4th Annual Ability Commerce Users' Conference
Boynton Beach, FL
Sunday March 21 - Tuesday March 23, 2010
Featured Speakers << back
Reggie Brady, President, Reggie Brady Marketing Solutions
- "Keys to Successful Email Marketing"
Regina (Reggie) Brady heads her own e-marketing and direct marketing consultancy. She helps companies build, execute and analyze their customer acquisition and retention strategies both online and offline – with an emphasis on email. Over her career she has helped hundreds of top companies across the country achieve success in their online marketing efforts.
Diane Buzzeo, Founder and CEO, Ability Commerce
- "Merchandising Power Tricks"
Diane Buzzeo has been a pioneer and innovator in the direct marketing industry for more than 25 years. Diane started her fledgling direct mail service business, a musical instrument mail-order catalog, with less than $100, a typewriter, some spray mount and a light table. Encouraged by the initial response to the first catalog, and armed with a $1,350 loan, she purchased one of the first Apple computers created specifically for desktop publishing. The catalog’s second edition was created with the help of the Apple "Lisa," and that year's mailings topped 30,000 pieces. That direct mail service has since evolved into a multichannel sales powerhouse, American Musical Supply (an Internet Retailer Top 500 site). Diane’s start-up effort was one of the most tenacious and aggressive start-up efforts in the then-young direct marketing industry. She founded Ability Commerce and its sister company, Marketing Concepts, in 1986, leveraging her insight and expertise to create growth for many other clients, and to translate her catalog-industry knowledge into ecommerce success stories.
Diane is dedicated to her communities, her employees, business growth and educating her clients about ways to use the services they need for maximum success and profitability. Over the years Diane has been honored for her professional and volunteer work. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Employer of the Year Award from the Minnesota Business and Professional Women (BPW), the Excellence in Business Award from the Southwest Minnesota Initiative Fund and the 2005 Minnesota Woman Business Owner of the Year from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Connie Chappell, Marketing Manager
- "Web Marketing Toolkit"
- "Building Better Organic Search"
After 10 years in the direct-marketing industry at Fingerhut Corporation and as an independent consultant, Connie Chappell came to Marketing Concepts / Ability Commerce 8 years ago, where she has leveraged her industry knowledge to create growth for Marketing Concepts' web marketing clients, including Internet Retailer Top 500 sites like American Musical Supply. Connie currently manages print and web marketing initiatives, email campaigns, search engine and shopping portal feed optimization, and serves as a product development liaison with the web development group to ensure that client sites utilize the latest trends and technology.
Matt Dobeck, Senior Business Analyst
- "Selling Your Products on Amazon.com"
- "What's New for Ability SmartSite Users"
Matt Dobeck's fourteen years of information technology and marketing experience make him an ideal fit at Ability Commerce. His experience includes Microsoft Dynamics GP support, working with and developing multi-channel commerce software (order management systems), project management and software training. Matt's current position as Senior Business Analyst positions him as the conduit between the customer community and the software development team. He is involved throughout the software development cycle of our Ability suite of products.
Jason Zook, Web Graphics Manager, Marketing Concepts
- "Designing for Ecommerce: SmartSite Graphics in Depth"
With seventeen years' experience as a graphic designer, a fine arts background and a degree in computer animation, Jason Zook's eye for design and technical expertise have earned him Ability SmartSite "power user" status. As Web Graphics Manager for Marketing Concepts' large ecommerce clients, Jason is responsible not only for using SmartSite tools to execute marketing initiatives quickly and effectively, but also for training his team in the use of SmartSite, and for collaborating with our development team to extend SmartSite's productivity-enhancing functionality even further. Jason has extensive experience working with clients ranging in size from local small businesses to Target Corporation; his unique combination of skills allow him to effectively translate branding and product placement across channels, from store to print to email and web.
