Q: What was your first job out of college?
A: I was a management trainee at Hertz Corp. and spent my first day on the job washing cars. Fresh from grad school with my MBA, I thought, “Boy, did I make the wrong move!”
Q: What college did you attend?
A: York University, in Toronto, for grad school, and the University of Guelph, in Guelph, Ontario.
Q: How did you get into the catalog business?
A: At Hertz, I became a marketing person and got interested in Hertz’s credit card business.
Q: What was the biggest risk you ever took in your career?
A: Printing my first four-color catalog, Microbits; I spent more money on the test of that catalog than I had in my entire personal net worth at that time.
Q: What’s your greatest achievement in catalog marketing?
A: Selling Microbits, in 1989-90, which became Misco Canada.
Q: From which catalogs do you shop?
A: Vermont Teddy Bear; Wood Classics, Geerlings & Wade, Chef’s Catalog, Roadrunner Sports, Pool Warehouse.
Q: What stores do you most like shopping at?
A: I haven’t been in a store other than Brooks Brothers in at least three years.
Q. Make one prediction about the industry five years from now.
A: You won’t be able to tell an Internet company from a direct marketing/catalog company.
Q: If you could change one thing about the catalog business, what would it be?
A: Privatize the Postal Service.
Q: What was your most embarrassing moment on the job?
A: Shipping a customer a warehouse fixture – a tape dispenser – by mistake.
Q: Who’s your favorite cartoon character?
A: Dilbert.
Q: Other than, perhaps, your current job, what would your dream job be?
A: To work for a financial group that specializes in acquiring business-to-business catalogs.
Q: What’s your biggest worry in life?
A: Paper prices going up.
Q: What are the best books you’ve ever read?
A: Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, by Richard Carlson, and 101 Ways to Reward Employees, by Bob Nelson.
Q: What food do you most hate?
A: Liver.
Q: If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would you be?
A: Jean ChrAtian, the prime minister of Canada.
Q: Window or aisle seat?
A: Aisle, it’s closer to the bathroom
Q: Are you a dog person or a cat person?
A: Dog – I have a springer spaniel named Fraser.