MDR's Free Webinar Series
April 25, 2007 Webinar
Teacher Buying Trends and Strategies for Capturing End-of-Year Dollars

Speaker Biographies

Kathleen Brantley
Senior Advisor to MDR
With over 20 years' experience in the field, Kathleen is a senior advisor to MDR and brings her in-depth understanding of the unique characteristics of the school market and the emerging trends that impact how schools operate and how successful marketing programs are developed. Her expertise is often leveraged to help marketers design and implement successful sales and multi-channel marketing strategies. She has been instrumental in the expansion of MDR's product line, including the 2006 launch of School Funding Services—a Web-based solution providing leads of grant applicants and recipients—and a robust suite of turnkey e-mail marketing services.

Kathleen has spoken at many conferences, including those hosted by The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP), The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA), and The Association of American Publishers (AAP). Kathleen can be reached at 203-394-1727 or kbrant@dnb.com.

Christopher Ziemnicki
E-Marketing Solutions Leader
MDR
Christopher Ziemnicki currently leads e-marketing product development at MDR. Chris also acts as chief strategic consultant on interactive marketing to MDR’s customers and leads MDR’s industry-leading educational e-marketing research and best practices efforts. Before joining MDR, Chris built and managed large-scale Web affiliate marketing programs and managed e-mail marketing programs for both start-up and established B2C companies and catalogers. As a current member of the DMA’s E-Mail Marketing Council, Chris is a strong advocate for education marketers' e-marketing programs and general e-mail marketing best practices.

Chris can be reached at 203-225-4725 or cziemnicki@dnb.com.

Susan Keipper Meell
CEO
MMS Education
Susan Keipper Meell is CEO of MMS Education (MMS), a full-service education consulting, product development, marketing, sales and data services organization. Since its founding in 1977, MMS has helped companies and organizations bring their products and programs to the education market. With its experienced staff and a national network of education specialists, MMS is well equipped to conceive, develop, research, market, sell, and/or fulfill products and services on behalf of its clients.

Since Susan joined MMS in 1986, she has worked with clients primarily in the areas of sales, sales training, direct marketing, product development, and market research. As a company, MMS has been managing inside telesales teams for clients for more than 25 years, providing a wealth of experience with different selling strategies for accessing the end-of-year money that becomes available to schools in the spring.

MMS has been honored to work with a prestigious roster of clients, including The Walt Disney Company, Time Warner, Educational Testing Service, Prentice Hall, Evan-Moor, Pearson Learning, PBS, National Science Foundation, and the Verizon Foundation.

In addition to working with clients, Susan is also responsible for providing executive leadership and strategic planning for MMS on a daily basis. Prior to joining MMS, Susan spent over seven years in Manhattan working in marketing and promotions for Education Management Corporation, a national proprietary education company. Altogether, she has been involved in the education industry for more than 25 years.

A liberal arts graduate of Miami University of Ohio, Susan currently serves as the Vice Chairman on the Board of Directors of the MidAtlantic Employers’ Association. In addition to contributing to industry newsletters and publications, she has been a speaker and facilitator at industry seminars for more than 15 years and is an active member of Vistage, the nation’s largest membership organization of CEOs.

You can contact Susan at 215-579-8590 or smeell@mmseducation.com.
www.mmseducation.com