PDMI University Council

Nick Pietropinto brings more than 25 years of experience in D2C, B2C, and B2B marketing, sales, and strategy garnered while helping businesses achieve success and sustained growth. Along with managing multimillion-dollar media budgets, he has worked alongside clients across multiple verticals to build their business structures and methodologies, develop talent into high-performing teams, accelerate revenue generation, and drive hyper-growth.

Allegro Response is a multichannel contact center that specializes in direct-to-consumer sales and customer service. However your customers want to communicate — whether it be through the phone, email, chat, or text — Allegro’s team is trained to take care of your customers. Its expertise in the direct response space helps clients improve campaign results while improving the key metrics necessary for success.

Lindsey Carnett is the CEO and president of Marketing Maven. She founded the company in 2009, after leading integrated communications campaigns for firms and private industries across the world. With nearly two decades of experience in direct-to-consumer marketing, Carnett is a trusted public relations advisor to national and international organizations and has been named an Enterprising Women Award Winner, Top Woman in Public Relations by PR News, a Top Woman in Media, and featured in the Forbes Most Powerful Women Business Leader issue. Carnett has offered expert insight via news outlets like CNBC, TheStreet.com, National Public Radio (NPR), The Doctors, USA Today, PR Week, Forbes Woman, Medium, Gizmodo and Thrive Global. She also taught a social media content course and wrote curriculum for Academy of Art University. Named one of the Most Entrepreneurial Companies in America by Entrepreneur Magazine’s Entrepreneur 360 Awards, and one of the Fastest Growing Companies in America by Inc. 5000 for two consecutive years, Marketing Maven specializes in international and domestic public relations, social media, reputation management, direct response marketing, U.S. product launches, SEO, event PR, and influencer marketing.

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.

Linda Goldstein is a member of BakerHostetler’s Advertising, Marketing & Digital Media team. She provides advertising counsel and regulatory advice to leading Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies. She represents clients in investigative and enforcement proceedings brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), state attorneys general, district attorneys, and other federal and state agencies. Goldstein spends a considerable portion of her time advising clients on how to minimize the legal risks associated with mobile marketing, e-retail, social influencers, native advertising, email and telemarketing, and more. Goldstein’s commentary has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, NBC’s TODAY Show, Adweek, Advertising Age, and the National Law Journal.

Lucio Maramba is CEO and owner of Maramba Insights Inc., which he founded in 2018. Leveraging more than 26 years of direct response experience, Maramba has built his career on his vast analytical skills grounded in his honesty and integrity. He began his DRTV career at Mercury Media in 1997, eventually rising to director of operations. In 2013, Maramba was recruited by call tracking pioneer Dial800 to create its first campaign performance group, catering to the firm’s strategic partners. He is also an experienced audio engineer and sound designer. Maramba continues to provide best in class analysis and campaign performance management for the DR industry and beyond.

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.

As president of Lockard & Wechsler Direct (LWD), Asieya Pine is responsible for the agency's day-to-day operations. She also leads the planning and account services group, which optimizes media for the agency's 80-plus clients. Under her leadership, LWD has grown year after year for 20 years, becoming one of the largest privately held performance marketing agencies in the country. Pine’s experience covers a wide range of direct response disciplines, including advertising for consumer products, lead-generation, and e-commerce brands.

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.

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.