Pasted Elements

Chris Foster is vice president, new business at Modern Postcard, a national direct marketing company that services business of all sizes and in all markets. As a marketing and branding executive, he understands how to help any-sized business better position and brand themselves and tell their most authentic story to engage their audience. In addition to leading the creation and execution of new business strategies at Modern, he has taught brand strategy at UCSD Extension since 2009. Chris is a contributing author for TargetMarketing Magazine and NonProfitPro and has presented at numerous professional conferences nationally.

Marcelino Miyares has spent 30 years evolving the Hispanic marketspace. Known for his market intelligence and resourcefulness, he co-launched d2H Partners in 2014 to lead more "crossover" clients to their Hispanic consumer path-to-profit.  Miyares truly believes that brands need to “Enculturate or Die!” His marketing experience includes DRTV (Great Health Works, InvenTel, Telebrands, Capital Brands, Hearthware, and others); branded DR, lead-generation and retail work (Matrix, Lincoln Heritage, Hulu, Citibank, AT&T, PepsiCo, American Stores, and McDonald’s); and traditional direct marketing (Oxford Health, Sirius XM, Toys”R”Us, Home Depot, and others). Miyares is a Cuban-American native of Chicago and currently lives in Santa Monica.

Gregory Silvano has whitewater rafted down all 300 miles of the Grand Canyon, scuba dived the Blue Hole in Belize, and summited Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. He was a drill sergeant in the U.S. Army and, in his downtime, runs Buyist.

Joseph Gray founded television's largest cost-per-action advertising network, REVShare, in 1989. One of his companies, Global Media Productions, was acquired by TelAmerica Media, now Cadent Networks, where he briefly served as president in 1987-1988. In 2007, Gray raised an equity round from The Carlyle Group and HIG Capital, forming Media Property Holdings and Lead Generation Technologies, which operated a pay-per-call lead exchange in various verticals including legal tort, debt, and tax. Gray exited Media Property Holdings in 2012. Too young to retire, he created DRMetrix in 2012 to provide much needed insights and competitive data to the direct-to-consumer television industry.

Douglas Plank is COO of Intelligent Handshake and a seasoned entrepreneur who founded and served as chairman and CEO of MobileCause, the premier mobile fundraising and communications platform serving the charitable, corporate, and individual philanthropy sectors. He co-founded Telesis MG, an early innovation for electronic submission of medical insurance claims and was a partner and co-founder of Scimitar, a corporate accelerator to Fortune 100 and early-stage seed companies. He co-founded two nonprofits and grew them to $20 million and $30 million respectively in annual revenue. He serves on various nonprofit and private company boards and has been a frequent speaker at industry conferences as well as on radio and television.

Andrea Pass is owner of Andrea Pass Public Relations. Her strength in relationships coupled with her knowledge of the ever-growing press base results in top-tier targeted media placements to increase brand awareness, reputation management, and sales. She focuses on such categories as consumer products, DRTV, small business, parenting, education, authors, food, health/wellness, and non-profit. Pass was a Leading Women Entrepreneur Top 25 Brand Builder and a DRMA Member of the Year Finalist. She serves on the Board of the United Inventors Association, as chair of the Workshop Council of the PDMI, and membership coordinator of the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners.

Fern Lee, CEO of THOR Associates, is an award-winning marketing professional with a proven track record of creating and increasing brand awareness. A proud 2018 inductee to the Direct Response Hall of Fame, she has mastered the caveat of consumer engagement with each campaign, recognizing the “journey” to provide loyalty and asset values for multiple globally recognized brands. Lee is successful at applying direct response initiatives to the traditional and digital marketplaces with a unique expertise in branded-response omnichannel results. Earlier in her career, Lee was the head of direct response at Good Times Entertainment/Gaiam, bringing fitness hits Billy Blanks, THE FIRM, and Richard Simmons incredible success around the world. TurboCooker and GTXpress were also multi-million-dollar revenue generators in DTC and retail initiatives. For the past 14 years, Lee has dedicated her talents as CEO of THOR Associates, creating a premier omnichannel strategic marketing agency that implements dynamic lead generation resulting in multiple consumer transactions. Under the THOR Associates umbrella, Lee is proud to have provided services to select clients such as: MetLife, AIG, Humana, J&J, Mars, Balsam Hill, FocusFactor, KUMON, InventHelp, GalleryDirect.com, MedicareAdvantage.com, ClickNKids, Zestra, ReBloom, SmartSilk, and Migralex.

Patrick Raymond is a brand creative architect specializing in content creation strategies and execution — and is an award-winning TV director, filmmaker, CEO, executive creative director, executive producer, and writer. His footprint is seen in prestige beauty campaigns, including top-ranking TV beauty campaigns for the Luminess® Cosmetics and Conture® Skin Care brands, plus the recent Disney's The Lion King Limited Edition Collection campaign with famous makeup artist Sir John. In addition, Raymond has directed and overseen creative execution for hundreds of other projects with top celebrities, media personalities, and Fortune 50 brands — and continues to oversee creative for multiple brands and studios with his consulting firm Really Cool Ideas Inc.