Linda McAleer has retired from database services specialist infoUSA Inc.’s Millard Group Inc. list services subsidiary after a 23-year career at the company.
Ms. McAleer was executive vice president in charge of all sales at Millard, a list firm she and colleague Ben Perez bought in 1993 from founder Steve Millard.
Her last day at Millard’s Peterborough, NH, headquarters was Dec. 29. The news comes around the same time Fran Golub, another senior executive at infoUSA’s Walter Karl subsidiary, went into retirement.
Millard said Ms. McAleer will still offer support for a number of key client relationships. But she will spend more time with her husband Ken and daughter Jennifer.
Ms. McAleer joined Millard as a publishing broker in 1982 after five years holding circulation positions on The Atlantic Monthly and Harvard Business Review magazines. She went on to become vice president and then head of list brokerage and management at Millard.
All told, Ms. McAleer spent almost 30 years in direct marketing.
At Millard, she is said to have steered the firm into place as one of the major list brokerage and management firms serving the publishing business. She was the first broker to use a PC to support clients’ circulation plans along with other technology to improve operational efficiency, Millard said.
In addition to list brokerage and management, Millard today offers insert media and Internet services. It also provides market research through its Decision Direct Research unit.
The 30-year-old Millard has a supporting office in White Plains, NY.
Millard’s catalog and retail clients include Coldwater Creek, J. Jill, Brookstone, Talbots, Orvis and 1-800-Flowers.com. Among the publishing clients are major publishers like Conde Nast, American Express Publishing, Oxmoor House and Time Inc.
Millard in November 2005 was sold to infoUSA, Omaha, NE. InfoUSA is the nation’s leading list services firm, with brands like Walter Karl, Edith Roman and Mokrynskidirect as well as Opinion Research, Sales Genie lead generation service and its Yesmail e-mail unit.
Aside from office duties, Ms. McAleer took time to help the industry via associations and trade shows. She served on the board of the New England Direct Marketing Association and was actively involved with the Direct Marketing Association’s list and circulation councils.
