Alistia Inc. Names Direct Marketing Veterans to Advisory Board.

Business Editors

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 4, 2000

Direct marketing online application service provider Alistia Inc. has named a virtual who's who of industry executives to its Advisory Board.

The board will play an instrumental role in developing Alistia's services and refining business strategy to meet the complex needs of the direct marketing industry. Alistia will launch its service Oct. 15 at the Direct Marketing Association Annual Convention in New Orleans.

Alistia, www.alistia.com, is the only Internet marketplace tailored to the needs of list managers and brokers. Developed by the marketing experts who built and launched Dell Computer Corporation's catalog and direct marketing programs, Alistia is an end-to-end Internet solution that provides list brokers and list managers with a faster, more efficient way to identify, evaluate, promote, acquire, fulfill and manage direct marketing lists.

Its five-member Advisory Board comprises direct marketing industry veterans with unique insight into the industry. Members include David O. Schwartz, president, 21st Century Marketing; David Shepard, president, David Shepard Associates Inc.; Mitchell Orfuss, executive vice president and director of development, OgilvyOne; John Ellett, principal, The Ellett Group; and Jerry Freundlich, founder and president, Graphography Ltd.

David O. Schwartz has been in the direct marketing field since 1973. In his early career, he founded a direct response advertising agency and then went on to build 21st Century Marketing. During the last two decades, he has been published in numerous trade publications and is a popular speaker and educator throughout the direct marketing industry. His hands-on knowledge of high-technology direct marketing offers a unique perspective for marketers of consumer and business products and services. He is currently chairman of List Leaders for the Direct Marketing Association.

David Shepard founded David Shepard Associates Inc. in 1976. Today the company consists exclusively of senior-level consultants with expertise in marketing, quantitative methods and computer science. Since its inception, the company has provided direct marketing and database consulting services to more than 100 direct marketing firms, advertising agencies and Fortune 500 companies. In 1989, the firm won the coveted Gold Mail Box award for its innovative use of direct mail. Prior to forming DSA, Shepard held senior management positions at Doubleday & Co., Throckmorton & Satin Associates, and the Maxwell Sroge company. He conducts courses on statistical modeling on behalf of the Direct Marketing Association and writes a monthly column on database marketing for Direct magazine.

Mitchell Orfuss joined OgilvyOne in 1998 as director of business development, following eight years leading sister company J. Walter Thompson's Direct unit. For the previous ten years, he was executive vice president at Grey Direct where he was responsible for the agency's domestic growth and coordination across Europe.

He also was with Rapp Collins for three years where he managed classic continuity businesses for Time-Life Books and Records, and was creative director of CCI, the pioneer call-center resource, for two years. He has served on the board of the Direct Marketing Association and The Advertising Club of New York, chaired New York University's Advisory Council and taught in the direct marketing master's program at NYU for 15 years.

Since forming The Ellett Group in 1994, John Ellett has been an advisor to companies such as Dell, Power Computing, Intel, TradeWave, SunRiver, Artisoft and Motorola. Ellett consults on corporate and product strategy, channel strategy and program implementation, and customer acquisition and retention. Prior to forming The Ellett Group, he was the senior executive at Dell Computer responsible for its North American marketing organization. He has 16 years of high-tech experience, including holding marketing management positions with IBM. Ellett holds a bachelor's in marketing and an MBA from Indiana University.

Jerry Freundlich is founder and president of Graphography Ltd., one of the largest print production management firms in the United States. The company manages every aspect of production from direct mail to sales promotion to digital assets, and provides Fortune 1000 companies with a variety of graphic arts solutions. Freundlich's broad experience in the graphic arts industry has established him as a leader in the rapidly changing world of graphic production. He is a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology.

"We are privileged to have such a distinguished group serve as advisors to Alistia," said Alistia Inc. CEO Janet Rubio. "These individuals are well-known and highly regarded in the industry, and rightly so. They are leading-edge marketers, who have years of experience and a keen insight into the business. They will be an invaluable resource in advising Alistia as our business expands."

About Alistia -- Austin-based Alistia Inc., www.alistia.com, is an online service that allows direct marketing list brokers and managers to respond faster and more effectively to their clients' needs. Alistia's end-to-end Internet solution provides a faster, more efficient way to identify, evaluate, promote, acquire, fulfill and manage direct marketing lists.