BOARD ROSTER: CHAIRMAN
Frank Parks, Parks Printing
1ST VICE CHAIRMAN John Crammer, Best Label Company
IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIRMAN Jack Emerian, ValPrint
BOARD MEMBERS: Pat Belding Belding Associates
Nicki Riedel Black & White Design
Chris Cullen Consultant
Coleen Schoenheide Lahlouh
Ian Flynn Direct Response Imaging
Chris Shadix BelAire Displays
Arnold Greenfield Ex Officio
Cindy Sonnenberg K/P Corporation
Trilby Parker Rosetta/Publicis Groupe
Stephen Sprinkel Sprinkel Media Network
STAFF ROSTER: PRESIDENT
Dan Nelson
DIRECTOR MEMBER SERVICES Jim Frey
DIRECTOR MEMBER PROGRAMS Laura Vargas
DIRECTOR EDUCATION Barbara Silverman
DIRECTOR COMMUNICATIONS May Suen
PROGRAM ADMINISTRATORS Diane Gong, Gabrielle Disario
MEMBERSHIP SALES Shannon Wolford
FINANCIAL MANAGER Emily Gotladera
ACCOUNTING SPECIALIST Maria Salita
VICE PRESIDENT INSURANCE SERVICES David Katz
INSURANCE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES
Renee Prescott, Crystal Carlson, Lena Nelson, Sue Benavente
PRESIDENT’S LETTER
WHEN IT COMES TO MOTIVATION
PARTICIPATION DEFINES SUCCESS
In my visits with many of you, sometimes the discussion turns from how we can help your business to the association itself and its business motivations. And sometimes these motivations can sound, well, strange and “un-business” like. Here are a few of those oddities that we live with in association-land: • Our “profits” are called surpluses • Retained earnings are called reserves • Our association is called a “non-profit” With terms like these, you’d think we’re not trying to make money at all. Of course, all business must be profitable to stay in business and VMA is no different. It has been in business since 1932 with healthy reserves, generating surpluses in most years. But our story is different in this way: When we allocate all expenses over 35 members’ programs, we lose money on most of them. Clearly our two insurance programs are profitable and certain other programs also. But many more lose money. And many of those lose money by design including all our tax and human resource consulting, networking and social events, conferences and state and federal government affairs. So if losing money is part of running a successful association, how do you measure success if profit isn’t necessarily the primary goal? Participation is the answer. We extensively track participation in 35 programs for each our 815 member firms and it is often the primary focus for our ten person staff. We are always thinking about how to increase attendance. For example, 315 member firms out of 815 participate in our commercial insurance, 550 in our Visual Media Guide, and 110 in our FedEx discount program. So when we contact you about the next Sales Club, Baseball, Printing 101 and other networking events, call you about your free listing in our Visual Media Guide or remind you about our Showcase Awards competition, you’ll know what’s behind it. Thank you for your support and participation. See you at the next VMA event!
DIRECTOR SUPPLEMENTAL BENEFITS Greg Golin
DIRECTOR GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS Gerry Bonetto
HUMAN RESOURCE SPECIALISTS Richard Lord, Doug Moore
EDITOR
Dan Nelson President Visual Media Alliance
Noel Jeffrey CONTACT: VISUAL MEDIA ALLIANCE
(800) 659 3363 665 Third Street, Suite 500 San Francisco, CA 94107