk’s direct marketing businesses to Equifax four years ago in a $250 million-plus deal.

While at Equifax, Healy oversaw three units: Credit Marketing Solutions, Direct Marketing Solutions and eMarketing Solutions.

Sher, 67, is the co-founder of Marketing Electronics. He later served as executive vice president at Metromail after that firm acquired Marketing Electronics. He has also put in stints as president of May & Speh, president of Donnelley Marketing and CEO of KnowledgeBase. He acted as a consultant for AccuData, and was on the board of Hyphos360.