Fransi Weinstein
Chairperson, Senior Judges’ Committee
Fransi Weinstein is senior vice-president, creative director at BBDO Response.
She joined the agency in February 1996, after a 10-year stint at Ogilvy & Mather Direct.
Weinstein has worked with a number of agencies, specializing in everything from public relations to direct response. She started work as a copywriter in Montreal.
Yves Blain
Yves Blain is vice-president, strategic development, for FCB Direct Montreal.
His career in the communications business began as circulation director for Publications Transcontinental, after which he moved to Wunderman Worldwide, where he eventually became vice-president and general manager of the agency’s Montreal office.
Since returning to the direct side of the business, after having spent some time in public relations and general advertising, Blain has been instrumental in helping FCB Direct develop several award-winning campaigns for its clients.
Marilyn Buyers
Marilyn Buyers is vice-president, merchandising with tms Multi-media, a company she joined in 1992 as director of merchandising.
Before joining tms, Buyers had more than 15 years’ experience in direct marketing. She held management positions at NSI Marketing, Carlson Marketing and Brick Promotions.
She has served several years on the board of directors of the Direct Marketing Association of Toronto.
Bruce Clarkson
Bruce Clarkson is national manager, catalogue customer development, for Sears Canada.
In his position, Clarkson has been responsible for expanding the Sears Catalogue business through the development and implementation of a customer management and planning system.
Prior to his current role, Clarkson helped the catalogue business implement new strategies for call centres, inven-tory management, field operations, distribution management and customer information database.
Robert Clarkson
Robert Clarkson is vice-president and general manager of Carlson Marketing Group, responsible for the company’s loyalty marketing, motivation, and incentive travel business.
Since joining Carlson in 1990, Clarkson has overseen the development and implementation of customer retention and database marketing initiatives across a wide range of industry categories.
He has built a 20-year career in marketing, working with companies such as British Airways, Coca-Cola, Ford, American Express and TD Bank.
Bill Coristine
Bill Coristine is vice-president, group management supervisor at Grey Direct in Toronto, working with clients on the integration of advertising, direct marketing and interactive communications.
He has over 14 years’ experience with advertising and direct marketing agencies in Montreal and Toronto.
Ann Descoteaux
Ann Descoteaux currently holds the position of marketing director for AT&T Canada Cross Border Services, where she is responsible for the development and support of consumer and business marketing objectives and strategies.
Prior to joining at&t, Descoteaux held positions at several national and international advertising agencies, receiving numerous awards for the quality of her work.
Kay Ganser
Kay Ganser is executive vice-president of MacLaren McCann Direct in Toronto.
She began her direct marketing career more than 20 years ago in Chicago working at Stone & Adler and Kobs & Draft before relocating to Toronto in 1988 to open an office for Kobs & Draft.
Previously, she was president of Vickers & Benson Direct.
Madeleine Gazdag
Madeleine Gazdag is advertising manager at Pharmacia & Upjohn.
Gazdag joined the company in 1979 and has built her marketing experience by being responsible for the execution of print advertising and direct mail campaigns, and media placement.
She is currently on the board of directors for both the Canadian Advertising Research Foundation and the Ontario Pharmaceutical Marketing Association.
Michael Griffiths
Michael Griffiths is vice-president and creative director at Wunderman Cato Johnson.
Griffiths joined Wunderman in 1996, bringing with him extensive experience in direct marketing, promo-tional marketing and general advertising.
He has over 15 years’ experience working with major agencies serving clients in the automotive, software, fashion/retail, finance, insurance, pharmaceutical, hospitality and home furnishing categories.
Ellen L’Ecuyer
Ellen L’Ecuyer is general manager, direct marketing, for Maclean Hunter Publishing.
Her responsibilities include all direct marketing programs for Maclean’s, Chatelaine, Flare, Modern Woman, and L’actualite.
A veteran of the magazine publishing industry, L’Ecuyer joined Maclean Hunter in November 1995 as acquisition manager.
She has also worked as database manager for Telemedia in Montreal.
Dean Maruna
Dean Maruna is a senior vice-president and creative director of Toronto-based Mosaic Direct.
Prior to helping start the now two-year-old agency, Maruna was creative supervisor at Ogilvy & Mather Direct.
His work has won numerous direct marketing awards in Canada and the u.s.
Michael McGovern
Michael McGovern is vice-president, executive creative director at FCB Direct.
In 1984, McGovern joined FCB Direct’s flagship office in Chicago as a junior copywriter. During his eight years there, he was constantly promoted to higher creative positions.
Since his arrival in Canada in 1992, McGovern has helped the agency steadily increase its account base.
Linda Nicol
Linda Nicol is associate director, consumer direct marketing for Bell Canada.
Since joining Bell in 1995, Nicol has been responsible for managing both inbound and outbound call-centre operations, with a primary focus on the retention and stimulation of Bell Canada’s customer base.
Her most recent previous position was as general manager of Lenscrafters International.
Guy Stevenson
Guy Stevenson is a client service partner at OgilvyOne, Toronto.
Stevenson started his agency career in 1983 in the media department of a large Canadian advertising agency before switching into account management in a business-to-business specialist agency.
Since joining Ogilvy in 1987, he has gained broad experience working with a wide variety of clients, including heading up Ogilvy’s direct marketing and advertising relationship with Amex Bank of Canada, marketer of American Express products.
Marie-Josee Vinet
Marie-Josee Vinet is senior manager, direct marketing, for the Royal Bank of Canada.
With more than 12 years experience in advertising and direct marketing, on both the client and agency side, Vinet has spent the last four years exploring and testing new direct marketing avenues for Royal Bank.
Before joining Royal Bank, Vinet spent three years at FCB Direct, where she managed the Air Canada Cargo account.
Her direct marketing experience began at Apple Canada, where she spent six years handling a variety of responsibilities.
Ana White
Ana White is the director of membership at World Wildlife Fund Canada.
She manages a marketing team responsible for wwf’s 55,000 active supporters. She also manages wwf’s drtv program and has launched two highly successful 60-minute shows designed to recruit new monthly donors.
White has been with wwf for seven years and has worked on a wide range of fundraising projects, including wwf’s corporate licensing program.
Nancy Lee Jobin
RSVP Awards Chairperson
Nancy Lee Jobin is president of Graffiti Direct & Promotion, the agency she launched in 1996.
Jobin’s entrepreneurial career in direct marketing began almost 20 years ago when she was a key player in starting Blitz Direct & Promotion, a division of Cossette Communication-Marketing.
Also in this report:
– President’s Address: RSVP Awards enter new era: Student Award reflects Association’s growing emphasis on youth and education P.SDR15
– Corporate Sponsors p.SDR15
– Preliminary Judging Committee p.SDR16
– Peter Case declared Direct Marketer of the Year: Lauded for his visionary thinking, the Royal Bank executive is on a mission to change the way advertisers choose media p.SDR18
– Directors’ Choice Award goes to Air Canada p.SDR19
– New RSVP Award to stimulate students’ DM thinking p.SDR19
– The Winners p.SDR20.
