Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is now part of the mainstream. Customer strategy is “ordinary” and something that is a day-to-day concern for all enterprises, large or small. The business universe has shifted its focus from the company at its center to the customer at its hub.
As a result, the CRM industry has matured. More than ever, firms that do nothing but work involving the analysis and enrichment of customers abound. CRM as an industry has not just practitioners, but vendors, integrators, management consultants, boutique specialists, evangelists, analysts, pundits, bloggers, authors and even detractors!
As the industry has matured, so has the customer – not just the industry’s customer but the customer that CRM was created to support. The customer experience, formerly an art and a gut check, is now a cutting edge science that is necessary for business growth and differentiation in an era where customers are fully empowered and highly volatile.
CRM Association represents the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) industry and all its constituents. CRM represents what is now becoming an organized body of knowledge and strategy to be reckoned with. The CRM Association aims at representing the industry as not just a purveyor of knowledge and information, but an action-oriented association that will protect and promote the interests of customer relationship management and its institutions and provide the members with the tools that it needs to enrich and improve that customer experience – be it the member’s direct customers or the customers of the members customers.
- Represent the industry as a whole, not special interest groups within the industry
- Provide a forum for the industry and the practitioners to interact without fear or pressure
- Be a center for the dissemination of knowledge and information to the CRM community
- Provide services to the community that will enhance business and careers associated with the industry
- Provide members with both mainstream and cutting edge tools and best practices
- Provide the important industry standards so that members can interoperate knowing the quality of what they are giving and getting
- Represent the industry’s best interests in legislative and other activities through programs to heighten awareness and support of important issues that impact the industry
President: Michael W. Thomas, Neighborhood America
Executive Vice President: Paul Greenberg, 56 Group
VP of Technology: Brent Leary, CRM Essentials
VP of Analyst Relations: Ginger Conlon, 1to1 Media
VP of Communications: Share Reeves, NetNack
VP of Marketing: Tara Scarlett, Integrative Logic
VP of Membership: Marsha Calfee, Net Bank
VP of Sponsorship: Paul Ward, PKWard
VP of Strategic Growth: Jason Johnson, Columbia River Group
President Michael Thomas, CRM Essentials
Michael is a well established authority on CRM (Customer Relationship
Management) and Social CRM strategies and best practices. Michael is
also known for his understanding of the Social and Mobile audience and
how to engage this group on their terms.
Michael is Principal with Effective Engagements, a Social CRM
Consultancy promotional company and Director of Social CRM Strategies
with Social
Strategy1, a managed social media monitoring and strategy solution.
His expertise in CRM and Social Media has given him great insights
into Social CRM strategies and assisting companies extend their current
CRM strategies to the Social CRM realm. He was named one of the Rockstars
of Social CRM by the Social Media Listening Platform solutions
Radian6 and serves on their Social CRM Leadership Council.
Michael serves as the National President and National Board member of
the CRM Association, the Advisory Board of CRM and DW
Experts; and on the Editorial Advisory Panel of Touch Briefings.
Michael served as a 2005-2008 Peppers and Rogers Group 1to1
Impact Awards Judge and a contributor/panelist on 1to1
Magazine’s “Taking Issue” column. He is also a frequent contributor to
CXO Magazine as well as often quoted in several CRM and Customer
Experience Management publications.
Michael received the CRM Magazine, 2004 Most Influential CRM
Leaders Award and was co-host of the “Technology for Business
Sake” radio/podcast program focusing on Social CRM strategies and
Solutions.
Michael was invited by The Wharton School of
business to present “Social Media meets CRM” to the BA
and MBA Classes. He was also invited to be on a panel with noted Wharton
marketing professors at the OfficeArrow/ Wharton Interactive Media
Initiative B2B Social Commerce Summit.
Michael recently participated as a speaker and moderator at the CRM
Magazine’s Social CRM Evolution Conference. He is also a frequent
contributor of insight and quotes to CRM Magazine.
He has more than 20+ years of IT Solution Consulting experience
working for companies like ADP, Oracle, PeopleSoft and
Neighborhood America.
Paul Greenberg, EVP of CRM Association
In addition to being the author of the best-selling CRM at the Speed
of Light: Essential Customer Strategies for the 21st Century, Paul
Greenberg is President of The 56 Group, LLC, an enterprise applications
consulting services firm, focused on CRM strategic services including
go-to-market strategies for vendors and integrators, CRM strategic
planning and vendor selection. The 56 Group also provides writing,
speaking and educational services.
