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MPI People
Renee A. Catania
Don Gillespie
Leslie Gilreath
Robert Gilreath
Richard L. Lukey, Jr.
Steve Reed
Kevin Whorton
Andrew Zernia
Marketing
Partners, Inc. is a business strategy and marketing services organization
formed in 1983. Marketing Partners and its predecessor organizations have
served associations, communities, consumer packaged goods, consumer durables
and healthcare clients across the United States since 1971.
Our
senior professionals have academic qualifications and business experience
in advertising, business management, communications, engineering, administration
and finance, human resources and organizational development, information
technology, journalism, law, marketing, market research, quality, product
development, public relations, and related fields.
The
following is a summary of the qualifications and experience of those members
of our professional team who may be most relevant to the services we provide
to associations and personal membership societies.
Renee
A. Catania
Renee Catania came to Marketing Partners from the client side at Whirlpool
Corporation's global product design group where she coordinated consumer
research. In the years since joining the firm, she has developed her skills
as both a focus group moderator and a marketing project manager.
Her
ability to understand client needs, communicate expectations and efficiently
manage processes and people and makes it possible for Marketing Partners
to consistently deliver quality work on time and on budget. Her capabilities
and insights as a qualitative research professional are valuable to clients
in product development, market investigation and customer satisfaction
improvement.
She
is a graduate of Michigan State University where she earned her bachelor's
of arts degree in communications with an emphasis on business and corporate
strategy, public relations and economics.
Don
Gillespie
Don Gillespie is a seasoned facilitator and qualitative research moderator
who offers organizational development and process improvement expertise,
combined with planning, finance and marketing management experience.
Prior
to joining Marketing Partners, he was vice president of business development
for a health insurance company, where he was responsible for strategic
planning, marketing, sales, customer retention and community relations.
He has re-engineered operations in sales and marketing departments, created
and implemented comprehensive strategic plans and developed corporate
branding strategies and media plans.
Don
also serves as an adjunct professor of sociology with Andrews University.
He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Western Michigan University and
a Master of Social Work from California State University, Sacramento.
Leslie
Gilreath
Leslie Gilreath's over 20 years of diverse marketing experience includes
the development and implementation of market research, strategic planning,
advertising, marketing and public relations programs for clients in consumer
durables, electronics, healthcare, education and professional and trade
associations.
Leslie
is the client services director and a senior consultant for a variety
of clients. She also serves as a creative director and is an experienced
facilitator, having moderated focus groups for clients in fields such
as consumer durables, healthcare and retirement housing.
Leslie
directed marketing planning, advertising and public relations activities,
as well as serving as an advisor to senior management for a multi-hospital
system during a period of growth from $65 million to $250 million in annual
revenues.
Leslie received her M.A. in professional writing and public relations from Western Michigan University. She is an officer of Marketing Partners.
Robert
Gilreath
Robert Gilreath is a seasoned facilitator and moderator who has facilitated
quality, process improvement, reengineering and product development initiatives,
including global teams in Europe, Asia and South America.
He
offers more than 35 years' experience in quality management, data analysis,
forecasting and reporting, and is a trained Business Process Improvement
facilitator and a Certified Quality Engineer. He has floor care product
experience as a product development engineer for Whirlpool floor care
products in St. Paul, MN, prior to Whirlpool's sale of that business to
Matsushita Electronic Corporation of America (Panasonic).
He
holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University
of Cincinnati and a MBA from Michigan State University. He is a member
of The American Society for Quality and the Project Management Institute.
Richard
L. Lukey, Jr.
Dick Lukey brings more than 20-years of for-profit and not-for-profit
experience in market research, new product development and strategic marketing
to associations and professional membership societies.
Earlier
in his career as Leo Burnett's director of new product strategy, Lukey
helped develop brand management and new product launch strategies for
over 50 products with both durables and non-durables companies such as
the American Banker's Association, Hewlett-Packard, Kellogg, Miller Brewing,
Nestle, Pillsbury, Procter & Gamble, Seven Up, Whirlpool and Wilson
Sporting Goods.
At
Whirlpool Corporation, he worked with the Gallup Organization to design
a way of continuously tracking and evaluating customer loyalty.
He
holds a Master's in Advertising from Michigan State University.
Steve
Reed
Steven Reed offers a research-based strategic orientation and 30 years
experience in corporate strategic planning, branding, marketing, advertising
and public relations. Reed has moderated hundreds of consumer focus groups
for a variety of industries, has facilitated numerous Board and staff
retreats, and is a professional speaker who has presented at major conferences
and annual meetings. He has worked in all areas of not-for-profit marketing
and communications and in related areas such as strategic planning and
fundraising.
He
uses hoshin-based strategic planning to help associations and professional
membership societies achieve organizational alignment, and the creation
and application of cross-disciplinary, team-based processes to generate
customer insight, product ideas and focus the organization's brand. His
experience with innovation and cycle-time reduction teams includes the
use of ongoing qualitative research to bring a customer focus to the process.
His
category experience includes consumer durables, construction equipment,
electronics, financial services, food and fiber, healthcare, petroleum,
steel and tourism. Earlier in his career he was a print and broadcast
journalist, founded a marketing/public relations consulting firm, was
general manager of one regional advertising agency and a partner in another.
Steve holds professional accreditation (APR) from the Public Relations
Society of America, is a member of the PRSA Counselors Academy, and is
a 20-year member of the American Marketing Association. He is president
of Marketing Partners, Inc.
Kevin has spent 20 years in nonprofit marketing, working with a wide variety of charitable organizations and associations with a strong track record in database marketing, marketing research, strategy, analytics, and management consulting.
His past experience as an association executive includes roles serving as head of direct response fundraising for Catholic Relief Services, head of marketing and research for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, director of member programs for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, and director of market research for the National Association of Home Builders.
Among his accomplishments in these roles have been:
raising $250 million in charitable contributions for CRS in three years, expanding fundraising capacity while cutting marketing costs by 15% or $1.5 million; developing one of the first association-based data warehouses for ASHP; designing and launching the first successful drug store loyalty marketing program for Duane Reade; launching major web-based initiatives MyGlobalVillage and retail portal ChainDrugStore.net; and conducting more than 200 studies for more than 90 clients.
Kevin earned BA. degrees in Business and Economics from Idaho State University; an MA. in Economics at George Mason University; and completed Ph.D. coursework in industrial organization at George Mason University. He also took MBA coursework in marketing at George Mason and holds a certificate in Retail Executive Management from Northwestern University/Kellogg School of Business.
Andrew
Zernia
Andrew Zernia has developed and executed quantitative and qualitative
product satisfaction, product feature, customer loyalty, community perception
and wage and benefit studies using a variety of data collection methodologies,
including Computer-Aided Telephone Interviewing, fax, mail, e-mail and
web.
Prior
to joining Marketing Partners, Andy held management positions at International
Survey Research, an employee development research company, and Information
Resources Inc., the largest consumer packaged goods information provider
in the U.S.
Andy
holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Michigan State University
and a MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management.
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