Leah Fernelius, Project Manager, Trainer for Ability SmartSite™
- "Excel and SQL Quick Tricks for Merchandisers"
- "'Display Cases': Picking The Right Item Type to Show and Sell Your Products"
- "Data-Driven Content Management Training & Tips"
Leah Fernelius has had an impressive history with Marketing Concepts / Ability Commerce. Since 1999, she has had many responsibilities throughout the organization. She served as the Call Center Manager and the Credit Department Manager, as well as handling Marketing Concepts / Ability Commerce support for all our products, and Quality Assurance for Ability Financials and Web-related products. She has served as a trainer for Ability Content since its inception in 2001 and aided in the development of the Ability Chat product. Leah currently serves as the Project Manager as well as Trainer for Ability SmartSite™.
Laura Nelson, Financial Product Specialist
- "50 Tips in 50 minutes--Great GP tips You Can Take Home and Use Right Away"
- "SmartList, SmartList Builder, and Office Excel Report Builder"
- "Financial Reporting with FRx and Beyond"
- "Save Time with SafePay & Excel Based Budgeting"
Laura Nelson has been an invaluable member of the Marketing Concepts / Ability Commerce team for over 9 years, serving 5 of those years as the Senior Manager of Finance and Human Resources. Laura received a B.S. in Financial Economics from South Dakota State University. She currently serves as an expert analyst for Microsoft Dynamics™ GP and provides Ability Financials implementation and support. Laura will present some of her insights on the existing financial and accounting functionality of GP, as well as some techniques to make your GP experience much more efficient.
Paula Smith, Microsoft Dynamics GP and Ability Financials Specialist
- "What You Need to Know About GP & AF 10.0"
- "Ways to Customize GP Using Extender, Modifier, and Report Writer"
- "Financial Statements by Source Code & Other Reports for Catalogers"
- "GP Administration & Security Tips & Tricks"
Paula Smith has implemented, supported, project managed, and trained on financial software and hardware for almost sixteen years, and has worked with Microsoft Dynamics GP for her entire 7-year tenure with Marketing Concepts / Ability Commerce. As a Microsoft Certified Business Management Solutions Specialist, Paula has provided invaluable assistance in product definition and testing for our Microsoft Dynamics™ GP integration product, Ability Financials™. Recently Paula joined the sales team at Ability Commerce to sell Microsoft Dynamics GP and Ability Financials to the direct-marketing industry.
- "Keys to Successful Email Marketing"
Regina (Reggie) Brady heads her own e-marketing and direct marketing consultancy. She helps companies build, execute and analyze their customer acquisition and retention strategies both online and offline – with an emphasis on email. Over her career she has helped hundreds of top companies across the country achieve success in their online marketing efforts.
Diane Buzzeo, Founder and CEO, Ability Commerce
- "Merchandising Power Tricks"
Diane Buzzeo has been a pioneer and innovator in the direct marketing industry for more than 25 years. Diane started her fledgling direct mail service business, a musical instrument mail-order catalog, with less than $100, a typewriter, some spray mount and a light table. Encouraged by the initial response to the first catalog, and armed with a $1,350 loan, she purchased one of the first Apple computers created specifically for desktop publishing. The catalog’s second edition was created with the help of the Apple "Lisa," and that year's mailings topped 30,000 pieces. That direct mail service has since evolved into a multichannel sales powerhouse, American Musical Supply (an Internet Retailer Top 500 site). Diane’s start-up effort was one of the most tenacious and aggressive start-up efforts in the then-young direct marketing industry. She founded Ability Commerce and its sister company, Marketing Concepts, in 1986, leveraging her insight and expertise to create growth for many other clients, and to translate her catalog-industry knowledge into ecommerce success stories.
Diane is dedicated to her communities, her employees, business growth and educating her clients about ways to use the services they need for maximum success and profitability. Over the years Diane has been honored for her professional and volunteer work. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Employer of the Year Award from the Minnesota Business and Professional Women (BPW), the Excellence in Business Award from the Southwest Minnesota Initiative Fund and the 2005 Minnesota Woman Business Owner of the Year from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Connie Chappell, Marketing Manager
- "Web Marketing Toolkit"
- "Building Better Organic Search"
After 10 years in the direct-marketing industry at Fingerhut Corporation and as an independent consultant, Connie Chappell came to Marketing Concepts / Ability Commerce 8 years ago, where she has leveraged her industry knowledge to create growth for Marketing Concepts' web marketing clients, including Internet Retailer Top 500 sites like American Musical Supply. Connie currently manages print and web marketing initiatives, email campaigns, search engine and shopping portal feed optimization, and serves as a product development liaison with the web development group to ensure that client sites utilize the latest trends and technology.