His book, first published in January 2001 by McGraw-Hill is now in
its third edition (August 2004). CRM at the Speed of Light is now in 8
languages and been a runaway best seller. It is used as a text in more
than 60 universities across multiple continents. It was called “the
number 1 CRM book” by SearchCRM.com in July 2002. The Asian edition of
CIO Magazine named it one of the 12 most important books an Asian CEO
will ever read. It has been called “the bible of the industry.”
Paul writes regularly for publications like CRM Magazine and
SearchCRM.com and CRMGuru. He is a contributor to multiple other
national business publications. He has spoken as a keynote speaker and
otherwise at conferences and seminars in the United States, across
Europe, Asia and Australia.
He is considered one of CRM’s leading authorities on strategy and on
the state of the market, and has been quoted in multiple national
magazines and newspapers as a subject matter expert including the New
York Times.
Paul is also a managing partner of BPT Partners, LLC, a training
company that has the cream of the CRM industry developing the subject
matter and teaching it.
Paul is the co-chairman of the newly created CRM Research Center at
Rutgers University and has been named the Executive Vice President for
the CRM Association.
Paul is a also member of the Board of Advisors of Baylor University’s
MBA CRM major, a unique national program. He also has been selected as a
member of the Destination CRM Board of Experts, SearchCRM Expert
Advisory Panel and the CRMGuru Expert Guru Panel among many others.
Prior to his current position as President of the 56 Group, LLC, Paul
was the Executive Vice President of Live Wire, Inc. a
Massachusetts-based enterprise applications staff augmentation company.
Before that, Paul was vice president of marketing for Atlantic Duncans
International (now Optimos) where he was responsible for developing and
securing strategic relationships with critical vendors and partners. In
addition, Paul was the director of strategic relations for Nexgen
Solutions, Inc., where he was directly responsible for generating
business development working with Fortune 500 clientele.
Paul has years of experience with both CRM and Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP). He has built SAP and People Soft practices and, has
extremely deep ties into the CRM and enterprise applications
communities.
Paul received a Bachelor of Science in Journalism with majors in
editorial journalism, sociology, and a minor in English Literature from
Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism. He currently lives
in Northern Virginia with his beloved wife Yvonne and their two cats.
Ginger Cooper, Founder and President of the Board, CRMA
Jill Dyché, Baseline Consulting
Erin Kinikin, Forrester Research
Brent Leary
, CRM Essentials
Michael Maoz, Gartner
Michael Thomas
, CRM Essentials
Bob Thompson, FrontLine Solutions
Bruce Culbert, President of Cultech
Ginger Cooper, Founder and President of the Board, CRMA
Ginger is a freelance journalist who has been following the SFA/CRM industry for 15 years. Over her career, she has written countless magazine and newsletter articles, and authored and edited numerous books - including Beyond the Blue Sky: A Realistic Look at Sales Force Automation, The Sales Manager's Survival Guide, It's a Whole New Ball Game: Selling and Marketing Client/Server Software, Leads: The Next Generation, and more. Ginger currently sits on a number of editorial boards, received the 1997 SAA Excellence in Journalism Award, was honored in 2002 as one of the "20 Most Influential Executives in CRM" by CRM Magazine, and received the 2003 "Voice of Technology in Georgia" award from TechLinks Magazine. Her work has been featured in CRM Magazine, Forbes Magazine, Inc. Magazine, ComputerWorld, and many other business and high-tech publications. She founded the CRM Association (CRMA) in May of 2000.
Jill Dyché, Baseline Consulting
Jill is a Partner and Co-Founder of Baseline Consulting, an integration, consulting, and staffing firm. She is responsible for establishing client strategies and conducting research in the areas of Customer Relationship Management, business intelligence, and data asset management, and delivers executive workshops in these areas. As a frequent speaker and writer on the business value of technology, Jill's work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, CIO Magazine,
Information Week, The Washington Times, and Computerworld. She is the author of e-Data (Addison Wesley, 2000) and her latest book, The CRM Handbook, is a bestseller. Jill has conducted seminars on customer-focused initiatives and business intelligence at the USC Marshall School, University of Georgia, and UCLA Anderson business schools, and is a board member of Baylor University's CRM MBA program. Jill serves as a judge for several industry best-practice awards, including the TDWI Leadership Award and the Intelligent Enterprise RealWare Awards. In addition to being on the board of CRMA, she serves as a panelist for CRMGuru.com and is on the editorial board of CRM2Day.
