The Direct Marketing Association announced today that they will begin a search for a new president/CEO to replace John A. Greco, Jr., who has resigned his role effective today. The DMA did not give a reason for Greco’s resignation.
Eugene Raitt, chairman of the DMA Board of Directors, said in a release that a new leader must focus on helping its members grow as both traditional and digital multichannel marketers.
“By continuing to develop strategies, content and thought-leadership, digital marketing principles will be fused throughout DMA, enabling us to grow membership, expand partnerships, enhance the organization’s role within digital marketing and produce advanced thinking and educational programs worldwide,” Raitt said.
Greco came to the DMA in August 2004, just a year and a half after he launched his own business development and executive recruiting firm, Greco Associates. From March 2000 to March 2003, Greco was president/CEO of Yellow Pages Integrated Media Association, a group that produced 95% of all Yellow Pages print directories.
Greco was put on the hot seat this past September, when DMA board member Gerry Pike launched an online campaign and asked members to send him their proxy votes to empower him “to mandate a better DMA” at the Annual Business Meeting in San Diego, as it said on his Website, ABetterDMA.org, which now redirects to the DMA’s homepage.
Greco’s compensation had been a bone of contention. He received $720,671 in salary and $117,857 in benefits in 2007, according to the organization’s most recently available tax records.
His salary was never brought to the attention of the DMA’s Board of Directors, Pike told MULTICHANNEL MERCHANT sister publication DIRECT in October.