Matt Dobeck, Senior Business Analyst
- "Selling Your Products on Amazon.com"
- "What's New for Ability SmartSite Users"
Matt Dobeck's fourteen years of information technology and marketing experience make him an ideal fit at Ability Commerce. His experience includes Microsoft Dynamics GP support, working with and developing multi-channel commerce software (order management systems), project management and software training. Matt's current position as Senior Business Analyst positions him as the conduit between the customer community and the software development team. He is involved throughout the software development cycle of our Ability suite of products.
Jason Zook, Web Graphics Manager, Marketing Concepts
- "Designing for Ecommerce: SmartSite Graphics in Depth"
With seventeen years' experience as a graphic designer, a fine arts background and a degree in computer animation, Jason Zook's eye for design and technical expertise have earned him Ability SmartSite "power user" status. As Web Graphics Manager for Marketing Concepts' large ecommerce clients, Jason is responsible not only for using SmartSite tools to execute marketing initiatives quickly and effectively, but also for training his team in the use of SmartSite, and for collaborating with our development team to extend SmartSite's productivity-enhancing functionality even further. Jason has extensive experience working with clients ranging in size from local small businesses to Target Corporation; his unique combination of skills allow him to effectively translate branding and product placement across channels, from store to print to email and web.
Leah Fernelius, Project Manager, Trainer for Ability SmartSite™
- "Excel and SQL Quick Tricks for Merchandisers"
- "'Display Cases': Picking The Right Item Type to Show and Sell Your Products"
- "Data-Driven Content Management Training & Tips"
Leah Fernelius has had an impressive history with Marketing Concepts / Ability Commerce. Since 1999, she has had many responsibilities throughout the organization. She served as the Call Center Manager and the Credit Department Manager, as well as handling Marketing Concepts / Ability Commerce support for all our products, and Quality Assurance for Ability Financials and Web-related products. She has served as a trainer for Ability Content since its inception in 2001 and aided in the development of the Ability Chat product. Leah currently serves as the Project Manager as well as Trainer for Ability SmartSite™.
Laura Nelson, Financial Product Specialist
- "50 Tips in 50 minutes--Great GP tips You Can Take Home and Use Right Away"
- "SmartList, SmartList Builder, and Office Excel Report Builder"
- "Financial Reporting with FRx and Beyond"
- "Save Time with SafePay & Excel Based Budgeting"
Laura Nelson has been an invaluable member of the Marketing Concepts / Ability Commerce team for over 9 years, serving 5 of those years as the Senior Manager of Finance and Human Resources. Laura received a B.S. in Financial Economics from South Dakota State University. She currently serves as an expert analyst for Microsoft Dynamics™ GP and provides Ability Financials implementation and support. Laura will present some of her insights on the existing financial and accounting functionality of GP, as well as some techniques to make your GP experience much more efficient.
Paula Smith, Microsoft Dynamics GP and Ability Financials Specialist
- "What You Need to Know About GP & AF 10.0"
- "Ways to Customize GP Using Extender, Modifier, and Report Writer"
- "Financial Statements by Source Code & Other Reports for Catalogers"
- "GP Administration & Security Tips & Tricks"
Paula Smith has implemented, supported, project managed, and trained on financial software and hardware for almost sixteen years, and has worked with Microsoft Dynamics GP for her entire 7-year tenure with Marketing Concepts / Ability Commerce. As a Microsoft Certified Business Management Solutions Specialist, Paula has provided invaluable assistance in product definition and testing for our Microsoft Dynamics™ GP integration product, Ability Financials™. Recently Paula joined the sales team at Ability Commerce to sell Microsoft Dynamics GP and Ability Financials to the direct-marketing industry.