Erin Kinikin, Forrester Research
Erin is a VP and Research Leader at Forrester Research, where she leads Forrester's Enterprise Applications team, focusing on CRM strategies and best practices. She provides primary coverage on CRM, sales and sales effectiveness, CRM integration, and enterprise application strategies. Erin's research activities cover the CRM and enterprise applications markets, including vendors such as Siebel, Oracle, E.piphany, SAP, Microsoft, PeopleSoft, and Amdocs. Client projects include establishing and validating CRM strategies, prioritizing and focusing CRM projects, building executive consensus, facilitating CRM vendor selection, and planning for project success. She also conducts product positioning and competitive reviews, and advises vendors, investors, and financial analysts on enterprise application directions and market opportunities. Erin has been a featured speaker at industry and vendor conferences on topics such as CRM metrics and customer intelligence, and she has written several articles for external publications. She has 18 years of experience in sales and marketing, including eight years of sales and sales support and six years of high-technology marketing.
Brent Leary
, CRM Essentials
Brent Leary is Co-founder and Partner of CRM Essentials LLC, a management consulting firm focused on implementing strategies and technologies affecting profitability through customer relationship management. He has over 14 years of IT and management consulting experience working on projects for PricewaterhouseCoopers, BellSouth, Compaq, the IMF and World Bank. He contributes a business solutions column for the Atlanta Tribune and is board member of the Technology Association of Georgia's Minority Technology Council. Leary earned a bachelor's in accounting from the University of Delaware and an MBA with an MIS concentration from Widener University. He is the recipient of the 2004 Most Influential CRM Leaders award from CRM Magazine.
Michael Maoz, Gartner
Michael Maoz is a research fellow, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, Inc. His research focuses on customer relationship management (CRM) and e-business, and he is the research area leader for customer service and support strategies, field service, and service management. Michael has 18 years of international experience, with 10 years working with clients in enterprise applications and integration, contact centers, field service and CRM systems, and European market dynamics. Mr. Maoz earned a bachelor's degree in European history from the University of Massachusetts and a graduate certificate in technical communications from Northeastern University.
Michael Thomas, CRM Essentials
Michael W. Thomas is Co-founder and Partner of CRM Essentials LLC, a management consulting firm focused on implementing strategies and technologies affecting profitability through customer relationship management. He has over 20 years of Technology sales and management experience working for Automatic Data Processing (ADP), Oracle Corporation and Peoplesoft. He contributes a business solutions column for the Atlanta Tribune and is board member of the Technology Association of Georgia's Minority Technology Council. Michael also is on the Technology Committee of the Atlanta Business League. He is the recipient of the 2004 Most Influential CRM Leaders award from CRM Magazine.
Bob Thompson, FrontLine Solutions
Bob is CEO of CustomerThink Corporation, an independent customer relationship management research and publishing firm, and Founder of CRMGuru.com, the world's largest CRM industry portal. Bob specializes in CRM strategic planning and research. Since 1998, he has researched the leading industry trends, including how CRM concepts can be applied to extended enterprise relationships such as distributors, resellers and agents. In January 2000, he launched CRMGuru.com, which has become the world's largest CRM industry portal with more than 200,000 members. He is frequently published and quoted in industry publications such as BusinessWeek,
Information
Week, and ComputerWorld and speaks at conferences and seminars worldwide. Throughout his career, Bob has advised companies on the strategic use of information technology to solve business problems and gain a competitive advantage. Before starting his firm, he had 15 years of experience in the IT industry, including positions as Business Unit Executive and IT Strategy Consultant at IBM.
Bruce Culbert, President of Cultech
Bruce is president Cultech and currently works with venture capital firms and their portfolio companies to produce customer-driven strategies. He's the former GM of Global Services at salesforce.com and SVP and Global Practice Leader of CRM and SCM consulting at BearingPoint. He has been called an e-Commerce visionary by Forrester Research, described as a “charismatic leader” in
Information Week, and was recognized by CRM Magazine as “One of the 20 Most Influential People in CRM”.